Issue 107 – June 2015
SUBURBAN CHARM
by Stephen Guy, West Derby Society
IT WAS a farming community until the middle of the 19th century when wealthy people started to build large houses. West Derby has seen many changes over the centuries and continues to evolve to accommodate changing times. Early suburban developments included Haymans Green in the 1840s. Builder and architect Thomas Haigh built Lowlands (now West Derby Community Centre) in 1846. He retained his town house on Gambier Terrace, off Canning Street. Lowlands was his country residence, displaying to potential clients his design and building skills. Sandfield Park was created about 1850 and remains a private residential park. Other early developments were around Mill Lane and Eaton Road (formerly Back Lane). There was a surge in housing before the First World War which continued when peace returned. West Derby, like many places across Britain, became a suburb – neither town nor country. It retained its leafy charm while enjoying the convenience of being near the city centre. Darley Drive, pictured about 1925, was one of the first roads in the district designed for middle class professionals. Building work started in Edwardian times and the spacious houses benefitted from gardens and modern facilities such as bathrooms.
Nearby streets of terraced houses including Marlfield Road were occupied by lower middle class families, including clerical workers. A century ago few people owned their own homes, most rented. Larger properties were leased from landowning families such as the Earl of Sefton and Marquess of Salisbury (who is still Lord of the Manor of West Derby today). There were huge housing developments between the wars. Liverpool City Council covered fields around Clubmoor and Norris Green with much-needed housing. Blackmoor House was demolished and many roads with neat semi-detached houses laid out on the estate. Mortgages became more widespread in the 1930s. My father took out a mortgage on a newly-built house in Lisleholme Crescent when he married in 1939. The house cost £500 but many of his neighbours rented their new homes. War was looming and some thought they would be bombed out. They were wrong although several houses in West Derby were destroyed by stray bombs. German aircraft dumped surplus bombs as they headed home following targeted raids. Deysbrook Lane was developed with local authority housing around the time of the Queen’s coronation. Join the West Derby Society at West Derby Courthouse open 2-4 pm most Sundays April to October, admission free.
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