EVERTON
Evreton, 1094; Euerton, 1201; Erton, 1380;
Everton, usual from xiii cent.
This township lies on the hill to the north-east of
Liverpool, the highest point being at St. George's
Church. From that point there is a very rapid slope to
the north and to the west, the elevated ridge continuing
southward to Low Hill and Edge Hill. The height
allows an extensive panorama of the city of Liverpool,
including a distant view of the Cheshire side of the
River Mersey. At sunset the windows of the houses on
Everton Brow flash back the glowing radiance, showing that nothing impedes the wide prospect westwards.
The foot of this ridge is the western boundary. The
area is 693 acres, the township being about a mile
and a quarter from north to south, and less than a
mile across. The population in 1901 was 121,469.
The geological formation is triassic, the lower ground
on the eastern side consisting of the basement beds of
the keuper series, which have been thrown down by a
deep fault running north and south; the remainder
of the township, including all the higher ground,
consists of the pebble beds of the bunter series.
Formerly the approach to it was by a road leading
eastward from Liverpool. (fn. 1) The old village (fn. 2) stood at
the top of the ascent in what is now Village Street,
above the old roundhouse or bridewell, (fn. 3) which still
remains. About half way up the slope Netherfield
Lane turned away to the north, with a branch leading
up the hill. From the top of the village the road
led—north to the summit where the Beacon stood,
destroyed by a gale in 1803, and then dividing, down
the hill to Kirkdale and to Anfield; (fn. 4) and south to
Low Hill; this road remains one of the main thoroughfares of Everton, as Heyworth Street and Everton
Road. The road from Liverpool after passing through
the village divided, the more northerly branch, Breck
Lane, (fn. 5) leading to Walton Breck, and the other, which
also divided, to Newsham and West Derby. (fn. 6) The
mere, afterwards called St. Domingo Pit, was below
the Beacon, to the east; Mere Lane led down to it.
The commanding situation of the village occasioned
its earliest prominent connexion with the general history of the county, for here Prince Rupert fixed his
head quarters when attacking Liverpool in 1644. (fn. 7) In
more peaceful times the wealthier merchants of Liverpool chose it for their country mansions, and in 1824
it was thus described: 'This village has become a very
favourite residence of the gentry of Liverpool, and for
the salubrity of its air and its vicinity to the sea, may
not inaptly be called the Montpellier of the county.' (fn. 8)
The roads were shaded with fine trees, and a walk to
the top of the hill was a pleasant exercise for dwellers
in the town. The growth of Liverpool northwards,
with the erection of chemical works and other factories
by the riverside, destroyed the amenities of the
situation, and within the last fifty years the great
houses in their spacious grounds have been replaced
by closely packed streets of small dwellings. The
roads above described remain the principal ones,
having been widened and improved. The Liverpool
electric tramways serve the district.
There was a large sandstone quarry on the northern
slope of the hill.
Until 1820 the shaft of the market-cross stood
upon a flight of stone steps in the open space of the
village; a sundial had been fixed upon it. (fn. 9) There
was formerly a holy well here, but the site has been
lost. (fn. 10) The Beacon, already mentioned, was a plain
rectangular tower of two stories, about 18 ft. square
and 25 ft. high, built of local red sandstone. (fn. 11)
The little open green by the roundhouse is maintained by the corporation of Liverpool, and has been
slightly extended by the demolition of some cottages
on the north side of it, among them being the Old
Toffee shop. (fn. 12) In 1825 the Necropolis was enclosed
as a burial place for Nonconformists. (fn. 13) It is now a
public garden maintained by the corporation. Shaw
Street, the principal street on the Liverpool side of
Everton, was formed in 1828 by Thomas Shaw, a
councillor of Liverpool. (fn. 14) On its eastern side is a
triangular piece of rocky ground called Whitley Gardens
maintained by the corporation. (fn. 15)
MANOR
EVERTON was one of the six berewicks dependent on the royal manor
of West Derby in 1066; its separate
assessment was three plough-lands. (fn. 16) Subsequently
it formed part of the demesne of Roger of Poitou,
who gave its tithes to the abbey of St. Martin at
Séez in 1094. (fn. 17) During the twelfth century an
assized rent of £4 from this vill was accounted for
in the corpus comitatus or total sum rendered yearly
as farm of the honour, but in 1201 it was increased
to £4 16s., (fn. 18) the increment perhaps representing the
sheriff-scot or fee for the sheriff as farmer of the
demesne manors. (fn. 19) The manorial history of Everton
is the same as that of West Derby. (fn. 20) In 1315 Sir
Robert de Holand entered into the manor by the
favour of Thomas of Lancaster and held it until the
earl's attainder in 1322. (fn. 21) Thirty years later it was
given to John Barret in fee, but he appears to have
died without issue, and this grant also failed. (fn. 22)
Being granted by the crown in 1629 as an appendage of the manor of West Derby, (fn. 23) the tenants of
Everton refused suit and service at the patentees'
court, asserting that their manor was distinct and
separate from that of West Derby. After legal disputes the patentees thought it best to obtain new
letters patent in 1639, in which the vill of Everton
and the rents and services of the tenants were named.
The manors of West Derby, Everton, and Wavertree
were then sold to James, Lord Strange, and in 1717
were purchased by Isaac Greene of Liverpool, whose
descendant, (fn. 24) the marquis of Salisbury, is the present
lord of the manor. Some land is still held as copyhold of the manor of West Derby.
The Everton tenants had successfully asserted the
rights of their vill in 1620. In this year the copyholders of West Derby and Wavertree, having obtained
a commission confirming to them their copyhold
estates and for granting the wastes and commons by
copy of court roll, surveyed and proposed an allotment
not only of the wastes of West Derby and Wavertree,
but also of Everton, to be allotted among the copyholders of the three vills. The people of Everton,
however, insisted that theirs was a distinct vill, (fn. 25) with
known bounds; that the benefit of the wastes had
from time beyond memory been taken and enjoyed by
the inhabitants; that the tenants of Kirkdale paid
Everton 6s. 8d. a year for liberty of common in part
of the wastes, and that the inhabitants of Wavertree
and West Derby had no rights in them. (fn. 26)
In 1642 it was found that the people of Everton
paid £5 11s. 3½d. for their enclosed lands and 13s. 4d.
for their commons—Hongfield (Anfield), Whitefield
and Netherfield; this last payment was known as
Breck silver, the commons lying on the Breck or slope
of the hill. (fn. 27) An agreement was made in 1667
between the tenants and the earl of Derby, as lord of
the manor, for enclosing a third of the commons,
which then extended to 180 acres large measurement;
they were afterwards leased to the tenants. (fn. 28) Then in
1716 Lady Ashburnham granted to the copyholders a
lease for a thousand years of 115 acres of the 120 acres
unenclosed, for £115 paid and a rent of £5 15s. a
year. (fn. 29)
Everton was incorporated in the borough of
Liverpool in 1835. It formed a single ward until
1895, when it was divided into four—Everton,
Netherfield, St. Domingo, and Brockfield wards, each
with its aldermen and three councillors.
The first place of worship erected in the township in
connexion with the Church of England was St. George's,
on the summit of the hill. It was planned in 1812
somewhat as a commercial speculation, the land being
given by James Atherton, and the money raised in
shares of £100 each, any profits to be divided among
the proprietors. It was opened in 1814. (fn. 30) The
incumbents, now called vicars, were the chaplains of
the proprietors until 1879, when, the conditions
having totally changed and any 'profit' ceased with
the migration of the wealthier inhabitants many years
before, the proprietors made the church over to the
district. (fn. 31) The next, St. Augustine's, Shaw Street, was
built in 1830, shares being subscribed and Thomas
Shaw giving the land. (fn. 32) Christ Church, Great Homer
Street, was built in 1848 by the family as a memorial
of Charles Horsfall, mayor in 1832–3. St. Peter's,
Sackville Street, followed in 1849. St. Chrysostom's
in 1853 replaced a chapel of ease in Mill Road,
which had been built in 1837. (fn. 33) The preceding
benefices are in the gift of various bodies of trustees.
Emmanuel Church, West Derby Road, erected in
1867, is in the gift of Mr. R. D. Anderson. (fn. 34) St.
Saviour's, Breckfield Road, 1870, originated in an iron
church erected in 1867; (fn. 35) the incumbents are presented by trustees. St. Timothy's, near Everton
Brow, was built in 1862; a mission room has been
acquired. (fn. 36) St. Chad's, Everton Valley, was opened
as a school-church in 1881, the permanent building
soon following. The bishop of Liverpool is patron
of both churches. St. Ambrose Church was built in
1871. (fn. 37) St. Benedict's, erected in 1887 in succession
to an iron church, stands near the old village. The
patronage of these churches is vested in bodies of
trustees. St. Cuthbert's, on the Anfield side, was
built in 1877; the Simeon trustees have the patronage. (fn. 38) St. Polycarp's, Netherfield Road, was erected
in 1886. St. John the Evangelist's, Breck Road, was
built in 1890 as a memorial to Charles Groves, a
well-known Liverpool churchman. The patronage of
both churches is vested in trustees.
A Free Church of England has been established in
Everton; its minister is the bishop of the northern
diocese.
Liverpool College, Shaw Street, was established in
1841.
The Wesleyan Methodists have several churches—
Great Homer Street Chapel, built in 1840, (fn. 39) and
Whitefield Road, 1866; also a mission chapel and a
preaching room. There is a large Welsh-speaking
population, and two chapels are devoted to them by
the Wesleyans. The Primitive Methodists have two
churches; the Methodist New Connexion one; and
the United Free Methodists two.
Fabius Chapel, Everton Road, built by the Baptists
in 1868, represents the first place of religious worship
known to have existed in the township. Dr. Fabius,
a well-known physician, who lived close by, built a
chapel about the year 1707; a yard attached was
used as a burial ground. (fn. 40) The congregation increased,
but secured a meeting-place in Liverpool in 1722,
and the Everton chapel was abandoned. The burial
ground, however, remained in possession of the
denomination; and upon it stands the present
building. The same denomination have churches in
Shaw Street, built in 1847, and in Breck Road, called
Richmond Chapel, built in 1864. The Welsh
Baptist Chapel, built in 1869, in Village Street, is a
migration from Ormond Street, Liverpool, where a
congregation had gathered as early as 1799.
The Congregational church in Everton Crescent is
the result of a separation from the Establishment in
1800; Bethesda Chapel in Hotham Street was then
erected, but in 1837 the congregation moved to the
Everton chapel. The church has maintained several
mission stations. The Chadwick Mount Church was
built in 1866–70. For Welsh-speaking Congregationalists there is a church in Netherfield Road,
opened in 1868, being a transplantation of the old
Tabernacle in Great Crosshall Street, Liverpool. (fn. 41)
The Calvinistic Methodists have three places of
worship where service is conducted in Welsh, and two
others for English-speaking adherents. The United
Free Gospellers have two churches. The Presbyterians have two churches. (fn. 42) There is a Church of
Christ in Thirlmere Road. The Salvation Army
has a barracks. The Unitarians have a church in
Hamilton Road.
Everton is considered an extremely Protestant
district, but the Roman Catholics have several churches
within it. The earliest is St. Francis Xavier's. The
Jesuits, who had served Liverpool during the times of
persecution, were able to return in 1840, when land
was secured on the border of the rapidly-growing
town. Two years later they opened a school in Soho
Street, and in 1845 the church was built. A large
educational work has been gradually established. (fn. 43) St.
Mary Immaculate's, on the northern slope of Everton
Hill, was erected in 1856 as the Lady Chapel of a
proposed cathedral, and was enlarged in 1885. The
bishop's house and St. Edward's College occupy the
adjacent St. Domingo House, perhaps the only one of
the great Everton mansions still remaining. (fn. 44) St.
Michael's, West Derby Road, was erected in 1861 to
1865, and has since been practically rebuilt. St.
George's Industrial School adjoins it. (fn. 45)
The Mohammedans have a mosque in Brougham
Terrace.