Edge Hill, Liverpool

Last updated

Edge Hill
Edge Hill, Liverpool.JPG
Sign on Holt Road at the boundary of Edge Hill
Merseyside UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Edge Hill
Location within Merseyside
OS grid reference SJ365900
Metropolitan borough
Metropolitan county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town LIVERPOOL
Postcode district L7
Dialling code 0151
Police Merseyside
Fire Merseyside
Ambulance North West
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Merseyside
53°23′42″N2°57′07″W / 53.395°N 2.952°W / 53.395; -2.952

Edge Hill is a district of Liverpool, England, south east of the city centre, bordered by Kensington, Wavertree and Toxteth.

Contents

Edge Hill University was founded here, but moved to Ormskirk in the 1930s.

History

The area was first developed in the late 18th-early 19th century Georgian era. Many of the Georgian houses of the time still survive. Edge Hill was designated a Conservation Area in 1979. Most of the Georgian property around St. Mary's Church is now English Heritage listed. The later terraces, of the Victorian era, have also largely been demolished. Although some modern housing has been built, the area still has a depopulated appearance, with many vacant lots and derelict pubs and shops.[ citation needed ]

Joseph Williamson (1769–1840), a tobacco magnate, was responsible for much of the building in the area in the early 19th century.[ citation needed ] The "Mole of Edge Hill" employed hundreds of men to construct the Williamson Tunnels beneath the area. Part of the tunnel network is now open to the public as a tourist attraction.

In the early 19th century, Edge Hill was the site of two railway works. Both the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and the Grand Junction Railway initially set up workshops, but with restricted expansion as the business grew, the Grand Junction Railway moved its main locomotive production to Crewe in 1843. Locomotives continued to be built at Edge Hill until 1851. The Liverpool and Manchester was absorbed by the Grand Junction in 1845, which in turn became part of the London and North Western Railway in 1846.

The first Edge Hill station was built in 1830 on a site about 150m from its present location. Of this little remains. There was a "Moorish Arch" with a stationary engine hauling trains up and down from Crown Street Station until locomotive-hauled trains were able to cope with the gradient. The current station dates from 1836 when the main city railway terminus was moved to Lime Street. The station retains its original buildings but is very quiet owing to the sheer lack of population or industry in the area. These buildings are the oldest in the world still open to the public at a working railway station. [1]

Formerly all trains stopped at Edge Hill at the entrance to the tunnel to Lime Street station, giving rise to "getting off at Edge Hill" as a euphemism for coitus interruptus. [2]

A local school on Durning Road, the Ernest Brown Junior Instructional College, was the site of one of the worst civilian bombings of the Second World War. On 29 November 1940, a parachute mine dropped by the Luftwaffe exploded on the building which was being used as an air raid shelter by 300 people. The structure collapsed on itself and destroyed boilers and furnaces inside, which spilled into the shelter. This resulted in many suffering extreme burns or being boiled alive. There was further damage and loss of life when nearby gas mains exploded. Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, referred to the incident as "the single worst civilian incident of the war". [3] 166 people were killed with many more physically and mentally injured. Survivors suffered severe psychological trauma for many years afterwards. [4] [5] [6]

Edge Hill was the site of huge railway marshalling yards until the 1970s, sorting trains to and from the docks via the Victoria Tunnel and Wapping Tunnel to Park Lane and Waterloo goods stations on the dockside.

Crown Street Resource Centre is a mental health resource centre in Edge Hill opened in 1982 and run by Liverpool social services and Merseycare for people living in the Liverpool city area.

Edge Hill University began work in the area in 1885 as a teacher training college, though it moved to its current Ormskirk site in 1933. [7]

Notable residents

Herbert Rowse Armstrong, the Hay poisoner, lived at 52 Durning Road, Edge Hill whilst practising as a solicitor in the city.

Patrick Mahon, convicted of the 1924 murder of Emily Kaye at the Crumbles, Eastbourne, grew up in Helena Street. The site of the street is now covered by a DIY store car park.

The actor Chris Mason was born in Edge Hill. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tunnel</span> Underground passage made for traffic

A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ventilation openings at various points along the length. A pipeline differs significantly from a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube construction techniques rather than traditional tunnel boring methods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liverpool and Manchester Railway</span> Railway in England (1830–1845)

The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) was the first inter-city railway in the world. It opened on 15 September 1830 between the Lancashire towns of Liverpool and Manchester in England. It was also the first railway to rely exclusively on locomotives driven by steam power, with no horse-drawn traffic permitted at any time; the first to be entirely double track throughout its length; the first to have a true signalling system; the first to be fully timetabled; and the first to carry mail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ormskirk</span> Market town in Lancashire, England

Ormskirk is a market town in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England. It is located 13 miles (21 km) north of Liverpool, 11 miles (18 km) northwest of St Helens, 9 miles (14 km) southeast of Southport and 18 miles (29 km) southwest of Preston. Ormskirk is known for its gingerbread. In 2011 it had a population of 24,073.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crown Street railway station</span> Former railway terminus in Liverpool, England

Crown Street railway station was the Liverpool terminus railway station of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in Liverpool, England, it opened on 15 September 1830. The station was one of the world's first on an inter-city passenger railway in which all services were operated by mechanical traction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wapping Tunnel</span> Disused railway tunnel under Liverpool, England

Wapping or Edge Hill Tunnel in Liverpool, England, is a tunnel route from the Edge Hill junction in the east of the city to the Liverpool south end docks formerly used by trains on the Liverpool-Manchester line railway. The tunnel alignment is roughly east to west. The tunnel was designed by George Stephenson with construction between 1826 and 1829 to enable goods services to operate between Liverpool docks and all locations up to Manchester, as part of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. It was the first transport tunnel in the world to be bored under a city. The tunnel is 2,030 metres (1.26 mi) long, running downhill from the western end of the 262 metres (860 ft) long Cavendish cutting at Edge Hill in the east of the city, to Park Lane Goods Station near Wapping Dock in the west. The Edge Hill portal is near the former Crown Street Station goods yard. The tunnel passes beneath the Merseyrail Northern Line tunnel approximately a quarter of a mile south of Liverpool Central underground station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edge Hill railway station</span> Station serving the district of Edge Hill in Liverpool, England

Edge Hill railway station is a railway station that serves the district of Edge Hill, Liverpool, England and is one of the oldest railway stations in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central London Railway</span> Underground railway company in London

The Central London Railway (CLR), also known as the Twopenny Tube, was a deep-level, underground "tube" railway that opened in London in 1900. The CLR's tunnels and stations form the central section of what became London Underground's Central line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liverpool Central railway station</span> Railway station in Liverpool, England

Liverpool Central railway station in Liverpool, England, forms a central hub of the Merseyrail network, being on both the Northern Line and the Wirral Line. The station is located underground on two levels, below the site of a former mainline terminus. It is the busiest station in Liverpool, though considerably smaller than Lime Street station, the mainline terminus, and the busiest station to operate solely on the Merseyrail network. The station is the busiest underground station outside London serving 40,000 people daily. The station in passengers per platform is the busiest underground railway station in the United Kingdom outside of London at 3,979,547 per platform per annum and coming tenth out of all stations outside the capital, underground or overground.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Preston railway station</span> Grade II listed railway station in Lancashire, England

Preston railway station, in Preston, Lancashire, England, is an interchange on the West Coast Main Line; it is approximately half-way between London Euston and Glasgow Central. It is served by Avanti West Coast, Northern Trains and TransPennine Express services, plus Caledonian Sleeper overnight services between London and Scotland. It is also served by the Calder Valley line to Leeds and York, and by branch lines to Blackpool North, Ormskirk and Colne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lostock Hall railway station</span> Railway station in South Ribble, Lancashire, England

Lostock Hall railway station is a railway station serving the village of Lostock Hall in the South Ribble borough of Lancashire, England. It is on the East Lancashire Line and is managed by Northern, who also provide all passenger trains serving it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liverpool–Manchester lines</span> Railway line serving between Liverpool and Manchester

There once were four direct railway routes between Liverpool and Manchester in the North West of England; only two remain, the two centre routes of the four. The most northerly and the most southerly of the four routes are no longer direct lines. Of the remaining two direct routes, the northern route of the two is fully electric, while the now southern route is a diesel-only line. The most northerly of the four has been split into two routes: the western section operated by Merseyrail electric trains and the eastern section by diesel trains, requiring passengers to change trains between the two cities. The fourth route, the most southerly of the four, has been largely abandoned east of Warrington; the remaining section caters mainly for freight trains.

The North Liverpool Extension Line was a railway line in Liverpool, England in operation between 1879 and 1972. It was at one stage intended to become the eastern section of the Merseyrail Outer Loop, an orbital line circling the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liverpool Blitz</span> German bombing of British port city during WWII

The Liverpool Blitz was the heavy and sustained bombing of the English city of Liverpool and its surrounding area, during the Second World War by the German Luftwaffe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirkdale railway station</span> Stop on the Northern Line of the Merseyrail network

Kirkdale railway station is a railway station in Kirkdale, Liverpool, England, located to the north of the city centre on the Northern Line of the Merseyrail network. It acts as the interchange between the branches to Kirkby and Ormskirk; these lines diverge just north of the station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maghull railway station</span> Railway station in Liverpool, England

Maghull railway station is a railway station in Maghull, a suburb of Liverpool, England. It is situated on the Ormskirk branch of the Northern Line of the Merseyrail network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aintree railway station</span> Railway station on the Ormskirk Branch of the Northern Line in Liverpool, England

Aintree railway station is a railway station that serves the village of Aintree, Merseyside, England. It is on the Ormskirk branch of the Merseyrail network's Northern Line. Until 1968 it was known as Aintree Sefton Arms after a nearby public house. The station's design reflects that it is the closest station to Aintree Racecourse, where the annual Grand National horse race takes place.

The Hainault Loop, originally opened as the Fairlop Loop, is a 6.5-mile (10.5 km) branch line of the Great Eastern Railway (GER). It once connected Woodford on the Ongar branch to Ilford on the Main Line, with an eastward connection for goods, excursions and stock transfers to Seven Kings. The loop opened to freight on 20 April 1903 and to passengers on 1 May 1903. In 1923, the GER was "grouped" into the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER), who provided passenger services until December 1947. After this date, the route was electrified for London Underground services from both the Woodford and Leytonstone directions and the link to Ilford closed on the Central line, having been served by Tube trains since 1948.

Liverpool in North West England, is a major British city with significant road, rail, and ferry networks, in addition to an international airport and a well-known dock system. As with most other major UK cities, Liverpool's transport infrastructure is centred on its road and rail networks. Public transport services within the city are controlled and run by Merseytravel.

The history of Merseyrail dates back to the 19th century, with the original formation of the Mersey Railway, however, Merseyrail dates back to the 20th century, namely being set up by British Rail in 1969, it did not become a single network until 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edge Hill railway station (1830-1836)</span> Former railway station in Liverpool, England

Edge Hill railway station was a railway station that served the district of Edge Hill, Liverpool, England and is one of the oldest railway stations in the world.

References

  1. Civil Engineering Heritage: Northern England , p. 250, Rennison, R. W & Barbey, M. F., London (1996)
  2. Lern Yerself Scouse, vol. 4: "The language of Laura Norder", Fritz Spiegl, Liverpool (1989)
  3. "Liverpool marks World War Two's 'worst civilian' bombing". BBC News. 29 November 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
  4. "Durning Road, Edge Hill". National Museums Liverpool. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
  5. "Durning Road, Liverpool - Air Raid Shelter Bombing, WW2". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
  6. Waddington, Marc (3 May 2013). "70th anniversary of Durning Road bomb disaster that claimed 166 Liverpool lives". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
  7. Edge Hill University - History Archived 2009-02-24 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Vaynshteyn, Gina (23 February 2021). "Chris Mason Is Nothing Like His Terrible Character in 'Riverdale' in Real Life". Distractify. Retrieved 16 May 2024.