Kirkdale is a 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 ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

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 ...

, and a

Liverpool City Council Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It consists of 90 councillors, three for each of the city's 30 wards. The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party and is led by Mayor ...

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

that covers both Kirkdale and

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...

. At the 2011 Census, the population was 16,115.

History

Kirkdale is a

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

area with mainly Victorian

terraced house In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...

s. From 1885 to 1983, it was part of the Liverpool Kirkdale constituency. Kirkdale is bordered by

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. Histo ...

to the north,

Walton Walton may refer to: People * Walton (given name) * Walton (surname) * Susana, Lady Walton (1926–2010), Argentine writer Places Canada * Walton, Nova Scotia, a community ** Walton River (Nova Scotia) *Walton, Ontario, a hamlet United Kingdo ...

and Everton to the east and Vauxhall to the south. Boundary Street was an ancient division between the township of Kirkdale and Liverpool before Liverpool's expansion took in Kirkdale in the 1860s. It thus separates Kirkdale and Vauxhall. Kirkdale is now undergoing a large amount of regeneration. The old Easby estate has been demolished to make way for new two-, three- and four-bedroom properties. They have been built for both local residents and incomers.

Transport

There are three railway stations in the district, owing to its size and location near where the

Merseyrail Merseyrail is a commuter rail network serving the Liverpool City Region and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire. Merseyrail operates 66 railway stations across two lines – the Northern Line and Wirral Line, which are dedicated electri ...

Northern Line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, two ...

branches diverge. The stations are:

Bank Hall Bank Hall is a Jacobean mansion in Bretherton, Lancashire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building and is at the centre of a private estate, surrounded by parkland. The hall was built on the site of an older house in 1608 by the Banastres ...

, near the boundary with

on the branch to

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

; Kirkdale station itself, serving the main housing area and Sandhills, a busy station acting as the Northern Line junction station.

Places of worship

St. Lawrence with St. Paul's, Kirkdale is the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

parish church. The

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

boundary runs from the edge of

to the north down until the edge of the

area and to the edge of Walton in the east. St. Lawrence church joined with St. Paul's in 2002 when the parish of St. Paul with St. Mary's, Bootle, was split in two and brought into the Liverpool North Deanery, in Liverpool Diocese. Liverpool Youth For Christ is currently based in The Shepherd Centre, a specially designed community centre attached to the St. Paul's building. The Catholic community is served by the Parish of St John and St John the Evangelist's Church, a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

building. The affiliated primary school is located across Sessions Road.

Kirkdale Cemetery

Kirkdale has a large cemetery containing 386

Commonwealth War Graves The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mi ...

from the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and 115 from the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Over 100 of these graves from the former war are of Canadian servicemen who died at No 5 Canadian Hospital established at Kirkdale in July 1917. There are two War Graves plots (mostly of First World War dead) with the names of those buried in them listed on Screen Wall memorials. There were formerly large numbers of graves of German and American war dead from the First World War and Belgians from both

world war A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

s but these were nearly all removed to dedicated national cemeteries within the United Kingdom or repatriated to their home countries. There are also buried some of the victims of the

Liverpool Blitz The Liverpool Blitz was the heavy and sustained bombing of the English city of Liverpool and its surrounding area, during the Second World War by the German ''Luftwaffe''. Liverpool was the most heavily bombed area of the country, outside Lo ...

including notably

Francis William Lionel Collings Beaumont Francis William Lionel Collings Beaumont (6 August 1903 – 4 May 1941), also known as F. W. L. C. Beaumont or “Buster" Beaumont, was the heir to the Seigneur of Sark, a Royal Air Force officer, film producer and the husband of actress Mary Law ...

, son of the Dame of Sark, and his actress wife Mary Lawson.

Notable residents

April Ashley April Ashley (29 April 1935 – 27 December 2021) was an English model. She was outed as a transgender woman by ''The Sunday People'' newspaper in 1961 and is one of the earliest British people known to have had sex reassignment surgery. Her ...

, model *

Bessie Braddock Elizabeth Margaret Braddock (née Bamber; 24 September 1899 – 13 November 1970) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for the Liverpool Exchange division from 1945 to 1970. She was a ...

, politician *

James Campbell James Campbell may refer to: Academics * James Archibald Campbell (1862–1934), founder of Campbell University in North Carolina * James Marshall Campbell (1895–1977), dean of the college of arts and sciences at the Catholic University of Americ ...

, artist *

William Connolly (VC) William Connolly Victoria Cross, VC ( – 31 December 1891) was an England, English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to United Kingdom, British and ...

, soldier, buried at Kirkdale Cemetery *

Victor Grayson Albert Victor Grayson (born 5 September 1881, disappeared 28 September 1920) was an English socialist politician of the early 20th century. An Independent Labour Party Member of Parliament from 1907 to 1910, Grayson is most notable for his sensat ...

, politician * James Hanley, novelist and playwright was born in Kirkdale in 1897 *

Gerald Hanley Gerald Hanley (17 February 1916 – 7 September 1992) was an Irish novelist and travel writer and was born in Liverpool of Irish parents. Hanley's novels reflect his experiences of living in Africa, Burma and the Indian sub-continent, as well a ...

, author and screenwriter, brother of James Hanley, was born here in 1916 *

Michael Holliday Norman Alexander Milne, known professionally as Michael Holliday (26 November 1924 – 29 October 1963) was a British singer, who was popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He had a number of chart hits in the UK, including two number one si ...

, singer *

Brian Jacques James Brian Jacques (, as in "Jakes"; 15 June 1939 – 5 February 2011) was an English novelist known for his ''Redwall'' series of novels and ''Castaways of the Flying Dutchman'' series. He also completed two collections of short stories entit ...

, author * Steve McManaman, footballer * Paul Reynolds, musician. * Paul Smith, boxer * Stephen Smith, boxer * Liam Smith, boxer *

Callum Smith Callum John Smith (born 23 April 1990) is an English professional boxer. He held the WBA (Super) and ''Ring'' magazine super-middleweight titles from 2018 to 2020, and at regional level the British and European super-middleweight titles betwee ...

, boxer * Agnes Matthews,

Cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning (textiles), spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Althou ...

worker * Anthony Gordon, footballer *

Jonjoe Kenny Jonjoe Kenny (born 15 March 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Bundesliga club Hertha BSC. He came through the youth system of Everton, where he had been a professional since July 2014. Club career Kenny s ...

, footballer

References

External links

Liverpool City Council, Ward Profile: KirkdaleLiverpool Street Gallery - Liverpool 4Liverpool Street Gallery - Liverpool 5Liverpool Street Gallery - Liverpool 20
{{Liverpool Areas of Liverpool