Lost Manors

Before Childwall and Gateacre were swallowed up by the urban sprawl of the city of Liverpool in the 20th century, they were rural settlements situated on the city’s outskirts. With the coming of the modern era, much of the ancient landscape disappeared, built over with new roads, housing estates, and shopping centres.

In an effort to uncover this forgotten social and physical tableau, the author has studied records spanning more than 400 years, including the surviving records of the lost manors of Childwall and Little Woolton. These archaic documents reveal the workings of the old manor court and allow a glimpse at the lives and activities of some of the inhabitants of the now obsolete townships.

Particular attention is paid to the Tudor, Stuart, Cromwellian and Georgian era alehouses that stood in what are modern day Childwall, Gateacre, Belle Vale and Netherley, where they were located, and who ran them. There is also an exploration of the histories of the surviving old pubs, such as the Childwall Abbey, the Black Bull and the Bear and Staff, the Victorian beer houses such as the Brown Cow and John Blackburn’s House, as well as Gateacre’s Georgian brewery.

The tales of the old townships and alehouses often contain elements of drama, humour and tragedy, but above all they offer an insight into a bygone age. ‘Lost Manors’ presents a fresh perspective on the history of Little Woolton and Childwall, and is a rediscovery of a social and physical landscape that has been lost in the mists of time.