Sefton Park railings

[johno]

Has anyone noticed that as you walk around the perimeter of sefton park the sandstone blocks that enclose the park from the Aighburth road entrance
to ullett road have square holes on the top of the blocks. Does anyone know if at one time these held railings.Rumour has that they were taken down for the metal for the war effort at the start of the war. Anyone any ideas

Johno

Originally Posted by johno

Has anyone noticed that as you walk around the perimeter of sefton park the sandstone blocks that enclose the park from the Aighburth road entrance
to ullett road have square holes on the top of the blocks. Does anyone know if at one time these held railings.Rumour has that they were taken down for the metal for the war effort at the start of the war. Anyone any ideas

Johno

Yes, they were taken for the war effort.
In fact, most of the railings from private houses were taken as well, with very few exceptions.
Try walking round any old street and try to spot original railings.
You won't see many!

And, as it turned out, most of the metal collected that way was pretty useless for building planes.

[wsteve55]

re' the long gone railings! this was lord beaverbrooks idea,during ww2,and most railings(but strangely, not all?!)were cut down.somebody then realised that cast iron couldn't be re-used,and after the war ended,it was dumped in the north sea!!! so,you could say it was one of the worst cases of official vandalism, from which many places never recovered! oddly though,i've noticed they've recently replaced the railings around west derby cemetery,so what an idea, to do the same with sefton park!:

[johno]

There going to try and revamp Sefton park back to it's original design so maybe the raiings might reappear.

[jimboy]

yes a lot of railings where used for scrap in the war.

[Kev]

Thanks for the interesting info, I didn't know the reason for the railings being taken down...

[ChrisGeorge]

Originally Posted by Kev

Thanks for the interesting info, I didn't know the reason for the railings being taken down...

I knew since I was a kid that the railings were taken for use as scrap during the War, but then I was born right after the Second World War in 1948. Quite possibly it was my Grandad, who was in the Home Guard during the war, who told me that in one of our bus journeys into town on the 80 bus from Booker Avenue!

The question is... was the scrap iron not used for anything as has been stated in this thread? It couldn't be used for aircraft but couldn't it have been used to make steel battleships or guns?

Lord Beaverbrook also issued a call for aluminium which apparently was not used:

The Great Aluminium Scare began on 10 July 1940 and the ladies of Dartford responded magnificently. Lord Beaverbrook issued a manifesto through the papers "We will turn your pots and pans into Spitfires and Hurricanes, Blenheims and Wellingtons". Locals were encouraged to hand over all their aluminium utensils for use in the manufacture of aircraft. Mountains of pots and pans, shoe trees and bathroom fittings were handed over for recycling. Ironically, most of this aluminium was never used.

Dartford children joined enthusiastically in the national campaign for salvage. Salvage shops were opened where people might leave or report their scrap metal. From 1940 onwards, iron railings were removed from parks and gardens.

From Dartford at War 1939-1945

What's the proof that the scrap iron from the railings was dumped in the North Sea, or was it the aluminium that was dumped in the sea?

Chris

[wsteve55]

the info' on the fate of the scrapped railings,etc,was taken from a book i got from central library a couple of years ago. it was called"the forties", and was part of a series of books on the decades of the 20th century! the article wasn't very long,and didn't state that all scrap, had been disposed of,but did make the point that lord beaverbrook's attitude had been uneccesarily enthusiastic!
i wondered why some houses,businesses,ironwork seemed to have escaped the fate of most, and have the image of irate old girls, chasing away council workers screaming "dont you *!?!* dare touch my railings",but the answer is probably something more mundane!

[ChrisGeorge]

Hi Steve

The information you reported might be exactly correct. I would though like to see it verified rather than to think we might be promulgating another myth and that instead much or most of the scrap was actually used for the war effort. I am just trying to get to the facts of the matter, not doubting your word that you read a statement to that effect.

Chris

It was certainly a fact that most of the metal collected was entirely unsuitable for the War effort, which was (I think) mainly concerned with building planes, and manufacturing bombs.
Personally, I don't know what they did with the unused metal, but it seem highly logical that it was dumped at sea, rather than admit that a war-time government got it wrong.
The railings certainly weren't returned to their original owners, and I agree that it was an act of vandalism that the streets of the country must still regret.

As I said, there are not many original railings left today, because most people believed they were helping their country, but I did notice that the Belvedere School has some of its original railings.

It looks like churches were exempt, as St Luke's and Great George Street Congregational (to name but two) retained their railings.