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| H.L. Elmes designs for the mansion |
The mansion Druids Cross was built in 1847 for the merchant Joseph Hornby by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes, who designed St George's Hall. The house, now demolished included a stone Lodge, Grade 11 listed, with a hipped slate roof. One storey high it has 3 bays and the lst bay projects, a top entablature with bracketed frieze and rusticated quoins. The windows have angle pilasters, with the 1st bay window tripartite; then a narrow window in return, sashed with glazing bars, and the end bay window has small-paned casement. The central entrance has architrave raised overpanel,and bracketed cornice and 2 gabled stone stacks.
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| The Lodge |
Joseph Hornby was born on the 19th of April 1794 in Liverpool, to Thomas Hornby and Cecily Langton. He married Elizabeth Baldwin Dyson on the 18th of January 1821 and they had 8 children. A Merchant of Lodge Lane and Northumberland Terrace, Everton, Liverpool, he subsequently relocated to Druids Cross, Little Woolton, A partner in the Mercantile firm of Messrs. H and J Hornby & Co., ( his elder brother was Hugh Hornby, Esq.), he was also an Alderman of Liverpool Corporation. During his travels abroad in early life, Joseph kept a journal, which was later printed at the Ashendene Press of his grandson, Charles Harry St. John Hornby, Esq.
Druids Cross Road is a continuation of Woolton Hill Road and runs down to Menlove Avenue. It is at this point where the Calder Stones were originally discovered as part of a neolithic burial chamber before being moved to the Harthill Estate (now Calderstones Park) where for many years they were hidden inside a greenhouse. The Victorian mansion situated where Druids Park is now was used in 1916 as the Reformatory School for Girls before being loaned out by Sir Alexander Brown as Druids Cross Military Hospital. The hospital opened on the 29th of June 1918 and over 700 patients were treated there. In around 1928, St Catherine’s Orphanage for Roman Catholic Girls moved here from out of the city centre from Falkner Street in Liverpool. When the house was demolished, The Lodge remained, as did the stables and a cottage but there are also some sections of the original walls still visible. Druid Cross Gardens is now one of Liverpool's prime residential locations in Calderstones.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2023/03/historic-liverpool-dwellings-crosse-hall.html
As a result of war damage and family bereavement my sister and I were sent to Druids Cross around 1942. Fortunately our stay was not that long but even now as an 88 year old memories of the dreadful treatment at Druids Cross still remain.
ReplyDeleteI realise that I should be grateful but Druids Cross was horrendous.
My Mother and her Sister were sent to Druid’s Cross around the same time. My Grandmother had left her husband and two young daughters did not suit her new life with her lover. Both women were deeply psychologically damaged by this and their horrendous experience at the children’s home. The consequences have made my own life very difficult.
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