North Liverpool: Everton to Aintree

	St. George's Church, Everton St. Georges church was designed by Thomas Rickman, John Cragg and J.M Gandy. It was completed in 1814 and was probably the first building were prefabricated cast iron was used on a large scale for building frames and windows with a view to re-using the moulds elsewhere and achieving large cost savings. In fact, many of the casts were reused for St. Michael's in the Hamlet, Aigburth and St. Philip's, Hardman Street (no longer there). They were manufactured at Cragg's Mersey Iron Foundry . Everton is fondly associated among those of a certain age with the Everton Mint, a delicious and unique black and white striped confection created by Molly Bushell (d. 1818) in the mid-18th century, whose original manufactory was in Village Street. Everton Football Club is nicknamed The Toffees.
Everton in Baines's Lancashire Directory (1824) This village has become a very favourite residence of the gentry of Liverpool, and for the salubrity of its air and its vicinity to the sea, may not inaptly be called the Montpellier of the county.
Everton in Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England (1848) This place [...] claims a more remote history than Liverpool, to which it now forms an elegant suburb. We find it exempt from the imposition of Danegelt instituted by Ethelred, and it is mentioned in 1066 as having been then given by the Conqueror to his cousin, Roger de Poictiers. An ancient fire-beacon, coeval with the Tower at Liverpool, stood here for many centuries; but it has now disappeared, and the site is occupied by St. George's church. During the siege of Liverpool, Prince Rupert occupied a cottage here, which was held in great veneration, until it was at length pulled down in 1845 [...]. The agreeable village or suburb of Everton, denominated, from the salubrity of its air and the pleasantness of its situation, the Montpelier of Lancashire, is seated on a bold eminence opposite to the bay of Bootle [...]. The prospects are very beautiful; and from the western parts of Everton Hill may be seen the fertile lands of Cheshire, the mountains of Wales, the river Mersey, and the expanding Irish Sea with its numberless vessels. From its proximity to Liverpool, it has become the residence of many respectable and wealthy families; numerous streets and crescents have been formed, and the township is studded with handsome detached mansions and villas. [...] The district church of St. George was erected in 1813, at an expense of £11,500, on a site given by James Atherton, Esq.; it is an elegant structure in the later English style, with a square embattled tower crowned by pinnacles. The framework and tracery of the windows and doors, the groinings of the roof, the pulpit, and all the ornamental parts, are of cast-iron; and the east window, of which the iron tracery is exceedingly rich, is embellished with stained glass.
Everton in the Victoria History of the County of Lancaster (1907) This township lies on the hill to the north-east of Liverpool, the highest point being at St. George's Church. From that point there is a very rapid slope to the north and to the west, the elevated ridge continuing southward to Low Hill and Edge Hill. The height allows an extensive panorama of the city of Liverpool, including a distant view of the Cheshire side of the River Mersey. At sunset the windows of the houses on Everton Brow flash back the glowing radiance, showing that nothing impedes the wide prospect westwards. The foot of this ridge is the western boundary. [...] The commanding situation of the village occasioned its earliest prominent connexion with the general history of the county, for here Prince Rupert fixed his head quarters when attacking Liverpool in 1644. In more peaceful times the wealthier merchants of Liverpool chose it for their country mansions [...]. The roads were shaded with fine trees, and a walk to the top of the hill was a pleasant exercise for dwellers in the town. The growth of Liverpool northwards, with the erection of chemical works and other factories by the riverside, destroyed the amenities of the situation, and within the last fifty years the great houses in their spacious grounds have been replaced by closely packed streets of small dwellings. There was a large sandstone quarry on the northern slope of the hill.
	Liverpool Collegiate Institution, Everton The Liverpool Collegiate Institution, opened in 1843, was the first of the great English Victorian public schools. It was designed by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes, of St. George's Hall fame, and built of Woolton Quarry sandstone. The facade is just about all that remains of the original building following a fire that gutted it in 1994. The rear has been redeveloped as elegant modern apartments.
	St. Mary's Church, Walton The ancient area of Walton was much larger than the present one. Childwall was detached before the Norman Conquest and Sefton before 1200. Liverpool was relatively insignificant at that time and only separated in 1699. The site and foundations of the church are ancient and a church is mentioned in the Domesday Book. Before 1699, it was the principal church of Liverpool, St Nicholas's having been a chapel of Walton up to that time. Parts of the present church date from 1743, when the nave was rebuilt, but the north side was remodelled in 1840. The chancel dates from 1843 and the tower from 1832. The atmospheric churchyard features an early 18th century sundial.
Walton in Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England (1848) This locality presents an extremely pleasing appearance, and abounds in handsome mansions and villas; from Walton Hill are most extensive views, including the town of Liverpool, the Welsh hills, and the mountains of Cumberland. Among the best houses are Walton Hall, the residence of Richard Naylor, Esq.; Walton Priory, that of Robert Ellison Harvey, Esq.; and several detached mansions on Breeze Hill. On the side of the Ormskirk road is the unique establishment of Charles Whitfield Harvey, Esq., the successful rearer of prize-cattle; and Spellow House, an ancient mansion of stone, is surrounded by a large tract of land, appropriated by Mr. William Skirving to the rearing of foresttrees and nursery-plants in general, including those of the most rare description. [...] The church, which, up to 1698, was the mother church of Liverpool, was mostly rebuilt in 1829, at a cost of £5000; and is a noble structure in the early English style, with decorated portions, and a tower and pinnacles. From its great elevation, it is a conspicuous object in the surrounding scenery, and serves as a landmark. The interior is very beautiful, with a stained-wood roof, and east and west windows of painted glass.
Walton in the Victoria History of the County of Lancaster (1907) The natural features of the township have long since been obscured or entirely swept away by bricks and mortar, and thronged streets of small houses and busy shops and electric-car standards occupy the site of country lanes, gardens, and trees. [...] The old village lay near the church, in a street bending round its northern side. The workhouse of the West Derby Union lies about a mile to the north; close by is a cemetery belonging to the parish of Liverpool. Farther north still is the county prison; here executions take place.
	The Old School House, Walton Tucked away at the side of St Mary's church, the old grammar school is dated 1613 and replaces an earlier school of 1548.
Netherton in the Victoria History of the County of Lancaster (1907) This township was originally a hamlet of Sefton, but appears to have been recognized as a distinct township as early as 1624, when the county lay was fixed. [...] It is in the heart of flat, agricultural country. The land is principally arable, producing crops of potatoes, wheat, barley, oats, and rye, in a soil which is a mixture of clay and sand. The country is not interesting, for there is nothing picturesque about the scattered farmsteads, and the trees are only large enough to give a slight protection to the buildings around which they cluster.
	Cookson's Bridge, Litherland The Leeds and Liverpool Canal here runs past Rimrose Valley Country Park, a wedge of open grassland, copses and wetland dividing Great Crosby and Litherland.
Litherland in the Victoria History of the County of Lancaster (1907) Litherland forms an uninteresting [hang on a minute - I was born there after all!] link between the busy environs of Bootle and the more open country towards Sefton township, since there are both dwelling-houses and warehouses, streets, and shops, as well as open spaces. The ancient township, from which Seaforth has now been carved out, [..] was formerly called Down Litherland to distinguish it from the hamlet of Up-Litherland in Aughton. The Diamond Match Factory is the most prominent industry in Litherland. [...] The field names in a map of 1769 show that the Marsh was the district between Rimrose Brook and the shore [...]. The moss occupied the north-eastern part of the township; the moor adjoined it on the borders of Orrell.
Orrell with Ford in the Victoria History of the County of Lancaster (1907) This township is formed of two detached portions, Orrell to the south and Ford to the north. [...] Orrell occurs comparatively early as a well-defined part of Litherland, [...] called a 'vill' as early as 1310. [...] It is described as a hamlet of Litherland in 1345. Ford [...] touches upon the open country and shares the refreshing sea-breezes which come from the west. [...] The ford from which the place takes its name was perhaps one over the Rimrose Brook, which divides it from Great Crosby.
Orrell with Ford in Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England (1848) The township comprises 470 acres, of a light soil, with a red-sandstone substratum; it stands elevated, and has fine views of the sea and the Welsh hills. [...] The air is very salubrious and healthy.
Fazakerley in the Victoria History of the County of Lancaster (1907) In the thirteenth century Fazakerley was one of the Walton town fields, adjoining which, as the woodlands were cleared, there grew up a hamlet and ultimately a township. It is separated from Walton by the brook called Fazakerley or Tue Brook, and from West Derby partly by Sugar Brook up to the point where it is spanned by Stone bridge. [...] The country is extremely flat and treeless, with nothing to recommend it to the passer-by, for it seems to be a district of straight lines, devoid of any beauty. Rather bare fields on the south and east under mixed cultivation give some variety to the pasture land. [...] Agriculture is the chief occupation, but the jam works established here have attained considerable magnitude, and on the Aintree border have given name to a little town known as Hartley's Village.
Aintree in the Victoria History of the County of Lancaster (1907) The country is extremely flat, and in the northern portion of the township the level of the landscape is scarcely broken by even the smallest trees, and the hedges are but scanty. The surface, occupied by cultivated fields, where corn and potatoes find a congenial soil, is a mixture of clay and sand. A few farms are dotted about the district. [...] The great racecourse, was opened 8 July, 1829. The old village is in the centre of the township, about two miles south-east of Sefton church; but houses are multiplying on the Walton border, owing to the growth of Liverpool and the rise of industries in the neighbourhood.