West Derby & Croxteth Park
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Issue 139 – January 2018
INSIDE
ALDER HEY PARK By Stephen Guy, West Derby Society
THE detached house stood in its own private park, reached through gates guarded by a lodge. Two drives ran parallel leading to Alder Hey house – one for the occupants and the other for deliveries. The carriage drive ended in an oblong area in front of the house entrance where coachmen could turn around before leaving the way they came in. Delivery vans followed the other drive to the tradesmen’s entrance. It was 1910 and developers were about to move in after the last occupant of Alder Hey, prosperous merchant William Leeming, departed. His butler Thomas Dodd, who
Win tickets to John Lennon’s Banjo
see page 7
lived in the lodge, helped pack everything away before putting the shutters up on the empty residence. It was goodbye to the walled parkland sweeping down to Eaton Road. Alder Hey was built on a gentle slope, enjoying panoramic views over the countryside dotted with other large houses.
The house and 28 acres of land had been purchased in 1906 by the West Derby Union’s Poor Law Guardians to build a hospital for sick poor children. The new hospital would soon replace the house and open parkland, including neat copses and a large pond, would be obliterated. In 1907 Liverpool Corporation had acquired a neighbouring country estate to create Springfield Park, doubtless designed to enhance the new hospital with its trees and open spaces. The new hospital opened in 1914 and a postcard from that time is captioned Alder Hey Park (pictured). The impressive stone hospital gates, seen from Honeys Green Lane, stand next to a lodge. Eaton Cottage, a substantial house, stood behind the stone wall on the right. There were
also outbuildings and large glass houses. More than a century later, demolition of the old hospital is nearing completion and work will begin creating new parkland to replace land on Springfield Park now occupied by the new hospital. Generations of patients have many memories of the old hospital buildings. As a small child I had excellent treatment including two eye operations to correct a squint. On another occasion I had a wax crayon extracted from my nose after fooling about at a school art lesson. The Grade II-listed Alder Hey house lodge and adjoining gate in Alder Road survive to remind us of an earlier time. n Join the West Derby Society at its next meeting 7.30pm on Wednesday January 17 at Lowlands, 13 Haymans Green, Liverpool L12 7JG.
An interview with Tony Hadley
page 5
Car review – Fiat Tipo Station Wagon Strange Tales by Anton Valdemart
page 8
and much, much more