The story of Abercromby Square as we know it starts twenty years before the first brick was laid. But the story of the importance of the land it stands on goes back two hundred years, and maybe further. I don’t want to overstate the case, but the Moss Lake was actually vital for the growth, and even creation of Liverpool as a thriving port.
I said I didn’t want to overstate the case. I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it! But there is an element of truth in the claim, and for all we can definitively know today, it could well be true to say that Liverpool in its shape and size in 1800 arose in part because of the Moss lake. And it goes back to the Moore and Molyneux family feuds in the 1600s.
I said I didn’t want to overstate the case. I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it! But there is an element of truth in the claim, and for all we can definitively know today, it could well be true to say that Liverpool in its shape and size in 1800 arose in part because of the Moss lake. And it goes back to the Moore and Molyneux family feuds in the 1600s.
At the time Liverpool itself was a small town, only seven streets ( depending how you count them), and none of the artificial docks had yet been built. The natural inlet next to the castle, where Liverpool One and the police station reside now, was known as the ‘sea lake’, the harbour. This lead to ‘the pool’, the river leading up the current Paradise Street and Whitechapel, crossed by ferry or latterly bridge, and where ships were originally built. And this was the southern edge of the town.
Beyond this was the Great Heath ( or Great Common) stretching out past the boundary wall ( where we find Parliament Street now) into the separate settlements of Toxteth Park, run by the Molyneauxs.
If you follow the wandering path of the stream inland, it winds around the North side of Lime Street, through Eastham Mill, up parallel to London Road, crossing by the current hospital into the edge of Moss Lake Fields, then still known variously as West Derby fen and Esmedune Moss. Here, the Moss Lake fed fresh water downhill all the way to the Mersey and the sea. But that’s only half the story.
I should add at this point that the Moss-Lake brook wasn’t the only stream to run down into the Sea Lake. Over time there has been a combination of four water courses which combined at the head of the ‘Pool, but in the earliest stages the fastest running, and the primary source of powering the water mill came from the Moss lake, so for simplicity I’ll leave the explanation of the others to more general Liverpool history sites and books, of which there are many.
Beyond this was the Great Heath ( or Great Common) stretching out past the boundary wall ( where we find Parliament Street now) into the separate settlements of Toxteth Park, run by the Molyneauxs.
If you follow the wandering path of the stream inland, it winds around the North side of Lime Street, through Eastham Mill, up parallel to London Road, crossing by the current hospital into the edge of Moss Lake Fields, then still known variously as West Derby fen and Esmedune Moss. Here, the Moss Lake fed fresh water downhill all the way to the Mersey and the sea. But that’s only half the story.
I should add at this point that the Moss-Lake brook wasn’t the only stream to run down into the Sea Lake. Over time there has been a combination of four water courses which combined at the head of the ‘Pool, but in the earliest stages the fastest running, and the primary source of powering the water mill came from the Moss lake, so for simplicity I’ll leave the explanation of the others to more general Liverpool history sites and books, of which there are many.
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