High Park Reservoir (also known as Toxteth Reservoir) is a disused reservoir in the

Toxteth Toxteth is an inner-city area of Liverpool in the historic county of Lancashire and the ceremonial county of Merseyside. Toxteth is located to the south of Liverpool city centre, bordered by Aigburth, Canning, Dingle, and Edge Hill. The area w ...

district of

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 popul ...

, England. Water for the reservoir was enclosed in a brick-built, sandstone-clad building. The building still stands and is opened to visitors for special occasions and events.

History

Opening in 1853, the reservoir provided fresh water to the rapidly growing city of Liverpool. This was especially important given the prevalence of

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

at the time. The reservoir's height above parts of the city meant that it also provided a head of water for fighting fires at the city's docks. Capable of holding approximately 2 million gallons, it was fed with fresh water from

Rivington Pike Rivington Pike is a hill on Winter Hill, part of the West Pennine Moors at Rivington, Chorley in Lancashire, England. The nearest towns are Adlington and Horwich. The land and building are owned and managed by Chorley Council. The Pike Tower ...

in the West Pennine Moors and a spring in the Lodge Lane area of Liverpool. The building served as a reservoir for 140 years before its closure in 1997. It was given Grade II listed building status in June 1985. After a period of being left unused, the building has been used as a community space and events venue. It is not normally open to visitors, but there is an annual Heritage Day Open Event that allows people to see inside. The building has proven useful as a location for filming, and has been used in

Peaky Blinders The Peaky Blinders were a street gang based in Birmingham, England, which operated from the 1880s until the 1910s. The group consisted largely of young criminals from lower- to middle-class backgrounds. They engaged in robbery, violence, racke ...

. As part of Liverpool's Biennual celebrations in 2016, the building was used as an art installation for a piece by

Rita McBride Rita McBride (born 1960) is an American artist and sculptor. She is based in Los Angeles and Düsseldorf. Alongside her artistic practice, McBride is a professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, and served as its director until 2017. McBride is ...

, called ''Portal''. In 2018 it was again used for an installation, called ''AURORA''.

Architecture

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

describe the building as: "Retaining wall and corner tower to reservoir. 1855. Probably T. Duncan. Snecked stone. Battered wall with top roll moulding, approximately 53.5m x 67m. Entrance with studded door at right hand end of main facade; plaque with Liver bird over. Round tower above has broaches, slits and corbelled top." The building has a flat roof, covered in grass, which offers good all round views of the city.

References

Sources *{{Citation , last = Sharples , first = Joseph, last2 = Pollard, first2 = Richard, year = 2004, title = Liverpool, series = Pevsner Architectural Guides, publication-place = New Haven and London, publisher =

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

, isbn = 0-300-10258-5 Buildings and structures completed in 1853 Grade II listed buildings in Liverpool

History

Architecture

See also

References