Issue 122 – August 2016
Join the West Derby Society at West Derby Courthouse open 2pm – 4pm most Sundays April to October, admission free.
VILLAGE PANORAMA By Stephen Guy, West Derby Society
THE artist came back time and again to paint the historic village with its fine church, picturesque buildings and gates to the stately home. Hugh Magenis visited West Derby to capture the village panorama on canvas and paper in the 1880s. His best known painting can be seen at Lowlands, the West Derby Community Centre in Haymans Green. A watercolour version is in the city’s Binns Collection. Now a second watercolour (pictured), discovered in Bedford, has returned to Liverpool. Like the others, it was painted in 1882-4. There are subtle differences in all three paintings. The newly-found version, unlike the one in oils, includes the Yeoman’s House and Hooper’s Carriage Works. Hugh is listed in the street
directories as living in Queens Road, Everton. The only other Magenis is a lady in West Derby who may have been a relative. The paintings show the Village about 25 years after it was largely rebuilt by William Molyneux, 4th Earl of Sefton, to make a suitable entrance to Croxteth Hall. There are some differences from today – apart from the complete lack of traffic. Clocks are absent from the church tower and there is no “Water is Best” fountain. The monument seems to have a smaller railed enclosure and there are no steps around the base. The West Derby pub (now The Hunting Lodge), is shown before it was re-fronted with half timbers. Although horse-drawn trams came to the Village in 1882, there are no obvious tram lines. Hugh could have walked
from his home to nearby West Derby Road to catch a tram to the Village. All three paintings may have been commissioned by local families or done by the artist for sale through agents or dealers. All three are highly-finished pictures rather than sketches or studies. The specifications for the new West Derby tramway works were drawn up at the engineer and surveyor’s office in Green Lane in November 1880. It was specified that the works would take eight months to complete. A large tram depot with stables was built in the Village. Demolished more than 30 years ago, it was an ugly building that towered over the ancient Courthouse. The trams were electrified in 1900 and continued serving the Village until 1949 when the service was scrapped.