Wavertree Botanic Garden and Park is a mid-19th century public park in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, England. Originally constructed as a private

botanic garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

, it was taken over by

Liverpool Corporation Liverpool City Council is the local authority for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. Liverpool has had a local authority since 1207, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1974 the council has been a metropolitan boroug ...

in 1846 and expanded into a public park. The park is Grade II* listed in the

Register of Historic Parks and Gardens #REDIRECT Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England #REDIRECT Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England {{R from move ...

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History

Edge Lane

Mount Pleasant

William Roscoe William Roscoe (8 March 175330 June 1831) was an English banker, lawyer, and briefly a Member of Parliament. He is best known as one of England's first abolitionists, and as the author of the poem for children '' The Butterfly's Ball, and th ...

who died shortly after its formal opening. The botanic garden was a private society, funded by the sale of shares to its members (following the same model as the

Liverpool Athenaeum The Athenaeum is a private members club in Liverpool, England. The club was founded to ensure the up-to-date provision of newspapers and pamphlets, and to create a library for the use of the merchants and professional men in the city. The orig ...

). However, subscriber numbers soon began to decline, and the proprietors struggled to pay the running costs. In 1840,

gave financial assistance to the garden by paying off a £3,800 debt; in return, it was agreed that the garden would be opened to the public for two days a week. In 1846, the corporation bought out the proprietors and took full control of the garden, allowing public access seven days a week, with access to the conservatory granted for one day out of every month. In 1856, the land to the south of the garden – formerly the grounds of Wavertree Hall, or Plumbe's Hall – was laid out as Wavertree park. This land had been purchased by the corporation in 1843 for use as the site of a prison, but following local protests, the prison had been built in

Walton Walton may refer to: People * Walton (given name) * Walton (surname) * Susana, Lady Walton (1926–2010), Argentine writer Places Canada * Walton, Nova Scotia, a community ** Walton River (Nova Scotia) *Walton, Ontario, a hamlet United Kingd ...

instead. Wavertree Park was expanded over subsequent decades, with more land being acquired to the west and east of the garden. The park and garden together currently occupy an area of around 14.6 hectares. The International Exhibition of Navigation, Commerce and Industry was held in 1886 on a site directly alongside the park. The Exhibition was opened by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

, and several temporary pavilions were erected for the occasion, along with a full-scale replica of the

Eddystone Lighthouse The Eddystone Lighthouse is a lighthouse on the Eddystone Rocks, south of Rame Head in Cornwall, England. The rocks are submerged below the surface of the sea and are composed of Precambrian gneiss. View at 1:50000 scale The current structu ...

. Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Botanic Garden was in a state of deterioration. In 1909, thousands of plant specimens were transferred to the newly established botany department at

Liverpool Museum World Museum is a large museum in Liverpool, England which has extensive collections covering archaeology, ethnology and the natural and physical sciences. Special attractions include the Natural History Centre and a planetarium. Entry to the ...

. On 20 November 1940, the conservatory was destroyed by a German bomb intended for the nearby railway marshalling yard at Edge Hill; the surviving plants were relocated to privately owned glasshouses. This conservatory was never rebuilt, and in 1951, work began on a new botanic garden in

Calderstones Park Calderstones Park is a public park in the Allerton area of Liverpool, England, about south-east of the city centre. The park is mainly a family park. Within it there are a variety of attractions including a playground, a botanical garden and ...

. The Wavertree Botanic Garden and Park remains open to the public. On 27 June 2001, it was listed at Grade II* in the

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.

Features

One of the few surviving features of the original Botanic Garden is the curator's lodge, built in 1836. This Grade II listed building has been used since September 2013 as the Botanic Lodge Nursery for children, retaining some of its original features. The geometric flowerbeds also survive in something close to their original state, although currently untended. These beds, laid out in a

scroll A scroll (from the Old French ''escroe'' or ''escroue''), also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing. Structure A scroll is usually partitioned into pages, which are sometimes separate sheets of papyru ...

design inspired by the tiles of St. George's Hall, were raised in 1863 by curator John Tyerman. The garden formerly contained two ponds with fountains, but these have since been converted into planting beds. Two statues depicting Tam O'Shanter and Souter Johnnie, characters from the

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...

' poem " Tam o' Shanter", were only partially intact in 2001, and had been removed by 2013. The surrounding park is now mostly used for playing fields; a sports pavilion and a children's playground have been built near the southwest entrance. Close to the centre of the southern section lie the remains of a 19th-century cast-iron drinking fountain, which was Grade II listed in 1975. The basins of this fountain were originally supported by ornamental

liver bird The liver bird ( ) is a mythical creature that is the symbol of the English city of Liverpool. It is normally represented as a cormorant, and appears as such on the city's arms, in which it bears a branch of Porphyra, laver seaweed in its beak ...

s, of which only the feet can now be seen. An underground tunnel running beneath the park was used during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

as an

air raid shelter Air raid shelters are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack (but ...

for workers at the nearby

Littlewoods Pools building The Littlewoods Pools building, located in Liverpool, England, was built in 1938 to serve as the headquarters of the Littlewoods football pools enterprise. It overlooks Edge Lane and Wavertree Botanic Park, and its design makes it a prominent ...

. Graffiti artworks on the walls of the tunnel are thought to be wartime portraits of some of these workers.

References

External links

Wavertree Botanic Gardens
at Liverpool City Council website
Britain From Above
– aerial photographs of Wavertree Park from 1928

– photographs of the Tam O'Shanter and Souter Johnnie statues {{Green Liverpool Grade II listed buildings in Liverpool Grade II* listed parks and gardens in Merseyside World's fair sites in England Parks and commons in Liverpool