In the angle between Petticoat Lane, now Broadgreen Road, and Prescot Lane was Oakhill, built in 1773 by Richard Watt, afterwards of Speke. Further to the east was Staplands, an enormous house with spacious grounds, later to be also known as Highfield House. ( Not to be confused with the home of sugar baron Henry Tate, built in Woolton in 1871). It was built circa 1750 by Thomas Wakefield, a Liverpool sugar baker and a partner of Thomas Seel who was also a partner or sole owner in 30 slave voyages which carried 6,699 slaves between 1736 and 1758. A sign in Liverpool One at the bottom of Seel Street, now since removed. explained: "Thomas Seel was an Eighteenth Century merchant. He made money out of the dreadful slave trade, but used some of it to pay for Liverpool's first infirmary, which was on the site of St George's Hall." Thomas Wakefield was also one of the principal subscribers in 1745. Ackers End itself was a farm of 23 acres, lying between Old Swan and Broad Green, now part of Highfield House estate.
In 1775 it became the residence of Charlotte, Dowager Duchess of Athole and heiress of Man. There were two Dowager Duchesses of Atholl, (Duke James's widow, who had married Lord Adam Gordon, and the 3rd Duke's widow, Baroness Strange), to save confusion they were known in the family as Duchess Adam and Duchess Strange. During May 1775 "Duchess Strange" purchased Highfield and removed her family from Kingston to Highfield. She at first took the property on a lease, but afterwards purchased it, with the Duke taking over the lease of his mother's house at Kingston. Early in June 1776 the Duke and Duchess, with their infant daughter, went home and settled at Dunkeld. They paid a visit to 'Duchess Strange' at Highfield on the way, where they were joined by his Grace's sister, Lady Charlotte, who accompanied them to Scotland. In October 'Duchess Strange' removed from Highfield to Westcombe, near Greenwich, that being considered a better situation for her children's education. During 1779 the estate of Highfield, now in the possession of her son John,was again disposed of.
Thomas Parke, a Liverpool slave trader, merchant, banker and privateer who was involved in at least 72 slave voyages between 1755 and 1792 then purchased the house around 1781. Parke lived in Water Street, and was in business with Arthur Heywood. He later moved to Duke Street, and resided at Highfield House. His son, Sir James Parke ( Lord Wensleydale ) was born on the 22nd of March 1782 in Highfield where he also lived there as a boy. There were twin lodges, standing at the driveway gates of Highfield House in Summer Square. They stood on Prescot Road, opposite Blackhorse Lane and are now demolished.
The estate had a number of owners after that date including the Littledale family who would live here for many years. Thomas Littledale had married Ann Molyneux, the eldest daughter of the influential Molyneux family in the city in 1815 and, to house his family, bought Highfield. It is detailed on some members of the Molyneux family's death certificates in the 1860s that their abode was Staplands. They had six children, with two dying in childbirth which was not that uncommon at the time. In 1818 they had a second son Thomas who would be the father of St. George Littledale. Thomas junior followed in his father's footsteps in becoming Lord Mayor of Liverpool and in 1851, at the age of thirty three, became the youngest Mayor in over a century. Young Clement, born in 1851, was a bit of a disappointment to his dad, as instead of joining the family business, as a cotton trader, he went off travelling...... and never stopped. Clement St. George Royds Littledale, the Victorian animal collector and hunter, after his father died, attended Rugby School briefly, his mother remarried, and in 1866 he was enrolled at Shrewsbury School. He left after three years without finishing. In 1872, at age 21 he came into his inheritance including Oakhill House, Broadgreen Road Old Swan ( now the site of Broadgreen Primary school).
In later years Highfield House became the headquarters of a religious
sect founded by F.W. Sandford and nicknamed 'The Holy Ghosters' by
locals, due to the prominence that they attached to the third person of
the Trinity. They later took a chapel in Edge Hill, but their mission to
'convert England' was considered a bit of failure, and many moved to
Egypt.
Highfield House was demolished in 1915 and Highfield School Secondary Modern School for Boys was set up on the site. Highfield Comprehensive, now Broadgreen Community Comprehensive, and acres of housing, now stands on the site.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2022/11/historical-liverpool-dwellings-finch.html
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