Calderstones Park
Calderstones Park was once part of the 1583 acre (640ha) expanse of the ‘Manor of Allerton’ until about 1726 when this estate became fragmented through sale.
The area now known as ‘Calderstones’ passed through various owners until 1828 when the old farmhouse was replaced by the present Mansion House.
The park takes its name from the Calder Stones, six sandstone boulders remaining from a Neolithic dolmen discovered in the early 19th Century.
The stones were relocated by the then owner Joseph Need Walker as a gateway feature to the estate.
The Calderstones Estate was acquired by Charles McIver for £52,000 in 1875. The new owner was a Liverpool shipping magnate who, along with his brother David, had joined Samuel Cunard in establishing the ‘British and North American Royal Steam Packet Company’ – known as the Cunard Line.
Calderstones was sold by the MacIvers to Liverpool Corporation in 1902 for £43,000 and formerly opened as a park three years later. By the outbreak of the First World War, the Calderstones Estate had been augmented by the Harthill Estate to produce the present area which for some time known as Calderstones and Harthill Park.
The inter-war years saw two major landscape improvement initiatives undertaken, both Government supported unemployment relief schemes. The construction of a broad avenue in 1931, later dubbed ‘Jubilee Drive’ in 1935, from the Four Seasons Gateway (1928) through to the existing path which led to Yew Tree Road. The second major development was the construction of the park boating lake, opened in April 1933.
A later innovation was the construction of an open-air theatre at the rear of the Mansion House supporting ‘holidays at home’ in a period of post war austerity around 1945. By 1964 Calderstones Park and the former Harthill Estate in particular, had assumed the mantle of Liverpool’s (third) Botanic Garden, with the establishment of a new glasshouse complex, summer house/veranda and defined areas of themed outdoor planting.
The botanical importance of the park encouraged further horticultural improvements such as the creation of a Japanese Garden by park apprentices in 1969, and the introduction of a ‘bog garden’ linked to the artificial lake.
Calderstones Park has long been revered as ‘Liverpool’s most beautiful park’, a status notably enhanced by the Botanic Garden designation in 1964. A vast range of outdoor plantings combine to ensure horticultural interest throughout the year, most markedly in the feature garden areas.
Read MoreThe area now known as ‘Calderstones’ passed through various owners until 1828 when the old farmhouse was replaced by the present Mansion House.
The park takes its name from the Calder Stones, six sandstone boulders remaining from a Neolithic dolmen discovered in the early 19th Century.
The stones were relocated by the then owner Joseph Need Walker as a gateway feature to the estate.
The Calderstones Estate was acquired by Charles McIver for £52,000 in 1875. The new owner was a Liverpool shipping magnate who, along with his brother David, had joined Samuel Cunard in establishing the ‘British and North American Royal Steam Packet Company’ – known as the Cunard Line.
Calderstones was sold by the MacIvers to Liverpool Corporation in 1902 for £43,000 and formerly opened as a park three years later. By the outbreak of the First World War, the Calderstones Estate had been augmented by the Harthill Estate to produce the present area which for some time known as Calderstones and Harthill Park.
The inter-war years saw two major landscape improvement initiatives undertaken, both Government supported unemployment relief schemes. The construction of a broad avenue in 1931, later dubbed ‘Jubilee Drive’ in 1935, from the Four Seasons Gateway (1928) through to the existing path which led to Yew Tree Road. The second major development was the construction of the park boating lake, opened in April 1933.
A later innovation was the construction of an open-air theatre at the rear of the Mansion House supporting ‘holidays at home’ in a period of post war austerity around 1945. By 1964 Calderstones Park and the former Harthill Estate in particular, had assumed the mantle of Liverpool’s (third) Botanic Garden, with the establishment of a new glasshouse complex, summer house/veranda and defined areas of themed outdoor planting.
The botanical importance of the park encouraged further horticultural improvements such as the creation of a Japanese Garden by park apprentices in 1969, and the introduction of a ‘bog garden’ linked to the artificial lake.
Calderstones Park has long been revered as ‘Liverpool’s most beautiful park’, a status notably enhanced by the Botanic Garden designation in 1964. A vast range of outdoor plantings combine to ensure horticultural interest throughout the year, most markedly in the feature garden areas.
