Historic Princes Park gates to be restored
Feb 4 2008 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post


The gates at the entrance to Princes Park, on Princes Avenue, Toxteth, which are being prepared for renovation _320

A SET OF historic gates to a “little gem” of a Liverpool park are to be restored after campaigners raised health and safety concerns.

Work has started on the entrance to Princes Park, Toxteth of a £70,000 scheme to bring the gates and their pillars back to their former glory.

Veteran activist Gabriel Muies, who has been behind the campaign, hopes that the work could lead to the restoration of the rest of the park, which opened in 1918.

It is not known exactly how long the gates have been closed for, but council officials said it was at least a decade.

The gates will be taken away for complete restoration before they are brought back and reinstalled in the park in the spring.

Last night Mr Muies said: “I am highly delighted. We have been after this for years so that people can enjoy the park and also because of health and safety concerns.

“This is not only important for the park, but also because we have five listed buildings in Princes Road.”

He said the bowling greens, tennis courts and former boat house could also do with being rejuvenated.



“People need to realise what a little gem this park is for the city and how important it is.

“The council has to realise that this park has been neglected.”

A city council spokesman said: “We know that the local campaigners have wanted these gates restored and opened.

“It is something we have wanted to do and have now found money from the Neighbourhood Fund to pay for it.

“We hope that the gates will be back in place by spring.”

Meanwhiles Mr Muies’s campaign for the return of an ornate set of gates celebrating Liverpool’s maritime tradition which were lost to the Midlands more than half a century ago continues.

Known as the Sailor’s Gates, the Henry Pooley Gates were originally installed in the city’s old Sailors’ Home in 1850. However, after the Sailors’ Home was badly damaged in World War II, they were given to the Avery Historical Museum, Birmingham, in 1951.

Liverpool City Council is in discussions with Sandwell Council about the return of the gates so they can form part of a memorial garden on the site where the home used to stand in the new Liverpool One development.

davidbartlett@dailypost.co.uk