High Park Street hall

ONE of Liverpool's most historic town halls has been restored with the help of more than £200,000 lottery funding.

Toxteth town hall has become a focus for dozens of community groups since its regeneration was kick-started in 2003.

Community leaders welcomed Culture minister David Lammy to the High Park Street hall to mark the refurbishment and to celebrate the building's 140th birthday.

Work includes the restoration of the main hall, described as the "jewel in the crown" of the building,, with its original paint colours and period details; new railings; repaired flagstones and guttering, and better disabled access.
Mr Lammy praised the restoration and said it showed while the focus for much of the recent investment in Liverpool was the city centre, the city was "so much more".

Town hall managing director Denise Devine said: "It was the community that set up the company, bought the building and developed it over the past nine years."

"Toxteth Town Hall" is only a

nickname.
With Toxteth never being a town, this building was never a Town Hall.
The official name was Toxteth Park Public Offices.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PhilipG

"Toxteth Town Hall" is only a nickname.
With Toxteth never being a

town, this building was never a Town Hall.
The official name was Toxteth Park Public Offices.

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Toxteth clearly was outside of Liverpool at

one time and a town in its own right. It was called Harrington at one stage.

"1774 Parliament granted building leases to the 1st Earl of Sefton. The

intention was to develop a rectangle of land bounded by Mill Street to the West, Parliament Street to the north, Northumberland Street to the south and the

river on the fourth side.

The new town was to be called Harrington in honour Countess of Sefton (daughter of the 2nd Earl of Harrington). But the name

Harrington did not come into general use. The new town was laid out by a local builder, Cuthbert Brisbrown on a grid system, with intersecting, wide,

straight streets. The basic grid plan and many of the streets, though not the properties, survive to this day. One of Brisbrown’s earliest buildings was St

James' Church (at the junction of Mill Street, Stanhope Street and St. James' Place). Work started on this brick-built church in 1774 and it opened for

worship in 1775. Although dilapidated, this still stands in 2005."

"1835 Toxteth Park was now bounded by Liverpool and the townships of West Derby,

Wavertree and Garston. Its western side was the River Mersey. It was an extra parochial township and in 1835 under the terms of the Municipal Corporation Act

('An Act to provide for the Regulation of Municipal Corporations in England and Wales'), 9th September 1835, the nearest section of Toxteth Park (from

Parliament Street to the Dingle), closest to the city centre, was incorporated into Liverpool. It is perhaps important to understand that prior to this date

what we now think of as a district, Toxteth, was in fact Toxteth Park, self-contained and distinct, it was in no way a part of Liverpool."

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Waterways

"Toxteth clearly was outside of Liverpool at

one time"
True.
"and a town in its own right."
Not true.
"It was called Harrington at one stage."
Only a small

part.

All the following is familar, but I don't remember where it's from.
"1774 Parliament granted building leases to the 1st Earl of

Sefton. The intention was to develop a rectangle of land bounded by Mill Street to the West, Parliament Street to the north, Northumberland Street to the

south and the river on the fourth side.

The new town was to be called Harrington in honour Countess of Sefton (daughter of the 2nd Earl of

Harrington). But the name Harrington did not come into general use. The new town was laid out by a local builder, Cuthbert Brisbrown on a grid system, with

intersecting, wide, straight streets. The basic grid plan and many of the streets, though not the properties, survive to this day. One of Brisbrown’s

earliest buildings was St James' Church (at the junction of Mill Street, Stanhope Street and St. James' Place). Work started on this brick-built church in

1774 and it opened for worship in 1775. Although dilapidated, this still stands in 2005."

"1835 Toxteth Park was now bounded by Liverpool and the

townships of West Derby, Wavertree and Garston. Its western side was the River Mersey. It was an extra parochial township and in 1835

under the terms of the Municipal Corporation Act ('An Act to provide for the Regulation of Municipal Corporations in England and Wales'), 9th September

1835, the nearest section of Toxteth Park (from Parliament Street to the Dingle), closest to the city centre, was incorporated into Liverpool. It is perhaps

important to understand that prior to this date what we now think of as a district, Toxteth, was in fact Toxteth Park, self-contained and distinct, it was in

no way a part of Liverpool."

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At the risk of being an anorak an "extra parochial township" is not a town.
Toxteth wasn't a town, and

therefore couldn't officially call its public offices a town hall.
Check all the old Street Directories

Any regeneration is good news.:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Paul D

Any regeneration is good

news.:)

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Of course it is.
Nobody said it wasn't.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Waterways

The new town was to be called Harrington in honour Countess of Sefton (daughter of the 2nd Earl of Harrington). But the name

Harrington did not come into general use. The new town was laid out by a local builder, Cuthbert Brisbrown on a grid system, with intersecting, wide,

straight streets

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You learn something new everyday. I didn't know it was once called Harrington..

Only a small part of it Angelcake. Read Philip's reply to it.

Worked on it when it was a job shop.It was the last in Liverpool and one of the last three in the country to have safety mesh between the staff and the public.

I remember it as the N.A.B in the 60's :disgust:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AngelCake

You learn something new everyday. I didn't know it was once called Harrington..

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Cuthbert Bisbrowne, builder of St James Church, Toxteth in 1775, went bankrupt in 1776 after having laid out the Harrington grid iron street pattern. The plan was to have an exclusive new town development on the outskirts of Liverpool. Hence the very wide streets in this part of Toxteth. Little development took place until the early 19th C and then it was mainly working class cottages and courts.