Speke 2

Speke Hall is timber-framed, and was constructed in four separate parts at different times, over more than a century. The rear of the present building, incorporating the Great Hall, was the first part to be erected. The two wings on either side of the central, cobbled courtyard were next and, finally, the front was added by a descendant of William Norris. In the courtyard grow two ancient Yew trees; male and female, which were named 'Adam' and 'Eve'. These are believed to have been personally planted by Sir William Norris, which would make them at least 500 years old. The house is surrounded on three sides by its moat, which is now drained, and the front entrance is approached across an attractive, ornate, Tudor, stone bridge. Above the entrance to the front of the house is an inscription in the lintel, which reads, 'This worke 25 yds long was wholly built by Edw: N: Esq: ano 1589'.

Speke Hall is alleged to be haunted, and legends tell that the ghosts of a woman and her baby disturb the tranquility of Speke Hall: She was the wife of an early Norris who, when she found that her husband had lost the family fortune, threw her baby into the moat through the window of the Oak Bedroom, and then hanged herself in the Great Hall. Her dejected moans and the tragic crying of the infant are said to be heard throughout the corridors, and the Oak Bedroom is the location of a distinct cold spot. However, the legend does not tally with the known facts; in that the wife concerned apparently outlived her husband and the baby went on to inherit the title! Unless of course, these spectral manifestations are those of other poor souls entirely!Like the other major Liverpool families, the Norris dynasty had a significant impact on the economy and the social fabric of the local communities. They also played a significant part in political life of the Town of Liverpool, and beyond, some becoming Aldermen and Mayors. Once the Norris family had moved on, later owners of Speke Hall included Charles Beauclerk, and then Richard Watt (1726 - 1796), who was a wealthy merchant and slave owner, with rich sugar plantations in Jamaica.

Speke Hall is now a Grade 1 Listed Building, and is recognised as being one of the most significant houses of its type in the country. It is currently managed by the National Trust and is open to the public.

For centuries, Speke remained completely rural, and was no more than a number of isolated cottages and hamlets connected by tracks and pathways, surrounding Speke Hall and its extensive farmlands, woods and streams. Its population was never more than about 400 people, and this remained largely the case until it became an overspill, evacuation, and 'factory-fodder' community of the inter-war years.

To help cope with the rapidly expanding population of the City, Liverpool Corporation needed to build a new housing estate to re-house workers from other parts of Liverpool, and to serve the growing industrial estate at Speke. A purpose-built community was planned and, in 1929, Liverpool Corporation bought the land and work began in 1937. Pre-Fab accommodation was available on the outskirts of Speke to accommodate the community, and these were replaced, in 1936, by houses that were to be constructed using the 'Garden City' model.

Many people were also moved here during and after the Second World War; being bombed-out of their homes in the City-Centre. In fact, Liverpool was the most heavily bombed of all British cities outside London, especially during the May Blitz of 1941. Large numbers of houses were rapidly built and filled with families from all over Liverpool's devastated streets.

Then, after the War and during the massive slum-clearances of the Inner-City of the 1960s, hundreds more families were shifted from their traditional communities to the modern streets of the Speke Housing Estate - and to other 'overspill' estates and 'New Towns' such as Kirkby and Skelmersdale. Although their new homes, for the most part, were much better than the ones that they had left behind, the neighbourhoods and extended families to which these people had originally belonged had been split up and scattered around the City. This caused the break-up of some families and much social disorientation - and none more so than in Speke.

What had been initially hailed as a 'model town for the rest of the country' rapidly degenerated. This was because the designers had failed to provide adequate social and community facilities, or appropriate services or public transport networks to meet the needs of such a large and growing population. The success of the new estate was also tied to the success of the industrial estate and, as businesses failed in the post-war slump, unemployment rose rapidly as did all the social problems that naturally accompany economic failure. The final major blow to the people of Speke was the closure, in the 1970s, of Dunlop's, and of Standard Triumph, the car manufacturers.

Crime rates soared and Speke became renowned for pockets of violence, drug-taking, poverty, and squalor. Money was either unavailable or just not being spent on maintaining the infrastructure of the community, so housing stock and civic amenity degenerated further, thus adding to the environment of neglect and desperation.

Speke Regeneration

The first real sign of the transition from ruin into regeneration came when the Ford Motor Factory, at the Halewood site on Speke Boulevard, became Jaguar Cars. The factory where the Ford Anglia, Corsair, Cortina, Zodiac, Zephyr, and Escort cars were built had a troubled industrial-relations history throughout the 1960s and 1970s and, at times, the parent company nearly closed the site down.

However, it survived and, by 1993, in a joint venture, Jaguar Car body-panels were being produced at Speke. By 1998, the factory had been designated as the site for the production of the re-launched X-Type Jaguar and a transition began from 'production-line values' to a 'total quality management' system, producing vehicles of the highest quality in a completely redesigned and re-built factory and manufacturing process. The last Ford car left the Halewood factory in 2000 and the site officially became Jaguar Cars. This was a real indicator that the re-birth of the industrial and commercial life of Speke and Garston was beginning.

And then, and together with the rest of Merseyside and Liverpool in particular, Speke was destined to receive major injections of funding from the European Union - throughout the latter half of the 1990s and the opening years of the new millennium. This money, and the agencies established to spend it - which were the Speke-Garston Development Corporation, South Liverpool Housing, and the Liverpool Land Development Company - have fuelled improvements in the housing stock and infrastructure, and the regeneration of Speke, Garston, and the surrounding districts.

Since 1996, Speke has benefited from a major public-sector-led regeneration programme to revitalise comprehensively the economy of the area. Following a successful ballot of Council tenants the first major stock transfer took place in the City. South Liverpool Housing took over the City Council owned housing stock, in the then Speke and St Mary's Wards. These properties benefited from major investment, and a programme of internal repairs (central heating, bathrooms, kitchens, and double glazing) was completed within four years.

These improvements are now obvious as one drives through Garston Village, and along Speke Boulevard: past the Speke District Centre, Estuary Banks Commerce Park, the Crowne Plaza Hotel, and the Shopping Park, and on into Liverpool City: or, as they make their way to Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

New Mersey Shopping Park

Directly opposite the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Speke Boulevard - once the original terminal building for Britain's first provincial airport - 'Speke Airport', stands the New Mersey Shopping Park. This original site, a rather dowdy, out-of-town shopping centre, was sold in 1997 to British Land, for £4m. After an investment by them of £40m, the site was sold in 2001, for £60m, and again, in 2003, this time for £160m. Following further significant investment and a complete redevelopment of the site, The New Mersey Shopping Park is considered to be one of the fastest growing and most financially successful retail parks in Britain.

There are plenty of places to eat here - of the fast-food variety however - and the range of shops is considerable. From the large furniture stores and computer retailers, and from book shops to sports shops, this is a large shopping site. Many popular high street stores have branches here too, including Boots, WH Smith, Comet, Argos, and a Marks & Spencer Food Store.

That people are returning to Speke to spend their money is a remarkable turn of events, as is the large number of local jobs that have been generated on this site, and on the surrounding commercial and industrial estates and parks, and which will increase as these continue to develop.

Speke and Garston Business and Enterprise Parks

The entire Speke/Garston/Halewood area is now one of the key economic growth areas of Liverpool, and this is clear from the remarkable land reclamations and commercial developments being created in the area: driven forward by both the public and private sectors. These include Speke District centre, Estuary Commerce Park, Liverpool International Business Park, Dakota Business Park, the Venture Point Industrial Estate, and Speke Boulevard Industry Park.

Redeveloped from large areas of disused airport runway and maintenance sites, and from arid, brownfield, ex-industrial areas, the zone between Speke Boulevard and River, and from Garston to Liverpool John Lennon Airport, is undergoing massive improvement and redesign. New manufacturing, warehousing, processing, commercial, and office accommodation has been created, served by the latest technology and an efficient local road network.

Beautifully landscaped with trees and shrubs, and criss-crossed with waterways and reed beds that provide home to fish and waterfowl, these developments are now home to such organisations as The National Blood Service, DHL, The Riverside Group, Classic Couverture, and the National Bio-Manufacturing Centre, as well as other major companies. Indeed, Speke is now home to the largest concentration of bio-manufacturing facilities in Europe.

In fact, Speke Boulevard - connecting Liverpool City to the South, via Runcorn and Widnes, has been re-named as The International Gateway, because this is now the principal southern transport artery into the City, from the M57 and M56 motorways. This will also be a principal route to the new River Mersey Crossing - the proposed Mersey Gateway Road Bridge.

Driving along this smart and impressive dual carriageway, one passes between the ten vanes of a powerful piece of colossal artwork. Named 'The Mersey Wave', this comprises two sets of five, erect, wave-shaped fins, standing on either side of the roadway and fanning out like pointed fingers. This dominating sculpture was erected in 2003, at a cost of £700,000, and each aluminum 'hand' measures 236ft in length, with each fin reaching a height of 98ft.

The Wave towers over the dual carriageway, and the fins, which are illuminated at night by internal lighting, create a spectacular portal to the International Gateway, and are a symbol of the optimism and commitment to the future that so characterise modern Liverpool, and especially modern Garston and Speke.

Written by popular local historian Ken Pye, who is the Senior Programme Director for the international educational organisation, Common Purpose. © Ken Pye February 2009

Ken Pye has written one of the best comprehensive books on Liverpool's history called "Discover Liverpool"

that includes his excellent Discover Liverpool DVD. Available via this link

The standalone DVD. Available via this link