Belle Vale, Liverpool

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Belle Vale
Our Lady of The Assumption Church - geograph.org.uk - 1226026.jpg
Our Lady of the Assumption
(Roman Catholic church in Belle Vale)
Merseyside UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Belle Vale
Location within Merseyside
OS grid reference SJ337927
Metropolitan borough
Metropolitan county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town LIVERPOOL
Postcode district L25
Dialling code 0151
Police Merseyside
Fire Merseyside
Ambulance North West
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Merseyside
53°23′42″N2°51′40″W / 53.395°N 2.861°W / 53.395; -2.861 Coordinates: 53°23′42″N2°51′40″W / 53.395°N 2.861°W / 53.395; -2.861
Sign indicating Belle Vale Shopping Centre from Childwall Belle Vale this way.jpg
Sign indicating Belle Vale Shopping Centre from Childwall

Belle Vale is a district of south-east Liverpool, Merseyside, England and a Liverpool City Council Ward that covers both Belle Vale and Netherley.

Contents

Description

The Belle Vale area shares borders with Huyton, Netherley, Gateacre and Childwall. The main road in Belle Vale is Childwall Valley Road (B5178) running from Childwall through to Netherley. The old North Liverpool Extension Line (loop line) at the back of Hartsbourne Avenue is often considered to be the border between Belle Vale and the neighbouring districts of Childwall and Gateacre.

Belle Vale District Centre has a number of amenities including a fire station, police station, health centre, large shopping centre, [1] [2] and also Belle Vale Park. The Belle Vale Junior football league now plays in nearby Netherley. The district is often linked with Childwall or Gateacre, which are neighbouring districts. The Belle Vale area is also divided with different housing estates having their own local names, such as Hartsbourne, Lee Park and Naylorsfield. You will also find past and modern references to the area being in Gateacre further adding to the confusion. [3]

District signage erected by Liverpool City Council in 2005 did not include Belle Vale as a distinct district leaving the area in somewhat of a quandary. Signs were put up on Childwall Valley Road saying Gateacre (southbound towards the shopping centre and Netherley) and Childwall (northbound towards Childwall). The centre of Belle Vale effectively falls within the area identified as Gateacre by the signs, with Childwall deemed to begin north of a new school and health centre. The area's identity as Belle Vale is recognised by the names of various local amenities including the health centre, shopping centre, police station and fire station.

The postcode for Belle Vale is L25, which is also the postcode for nearby Woolton and Gateacre.

History

Belle Vale was historically part of the parish of Childwall and part of the township of Little Woolton. [4] Little Woolton was absorbed into the City of Liverpool in 1913. [5] At the beginning of the 20th century Belle Vale was a hamlet within the rural district of Little Woolton. It consisted of cottages, farm buildings and Belle Vale Hall, an old twelve acre estate on the corner of Wambo Lane and Belle Vale Road. In 1901 Belle Vale Hall was owned by Thomas Harrison, a merchant and ship owner. Rex Harrison, the actor, who was related to the family, visited the hall when he was a boy. In the 1920s the estate became a fruit farm and traded as Belle Vale Orchards Ltd. The Hall was demolished in 1929. John Irwin Sons & Co. Ltd had a jam factory on the site in the 1930s and 1940s. After 1960 the factory produced spam, initially as Blue Cap Foods and later as Newforge. The site of the factory is now occupied by Morrisons supermarket and petrol station which opened in 2003. Part of the estate grounds survived to become Belle Vale Park. [6]

The first church in the district was St Stephen's, Church of England, built between 1872 and 1874 in Belle Vale Road. It was initially used as a chapel of ease to Childwall church until Gateacre was made a parish in its own right in 1893 and St Stephen's became its parish church. It was designed by Liverpool architect Cornelius Sherlock who also designed Church Cottages next to the church. The cottages were built in 1880 by Sir Andrew Barclay Walker for his estate workers. The cottages remained part of the Walker estate until put up for auction in 1917. In the garden in front of the church there is a stone memorial cross inscribed with the names of those local men who died in the First World War and Second World War. The west window in the church was designed by Edward Burne-Jones for Morris & Co. and was a gift from Sir Andrew Barclay Walker in memory of his first wife who died in 1882. [7]

Over one-thousand prefabricated homes were erected on land around the hamlet, named Belle Vale Estate Gateacre on the plans, between 1945-1947, to provide affordable rented accommodation for people whose homes were destroyed in bombing raids on the city during World War II, making it one of the largest Prefab communities in the country. [8] Its most famous former resident is Sir Terry Leahy, previously chief executive of Tesco, the UK's biggest supermarket chain. Leahy is also President of the Belle Vale Prefab Project. [9] [10] From the mid-1960s the Prefab estate was cleared. It was replaced by new housing and a shopping centre by the mid-1970s. Our Lady's Roman Catholic church, initially built on the Prefab estate in 1949, relocated from across the road from the current location of Gateacre School playing field to Hedgefield Road in 1965. [3] Hartsbourne, Lee Park and Naylorsfield, beyond the Prefabs, were mostly retained as farm land until the 1960s when the land was acquired for development.

Paul McCartney attended Joseph Williams Primary School, then in Sunnyfield Road on the Prefab estate, from 1949 to 1953. He travelled by bus to the school because of the shortage of school places in Speke where he lived. [11] The site of the former school, now opposite Viennese Road and Dorchester Road, is now occupied by new housing while an adjacent site was used to build a retirement living development called Joseph Williams Mews. [12]

Jodie Comer started acting at a weekend drama school called CALS Theatre School in Unit E2 (currently occupied by Poundstretcher) in Belle Vale Shopping Centre when she was about 11 years old. Every Saturday she did an hour each of singing, dancing and acting. [13]

Education

Schools in Belle Vale include Childwall Valley Primary School, Belle Vale Community Primary School, Our Lady of the Assumption Roman Catholic Primary School and Belle Vale Sure Start.

Gateacre School relocated to land off Hedgefield Road, including part of the former Reggie Smith Playing Fields, in 2011. The move funded by the Building Schools For The Future scheme cost £30 million. [14] The football facilities formerly on the site were relocated to a new centre at nearby Caldway Drive in Netherley. [15]

Places of worship

Football

Gateacre School is the home of West Cheshire League Division Three side Gateacre F.C. who were founded in 2012.

Transport

Belle Vale has its own small bus interchange next to the shopping centre on Hedgefield Road, connecting to, among other areas, Huyton and St Helens eastbound and Woolton, Halewood, Garston and Speke southbound. From May 2012 it briefly gained a service to Liverpool city centre, but lost it from January 2013 when the service was extended to Netherley and reverted to using stops on nearby Childwall Valley Road, along with other services between Liverpool city centre and Halewood or Widnes.

The area has not had a train service since Gateacre railway station closed in 1972; the disused railway trackbed has been converted into a cycle and pedestrian path from Aintree to Halewood, forming part of the Trans Pennine Trail.

Related Research Articles

Halewood Human settlement in England

Halewood is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England. It lies near the city of Liverpool's southeastern boundary, bordered by the suburbs of Netherley, Hunt's Cross and Woolton.

Huyton Town in England

Huyton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England.

Childwall Human settlement in England

Childwall is a suburb and ward of Liverpool, England, located to the southeast of the city. It is bordered by Belle Vale, Bowring Park, Broadgreen, Gateacre, Mossley Hill, and Wavertree. In 2008, the population was 14,085.

Woolton Suburb of Liverpool, England

Woolton is an affluent suburb of Liverpool, England, southeast of the city, bordered by Allerton, Gateacre, Hunt's Cross and Halewood. At the 2011 Census, the population was 12,921.

Hunts Cross Human settlement in England

Hunt's Cross is a suburb of Liverpool, England. It is located on the southern edge of the city, bordered by the suburbs of Woolton, Allerton, Speke and Halewood and delineated by the West Coast Main Line, Hillfoot Avenue, Merseyrail Northern Line and Mackets Lane.

Mossley Hill Human settlement in England

Mossley Hill is a suburb of Liverpool and a Liverpool City Council ward. Located to the south of the city, it is bordered by Aigburth, Allerton, Childwall, and Wavertree. At the 2001 Census, the population was 12,650, increasing to 13,816 at the 2011 Census.

Netherley, Liverpool Human settlement in England

Netherley is an area in the city of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is bordered by Belle Vale and situated near to Huyton, Tarbock and Halewood.

Old Swan Human settlement in England

Old Swan is an eastern neighbourhood of Liverpool, Merseyside, England, bordered by Knotty Ash, Stoneycroft, Broadgreen, Fairfield and Wavertree. At the 2011 Census, the population was 16,461.

Liverpool Garston (UK Parliament constituency) Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1950–2010

Liverpool Garston was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Grade I, Grade II* and notable Grade IIlisted buildings in the metropolitan boroughs of Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral in Merseyside.

Widnes (UK Parliament constituency) Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1885–1983

Widnes was a county constituency in England, based on the town of Widnes, in Lancashire. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

Gateacre railway station

Gateacre railway station was located on the North Liverpool Extension Line on the north side of Belle Vale Road, Gateacre, Liverpool, England. Next door was the Black Bull public house which still stands.

Gateacre Human settlement in England

Gateacre is a suburb of Liverpool, England, about 6 miles (9.7 km) from the city centre. It is bordered by Childwall, Woolton and Belle Vale. The area is noted for its Tudor Revival architecture and contains over 100 listed buildings within a quarter-mile radius of the village centre, making it one of the most important historic areas in the city.

Tarbock Village in England

Tarbock is a village and former civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, in Merseyside, England. It is situated to the south east of Huyton and to the east of Netherley. The village itself is 6 miles (9.7 km) from Liverpool city centre, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) from Widnes and 2 miles (3.2 km) from Prescot. The M62 motorway junction 6 is in the area and is more familiarly called Tarbock Island. At the 2001 Census, the population of Tarbock was 2,382. The parish council was abolished on 1 April 2014.

Architecture of Liverpool Overview of architecture of Liverpool, England

The architecture of Liverpool is rooted in the city's development into a major port of the British Empire. It encompasses a variety of architectural styles of the past 300 years, while next to nothing remains of its medieval structures which would have dated back as far as the 13th century. Erected 1716–18, Bluecoat Chambers is supposed to be the oldest surviving building in central Liverpool.

St Stephens Church, Gateacre Church in Merseyside, England

St Stephen's Church is in Belle Vale Road, Gateacre, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Liverpool South Childwall, the archdeaconry of Liverpool, and the diocese of Liverpool. Its benefice is united with those of Christ Church, Netherley, and St Mark, Childwall Valley, to form the Gateacre Team. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.

References

  1. ↑ Belle Vale Shopping Centre
  2. ↑ Photograph of shopping centre
  3. 1 2 3 Our Lady Gateacre
  4. ↑ Little Woolton
  5. ↑ Liverpool
  6. ↑ Beryl Plent & Mike Chitty. Gateacre & Belle Vale, 2009, pp. 55-56.
  7. ↑ Beryl Plent & Mike Chitty. Gateacre & Belle Vale, 2009, pp. 62-64.
  8. ↑ Prefabs
  9. ↑ BVPP Newsletter
  10. ↑ Belle Vale Prefab Project. More Prefab Days (Belle Vale Remembers), 2008, pp. 102-103.
  11. ↑ "Paul McCartney". Archived from the original on 10 December 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  12. ↑ "Joseph Williams Mews". Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  13. ↑ Jodie Comer.
  14. ↑ New Gateacre School
  15. ↑ "South Liverpool Football Club". Clubbz. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  16. ↑ St Stephen's Gateacre Archived 2015-05-18 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ↑ St Mark's Childwall Valley
  18. ↑ Carmel Mar Thoma Church
  19. ↑ Salvation Army
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