River Jordan, Liverpool

Last updated February 18, 2019

The River Jordan, Little Jordan or Otterspool Brook is a tributary of the River Mersey. It has now been culverted for most of the lower part of its course, which runs through Otterspool Park in Aigburth, Liverpool.

The River Mersey is a river in the North West of England. Its name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon language and translates as "boundary river". The river may have been the border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria and for centuries it formed part of the boundary between the historic counties of Lancashire and Cheshire.

A culvert is a structure that allows water to flow under a road, railroad, trail, or similar obstruction from one side to the other side. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdom, the word can also be used for a longer artificially buried watercourse.

Aigburth is a suburb of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. Located to the south of the city, it is bordered by Dingle, Toxteth, Sefton Park, Mossley Hill, Garston and Grassendale.

The river had two tributaries, the Upper and Lower Brooks. The Upper Brook rose near the playing fields in Wavertree, flowing past, and inspiring the name of, the Brook House pub. The Lower Brook had a source in Wavertree Botanic Gardens, where it rose in two ponds near Edge Lane; both branches joined in present-day Sefton Park before flowing through a series of natural cascades into the Otterspool, a creek on the Mersey shore. The watercourse was recorded in the 13th century Chartulary of Whalley Abbey as the "Oskelesbrok", when it was described as forming the boundary of Toxteth, and flowing into "Oterpol". [1] The name, also written as "Haskelesbroc" and "Hoskellesbrok" in the period, may contain a reference to the Old Norse personal name Askell. [2]

Wavertree Botanic Gardens is an example of a mid 19th century public park. It incorporates an earlier walled botanic garden, founded by William Roscoe as Liverpool Botanic Garden and relocated from land near Mount Pleasant in the 1830s. The gardens include the Grade II curator's lodge built between 1836-1837.

Sefton Park is a public park in south Liverpool, England. The park is in a district of the same name, located roughly within the historic bounds of the large area of Toxteth Park. Neighbouring districts include modern-day Toxteth, Aigburth, Mossley Hill, Wavertree and St Michael's Hamlet.

Whalley Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey in Whalley, Lancashire, England. After the dissolution of the monasteries, the abbey was largely demolished and a country house was built on the site. In the 20th century the house was modified and it is now the Retreat and Conference House of the Diocese of Blackburn. The ruins of the abbey are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and are a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

The brook later gained the name of the "River Jordan", probably during the 17th century when Toxteth Park was disparked and let as farmland. [3] The first tenants were Puritan in religion and this has been suggested as the origin of the name "Jordan", as well as that of a nearby farm called "Jericho" and a rock called "David's Throne". [3] Otterspool itself was one of the most important of the Mersey fisheries well into the 18th century, and was reputed to be the finest salmon fishery in the area. [4]

Toxteth is an inner city area of Liverpool, England. Historically in Lancashire, now in Merseyside. Toxteth is located to the south of the city centre; Toxteth is bordered by Liverpool City Centre, Edge Hill, The Dingle and Aigburth.

The course of the river was changed radically in the 19th century, when housing developments and parks were laid out and much of the watercourse was incorporated into a series of ornamental water features. The Upper Brook was dammed in Greenbank Park to form a lake, and both it and the Lower Brook were channelled into the Boating Lake in Sefton Park. Below this point, the river is currently visible near the gates of Otterspool Park but has been culverted from that point, though many features of its valley are still visible in the park. The area of the river mouth is now part of the Otterspool Promenade, where the river's flow is now piped to the Mersey.

Greenbank Park is a public park in Liverpool, England, with a focal point of an elegant, placid lake. It is situated in the south of the city close to the borders of Sefton Park.

Otterspool Promenade is a riverside walk and accompanying area of parkland in the Aigburth and Grassendale districts of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The promenade runs along the bank of the River Mersey from just north of Garston docks to Otterspool Park. A narrower footpath and cycleway continues along the riverbank to the city centre, ending at the Albert Dock. The promenade adjoins the former private parkland estates of Cressington Park, Fulwood Park and Grassendale Park. It is notable for the excellent views it gives of shipping in the Mersey and over the river to the Wirral.

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References

↑ Baines, E. History of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster, 1836, pp.190-191
↑ Ekwall, E. The Place-names of Lancashire, v 11, 1923, p.95
1 2 Nightingale, Rev. B. Lancashire Nonconformity, Heywood, pp.67-8
↑ Otterspool Park, Liverpool Parks

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[baines-1] Baines, E. History of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster, 1836, pp.190-191

[Ekwall-2] Ekwall, E. The Place-names of Lancashire, v 11, 1923, p.95

[nightingale68-3] 1 2 Nightingale, Rev. B. Lancashire Nonconformity, Heywood, pp.67-8

[lparks-4] Otterspool Park, Liverpool Parks