This article was originally posted in the Liverpool Echo on 24th February 2024
The Picton Clock Tower and surrounding roads in Wavertree shortly after the removal of bus stops during modernisation work in 1954 (Image: Liverpool ECHO)
Liverpool is known for many things – including its fascinating history.
From unassuming buildings to more famous architectural structures, they all paint a picture of Liverpool’s rich past. With so many fascinating stories to tell, they remain as captivating reminders of how things used to be.
But with so much hidden history all around us, we can often overlook some of the significant buildings or landmarks that we walk past everyday. We’ve decided to focus on one area in particular that has many stories to tell.
Here, we take a look back at part of Wavertree’s history that are footsteps apart. Some date back hundreds of years, whereas others have been part of the community for decades.
This list isn’t intended to be comprehensive, we’ve taken a look at a number of fascinating parts of Wavertree’s history.
Smallest house in Liverpool
This Liverpool doorway sandwiched between a pub and a betting shop leads to what was once the smallest house in England (Image: Google Maps)
Only a plaque identifies what was once the smallest house in all of Great Britain, which has since been knocked off the top spot by an even tinier property on the North Wales coast. Located on Wavertree High Street, the little house is located in between the Cock and Bottle pub and a betting shop and was said to have been built around 1850 to replace a narrow side passage.
A plaque from The Wavertree Society branding it ‘THE SMALLEST HOUSE’ reads: “Later part of the Cock & Bottle public house, No.95 High Street was once known as the smallest house in England.”
It was eventually incorporated into the Cock and Bottle pub, possibly in 1952, once serving as the living quarters for the pub’s licensee, according to the Cock and Bottle’s manager Chris Bennett. Repairs and renovations a decade ago transformed the tiny house, and reportedly later a storage room for the Cock and Bottle, into a passageway as it once was, the ECHO previously reported.
Picton Clock tower
Picton Clock tower and the former Abbey Cinema in Wavertree (Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
The Picton Clock roundabout at the junction of High Street, Childwall Road and Church Road North in Wavertree is known for its historic clock tower that sits in the centre. But people may be unaware that the tower was put there by architect Sir James Picton – around 140 years ago – as a memorial to his wife Sarah Pooley.
The couple were married for 50 years before Sarah died in 1879 and the major junction was said to have been chosen as the spot for the memorial so the maximum number of people would be able to see it. The tower contains three plaques including two poems.
One reads: “Time wasted is existence; used is life. The slow sweet hours that bring us all things good, the slow sad hours that bring us all things ill, And all good things from evil. Not at once. Not all to be forgotten.” Sir James Picton was an architect and a councillor who was the driving force behind the construction of Liverpool’s first public library.
Georgian shop front
Wood turner Raymond Jones at his shop, Wavertree High Street (Image: Jason Roberts photography)
If you walk down Wavertree High Street, you’ll find the he only surviving Georgian bow-windowed shop front in the city. Through the years, it has been home to a cobbler, a saddler and a boot dealer.
Back in 2020, the ECHO spoke to Raymond Jones of Ray Jones’ World of Wood Turning, who told us all about his business and how he restored the shop front back to its former glory. Raymond first became a wood turner in 1958 and has made everything from spindles to clown faced clocks and legs for snooker tables in that time.
He first moved to the premises on Wavertree High Street in 1984, and worked carefully to restore the shop front. He previously said: “He said: “I restored the shop when I moved in because it was in a terrible state. The glass was smashed and the windows were falling apart so we restored the whole of the front of it which dates back to the late 18th century.”
Abbey cinema site
Former Abbey Cinema site, Wavertree
The old Abbey Cinema, on Church Road North, first opened on March 4, 1939 and was designed by Sir Alfred Ernest Shennan. Frequented by Beatle George Harrison, the name of the cinema features in the original draft lyrics to The Beatles song In My Life and was open for 40 years in the city before closing in 1979.
By the 1980s, the site became Lennon’s supermarket and in 1984, the circle area was converted into the Coral Social Club which was opened by comedian Ken Dodd. By the 90s, the social club and bingo club had closed and the supermarket was operated by Somerfield’s – you could also find Riley’s snooker club there.
In later years, the snooker club inside the site closed and it wasn’t long before the former cinema was a Co-Operative supermarket. In recent years, Lidl had drawn up plans for the new store, but earlier this week, the ECHO reported how the Grade II-listed former cinema remains on the market almost a year after Lidl backed out of plans to move in and restore parts of the building.
George Harrison’s house
George Harrison’s birthplace, 12 Arnold Grove, with the white door (Image: Mark Waugh / Alamy)
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr changed music and changed the world when they started their band in Liverpool decades ago. Formed following a chance meeting between John and Paul at the Woolton Village Fete, in 1957, they released their first album, Please Please Me, in 1962.
But in Wavertree remains the birthplace of one of The Beatles, who spent their first seven years of life living there. In 1943, George Harrison was born at 12 Arnold Grove, a red-brick Victorian terrace house.
In December, the ECHO reported how SAVE Britain’s Heritage has since submitted listing applications and written to the Secretary of State for Culture to call for official recognition of all four Beatles’ birthplaces in honour of the buildings’ importance to the band’s story and the nation’s cultural heritage. The fresh applications are for the two houses and a maternity hospital in Liverpool which were the birthplaces of, respectively, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon. Paul McCartney’s birthplace, Walton Hospital, is already listed, but for its Victorian architecture, not its Beatles connection. SAVE is now arguing that the four landmarks should be listed for their “group significance” as tangible reminders of where it all began.