The Wirral: Port Sunlight to Ellesmere Port

	Cottages, Port Sunlight The remarkable Port Sunlight model village was the brainchild of William Hesketh Lever (1851-1925). His commitment to providing decent accomodation for his workers arose from the 1840s movement for housing and sanitary reform that lead to the 1851 Housing and 1875 Health Acts, but went much further. In his words: 'It is my hope [...] to build houses in which our work-people will be able to live and be comfortable. Semi-detached houses, with gardens back and front, in which they will be able to know more about the science of life than they can in a back slum, and in which they will learn that there is more enjoyment in life than in the mere going to and returning from work, and looking forward to Saturday night to draw their wages'. Again: 'ten to twelve houses to the acre is the maximum that ought to be allowed [...] houses should be built a minimum of 15 feet from the roadway [...] every house should have space available in the rear for a vegetable garden [...] open spaces for recreation should be laid out at frequent and convenient centres'. His particular vision was a combination of earlier model housing schemes with the principles of 18th century landscape design as transmuted in many existing Regency suburbs and spa towns.
	Cottages, Port Sunlight W.H. Lever was born in Bolton to a family of wholesale grocers, a business he duly entered. From 1884, he specialised in soap manufacture, setting up with his brother James Darcy Lever (1854-1910) as Lever Brothers. The extremely rapid growth in the business was only partly due to the superiority of the eponymous 'Sunlight' soap; more importantly, he introduced the small packets that we are now familiar with, attractively wrapped and imaginatively advertised using appropriate images from contemporary paintings. A new factory was soon necessitated and the present land, unpromisingly marshy but close to road, rail and sea routes, was selected and the factory completed in 1889; the first cottages followed a year later. Initially there were 24 acres (10 ha) for the factory and 32 acres (13 ha) for the village; the latter expanded gradually to the present 130 acres (53 ha). The final plans for the village as it now stands were due to Ernest Prestwick, a third year student in the Department of Civic Design at Liverpool University, in 1910. (Not many undergraduate dissertations have such influence!). Lever diversified his business after the Word War I, particularly into margarine, and the 1930 merger with the Dutch Magarine Union led to the current Unilever empire.
	Christ Church, Port Sunlight The English gothic styled Christ Church, built of Helsby sandstone, was completed in 1904. It was initially non-denominational, an oddity that fitted with Lever's non-conformist views ('a church in whose worship all Christian people, except those of extreme views, could share'). The beautiful interior has some magnificent stained glass. It is now a United Reformed Church.
	Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight Completed in 1901 and named after Lever's wife and childhood friend Elizabeth Hulme, Hulme Hall was originally a girls' dining room capable of seating 1500. When a works canteen was established, it was used as a museum and art gallery until the completion of the Lady Lever Gallery. It has since been used for special functions and gatherings and was the venue of an early Beatles concert.
	Lady Lever Gallery, Port Sunlight The subdued, classical Lady Lever Gallery, designed by William and Segart Owen in memory of Lever's wife Elizabeth who had died in 1913, and completed in 1922, is probably the finest building in Port Sunlight. Segar Owen described to Lever his concept of 'keeping a simple building with the entrances as the outstanding features [...] long lines giving this large building a low dignified appearance [that would] harmonise with the village, but at the same time stand out apart'. The fountain in front, of 1949, is by Charles Wheeler. The gallery reflects Lever's artistic preoccupations, with several rooms in the style of different periods and collections of sculpture, pottery, furniture, tapestries and paintings, most notably English Victorian art. Among some famous examples of the latter are Burne-Jones's lurid 'Tree of Forgiveness' and 'Beguiling of Merlin', Rossetti's 'Blessed Damozel' and William Holman Hunt's extraordinary 'Scapegoat'. Among other artists represented are Turner, Constable, Gainsborough, Reynolds, Stubbs, Waterhouse, Millais and Sargent, and there is a nice portrait by George Romney of the peachy Sarah Rodbard. Note also Joseph Farquharson's perennial Christmas card favourite 'The shortening winter's day is near a close'.
	Park Road and the Lyceum The Lyceum was completed in 1896 and was originally a school and a venue for Sunday services. It is now a social club.
	The War Memorial, Port Sunlight The War Memorial, by W. Goscombe John, was completed in 1921 as an unsentimental reflection on 'defence of the home'. It occupies a focal point of the village at the intersection of the Diamond and the Causeway.
	The Diamond, Port Sunlight The Diamond is the central boulevard of the village, named from when the tidal creeks that used to cross the land cut across diagonally at either end. It, with its associated housing, dates from 1911-1913. I may be getting carried away here, but the long green space with its monumental classical architecture reminds be strongly of the Mall in Washington DC (OK, on a smaller scale).
	The Dell, Port Sunlight The Dell represents the landscaped remains of a large tidal creek that used to flow into Bromborough Pool. The bridge dates from 1894. The land on which the village was constructed was originally desolate marsh crossed by a number of such creeks. Where the street plan departs from a regular geometric pattern, it is because of these waterways. Bromborough Pool was dammed in 1902 and the other creeks had mostly been filled in by 1910.
	The Bridge Inn, Port Sunlight Built in 1900, the Bridge Inn was originally a temperance hall, following Lever's belief in abstinence. Even so, it had become licensed by 1903. It was designed according to an idealised concept of the ancient English hostelry, with dining, tea and assembly rooms.
	St. Andrew's Church, Bebington There was a church on this site before the Norman Conquest. Some of the stones, which are of sandstone from the Storeton quarry, survive in the south wall of the present church. The curve of the adjacent road follows the boundary of an ancient circular burial ground (Viking settlers believed that corners were hiding places for evil spirits). A new church was built in Norman times; the area was then known as Whitchurch from the creamy colour of the stone used. A tower was added during the first half of the 14th century, when other extensions were also undertaken. Part of the south arcade survives from the Norman church and the north arcade is a copy of this from 1847. The chancel and chapels were built in the 16th century in a contrasting Perpendicular style (the nave is mainly Early Decorated style). The final structure was to have been more integrated, but work was interrupted by the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The contrast is also evident inside: the east end has cathedral-like proportions and large windows, while the earlier part seems more like a mediaeval village church.
Bebington in Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England (1848) The parish is situated on the banks of the river Mersey, and is intersected by the road from Neston to Birkenhead, and the railway from Chester to Birkenhead. [...] At Rock Ferry, in the parish, are several good mansions, some baths, and an hotel; and the neighbouring scenery is delightful. The church is a noble structure, partly Norman, and partly in the style that prevailed in the reign of Henry VIII; it suffered much by neglect and by injudicious repairs in past years, but has been recently restored, renovated, and considerably enlarged [...] and now presents one of the finest specimens of ecclesiastical architecture in the county.
Spital in Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England (1848) In the reign of Henry III there was a chapel in the parish, dedicated to Thomas … Becket, and it is probable that it stood in Spittal and was attached to the hospital in that hamlet, founded for lepers: no trace of either chapel or hospital now exists, except of the latter in the abbreviated name of Spittal. [...] Poulton Hall is situated on a gentle eminence, and is surrounded with good timber; the views from the mansion are bold and extensive, commanding the Welsh coast.
Eastham in Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England (1848) The parish is intersected by the Chester and Birkenhead road, the Ellesmere canal, and the Chester and Birkenhead railway, and is situated on the river Mersey. In the township of Eastham are 1205 acres, of a sandy soil. About a mile from the village is a ferry on the Mersey, where is an hotel of recent erection, with pleasure-grounds attached, an agreeable place of resort during the summer, the vicinity affording beautiful scenery. Sir William Massey Stanley has lately appropriated about 100 acres of land for building purposes; the land is divided into suitable plots of an acre or two each, after the designs of Mr. Clark Rampling, architect, of Liverpool, and villas are in progress of erection, which will add greatly to the importance of the locality. [...] The church is a large and handsome edifice of red stone, consisting of a nave, chancel, and aisles, with a tower and elegant spire.
Eastham in The Beauties of England and Wales, Vol II, Edward Wedlake Brayley and John Britton (1809) Eastham is a small vicarage, only singular from the vicar being entitled to all the fish caught in the river Mersey on Sundays and Fridays. The church consists of a nave, chancel, and side aisles, with a spire tower at the west end. Inigo Jones is reported to have been the architect, but the spire having become ruinous, was rebuilt about fifty years since.
Hooton in Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England (1848) Hooton lies in one of the most pleasant situations of which the banks of the Mersey estuary can boast, and is shaded with venerable oak-trees, of a growth exceeding any on the shores of Wirrall. [...] The ancient Hall, a large timbered building, erected by licence from Henry VII, was taken down in 1778. The present mansion [demolished 1931] is built of stone from the Stanley quarries in Storeton, after designs by Wyatt, and is a beautiful structure, standing on a gentle eminence, and commanding an extensive view of the river, and of the entire coast of Cheshire and Lancashire.
Great Sutton in Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England (1848) The township comprises an area of 1050 acres, whose prevailing soil is clay; and contains a few farmhouses and other ordinary buildings, scattered on the side of the road between Chester and the ferries on the Mersey. The Chester and Birkenhead railway has a station in the vicinity.
Little Sutton in Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England (1848) The township comprises 1108 acres, the soil of which is partly loam and partly clay. The road from Chester to Birkenhead runs through, and the Chester and Birkenhead railway has a station in the vicinity. The village is formed of a group of ordinary farmhouses: the principal part of its former little trade was derived from the stage-coaches which passed through it, before the establishment of the railway.
Great Stanney in Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England (1848) This liberty, which belonged to the adjacent abbey of Stanlow, comprises 947 acres of excellent arable and meadow land, in which is found marl of very good quality, composed of alluvial matter: large trees have been dug up in the meadows. The ancient mansion here of the family of Bunbury, called Rake Hall [now a pub], has been repaired by its present owner, Sir Henry Bunbury.
Ellesmere Port in Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England (1848) A small town or port [...]. This place owes its origin to the formation of a canal from Chester to the river Mersey here; though for some years after the opening of the navigation, the progress of the port was slow. At present, there are about 200 houses, many of them of neat aspect; a fine range of warehouses, erected on arches, with branches of the canal passing below; and a splendid floating-dock, containing upwards of 60,000 yards of water-space. A large dock, also, for coasters, was opened in September 1843; and other works have been formed, connected with boats and shipping. The canal itself was commenced towards the close of the last century.