Stockbridge Village is an area of
Knowsley in
Merseyside,
England. The population of the ward at the
2011 census was 6,018. It was the subject of an article in a special report by ''
The Economist'' entitled "A new kind of ghetto", which described it a predominantly White area of high unemployment and low aspirations.
History
The original Cantril Farm council estate was built in the mid 1960s to rehouse some 15,000 people from inner-city
slum clearances in
Liverpool. It was part of a deal to rehouse some 200,000 people from inner-city
Liverpool in new residential areas beyond the city's borders, with other families from inner-city Liverpool moving to other overspill places including
Leasowe,
Huyton,
Kirkby,
Halewood,
Skelmersdale and Runcorn New Town from the 1950s into the 1970s.
The land on which Cantril Farm would be built was purchased by Liverpool council in 1961 for a sum of £132,500.
The first tenants arrived on the estate in 1965, but initially the estate lacked facilities such as public transport, health care and shops, with most of these facilities not being provided until at least 1967. Mobile shops were located on the estate until permanent buildings were erected. The first
pub on the estate was opened in 1968, around the same time that the first bus routes were established.
Subways were also erected to underpass the busiest roads on the estate for pedestrian safety. Small
supermarket
A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...
s were also erected in the late 1960s and the Withens Shopping Centre opened in 1970.
St Jude's Parish Church was opened in 1972 at a cost of £40,000. St Albert's
Roman Catholic church opened in 1966, and later on Cantril Farm
Methodist Church opened. A second Parish Church, St Brigid's, opened in October 1967.
In the autumn of 1968 two primary schools were opened on the estate - St Albert's and St Brigid's.
Cantril High School was also opened to serve pupils aged 11–16, but it was only open for just over 20 years, closing in July 1991 due to falling pupil numbers. It was damaged in an arson attack not long after its closure and eventually demolished.
A total of nine tower blocks were built in the late 1960s, however four of these were demolished in the 1990s and the five that remain have been refurbished in a multimillion-pound regeneration project which covered the whole estate.
However, the estate was in deep decline by 1980, with unemployment and crime being rife. Cantril Farm was the scene of a riot in August 1981 soon after the infamous rioting several miles away in
Toxteth. By 1982, unemployment on the estate was at 49% among males and 80% among young people, around four times the national average. Most of the estate's retail units were vacant. Household spaces were also becoming vacant as families were wanting to leave the estate and the vacant properties were difficult to let to new tenants, and very few tenants had opted to buy their properties under the right buy scheme. Two school buildings on the estate were badly damaged in
arson
Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...
attacks and had to be completely rebuilt. Car theft was a major problem in the 1980s and 1990s.
Stockbridge Village Trust Limited was established on 18 February 1983 as a non-profit-making Private Company limited by guarantee. The estate within the Borough of Knowsley, which was owned by the Borough Council, was conveyed to the Trust on 6 April 1983, at the District Valuer's valuation of more than £7million. This resulted in the Cantril Farm Estate being split, with two-thirds owned by the Trust, and one third owned by Liverpool City Council. The main part of the estate was renamed Stockbridge Village, while the section in Liverpool retained the Cantril Farm name.
As well as the demolition of some of the tower blocks, some 600 maisonettes and 340 low-rise flats were also bulldozed. The remaining properties were refurbished. The layout of the estate was altered to improve vehicular access. The shopping and recreational areas of the estate were also improved or replaced.
All council properties on the estate were transferred to the Village
housing association in 1995.
In 2010, further regeneration work began on Stockbridge Village seeing a number of changes, such as the famous Heat Waves swimming baths being demolished as well as St Dominic's school being replaced by a new community centre and two new schools.
Notable residents
*Footballer
Micky Quinn grew up on the estate and lived there from 1967 until 1986. His father Mick Quinn senior later ran a pub in the area.
*Footballer
Ian Bishop moved to the estate just after he was born in 1965. He went on to play for clubs including
Everton,
Manchester City
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...
and
West Ham United.
*Former
Liverpool striker
David Fairclough grew up on the estate after moving there as a child in the 1960s.
*Comedian/actor
Craig Charles moved to the estate just after he was born in 1964 and lived there until the 1980s.
*Singer
Paul Rutherford, a member of
Frankie Goes to Hollywood (whose "
Relax" and "
Two Tribes" hits topped the UK charts in 1984), also grew up on the estate after moving there as a child from an inner-city slum area.
*The indie band
Space wrote the song "
Neighbourhood" about the bandmembers' own experiences growing up on the Cantril Farm estate.
*
Joey McLoughlin, a professional cyclist who won the
Milk Race
The Tour of Britain is a multi-stage cycling race, conducted on British roads, in which participants race across Great Britain to complete the race in the fastest time.
The event dates back to the first British stage races held just after the ...
in 1986, grew up on Cantril Farm as the youngest of 10 children.
* Former goalkeeper
Billy Mercer was born on the estate in 1969. He was a youth and reserve goalkeeper for
Liverpool from 1985 to 1989 but never played a first team game. He later played for several lower league clubs, and kept goal for
Chesterfield in their famous run to the
FA Cup semi-finals in 1997.
* Professional boxer Rocky Fielding (Rocky 'from stocky'), former WBA regular super middle weight world champion comes from the village.
*
Ian Byrne, the current
Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for
Liverpool West Derby, grew up on the estate.
Despite popular belief, no members of the band
The Farm were actually from Cantril Farm.
[Carl Stanley]
Peter Hooton – interview with The Farm frontman and influential music writer
23 October 2011
References
External links
{{commons category, Stockbridge Village
History of Stockbridge VillageUK Villages
Towns and villages in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley
Housing estates in England