Everton Park, located in
Everton,
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, is a modern park, covering over , created between 1984 and 1989, as part of a major house clearance programme, on Everton Hill between Great Homer Street and Everton Road/Heyworth Street. The park is
Liverpool City Council owned.
The park features the Everton Park Nature Garden, a walled community garden with three ponds, bridges, paths, overhanging trees, a wildflower field, raised flower beds with seating, and colourful wild birds.
Prince Rupert's Tower (a
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
village lock-up
A village lock-up is a historic building once used for the temporary detention of people in England and Wales, mostly where official prisons or criminal courts were beyond easy walking distance. Lockups were often used for the confinement of dru ...
), and
St George's Church are also located within Everton Park.
The park is split into loosely defined sections (according to
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...
), such as Whitley Gardens, Brow Side Gardens, Everton Nature Garden, and the Rupert Lane Recreation Ground, the latter tracing its heritage to a former building known as Rupert House, commemorating the royal visit of
Prince Rupert in 1644, during the siege of Liverpool in the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
. The former building (still standing by 1830) was built upon and converted into a militia barracks, then subsequently converted into a recreation ground by 1930, then was integrated with the rest of what would be called Everton Park in the early 1980s.
History
During the mid-20th century, the area became notorious for its cramped
terraced
In agriculture, a terrace is a piece of sloped plane that has been cut into a series of successively receding flat surfaces or platforms, which resemble steps, for the purposes of more effective farming. This type of landscaping is therefore ...
slums
A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily in ...
, visible from the
River Mersey
The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed par ...
and unfit for human habitation. During the 1950s and 60s, demolition planning for many of the
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
streets commenced. Gaps in the housing of the area appeared over the following decades as streets and buildings disappeared. Following the
clearance of the slums, some of housing were replaced by
high-rise flats in the 1960s, such as a group of 14-storey three tower blocks nicknamed "the Piggeries". Within 18 months, they fell into disrepair and were subsequently demolished in the 1980s. The remaining population of the area resettled in areas such as
Kirkby
Kirkby ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. The town, historically in Lancashire, has a size of is north of Huyton and north-east of Liverpool. The population in 2016 was 41,495 making it the largest ...
,
Cantril Farm, and
Netherley.
In August 1967, it was reported that Liverpool City Council were having second thoughts on their £1.25m scheme, despite being warned by council leader
William Sefton that "the council would never live down the shame it would bring on the planning of the city". By 1978, the majority of clearances of the Victorian streets and housing of the area was completed, and the space which is now occupied by the Rupert Lane Recreation Ground and Whitley Gardens had been completely cleared. The urban clearances are said to have greatly reduced the population of Everton (estimated between 100,000-150,000) and have greatly transformed the area from dense slums to an open natural environment, offering views of the docks and the city skyline from its hills.
External links
Liverpool City Council:Everton Park
References
{{green Liverpool
Parks and commons in Liverpool