{"id":172,"date":"2024-02-25T23:04:45","date_gmt":"2024-02-25T23:04:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewavertreesociety.uk\/?page_id=172"},"modified":"2024-02-25T23:04:56","modified_gmt":"2024-02-25T23:04:56","slug":"mysterious-history-behind-the-smallest-house-in-liverpool","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thewavertreesociety.uk\/?page_id=172","title":{"rendered":"Mysterious history behind the smallest house in Liverpool"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article was originally posted in the Liverpool Echo on 18th December 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The house in Wavertree was once the smallest in Britain<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This doorway sandwiched between a pub and a betting shop leads to what was once the smallest house in England<\/strong>\u00a0(Image: Google Maps)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only a plaque identifies what was once the smallest house in all of Great Britain, now knocked off the top spot by an even tinier property on the North Wales coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The little house on\u00a0Wavertree\u00a0High Street is sandwiched between the Cock and Bottle pub and a betting shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A plaque from\u00a0The Wavertree Society\u00a0branding 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.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wavertree\u00a0Town Hall is just a few doors down, and it sits around the corner from\u00a0George Harrison’s childhood home\u00a0on Arnold Grove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You’d be forgiven for missing the pint-sized property painted the same colour as the neighbouring pub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A door and upstairs window consume most of the width of the property’s front, making it hard to imagine\u00a0who’d have room to live inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The house was apparently built around 1850 to replace a narrow side passage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is said to measure up at a mere six feet wide and 14ft from front to back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"England's
What was England’s smallest house, located in Wavertree.<\/strong> (Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was eventually incorporated into\u00a0the Cock and Bottle pub, possibly in 1952, once serving as the living quarters for the pub\u2019s licensee, according to the Cock and Bottle\u2019s manager Chris Bennett.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But its prior history is mysterious and fascinating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One story goes\u00a0that a husband and wife raised eight children in their tiny home, while another tale tells of a particularly large resident who had to go up the stairs sideways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Repairs and renovations a decade ago transformed the tiny house, and reportedly later a storage room for the\u00a0Cock and Bottle, into a passageway as it once was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can’t imagine it from the outside, but behind the door is a stairway leading to\u00a0a four bedroom flat\u00a0above the bookies and pub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only a plaque marks it as the miniature house it once was.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article was originally posted in the Liverpool Echo on 18th December 2021 The house in Wavertree was once the smallest in Britain This doorway […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":173,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-172","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t