CRESSINGTON PARK and GRASSENDALE PARK
Running inland from the North Shore of the River Mersey lie private parks – Regency, Victorian and Edwardian houses within a setting of forest trees, isolated from the rows of by-law properties by their own park gates – Grassendale and Cressington are two of these parks which extend into gracious boulevards and ‘well-treed’ areas of suburban South Liverpool.
Aigburth Road and St Mary’s Road together make the Southern Gateway into the City from Runcorn and Widnes. Along this road are Grassendale and Cressington Parks which were laid out for wealthy Victorian merchants in the early to mid-nineteenth century as a private speculative venture. A network of roads leading to an elegant riverside esplanade was constructed and lined with sandstone plinth walls and cast iron railings. Restrictive covenants relating to the size of plots, building lines, external materials and other features of design were, and still are, administered by the Trustees of the Parks. The whole area achieves a unity, which is greatly enhanced by large gardens with a wealth of planting and mature trees.
The elegant Grassendale Park – entrance via Grassendale Road off the end of Aigburth Road, L19 – has two roads in it and some of the houses face onto a promenade on the banks of the River Mersey. There are fine decorative examples of Regency architecture with excellent cast iron balconies and classical details. Some of the houses are semi-detached and remain in single occupancy.
Cressington Park – entrance through Salisbury Road off St Mary’s Road, L19 – Built after Grassendale Park and the last of the private parks running down to the River Mersey. There are some charming houses in the Park. From a lodge and park gates, two roads lead down to a promenade.
Cressington and Grassendale each have their own riverside promenade and Cressington has its own railway station and also its own weather station. Both parks are worth exploring for their sociological interest, as much as for their architectural value. The promenade is upriver of the docks and the Liverpool waterfront and makes an additional viewpoint at low water for bird watchers who can observe shelduck and pintail feeding here in winter, together with a selection of waders like the curlew and oystercatcher. The rocky sections of the shoreline are particularly attractive to turnstone and redshank. Mediterranean gulls have been recorded amongst the commoner gull species such as Herring gull and Black-headed gull. As we are in mid-November some late autumn migrants can be seen over the estuary.
Sources;
- ‘Buildings of Liverpool’, Liverpool Heritage Bureau. 1978
- ‘Liverpool city of architecture’, Quentin Hughes. Bluecoat Press, 1999
- ‘Discover Liverpool’, Ken Pye. Trinity Mirror Media, 2011
Hugh@MBAN
