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#everysinglestreet [17/07/21] Summer Seat and the last of the roads off Burlington Street

Graham Holland      

Summer Seat and Bevington Street were built in 1911 as high quality council houses as part of the slum clearance programme. They remain some of the oldest two storey council houses in the city. On Summer Seat I got talking to Marion and John Scott who have lived there for 38 years. Marion is 66 and grew up in this area. She went to the school that used to be at the end of the street where the wasteland is now. Her mother lived in one of the neighbouring streets before it was knocked down. She remembers the roads behind Summer Seat – Gildart’s Gardens and Ford Street – that were knocked down to make way for the Kingsway (Wallasey) Tunnel. There’s a Liverpool Echo feature on Summer Seat here. liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/life-summer-seat-oldest-terraced-20695053 

There’s an engraved plaque in the terrace on Bevington Street that’s almost impossible to read. It tells how the housing was built following the Housing Of The Working Classes Act 1890. On the other side of Bevington Street is Eldon Grove. This is the last remaining original-style tenement building in Liverpool. It’s Grade II listed and on the Buildings At Risk register. There were plans in 2015 to turn it into 45 affordable one and two bedroom apartments, but by the look of the site at the moment I’m guessing those plans never came to fruition. There are photos from 2015 in this Liverpool Echo feature on the proposals. liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/nostalgia/take-last-look-grade-ii-9512960

Bevington Bush has been boarded up since I was last there. There’s a new development on the way which, I’m assuming, will see the end of Wellington Street, Aldersey Street, and Nicholas Street. From here I ran along Scotland Road away from the city centre. There’s no footway here so I ran along the central reservation. 

Scotland Road was once a thriving Liverpool community before the bulldozers came in a knocked the sub-standard housing down. Some buildings still remain, such as the Derby Cinema at the junction with Wilbraham Road. This was actually built as a United Methodist Free Church before being converted into a cinema in 1922. The cinema closed in 1960 and since then it’s been a funeral directors and firework shop. It’s now accommodation called The Picturehouse Apartments. 

St Silvester’s Church on Silvester Street is now also apartments. 

The League of Welldoers’ Lee Jones Centre on Limekiln Lane is a typical 1930s building with a statue above the door, as was typical of the time. 

There’s an Edward VII red pillar box on Burlington Street. He was king from 1901 to 1910. I love how it has survived when all of the houses that would have surrounded it at the time have long since gone. 

Stats

  • Saturday 17th July 2021
  • 37 streets
    Benledi Street, Bevington Hill, Bevington Street, Blenheim Street, Bond Street, Burlington Street, Burroughs Gardens, Callaghan Close, Clement Gardens, Diamond Street, Eldon Place, Eldon Street, Ennerdale Street, Gildarts Gardens, Green Street, Hornby Walk, James Clarke Street, Lairds Place, Limekiln One, Marshall Place, Mile End, O’Connell Road, Raymond Place, St Augustine Street, Silvester Street, Summer Seat, Tatlock Street, Tenterden Street, Titchfield Street, Tobin Close, Twomey Close, Vescock Street, Walsh Close, Westmoreland Place, Whiteside Close, Woodstock Street, Wright Street
  • Total: 4,210 (74.08%)
  • Remaining: 1,473

Photos on Facebook

All of the photos from this run are in a publically viewable Facebook album.

To view them click here.

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Great North Run

I’m running the Great North Run for the first time on Sunday 12th September, raising money for Alzheimer’s Research UK. My mum has Alzheimers so this charity is close to my heart. If you can spare a couple of quid to help me reach my target I would be extremely grateful.

justgiving.com/fundraising/grahamsgreatnorthrun2021

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