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By: Mike Chitty (Local History Secretary, The Wavertree
Society)
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| The
Lock Up - in use until Wavertree had a Police Station
in the 1840s. |
Wavertree's
octagonal Lock-up was built of local yellow sandstone in
1796, at the expense of the villagers.
Drunkenness
was quite a problem even 200 years ago, and it was the village
Constable's job to round up offenders and accommodate them
overnight until they were sober enough to be released or
taken before the local magistrate.
The
post of Constable was an unpaid one - the villagers took
it in turns, a year at a time - but expenses could be claimed
including 2 shillings for looking after a prisoner in the
Constable's own house.
In
1796 the villagers decided it would be cheaper for them,
in the long run, to pay for a purpose-built lock-up!
Objections were raised by Mr John Myers, the wealthy resident
of Lake House (where Monkswell Drive is today) who claimed
the proposal 'showed a desire to annoy him' and would spoil
his view. However, he was overruled and a Mr Hind was engaged
to prepare plans and get the work in hand.
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| The
lock up today |
Originally
the Lock-up had a flattish roof, and it was not unknown
for friends of the prisoners to hide behind the parapet
while knocking a hole in the roof! A small stove was installed
to keep the prisoners warm, and they were supplied with
food and water, but otherwise there were few home comforts.
It
is said that cholera victims were dumped there to isolate
them from the rest of the village; and in the 1840s the
Lock-up served as temporary accommodation for destitute
Irish families trekking out from Liverpool into the surrounding
countryside.
By
this time the Lock-up was no longer needed for its original
purpose, as a proper Police Station had opened in the High
Street (on the site of the present Wavertree Gardens flats).
The building gradually fell into decay, until in 1868 its
owners the Wavertree Local Board of Health contemplated
demolition.
Fortunately
for us, the Chairman of the Board was the architect and
local historian James Picton, who came to the rescue and
drew up plans for its repair and 'beautification', including
the addition of a new pointed roof and weather vane. These
plans were implemented the following year. In 1952 the Lock-up
became a Listed Building and in 1979 Wavertree Village was
designated as a Conservation Area The triangular village
green on which the Lock-up stands has recently been confirmed
as the only piece of Common Land within the City of Liverpool.
For many years the building was used by the City Council's
parks and gardens department for the storage of tools and
grass-cutting equipment, but it currently stands empty and
disused ... except as a picturesque reminder of the Wavertree
of two centuries ago.
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| The
opening of the Lock-up on Heritage Weekend. |
Once
a year, during Heritage Open Weekend in September, the Wavertree
Society arranges for the Lock-up to be on view to the public.
Local residents and visitors are able to see inside the
building, and speculate on what an overnight stay must have
felt like in those far-off days.
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