This area, now occupied by Woodcroft Road, Portman Road and Egerton Road, was immediately adjacent to the old house known as 'Woodcroft' - sometimes referred to as 'Woodcroft Cottage' - off Smithdown Road, which in the 1840s had been the home of Richard Rathbone, a member of the famous Liverpool merchant family.

On the Wavertree Tithe Map of 1846 it was described as a 'Field' - plot number 1017 - owned (as was the whole of the Woodcroft Estate) by 'Serjeantson & others'. The area of this plot, as stated in the Tithe Schedule, was 6a 1r 21p (where 4 roods = 1 acre and 40 perches = 1 rood) - which is consistent with the "6 acres, 1 rood more or less" stated in the 1891 Lease. The difficulty with this option is that, according to the evidence of street directories, much of the land was developed for housing during the 1890s, which would appear to be inconsistent with the continued use of Woodcroft Park by the Old Boys and others. Even at the time of the 1891 Census, there were 6 dwellings occupied on the west side of Bagot Street - these being named on the 1894 map as Argyle Terrace.

(Above):
An extract from Ordnance Survey 1:2500 Lancashire Sheet 106/15
(1893 edition). Was Woodcroft Park located immediately to the west and north of Argyle Terrace?

Continued . . .