Otterspool Promenade

It is thought that the Romans were the first people to live next to the River Mersey at Otterspool. Roman coins and pieces of a Roman road were found under Otterspool Park over a century ago.

The City Engineer, John Brodie, was keen to see the Otterspool shoreline developed into a leisure attraction. In 1919 Brodie put together a scheme for reclaiming 43 acres of land on the Otterspool shoreline. He was the first person to put forward the idea of a two and a half mile promenade from Dingle Point to Garston Docks. Brodie believed that this development was needed as the Pier Head was the only place in Liverpool where people could go to sit or walk next to the river.

It was not until 1925, however, that work at Otterspool started. The group in charge of constructing the Mersey Tunnel was looking for an area of land to tip large amounts of excavated material from the new tunnel.



Liverpool Corporation gave them permission to tip these materials along the Otterspool foreshore.

Brodie had retired before seeing his ideas become reality and it was left to his successor, Mr. Peirson Frank, to take his scheme forward. Work began on constructing the river wall at Otterspool in July 1930. The wall had to be strong enough to put up with a constant battering from the strong water currents in the River Mersey. Concrete was chosen as the most robust material for the river wall. The wall was finished in 1932.

The land between the new river wall and the original shoreline was filled in with domestic refuse. A total of two million tons of refuse material was tipped at Otterspool!

The reclaimed land was then landscaped. Not only was there a riverside promenade for people to stroll along, but there were bowling greens and a caf?. There was an official opening ceremony for the new promenade on 7th July 1950.

LRO