WAVERTREE
Wauretreu, Dom. Bk.; Wauertrea, 1167; Wauertre
or Wavertre is the most usual form from 1200, with
Wauertrie as a variant. Wartre occurs in 1381, and
becomes common later; it gives the old local pronunciation, Wautry.
This township has an area of 1,838 acres. (fn. 1) The
highest land is in the centre and north, rising to an
elevation of over 200 ft.: the surface slopes away in the
other directions, especially on the Liverpool side. The
old village stood on the higher part of this westward
slope, beside the road from Liverpool to Woolton, here
called High Street; it has now grown into a town.
The eastern half of the township still retains a rural
or suburban character. The population in 1901 was
25,303.
The soil is sandy and loamy; the geological formation consists of pebble beds of the bunter series of
the new red sandstone or trias. Wheat, oats, and
potatoes are grown.
The principal roads are those from Liverpool to
Woolton, with numerous cross roads. Portions of an
old pack-horse track exist. The London and NorthWestern Company's Liverpool and Manchester line
passes along the northern boundary, where is the deep
Olive Mount cutting, celebrated in the earlier days
of railway engineering. The same company's railway
to the Bootle Docks branches off to the north, while
its principal line from Liverpool to London goes
through the western portion, where there is a station.
The Liverpool tramway system extends to the top of
the High street.
Near the terminus is a small green with a pond,
and close by is Monks' well, a pin well, on which it
is said there was this inscription:—
QUI NON DAT QUOD HABET
DAEMON INFRA RIDET. ANNO 1414.
reproduced on the modern covering of the well. (fn. 2)
Close by is a clock tower commemorating Sir James
Picton, the Liverpool architect and antiquary, who
lived in Olive Mount. To the east is a piece of
ground which by the terms of the enclosure award
must remain an open space for ever. Near it is the
old windmill. (fn. 3) Lower down, towards the railway, is
the fine children's playground presented to Liverpool
by an anonymous benefactor. (fn. 4) Wavertree Nook is in
the north-eastern corner of the township.
Mrs. Hemans lived in the High Street for some
time. (fn. 5)
A prehistoric cemetery has been discovered here. (fn. 6)
Gregson thus describes the place as it was in 1817:
'Wavertree is a pleasant village and has increased
with Liverpool, within these few years, in a rapid
manner… . The salubrity of the air is highly and
very deservedly spoken of … . In 1731 the township contained fifty houses, (fn. 7) of which only three were
untenanted.'
The township was constituted a local government
district in 1851, (fn. 8) and a town hall in the classical style
was built in 1872 in the High Street. In 1894 it
became an urban district, and in November, 1895,
was incorporated in Liverpool.
MANOR
At the death of Edward the Confessor
WAVERTREE was in the possession of
Leving, assessed at 2 plough-lands and
valued beyond the customary rent at the normal 64d. (fn. 9)
After the Conquest it was added to the demesne of
the honour, and in consequence its manorial history
is identical with that of West Derby. In the Pipe Roll
of 1176–7 is a record of the payment of 1 mark from
Wavertree to the tallage levied that year. (fn. 10)
The Walton family, who held the master-serjeanty
of the wapentake, had 4 oxgangs of land in Wavertree by reason of this office. (fn. 11) It would appear that
the remaining 12 oxgangs in Wavertree had been
given to Gilbert de Walton by King John when
count of Mortain—and perhaps forfeited on the
count's rebellion—for in 1198–9 Gilbert's son,
Henry de Walton, rendered account of a palfrey
and 100s. due for having this land. He would thus
have the whole manor, though by different titles, the
service for the 12 oxgangs being a rent of 2 marks. (fn. 12)
The old rent payable from Wavertree to the sheriff
of the county was 20s.; this was increased half a mark
in 1199, (fn. 13) and the increased payment continued to be
made in later years; as, for instance, in 1323, when
the stewardship of the manor came into the king's
hands by the forfeiture of Robert de Holand. (fn. 14)
Occasional escheats reveal something of the value
of the place. In 1205–6 the sheriff had 70s. from
corn from Wavertree and other lands of Henry de
Walton, whose estates were then in the king's hands. (fn. 15)
In the inquisition taken in 1298, after the death of
Edmund earl of Lancaster, it was found that 1 oxgang of land was held by Roger de Thingwall for a
rent of 4d., and the other fifteen by various customary
tenants at the rate of 3s. an oxgang; there were also
131 acres 1½ roods of land improved from the waste
rented at 4d. the acre, the total amounting to
£4 9s. 1½d. (fn. 16) Again, after the forfeiture of Thomas
of Lancaster in 1322, when a detailed extent was
made of lands held by him, Wavertree, as part of the
demesne of the honour, was included. (fn. 17) In 1346, in
the extent of the lands of Henry, earl of Lancaster,
the turbary had increased in value to £6 13s. 4d.,
while the free tenants continued to pay 4d., and the
tenants at will paid £4 10s., double the former
amount. (fn. 18)
The local surname is not common, but in 1307
Henry de Wavertree was vicar of Childwall, and in
1329 Thomas son of Roger de Warrington was accused
of the death of Robert de Wavertree. The jury found
that the accusation was due to the malice of one
William de Schukedale, who thought that Thomas
had been insufficiently punished (fn. 19) by the hallmote
court of West Derby for striking him, and so accused
him of this more serious crime. Thomas son of
Gregory the shoemaker was the guilty person. (fn. 20)
The Norrises of Speke had lands here. In 1495
Sir William Norris acquired from William Brown of
Penketh an additional portion called Long Hey,
abutting on the Sandfield towards the west. Robert
Lake of Wavertree in 1499 transferred to William
Lathom of Parbold and Thomas Harebrown of
Wavertree a butt of land, running up to the 'stone
divisions' on the north, in trust for the chaplain at
the chantry altar in Childwall church, to pray for the
grantor's soul and the souls of his parents and successors. This seems to have been the Stonyfield,
which the churchwardens in 1552 exchanged with
Sir William Norris. At the hallmote of West Derby
in 1594 John Lake of Bromborough, Alice Holland,
widow, and Robert Ellison transferred a close called
Widow's Flat to Edward Norris, who was admitted
and paid a fine of 5d. (fn. 21)
John Crosse of Liverpool purchased several parcels
of land in Wavertree in 1497 from the above William
Brown of Penketh and Gilbert his son; (fn. 22) while in
1505 Richard Crosse bought from Sir John Ireland
of Hale land in Wavertree, held by William Lake and
paying 15½d. a year to the king. (fn. 23)
In Queen Elizabeth's time the tenants had a dispute with the lord of the adjacent manor of Allerton
about some 50 acres of waste 'bounded by Calder,
Roger, or Way stones, as appears by a plan then made
and laid down, now in the chest at Wavertree.' (fn. 24)
When Charles I in 1628 sold the manor of West
Derby it was contended that the manors of Everton
and Wavertree were included, but the tenants in these
townships objecting, the matter was settled ten years
later by an amended grant of West Derby lordship
and manor and the towns of Everton and Wavertree;
thereupon the tenants of these townships paid their
rent to the purchasers. Next year the latter transferred their rights to Lord Strange, afterwards earl of
Derby. (fn. 25) The manor was sold in 1717 to Isaac
Greene, from whom it has descended to the marquis
of Salisbury. (fn. 26) In 1817 Gregson states 'the court for
Wavertree and West Derby was held under Bamber
Gascoyne for the copyhold lands, which are of inheritance and fine certain.' (fn. 27)
The common lands were enclosed by Act of Parliament in 1768. (fn. 28)
In 1717 Darcy Chantrell of Noctorum as a 'Papist'
registered an estate of £39 in Wavertree. (fn. 29)
The land tax returns of 1785 show the principal
landowners to have been Bamber Gascoyne, Thomas
Plumbe, and Rev. Thomas Dannett.
In connexion with the Establishment, Trinity
Church was built in 1790; a small burial-ground
is attached. (fn. 30) A separate parish was formed for
it in 1828, (fn. 31) and the incumbents are styled rectors. (fn. 32)
In 1871 St. Bridget's was erected as a chapel of ease;
it possesses a reredos of Venetian mosaic work. A
separate ecclesiastical parish was constituted in 1901.
St. Mary's, Sandown Park, was built in 1849, and a
district assigned in 1856; the incumbents have the
title of rector. (fn. 33) St. Thomas's was built in 1896. (fn. 34)
The Wesleyan church in Victoria Park was built
in 1872. Trinity Congregational church, Hunter
Lane, was founded about 1836, and the building
opened in 1839; there is a mission in Wellington
Road. (fn. 35)
The Roman Catholic church of Our Lady of Good
Help was opened in 1887, (fn. 36) and St. Hugh's, on the
Toxteth border, in 1904. (fn. 37) Bishop Eton, on the
Woolton Road, has been the novitiate house of the
English province of the Redemptorists for nearly
forty years; the order acquired the place in 1851.
The church, Our Lady of the Annunciation, was
designed by Pugin. The Convent of Mercy (St.
Anthony's) in Green Lane is served from Bishop Eton.