Above: The signpost in 2005.
Below: William Hall Walker, 1912.
The ornamental signpost on the west side of Belle Vale Road was erected by William Hall Walker of Gateacre Grange. On the side facing the road are shown the distances: southwards to Garston 3, Hale 5 and Liverpool 6¼ miles, and northwards to Huyton 2½, Prescot 4¼ and Warrington 12 miles. On the side facing the footway are the inscriptions: “In commemoration of the sixtieth year of the reign (the Diamond Jubilee) of Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria” and “This promenade was presented to the Township of Little Woolton by William Hall Walker 1897”.
William Hall Walker was the third son of Sir Andrew Barclay Walker, the Scottish-born brewer (of Walkers Warrington Ales fame) who had built Gateacre Grange in the 1860s. To commemorate his year as Mayor of Liverpool, A.B. Walker had presented the Walker Art Gallery to the town in 1877 (and been knighted as a result). In 1887 Sir Andrew had celebrated Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee by giving the people of Gateacre a village green on the corner of Grange Lane and Gateacre Brow, featuring a bronze bust of the Queen. Ten years later his son, who had by this time inherited Gateacre Grange, decided to commemorate the Queen’s diamond jubilee by presenting the villagers with a ‘promenade’: a strip of land alongside Belle Vale Road, planted with a row of chestnut trees, which enabled them to walk safely and comfortably to the parish church of St Stephen.
Above: The signpost and the prefabs, circa 1960.
The signpost recorded William Hall Walker’s generosity, and its ‘1897 AD’ weathervane became a permanent reminder of the diamond jubilee year. The signpost was given to the Little Woolton Local Board of Health, which was the local council of the day. In 1913, when the city’s boundaries were extended, it became the property of Liverpool Corporation.
After the second world war, the once-rural landscape on either side of Belle Vale Road was transformed. To the west was developed one of the largest prefab housing estates in the country, the ‘temporary’ bungalows of which survived from 1947 until the 1960s. To the east was developed the Lee Park council housing estate.
In the 1970s, private houses were built on the site of the prefabs; but the signpost and the chestnut trees survived. The signpost – which had by now been designated as a Grade II ‘listed building’ by reason of its architectural and historic interest – was in need of renovation, and this was undertaken by Liverpool City Council’s Estates Surveyor’s Department in 1981.
Above: The signpost after renovation, 1981.
Above: The signpost and ‘promenade’ in 2005
Above: Ordnance Survey map of Belle Vale Road (with the signpost marked ‘G.P.’ for ‘guide post’), 1904.
In March 2012 the signpost was severely damaged. It toppled over while contractors were digging a hole alongside, as part of the work to replace the local gas mains. The Gateacre Society very much hopes, however, that the sign will repaired and put back in place in time to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s diamond jubilee in early June.
Read about the incident, as reported in the March 2012 issue of the Gateacre Society Newsletter.
Text by Mike Chitty of the Gateacre Society.
The photographs taken in 2005 are © COPYRIGHT Mike Chitty. The other images are from the Society’s collection.
