Newsham Park and gardens in Fairfield is another public space and Victorian era park that used to belong to a family involved in slave voyages. Fairfield is the area encompassing streets between Tuebrook and Kensington through to Old Swan. The grounds were part of the Fairfield Estate, owned by the Molyneux family. Thomas Molyneux who was known to have been involved in 39 slave voyages between 1784-99, built Newsham House. In 1846 the Corporation of Liverpool bought a 240 acre estate from the Molyneux family for the sum of £85,000 after Anthony Molyneux's eldest son, Thomas Bladys Molyneux, went bankrupt. The land included the substantial dwelling, Newsham House, and its surrounding parkland. Newsham House was on the North West boundary of the Park, and was a smart double fronted residence situated on a small rise overlooking the Park. In 1850 the Corporation then purchased a neighbouring estate, and so brought a large expanse of parkland into public ownership. Newsham Park was designed by the famous architect, Edward Kemp, a protégé of Joseph Paxton who had laid out Princes Park in 1844. It was intended that the cost of laying out and maintaining the Park would be subsidised by the sale of some neighbouring land to property speculators, who would then erect large prestigious villas. Minutes from the Liverpool Finance Committee confirm that Edward Kemp, as a prominent local landscape architect and then incumbent park superintendent of Birkenhead Park prepared the original draft design for Newsham Park.
'Minutes of Finance Committee, 16th December 1864' :
Newsham House Estate
The
Architect and Surveyor begs to report to the Real Estate Sub-Committee
that after a conference with Mr Weightman and himself Mr Kemp has
amended his plan for the laying out of the Newsham House Estate and that the same is now presented for approval. By
altering the original arrangements in a variety of ways about 11
additional acres of building land have been attained making a total of
55 acres and even this quantity might be increased if thought desirable.
One of the methods of gaining building sites shown on the plan is to
place a double row instead of a single line of sites on the side next
to Sheil Road and this has been done in supposition that it is the
intention of the Corporation to retain Sheil Park permanently as a park. The
ornamental water has been shortened at the end towards West Derby Road
so as to avoid the necessity of building a bridge for the carriageway. If
it is the wish of the Corporation really to lay out a park and not
merely to lay out building sites ornamentally the arrangements now
proposed are probably as good as any that could be devised.
Town Hall December 15th 1864 E.R. Robson
Edward Kemp had proposed to demolish the house but it was instead converted in 1866–67 to act as Judges' Lodgings, designated as the official residence for judges sitting at Liverpool Crown Court and was sometimes referred to as Judge's House. It is built in brick on a stone base, with stone dressings and a hipped slate roof. The house had three storeys with a basement, and a five-bay frontage. The middle three bays breaking forward under a pediment. The porch contained pairs of Corinthian columns, and the windows were sashes with wedge lintels. On the left of the house was an extension containing a circular library. There was also the Stable and Coach house, a building in brick with stone dressings and a slate roof. This building had two storeys and a front of 8 bays with the central two bays breaking forward under a pediment. On the ground floor were carriage openings, inserted garage doors, and sash windows with the upper floor containing square and round glazed pitch holes.
Numerous prestigious guests stayed at the house over the following decades. In 1874, the Duke of Edinburgh lodged there while visiting the city to lay the foundation stone for the Walker Art Gallery. However, the most famous guest was Queen Victoria, who stayed in Newsham House in 1886 during her visit to Liverpool to open the International Shipperies Exhibition at nearby Wavertree Park. It is now enclosed by high trees and so is only partially visible from the Park, but the road names testify to the occupation of its inhabitants.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2022/11/historic-liverpool-dwellings-lowlands.html
No comments:
Post a Comment