As there was no electric lighting when the buildings were constructed, the servant's staircases only had very small windows for light, but the main stairwells for visitors all have a similar glass dome at the top, with some lovely coving underneath. This provided the main daytime ( and moonlight) illumination until the gas burners were installed. As you can see from the picture, they are actually very effective in location and design.
Not the most entertaining photograph on earth, but I thought I'd show the design of the staircases common all around the Square.
As there was no electric lighting when the buildings were constructed, the servant's staircases only had very small windows for light, but the main stairwells for visitors all have a similar glass dome at the top, with some lovely coving underneath. This provided the main daytime ( and moonlight) illumination until the gas burners were installed. As you can see from the picture, they are actually very effective in location and design.
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Trying to write a very short 'less than a 1000 words' piece on the occupants of the Square in the mid 1860s. Not as easy as you think. Do you give great detail on one or two, or go broad strokes on all of them?
ps The answer is I haven't decided yet I've mentioned the MossLake a few times, and thought this photo from the corner of Hope Street, where Roscoe was born, might illustrate.
The high point in this area is where I'm standing taking the photo, after which the rock structure forms a natural hollow between this point and Smithdown Lane. This was a natural collection point for moisture running down from higher towards Everton Brow, and the reason the peat and bog area was formed, the only escape for the water being in the two streams that lead off the fields, towards Otterspool to the south and via London Road and down into 'the pool' to the North. In the centre of this, on the land where Abercromby ward lies, unuseable ground of marshland and small lakes were cut through by footpaths to join the town to outlying villages, but the main routes in and out of Liverpool avoided the route until it was identified as expansion land and drained. Not a huge amount useable in George Melly's 'Scouse Mouse' autobiography, but one or two interesting snippets on his ancestors. There are two different houses on the square occupied at different times and in different generations by Melly's forebears, and I'd highly recommend the book as a great read regardless of the connections to Abercromby.
Rushton has his own particular claim to fame in the publication of his religious tract 'A Defence of Particular Redemption', which attracted attention not just in the United Kingdom, but also in America.
The earliest recorded occupant of number one Abercromby Square is the merchant John Gordon, warden of St Michael's in Toxteth and deputy Chairman of the 'Ladies' Charity'. It is important to note the 'earliest recorded' part though. The likelihood is that the house was previously occupied by one William Rushton, wool and linen draper who later resided on the South of the Square in what is now number nine, but as the earliest rental agreements were lost to fire we may never know for certain.
This western portion of the Square was the first built, and at least one other occupant, Robert Gladstone ( uncle of the future prime minister) did a similar thing, initially living at number 7 and then relocating to number eleven once the southern houses were completed a few years later. The new square was a prestige address, and the first houses built were one of the few places the wealthy and influential would see and admire on their way to and from Roscoe's wonderful first Botanic Garden at the top of Oxford Street. Absolutely delighted to report that despite some previously unsuccesful searches, the wonderful staff at Liverpool PRO today managed to locate both the 4th and 5th editions of Kaye's 'Stranger in Liverpool' for me. Am therefore chuffed to bits.
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