The name may derive from the same origin as Wales. The incoming Saxons called the earlier native inhabitants (the Celtic Britons) Walas or Wealas, meaning "foreigner".[1] Another possible etymology is Wald tun, Old English for "Forest Town".[2]
Walton's recorded history starts with the death of Edward the Confessor, when Winestan held the manor of Walton.[3] After the Norman conquest of 1066, Roger of Poitou included Walton in the lands he gave to his sheriff, Godfrey.[3]
In 1200, King John gave Walton to Richard de Meath, who left it to his brother, Henry de Walton. Henry's son William inherited the land, but died before his son Richard was of age, so Richard was made a ward of Nicholas de la Hose by the Earl of Derby and the estate was managed by nobles outside the family for a time.[3]
Walton was then held by the de Walton family until Roger de Walton's death in the 15th century, when it was split through marriage between the Crosse, Chorley and Fazakerley families. Walton Manor later passed through the Breres and Atherton families until it was sold in 1804 to Liverpool banker Thomas Leyland. Some of the Walton land also passed to the Earl of Derby and the Sefton family.[3]
Moulded plastics company Dunlop had its UK head office and manufacturing plant on what is now the Cavendish Retail Park (off Rice Lane and opposite the former Walton Hospital) until the mid-1990s. In September 1980, a severe fire at the plant closed Rice Lane and residents were told to stay indoors due to hazardous atmospheric pollution. The fire caused so much damage that the plant had to be demolished, and only part of the site remained until its closure. The building used as the main headquarters was left abandoned for many years until a Chinese restaurant was opened in the late 1990s on the site. The last remaining plant, on Cavendish Drive, was demolished in 2004 to make way for a housing estate.[citation needed]
21st century
On August 3, 2024, Walton was affected by the 2024 United Kingdom riots: 300 people gathered near County Road Mosque and the Spellow Lane Library Hub and a local shop were set on fire.[9]
Notable buildings
Ticket office for the zoo
In 1884, the Liverpool Inner City Zoological Park and Gardens opened on what is now the Cavendish Retail Park. Its star attraction was "Pongo", a chimpanzee who lived in the Monkey House. The zoo itself was known for its large bronze Liver Birds which sat atop of the entrance gates, and its splendid beauty. The gardens closed in the early 1900s and the only surviving remains is the Ticket Booth, which is now a pizza takeaway beside The Plough function rooms (formerly a public house). Rice Lane City Farm is also in Walton, at the end of Rawcliffe Road, occupying the land that once was Liverpool Parochial Cemetery.[10]
The Prince of Wales pub on Rice Lane was nicknamed "The Sod House" by Edward VII, after making a royal visit to the zoo and entering it for refreshments, perhaps because the landlord used clods of earth ("sods") draped over the beer barrels to keep them cool.
The former Shell garage on Rice Lane (now a used car dealership) was once the official workshop of Ferrari for their race team when competing at Aintree Grand Prix course in the 1950s.
Remains of Town Hall
Walton Town Hall was demolished in the 1960s to make way for the Queens Drive fly-over. The side wall, which includes the name etched in stone, still stands on the northbound side of the A59 at the fly-over. The wall is currently owned by Croppers garage which occupies the space.[citation needed]
Walton was also once the location of Walton Hospital, on Rice Lane. Several famous Liverpudlians, including Paul McCartney and Joe Fagan, were born at the hospital.[11] The hospital was also once a regional centre for neurology and neurosurgery. As demand for services continued to increase the capacity for patients at the relatively small Walton Hospital site decreased and in 1998 all neurosurgical services were transferred to the newly built Walton Centre, on the same site as Aintree University Hospital in Fazakerley.
Walton Hospital started life in the late 19th century as West Derby Union Workhouse and nearby Walton Parochial cemetery contains many tens of thousands of unmarked and uncelebrated "common" graves of the poor who depended on it for sustenance. This cemetery, which now houses the City Farm, also holds the grave of Robert Noonan, also known as Robert Tressell, who fell ill and died in Liverpool while waiting for a ship to emigrate to America. In 2019, Tressell was commemorated with a march to his graveside led by a brass band.[12]
Clock View Hospital is a psychiatric facility standing near the old grounds of the original Walton Hospital. It is a medium level facility consisting of 5 inpatient wards and a neurological unit within the same building (Walton Centre). It was purpose built in 2014 as a state of the art psychiatric care facility and opened to patients in 2015. Since then, it has won many awards for outstanding care and treatment for patients and in 2018 Clock View won a Sustainable Health and Care award (Capital Projects) for its building design efficiency.
Walton is home to Goodison Park football stadium, which was built in 1892 as the first purpose built football stadium in England and the home of Everton Football Club, who have remained there ever since; although little of the original stadium structure now exists. They had previously played at Anfield Stadium on the opposite side of Stanley Park, which then became the home of Liverpool Football Club.
Walton has seven roads that are locally referred to as the ship roads. These roads are: Mauretania, Lusitania, Saxonia, Ivernia, Sylvania, Woolhope and Haggerston. Five of these roads are named after Cunard ships, Mauretania, Lusitania, Saxonia, Ivernia and Sylvania, a reference to Cunard's former headquarters in Liverpool.[14][circular reference]
Demographics, Economy
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Walton on the Hill railway station was by the Queens Drive flyover, on the Rice Lane side heading southbound. Though the railway station became disused in 1918, the line was used for transporting goods to Liverpool docks via the tunnel which runs through the Walton-Kirkdale area; this leads to Kirkdale railway station and on to Sandhills railway station.
What is now a bike path behind the site of the Hartley's and Jacobs factory used to be Fazakerley Junction, a train depot used until the 1960s.
Charles Clark (1857–1943), early rugby union international for England who scored the first ever try in an Ireland home international in 1875, born in Walton
Professor Stephen Molyneux, Educational Technology Guru, lived in Bedford Road and attended Alsop High School in the same class as Jimmy Mulville from 1968 to 1972.
Neil Robinson, Footballer Everton, was born and brought up at 45 Spellow Lane, Walton, making him player born closest to the ground, and attended Gwladys Street School in Walton.
Alexei Sayle, comedian, attended Alsop High School.
Claire Sweeney, TV presenter and former Brookside actress, was brought up on Carisbrooke Road in Walton.
Ricky Tomlinson, actor. Lived off Queens Drive in Walton during the late 1990s.
Fazakerley is a suburb of north Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is part of the Liverpool Walton Parliamentary constituency. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 16,786.
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.
Anfield Cemetery, or the City of Liverpool Cemetery, is located in Anfield, a district of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It lies to the northeast of Stanley Park, and is bounded by Walton Lane to the west, Priory Road to the south, a railway line to the north, and the gardens of houses on Ince Avenue to the east. The cemetery grounds are included in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens at Grade II*.
Liverpool Walton is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Dan Carden of the Labour Party. Carden won the highest percentage share of the vote in June 2017 of 650 constituencies, 85.7%.
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.
The Canada Dock Branch is a 4-mile 59 chain long railway line in Liverpool, England. The line's route is from the large Edge Hill rail junction in the east of Liverpool to Seaforth Dock to the north. The line was originally built by the London and North Western Railway terminating at Canada Dock, with a later branch extension added to Alexandra Dock and links onto the MDHC railway lines. The line is not electrified.
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.
Elections to Liverpool City Council were held on 4 May 2006. One third of the council was up for election and the Liberal Democrat party kept overall control of the council. Overall turnout was 25%.
County ward is an electoral division of Liverpool City Council. The ward is within the Liverpool Walton Parliamentary constituency.
Warbreck ward was an electoral division of Liverpool City Council containing parts of the Walton and Orrell Park areas of Liverpool.
Spellow railway station was located on County Road, Walton in Liverpool, England.
Elections to Liverpool City Council were held on 3 May 2007. One third of the council was up for election and the Liberal Democrat party kept overall control of the council. Overall turnout was 27.5%
Elections to Liverpool City Council were held on 1 May 2008. One third of the council was up for election.
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.
Liverpool is a city and port in Merseyside, England, which contains many listed buildings. A listed building is a structure designated by English Heritage of being of architectural and/or of historical importance and, as such, is included in the National Heritage List for England. There are three grades of listing, according to the degree of importance of the structure. Grade I includes those buildings that are of "exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important"; the buildings in Grade II* are "particularly important buildings of more than special interest"; and those in Grade II are "nationally important and of special interest". Very few buildings are included in Grade I — only 2.5% of the total. Grade II* buildings represent 5.5% of the total, while the great majority, 92%, are included in Grade II.
Fazakerley ward was an electoral division of Liverpool City Council between 1953 and 2022.
Fazakerley North ward is an electoral district of Liverpool City Council within the Liverpool Walton constituency.
Kirkdale East ward is an electoral district of Liverpool City Council within the Liverpool Riverside constituency.
References
↑ Bosworth, Joseph; Northcote Toller, T. (1898), "An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary", Germanic Lexicon Project, p.1173, retrieved 23 July 2016
↑ Victorian Society "Hartley's jam founder, philanthropist Sir William Pickles Hartley, built a village of 49 houses for his workers at this factory site. The main factory building was demolished in the early 20th Century and while the houses have been in use, the remaining factory buildings are said to be largely derelict. In 2011 the site was declared a Conservation Area and the Victorian Society said it "deserves to be protected, restored and celebrated"."
↑ Dominic Raynor (4 August 2024). "Liverpool riots: Buildings burn and shops looted as violence continues into the night". Liverpool World.
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