Originally Posted by
Waterways
That is a lot earth that has to be got and carted to the site, to level the ground because of a rocky outcrop. They may have used earth in the expansion of the mill next to the streets. Usually they just built the houses up a hill, stepping them as they went up. The road would follow the contour.
Looking at the map, it looks like a natural plateau, with a steep bank [to Yates St. and Beaufort St.] Corn Street was already established on the natural plateau [in 1835] before they even built Yates Street. And at least half of land that was to become Yates Street was on slightly high ground, shared also by Corn St. They sited the mill yard boundary on the very edge of the plateau's natural bank, where it dropped down to the Herculaneum potteries level.
Normally, as you suggest, they would step the houses where there was a gradient, as they have done in other streets in Toxteth. Why not here? IMO, the developer was building Corn St. as well as Yates St. The gradient, looks very steep [and very short] on the map for it to be a practical consideration to step the houses. And I guess that to connect Corn Street to the extended Beaufort Street would have required a substantial amount of excavation to get down to the right level, which would created access problems to the mill site [from Corn Street]. So, I guess in the end they thought terracing was the more efficient option?
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The only thing I'm puzzled by is the small terrace on the Corn St. side [that back on to Yates St.] for about half its length?
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