TOPOGRAPHY 



THE HUNDRED OF WEST DERBY 



(Continuation} 



LIVERPOOL 



Liuerpul (1207) ; Leuerepul (1229) ; Liuerpol 

 (1266) ; Lyuerpole (1346) ; Leuerpoll (1393) ; 

 Lytherpole (1445); Letherpole (1545); Litherpoole 

 otherwise Liverpoole (1752). The form in th is found 

 mainly in the I5th and i6th centuries. 



The city of Liverpool extends for 6 miles along the 

 eastern margin of the Mersey estuary, covering the 

 western and part of the eastern slope of a ridge which 

 runs from north to south, roughly parallel with the 

 river, and varying in height from looft. to 200 ft. 

 In the southern part of the city this ridge rises by 

 gradual stages from the water's edge ; in the north- 

 ern part it is more abrupt, and stands back at some 

 distance from the river, leaving a broad margin of 

 comparatively flat ground. The modern city (1906) 

 includes not only the ancient township of Liverpool, 

 but also the townships of Kirkdale, Walton, part of 

 Fazakerley, Everton, West Derby, Wavertree, the 

 Toxteths and Garston, as well as Smeddon or Smith- 

 down, the Esmedun of Domesday. These areas have 

 been added by successive enlargements in 1835, 1894, 

 and 1902. The continuous house-covered or urban 

 area economically dependent upon Liverpool includes 

 also the townships of Bootle, Litherland, and Great 

 Crosby. The history of these townships is separately 

 treated elsewhere in this work, and the original town- 

 ship of Liverpool is all that has to be considered 

 here. 



There are few cities whose modern development 

 has more profoundly modified the original topo- 

 graphical features of its site. The water-line has been 

 pushed out for a considerable distance by the erection 

 of a continuous line of 6 miles of docks. The first 

 of these docks, opened in I7I5, 1 was made out of 

 the mouth of a tidal creek re-entering from the 

 estuary, the upper reaches of which were at the 

 same time filled in. This creek, known as the Pool, 

 curved inland in a north-easterly direction along 

 the line of the modern Paradise Street, Whitechapel, 

 and the Old Haymarket for a distance of nearly 

 half a mile.* It was fed by two streamlets, one 

 coming from Everton at the northern end of the 

 ridge, while the other ran a more rapid course from 

 a marshy expanse, called the Mosslake, which lay half- 



way up the slope to the south-east, between the 

 modern Hope Street and Crown Street.* The latter 

 stream fed the chief water-mill of mediaeval Liver- 

 pool. At the inner or north-eastern end of the Pool 

 there was a stretch of wet ground known as the 

 Moor Green ; the path which led to it from the 

 village (the modern Tithebarn Street) was known as 

 Moor Street until the 1 6th century. This ' moor ' 

 may have given its name to the great Liverpool family 

 of Moore, More, or de la More. Between the Pool 

 and the Mersey a small peninsula was thus inclosed, 

 roughly triangular in shape, with its base to the north 

 and its apex overlooking the mouth of the Pool. The 

 peninsula sloped gently from each side and from the 

 level ground on the north, reaching its highest point, 

 about 50 ft. above sea level, near the apex of the tri- 

 angle, at the top of the modern Lord Street. This 

 point was the obvious site for the erection of the 

 castle ; while the whole peninsula formed a natural 

 fortress, easily defensible except on the north until 

 the age of artillery, when it was commanded from the 

 ridge behind. The Pool divided into nearly equal 

 halves the total area of the township, which amounted 

 to 1,858 acres, and almost exactly corresponded to the 

 modern parish. 



Until the middle of the I7th century all the 

 houses and all the cultivated lands lay to the north of 

 the Pool and of the stream which ran into it from the 

 Mosslake, while the southern half of the township as 

 for as the wall of Toxteth Park (marked by the 

 modern Parliament Street) lay waste. It appears that 

 the limits of the Liverpool common were not pre- 

 cisely determined on the south-east ; for in 1617 the 

 copyholders of West Derby laid claim to a part of it, 4 

 apparently the Mosslake, which was valuable for tur- 

 bary. The Mosslake in the 1 5th century seems to 

 have been known as the West Derby fen. 



From the earliest date all the streets of the 

 borough were clustered in the form of a double cross on 

 the gently rising ground within the small peninsula: 

 Juggler Street or High Street across the modern Ex- 

 change Flags forming the centre from which Castle 

 Street struck off to the south, Oldhall Street to the 

 north, Water Street or Boncke Street and Chapel 



1 See below. a See map. 



8 The evidence for these and other topo- 



4 



graphical details is to be found mainly 

 in the numerous local deeds of land-trans- 



fer preserved by the Moore and Crone 

 families. 4 See below. 



