Otterspool Promenade Development

[eggyoz]

Im very interested to know as much as possible about the Prom extension which started late 50's from the end of Jerrico Lane to Dingle Jetty taking with it the Cassie shore. Living in Aigburth in my early teens I have memories lying my bed at night hearing the continual sounds of 'bonk 'bonk' bonk' (stop laughing) which I believe were steam hammers driving vertical pylons into the seabed forming part of the new prom. I also remember later around 1965 when the prom wall was built a scheme by the Liverpool corporation was launched to get old cars off the road where you recieved ?10 for it to be dumped and used as landfill. I remember during evenings wearing my winklepickers when it was all shut up getting inside the compound where dozens of cars would be lined up ready to be added to the hundreds, maybe thousands of others compacted on top of each other. We used to rip the badges off like Triumph Mayflowers and Rover 12's and all those pre-war and early post war treasured classics. Then I recall they were all covered by general city rubbish. Anyone who has memories or corrections to this would be much appreciated. As an artist im currently painting a number of evocative Liverpool scenes circa 1955 to date such as Ive described and trying to get as much detail as possible. Ive attached all I can find from the Liverpool records library. They are photos of the start of the 2nd stage extension around 1958 to 1960 but would love to find photos taken about 1965/6 showing the scrapped cars.

[Kev]

fantastic, a wonderful selection of pics

[birdseye]

There's a 1952 Morris 1000 of mine under the grass there somewhere. In the late 60s I worked briefly as a driver for Cranes, the music shop in Hanover Street. They used to do a part-ex for people buying new pianos which meant their basement filled up with the ones we'd taken away when we delivered the new one. Some would be restored and resold but the dud ones we'd take to Otterspool tip and just shove out the back doors of the van, where they'd tumble down a sort of cliff made up of compacted rubbish.

[eggyoz]

Thanks so much for that. One of my cars a 1938 Rover 12 which I bought for ?3 and a micrometer !! then sold on to a 'mate' for ?5 and he got a tenner to dump it! and it had a wonderful wind up windscreen too... Pianos !!! fantastic and sure I heard music in the air last visit in August driving over same spot in my VW Passat with all the usual mod cons....... I also remember the tat men who used to sift through the city rubbish looking for any metal stuff... who had some sort of ok agreement with the site workers with diggers working away and 1000's of gulls all around.

[irishseashipping.com]

Some would be restored and resold but the dud ones we'd take to Otterspool tip and just shove out the back doors of the van, where they'd tumble down a sort of cliff made up of compacted rubbish.

I wonder what else found its way to Otterspool and lies buried. Years ago I read a detailed history of Hornby Dublo model railways. These were made by Meccano at Binns Road. However in the mid 1960s when Meccano was acquired by Rovex - Triang and the original Dublo models were discontinued - they continued selling Dublo items until stock was exhausted. The Tri-ang Railways being manufactured at Margate, Kent.

Though I distinctly remember the text of the book mentioning that a couple of unpopular overstock items which were still on the lists by around 1969 found their way to landfill - though I can't recall it saying where.

Presumably it could have been Otterspool?

John