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| Entrance to Fulwood Park |
Situated alongside the River Mersey between St. Michael's Hamlet and
Grassendale Park, Fulwood Park is a private residential estate laid out
in the 1840s in the form of a single cul-de-sac on the site of the fields belonging to the White House Farm, with an entrance lodge
and park gates on Aigburth Road. The White House was also known as the Three Sixes, because the house was said to have been built in 1666. The freehold land was
purchased in 1808 by a William Bunnell from Lord Sefton who owned
Toxteth Park. In 1840, William Bunnell's executors laid out the land
that was to become Fulwood Park as building plots with the proviso that
any houses constructed should not cost less than £1500 and must not be
higher than 2 storeys.
The
Fulwood Park estate was to be more exclusive than the other two in Aigburth
(Grassendale and Cressington) and was started before them. The houses here are very large and grand, set in generous grounds with
mature trees and planting, as only one
house per acre was stipulated. They are stucco faced and Italianate in
design, with rich moulded details, balustraded balconies and impressive
entrance gateposts.
In the Parish of St Michael in the Hamlet, Toxteth Park, its southern boundary runs through Otterspool Park along what
was the old stream coming out of Sefton Park which divided the
townships of Toxteth Park and Garston, Aigburth being a district within
the township of Garston, not Toxteth Park. It was an exclusive development, a magnet for rich
merchants, and it illustrates the high end of
conspicuous consumption. Some of its
old estates on Fulwood still remain, the most famous of which is Park Lea, 6 Fulwood
Park, now Class II listed. These huge homes were dependent on a vast army of hot and cold
running Irish maids to ensure they ran smoothly for family and guests.
The impact on the latter was especially important as the houses were
designed as showpieces to impress.
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| A 1916 photo of the marble-lined bathroom which includes an electric fire and a discreet toilet |
Parklea Manor was built in the Italianate style and faced in stucco around 1840 by the original owner, Thomas Avison, a prominent local lawyer. It was subsequently purchased around 1910 by Richard Blackler, owner of Blacklers' department store, and was later used as an Embassy at which time the Japanese Conservatory was added. In the picture above we see the sumptuous marbled bathroom commissioned by Mrs Blackler, a combination of traditional luxury with the latest modernity of a shower and of the bath and toilet disguised as a lavish cane chair. Richard died in 1919 and Margaret took over his partnership in the business. Margaret died in 1957 and was buried like her husband in Allerton cemetery. Parklea is featured in the book 'Merchant Palaces: Liverpool and Wirral Mansions' by Joseph Sharples, 2007.
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| Parklea Manor entrance hall |
The history of Fulwood Park is well covered in Robert Griffiths' "The
History of the Royal and Ancient Park of Toxteth, Liverpool" recently re
published by the Liverpool Record office.
Fulwood Park Conservation Area was designated on the 20th of December 1972.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2022/07/historic-liverpool-dwellings-knowsley.html
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