Springwood L19

I've been living in L19 since January of this year (having grown up just down the road in L25, and lived in L8 for ten years). Our house is just off Springwood Avenue near Clarke Gardens, Springwood Crematorium & Cemetery, Springwood Heath school, etc.

I've been wondering about the name Springwood - it doesn't seem to be a district in its own right anymore (maybe it never was?) - presumably there was once an actual wood? Perhaps on the land where the cemetery and gardens are now? There's a small wooded area behind the pub in the park (aka Allerton Hall) which we always called Dead Man's Valley when I was a kid, and I wondered whether that might be a surviving portion of the wood?

The Allerton Oak website http://www.allertonoak.com/merseySig...verpoolAL.html has this to say about the former mansion, now nursing home on the corner of Springwood Ave and Woolton Rd

Springwood, Allerton

The neoclassical Springwood was probably designed by John Cunningham and is dated 1839. It was built originally for plantation owner William Shand but was completed under the auspices of ship-owner Thomas Brocklebank. The lodge and stables survive to the north. The house is now a nursing home.

I'm wondering whether the mansion took its name from the wood (assuming there was one) or whether the area and avenue took their names form the mansion.

Basically, I'd like to know more about the area, its origins and history but I'm having trouble finding information to get me started. Any help and info would be very gratefully received.

Cheers

Looking at an 1849 map there doesn't appear to be any substantial woodland there - apart from around Allerton Hall, so i'd guess that the mansion gave the name to the area.

There does however seem to be a few 'pumps' listed on the map, presumably water pumps... perhaps there was a Spring, if not a wood.

We also played in the wooded valley at the back, but to us it was known as No Man's Land.

Thanks fortinian. I always assumed is was "spring" as in the season, but it seems like it might have been a water source? Interesting.

Kevin, yeah, I think I remeber it being called that too. Dead Man's Valley obviously made more of an impression on me though. ;-)

In the early history of Garston there is mention of a stream (Garston River) that flowed down through Garston Village to the Mersey,via Horrock Avenue, I suppose it is possible that the 'origin' of this stream was from 'springs' that were situated in the higher ground towards Allerton/Woolton areas, I do know that there were a number of ponds situated near 'The Avenue', Smiths Farm, (opposite the Cenotaph), all built over now.

Thanks Norm, I didn't know that.
Looking at http://www.garstonhistoricalsociety.org.uk now which might be a good starting point, I think.

Thanks RW, the info in my last post was from the book 'Garston' written by Margaret and Bernard Brett, of the Garston Historical Society.

Hey researchwriter

I am not sure that the name "Springwood" necessarily describes the geography where the house called Springwood is located. More likely the name was given to the property by the first family that lived there, the Shand family, and they might have brought it from another area of the country. A book of 1845 called Art-Union Vol. 7 lists T. H. R. Shand Esq. as living at "Spring-wood, Allerton, Liverpool" so the name is definitely attributable to the Shand family and not the Brocklebank family. This may not mean much but there is a Dr. David Shand of The Chamber of Occupational Medicine, Springwood House, Chichester, West Sussex. I don't know if the building is old or relatively new. If it is new, he may have named it that because "Springwood" is a family name. Just a thought.

All the best

Chris