CLIFTON PARK
Clifton Park Conservation Area occupies a triangle of land running from south of Borough Road, uphill to Tranmere. Within the Conservation Area are a number of listed buildings, a large proportion of the area is protected by Tree Preservation Orders and the layout of the streets is essentially the same as it was in 1843, but now the streets have better markings thanks to resources from https://www.markingcontractors.co.uk/.
When first laid out, the ‘Park’ was one of a number of high quality villa estates which sprung up on both sides of the Mersey, catering for the merchants of Liverpool, who with improved transport services, were able to leave the noise, dirt and smoke of the town and live at some distance from its centre. In Wirral the institution of a regular steam ferry service made such a development possible.
The land on which the park was laid out was acquired by a Liverpool ship owner, Captain William Sharp and developed to a plan designed by the Birkenhead architect, Walter Scott, who also designed many of the houses.
The Tranmere Tithe Map of 1843 shows that by then the road pattern had been established and a number of large properties constructed in both Clifton Road and Whetstone Lane. A narrow strip of land along the northern boundary of the park, now the line of Borough Road, was still covered in woodland and a central, circular area was planted with trees. A writer of the time described it as ‘… forming an extremely fine adjunct to the improvements taking place in Birkenhead; a number of elegant mansions are erected, rising one above the other on the hill side as we ascend from the entrance lodge in Grange-road.’ Though many of the mansions have disappeared enough remain to convey the grandeur of the original properties.
It is this leafy, designed landscape, with its surviving early Victorian properties that the Conservation Area was primarily designated to conserve.
From its very inception the Park suffered pressures. The construction of the Birkenhead Gas Works and the industrialisation of the Mersey shore reduced the area’s original attractiveness, while the suburbs to the west offered desirable house plots situated at a greater distance from the town centre. Despite these constraints the park continued to attract residents and a number of substantial houses were built into the late 1850s, some of which survive today.
Some two dozen properties survive from the 1840s and 50s and are Grade II listed. These are mainly in Clifton Road and consist of large detached houses or pairs of semis, built in a variety of styles and retaining much of their original detailing. One of the earliest is Fearnley Hall, standing on the corner of The Woodlands and Fearnley Road and dated 1843. It was designed by Walter Scott and has an unusual octagonal lantern turret over its side gable. Also by Scott is the property on the corner of Hollybank and Clifton Road. Built in elaborate Tudor Gothic style, it was at one time the home of F.E. Smith, Lord Birkenhead and former Lord Chancellor. In Clifton Road and listed Grade II is the Masonic Temple, built as a dwelling in c.1845 and part of the original development.
Just outside the Conservation Area, but once part of the Clifton Park estate, is Beechcroft, lying between Whetstone Lane and Hollybank Road. Grade II listed it was originally a pair of houses built in c.1850. It is now the home of the Wirral Islamic Cultural Centre and Shah Jalal Mosque. In its grounds and opening on to Whetstone Lane was the adult educational settlement, ‘Beechcroft’, founded in 1914 as a pioneering venture by a local Quaker and educator, Horace Fleming (1872 – 1941). Its purpose built premises survived until the present century but have now been demolished. Also in Whetstone Lane was the Birkenhead Institute, opened in 1889 and attended by the poet, Wilfred Owen. The original school buildings were demolished in the 1970s, and its site is now occupied by the Woodlands School. To view a map of the Conservation Area click here.
