Historic Liverpool Dwellings - Dovecot House

Dove-cote House c1848

The land here had passed between many of the ruling families of this region before, as records indicate, it was the Molyneux family who were the first to erect the first substantial building in this area. This was a Manor house and farm constructed in the 1500s. Here Margaret Molyneux resided but the house was demolished in the 18th century, although the farm, out buildings and land would survive until the 1900s. It is commonly thought that a Dovecot, a structure to house pigeons or doves, existed here but there is no evidence to prove this. The creation of dovecotes can be traced back to the Norman period and until the seventeenth century, the right to keep doves was a privilege enjoyed exclusively by the aristocratic elite. Dove-cote House was built in the 1810s and the gardens developed in 1819 by the the renowned Scottish landscaper, gardener and botanist John Claudius. Louden. The first residents here were the wealthy cotton broker Adam Dugdale and his wife Mary Hargreaves, He had warehouses in Piccadilly and Moseley Street, Manchester and also a property, Portland Villa, in New Brighton. On the 26th of June 1834 he laid the foundation stone for the parish church of St. John the Evangelist in Knotty Ash. Following a long illness Adam died on the 8th of April 1838 and was buried in the vaults under this church and his wife Mary followed when she died in 1849. It was following Adam's death that Marcus Hill Bland moved into the house as a wealthy tenant in 1839. He was the son of Marcus Henry Bland who had established a shipping agency in Gibraltar with its headquarters in a room in his home in Irish Town. It was a street which at the time was more or less the business center of Gibraltar. Marcus Hill Bland inherited the business and its assets following his father's death in 1839 and he lived at Dovecote with his wife Eliza, their five children and servants before moving to a large house in Shaw street, Everton by the time of the 1851 census. The same census showed that Adam Dugdale's nephew, John Dugdale was now resident at Dovecote with his wife Elizabeth where he was listed as a land proprietor farming 80 acres, employing 10 agricultural labourers plus a number of house and garden servants. John Dugdale died here aged 69 years in 1855 and was buried in his hometown of Great Harwood where his wife was also buried following her death in 1863. By this time a Liverpool merchant Charles McIver was living at Dovecote House with his wife Marianne and their nine children, as indicated in Gore's Directory of 1860. They also had another house at 8 Abercrombie Square, Liverpool. He was one of Victorian Liverpool's leading shipping magnates and helped establish the Cunard Line, cementing his status as a pioneer of transatlantic sea travel, holding lavish parties in the parklands of the house for family events. He later acquired the rank of Lieutenant Colonel for the 11th Lancashire Artillary, also known as 'The British and American Mail Steam Ship Corps', and it is documented that he would bring his troops on special trains from the City and march them from the local station to Dovecote House for inspection. Sometime later, the family left Dovecote to take up the even grander Calderstones Mansion, a beautiful Grade II listed Georgian house in Calderstones Park, and he was custodian of the Calder Stones. Gore's Directory records in 1860 that the farm at Dovecote was owned by James Kerr, a cattle salesman. 1901 saw that there was a new owner of Dovecot House, a wealthy Liverpool merchant Robert MacSymon born in Greenock and now with a large chain of retail outlet stores on both sides of the river. He had moved from 'Riverslea', Grassendale Park, Otterspool near the river to this address, now 224 Prescot Road, and with the letter 'e' now dropped from its name, and where he now resided with his wife Jessie, their 10 children, 2 nurses, 2 house maids, 1 cook and a kitchen maid.

Dovecot House

He would be the last private owner of Dovecot House as, after he moved to Ashville, Birkenhead Park, in 1909 the house was given over for 11 years to care for unfortunate children taking the name 'Dovecot Special Industrial School for Mentally Defective Girls'. After the school re-located to Thomas Lane, Knotty Ash in 1920, Liverpool Corporation bought up large plots of the land at auction for council housing and Dovecot House was demolished by the Council in 1928.

Shops under the Dovecot Arches

Dovecot was a wonderful concept in public housing, built during the great depression of the thirties, mainly three bedroom houses with bathroom and inside toilet; a big change from two up two down terrace houses of the city from whence most of the tenants came. In many respects 'Dovie' was a self contained suburb catering for people right across the board. For the movie lovers there was the Granada Cinema, the sport minded people had lots of open space in which to play football, with also the Harold Davies Baths, 'Dovecot Baths', a very modern swimming complex at the time and for others there was the Dovecot Park with its pond and Lawn Bowls. Dovecot Park was built on the site of the ancient manor house and once boasted a lake and bowling green with children spending many a happy hour searching for tadpoles and sticklebacks in the lake. There were plenty of shops, the main centre being under the Dovecot Arches but there were also more shops on Dinas Lane, the top of Grant road, the Co-op on Page Moss Lane and many more stretching from the junction of Page Moss Lane and Pilch Lane down to Campbell Drive.

In 1931, the Diocese of Liverpool purchased Dovecot Farm for the purpose of building a Church and Hall to serve the new parish of Dovecot. The hall was the first building to be completed, dedicated on 4th June 1932 and this served as both hall and church until the church itself was completed and dedicated on the 26th of March 1938. 

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2023/01/historic-liverpool-dwellings-gorsey-cop.html