Historic Liverpool Dwellings - Tue Brook House

Tuebrook's place-name comes from one of the city’s lost rivers, the Tew Brook which is the main tributary of the River Alt. The brook was marked on 18th century maps, and is believed to have flown parallel to Green Lane, crossing West Derby Road, which was known as Tewbrook Lane. 'Green lanes' tended to be routes on the edge of villages heading out into the uninhabited areas and in the case of Green Lane this was Tuebrook. Almond's and Hayman's Green would also have been green lanes leading out beyond the boundaries of West Derby. In 1533 farms were aggregated and common land was enclosed, turning arable land into pasture. Anfield is a corruption of the words 'hangfield' or 'the hanging field'? This is a reference to the sloping farmland behind Everton, which served as an agricultural district, which sloped towards Tuebrook and West Derby. In 1667 the West Derby Wastes were enclosed.

Tue Brook House at 695 West Derby Road was a yeoman's house built in 1615 and is the oldest dated house in Liverpool. It is made from limewashed stone with sandstone dressings and has a stone slate roof. It consists of a central hall with 2 cross wings. The front windows are low and mullioned. It has wooden gutters and down pipes and is thought to have been originally owned by John Mercer, a yeoman farmer and during the Victorian period was the home and workshop of a Mr.Fletcher, a wheelwright. Some parts of the building contain sections of its original 'wattle and daub' construction, which can be seen through glass panels. 

The interior of Tue Brook house, the oldest inhabited house in Liverpool. 4th March 1952.

 

Workmen engaged in reconditioning the old house forced an entry into a 'Secret Chamber' located in the chimney breast between two of the bedrooms, disclosing a space measuring 10 feet by 4.5 feet which was supposed at the time to be a priest hide during the civil wars of the seventeenth century. After being used as a farmhouse for many years it is now a home surrounded by semi-detached houses. It was said that if you walked past Tue Brook house late at night you could hear the sound of ghostly hooves on the cobbles outside.

There was a plan to open the historic property up to the public but sadly these plans never succeeded. Today, the house is owned by a local family and there is a plan to open this historic property to the public soon. Some parts of the building have retained the original wattle and daub construction, which can be seen through glass panels, and the original priest hide remains in the chimney breast between two of the bedrooms.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2022/06/historic-liverpool-dwellings-allerton_22.html