I saw an aerial photo of New Brighton from Britain From Above on Facebook a while back (I think it was on Wallasey Days Gone By) and I was intrigued by the building amongst the trees as it looks to be on the site of where I live in Alexandra Court.
Much of the local history of this area seems to predominantly concentrate on the other side of Wellington Road, everyone has heard of Cliff Villa, Rock Villa etc, but I’ve never seen any mention of the house in the trees.
Between me & my Mum we’ve really enjoyed doing quite a bit of detective work over the last few weekends and have managed to piece together quite a lot of information, but there are still some gaps and I’m looking for anyone who either has any more information or can help direct me to where I need to go for further research. I’d be interested in seeing more maps of the area over the years and potentially access to census records I can search by location rather than peoples names. The holy grail of course would be photos of the building itself!
So, this is what we have so far …
In The Inviting Shore Pt 1, there is mention of Tudor Terrace being 2 buildings on the opposite side of the road to the other villas, that it was owned by Peter Greenall but he didn’t live there, however Daniel Neilson was a tenant in 1846/47 whilst waiting for Redcliffe to be built.
The earliest census record we were able to get was 1841 and whilst there is no specific mention of Tudor Terrace the tithe map of 1841 does show a large building on that plot (479). The owner at that time was Peter Greenall and the occupiers are Eliza Colquit & Thomas Stewart Gladstone, it mentions two houses on the plot name. I’ve not been able to find a census record for either of the two occupants. We haven’t found an 1851 census yet.
In 1861, it was listed as Tudor Terrace, Greenhall Street with Benjamin Clay & Henry J Perry as the residents. It remains as Tudor Terrace, Greenhall Street on the 1871 census, with the resident now Charles Tomlinson.
1881 is the first time we see Tudor Villa, Alexandra Road on the census and Charles Harrison Lockett and family are living there. It is also labelled as Tudor Villas on the 1822 OS map.
By the 1891 census, Mr Lockett has moved to Redcliffe and Michel Amerose/Ameroso is living in Tudor Villa with his family. Potentially George & Anne Robinson and their son Percival are also living in Tudor Villa - it’s not really clear on the census. It’s in 1891 that Ivy Lodge, Alexandra Road starts to appear - is this the other half of Tudor Villas? Maps of this time also start to show that it might well be two plots. Charles and Elizabeth McArdle are living in Ivy Lodge at this time.
There seems to be a lot of people moving from this house to other houses in Wellington/Alexandra Road. Michel Amerose/o moves to Ellerslie in 1883, splits it into two with the other part named Endcliffe. Charles and Elizabeth McArdle, previously of Ivy Lodge, moved into Endcliffe at some point before 1901. Is this potentially another indicator that Ivy Lodge may have been the other half of the building with Tudor Villa?
Tudor Cottage appears on the 1901 census with Alfred C Abraham as the resident and in 1911 Elizabeth McArdle has moved into Tudor Lodge.
By 1939 it’s divided into flats but still called Tudor Lodge with the following residents - Flat B - Frank W E Irving, Born Dec 29 1896, Laurence G Irving, Born Aug 29 1906, Mary E Maltheman, Born Sep 10 1866 and Flat C - Agnes (E) Richardson, Born Mar 7 1906.
I have anecdotal evidence from a current resident of Alexandra Court that as a child in the 1950’s he remembers the remains of what appeared to be two bombed damaged houses on the site and that the current flats were built in 1971.
As you can see we have found a great deal online just using what is freely available but there are still a lot of questions we’d like to try and answer.
Are all these names different ones for the same building or are they for different buildings on the same site? Have there been multiple buildings on the same site? Did the two buildings that were Tudor Terrace become one and get expanded over the years? The photo from the air that started the whole thing off certainly looks like it’s a fairly substantial property that is consistent with the outline of the building on the site on the 1841 tithe map.
What are the best resources for finding out when a property was built and the owners over the years? Which libraries are best for old maps of the area or newspaper articles, photos etc. Is it possible to search census records by street rather than by an individuals name - either online or in person? Is it possible to find out whether the property was hit during the bombing raids or if it simply fell into disrepair?
Henry S Perry 50 Head Eliza A Perry 34 Wife David Cunningham 26 Servant Martha Mockbee 26 Servant Ellen Roberts 30 Servant Francis Robinson 21 Servant Elizabeth Demprey 27 Servant Mary Thomas 28 Servant Alfred W Simpson 27 Visitor
God help us, Come yourself, Don't send Jesus, This is no place for children.
To narrow some dates, you know Charles Buchanan Tomlinson resided at Tudor Terrace, 1871, and he is mentioned in the Will of Miles Barton, 1869, 2 Tudor Terrace. 1876 Liverpool Mercury, C H Lockett, Tudor Villas, celebrates the birth of a son.
God help us, Come yourself, Don't send Jesus, This is no place for children.
I presume like Cliff Villa, the army took it over to support their gun and rocket batteries and it was left in a mess resulting in its demolition and redevelopment post-war?
We don't do charity in Germany, we pay taxes. Charity is a failure of governments' responsibilities - Henning Wehn
More zoomed in photos from 1920 and 1934. Certainly looks like a pair of very substantial semi-detached houses in the early Victorian style. This is just to speculate, but I suspect the owners changed the names from 1 and 2 Tudor Terrace to make them seem more upmarket - after all 2 Tudor Terrace could equally be a worker's cottage. Hope that helps.
To narrow some dates, you know Charles Buchanan Tomlinson resided at Tudor Terrace, 1871, and he is mentioned in the Will of Miles Barton, 1869, 2 Tudor Terrace. 1876 Liverpool Mercury, C H Lockett, Tudor Villas, celebrates the birth of a son.
Cheers for the info on the 1851 census, so it looks like Henry Perry lived there for quite a while given he's also on the 1861 census.
Are articles from the Liverpool Mercury available online anywhere or do I need to visit Liverpool Central Library for these?
I presume like Cliff Villa, the army took it over to support their gun and rocket batteries and it was left in a mess resulting in its demolition and redevelopment post-war?
Looking at the latest photo that does look to be the case rather than it being bomb damaged as my neighbour had suggested - I guess to a child back then a ruined building was probably assumed to be bomb damaged.
And still there in 1960, albeit looking a bit rundown. You can also see the cleared site of the Cliff. Photo via Historic England.
Aside from Wellington Road, there were some seriously impressive villas that disappeared on Monpellier Crescent...
ap493 - the photos are fantastic, where are these from? It would be great to be able to get hi-res copies I could print.
I would agree with your speculation on the name change, 'Terrace" doesn't really do justice to such a grand looking building! Also from the latest photo in 1960 it looks like it wasn't bomb damaged as a neighbour was suggesting, but probably more likely as diggingdeeper suggests it was left in a mess after being vacated by the army. I'd assume from this that it was the same building as was on the Tithe map in 1841 right through to when it was demolished to make way for Alexandra Court.
Thanks everyone for the responses, I really wasn't expecting to get such great information so quickly.
If I wanted to try to see if it was occupied after the war, is it possible to view old electoral registers? How recent are the registers that I'd be able to look at? I'd be interested in those covering 1939 to probably 1960 as it doesn't look occupied from that latest photo.
What about the other end of its life, how would I find out when it was built? Is it a case of looking for notices for the sale of the land in the Liverpool Mercury?
Lots of large Victorian houses disappeared after the war. Plenty of reasons - some had indeed been structurally damaged by nearby bombs but the reality is people didn't need and couldn't afford to keep up such big establishments. These would have been 10+ bedroom houses depending on a team of staff to keep them up, the architecture was (then) unfashionable, and most were in need of comprehensive modernisation. Add to that that there was simply less money in the area from the 20s onwards and the pool of prospective buyers was pretty small. So values were not high - you'd get a lot more money knocking down and building apartments on the site. It's how New Brighton (and places like Rock Ferry and to a lesser extent Claughton and Noctorum) lost a lot of fantastic buildings.
Lots of large Victorian houses disappeared after the war. Plenty of reasons - some had indeed been structurally damaged by nearby bombs but the reality is people didn't need and couldn't afford to keep up such big establishments. These would have been 10+ bedroom houses depending on a team of staff to keep them up, the architecture was (then) unfashionable, and most were in need of comprehensive modernisation. Add to that that there was simply less money in the area from the 20s onwards and the pool of prospective buyers was pretty small. So values were not high - you'd get a lot more money knocking down and building apartments on the site. It's how New Brighton (and places like Rock Ferry and to a lesser extent Claughton and Noctorum) lost a lot of fantastic buildings.
Thank you, another site I'll no doubt lose hours of my life to
A little more. First, a 1913 ad showing the accommodation as it then was.
Then a bit of later history. In 1917 Ivy Lodge was converted into two flats, and by 1950 it is described as a "semi detached house divided into four self contained flats", with frontage to Alexandra Road and Wellington Road. It was being sold at auction with a gross rental of £284 18/4 - strong money at the time. It was definitely occupied in 1963 when one of the tenants was jailed for repeated drink driving. Tudor Lodge was also for auction in 1950, and also four flats with a rental of £276. The ground floor flat alone had two entertaining rooms, kitchen, pantry, two bedrooms, WC and bathroom, which gives an idea of the size of the property. It was withdrawn at £1000 (the same as two new Austins), but still being lived in in 1960.
A little more. First, a 1913 ad showing the accommodation as it then was.
Then a bit of later history. In 1917 Ivy Lodge was converted into two flats, and by 1950 it is described as a "semi detached house divided into four self contained flats", with frontage to Alexandra Road and Wellington Road. It was being sold at auction with a gross rental of £284 18/4 - strong money at the time. It was definitely occupied in 1963 when one of the tenants was jailed for repeated drink driving. Tudor Lodge was also for auction in 1950, and also four flats with a rental of £276. The ground floor flat alone had two entertaining rooms, kitchen, pantry, two bedrooms, WC and bathroom, which gives an idea of the size of the property. It was withdrawn at £1000 (the same as two new Austins), but still being lived in in 1960.
This is great, thank you for finding this additional information.
![[Linked Image from britainfromabove.org.uk]](https://britainfromabove.org.uk/sites/all/libraries/aerofilms-images/public/580w/EPW/004/EPW004046.jpg)
