History of Speke: the coming to and leaving of Liverpool

Spec, Domesday; Spek, 1317; Speck(e), 1320; Speke common from 13th Century, with variants as Speek, 1332, Speyke, 1500; once ‘Espeke’ occurs. In the 16th Century frequently “The Speke” (VCH III)

Origins of the name: either Old English spec, meaning brushwood (Farrer & Brownbill, 1907) or spic, meaning bacon (Pye, K.), indicating the presence of pig fields. Possible link to surname Espec, allegedly of Norman origins.

Image: Speke by Mark Hoogenboom, released under a Creative Commons license via Flickr

Speke has always been a large township on the banks of the Mersey. Speke village itself never grew in size like the inner suburbs of Everton and Toxteth, but the large expanses of flat land attracted industry in the 20th Century, and large housing estates and industrial complexes grew up here. However, problems associated with the rapid expansion led to trouble at the end of the century.

Some sources say the name comes from the Old English spec, meaning brushwood (Farrer & Brownbill, 1907), while others point to spic, meaning bacon (Pye, K.), and indicating the presence of pig fields. There is also the link to the surname Espec, allegedly of Norman origins. I’ve not managed to confirm whether the name came before the lands at Speke were granted.

Book

One of the many heavily illustrated books on areas of Liverpool, David Paul’s Around Speke contains before-and-after photography of Speke alongside captions detailing the changes seen.

Buy the book

Website

Although I haven’t found a website dedicated to Speke, this Speke Hall website contains all you’ll need to start research on this part of Liverpool. There are plenty of photos too.

Visit the website

Speke c.1900

Use the slider in the top left to change the transparency of the old map.

The Landscape

In 1066 Speke formed part of one of Uctred’s manors (along with West Derby and Huyton), and when the Lancashire forest was formed, it became part of the forest fee (Farrer & Brownbill, 1904).

Speke occupies an area in the far south of Liverpool. This is flat land with a long river frontage (at the widest point on the Mersey), and was known for years as some of the best wheat-growing land in the region. Despite its low lying nature and proximity to the river, there are few if any water channels in Speke.

Map of Speke from 1849
Speke in 1849: a rural area centred on the small village, with scattered settlement around it

At the turn of the century, Speke was a small village with a scatter of houses, about a mile from the nearest station. The village of Speke itself was surrounded by small villages and hamlets. Oglet lies to the south (Ogelot, Oggelot and Ogelote over the years, especially early on; Oglot and Ogloth also common; Okelot, 1321; Hogolete, 1384 (Farrer & Brownbill, 1904)). Speke Town, Hale Cliff and Hunt’s Cross are the three biggest places of settlement, with a lot of farms dotted around.

‘Hunt’s Cross’ was originally an actual sandstone monument, erected in 1895, but by 1901 was described in the Victoria County History as “a displaced massive square stone socket, lying in a barn, at the crossroads, near the station”.

At the boundary of Speke, Halewood and Hale is an area once known as Conleach. Here, formal challenges were fought between inhabitants of the nearby villages.

Detailed map of Speke from 1893
Speke in 1893: a detailed view showing the hamlet of Speke Town

Speke Hall

(See main article, Speke Hall and the Speke Estate)

Speke Hall was originally a medieval moated site. The moat survives to this day, although any thoughts of its defensive purpose were long ago lost. For hundreds of years the moat has been no more than decoration to impress visitors. Other sites in this part of Lancashire had similar features, like the building at Old Hutt, and maybe a smaller version at Wright’s Moat.

The site would have fallen within Uctred’s manor, though we can only know for certain that a building stood here since 1314. It passed to an ancestor of the Molyneux, before coming into the hands of the Norris family. William Norris started rebuilding the Hall in 1467, work being completed by Edward Norris in 1589. Only some foundations and kitchen window mullions survive from the sandstone predecessor to the current building (Greaney, 2013, Pye, K.).

Speke remained a small and sparsely inhabited area until the early 20th century. At that point in history Speke’s large neighbour, Liverpool, was becoming hungry for land for housing. Slum clearance was already taking place, and population growth was only adding to housing pressures.

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Expansion – the Speke Estate and Industry

In the 20th century Speke was one of several areas of outlying Liverpool which were the focus of post-war reconstruction and expansion (among the others were Knowsley and Skelmersdale). Kirkby, Halewood and Speke were the three largest out-of-town council estates in the country. Unfortunately, there remained a gap between, one the one hand, the houses being built and the residents moving in, and on the other the amenities (shops and leisure) becoming established. This lack of planning led to great problems in the years to follow.

Map of Speke from 1928
Speke in 1928, showing the first signs of Liverpool encroaching from the west

It’s very difficult to separate the history of the Speke housing estate from the industry that grew up from the 1930s onwards. However, it’ll pay to look in detail first into the efforts to re-house people from the city centre.

Building the Speke estate

In the 1930s the population of Speke (the village and its surroundings) was 400. It was to grow to 25,000 by 1950 through the creation of an entire new settlement.

It was hoped that Speke would be an independent town with a large housing stock and its own facilities – sports centre, swimming pool, laundries, shops and a church. The plan was inspired by the popular garden city movement which had created Welham Garden city and inspired the likes of Port Sunlight.

In 1928 Liverpool Corporation bought the land for the Speke estate from the trust managing the lands around Speke Hall (the last inhabitant of the Hall, Adelaide Watt, had died in 1921). In 1932 the area became part of Liverpool, having been part of Whiston rural district, and in 1937 work began on the massive project.

The garden city-plan was executed so strictly that it took little consideration of the natural lie of the land. The gentle topography of the area meant that it had little need to, but other parts of the existing landscape were ignored too. Speke Town, a hamlet, was completed demolished and any remains now lie under the junction of Speke Boulevard and Speke Hall Avenue. The original Speke church was demoted from a central spot to the western edge (Boughton, 2017a).

Living in the Speke estate

The high ambitions for Speke were reflected in the houses that were built. The aim was to encourage a mix of different professions and incomes (Aneurin Bevan had once stated that council estates shouldn’t just be for the poor). Lancelot Keay, architect of Speke, agreed and tried to achieve this aim with a high variety of house types. Over 5000 2-4 bedroom family homes were built, 250 cottage flats for the elderly, 92 single person flats, and 221 2-4 bedroom family flats. Keay also hoped to build all the necessary amenities like a dance hall, a concert hall and a restaurant (Bradbury, 1967).

Fifty per cent were ‘parlour homes’ with unusually high quality and space, for council built residences. Rents were therefore high too, and the unfortunate consequence was a high turnover of residents amongst those who had moved out of low cost city centre areas (Boughton, 2017a).

By 1941 only three shops had been built since people had started moving in in 1939. However, houses were still being built during the Second World War. This was unusual amongst housing estates in Britain. It may have had something to do with the nearby airport, which was taking on its own importance at this time (Boughton, 2017a).

After the Second World War

In the middle of the century it was judged that the houses that had been built before the Second World War were too low density. The developments had used up valuable land which was in even more short supply after 1945 (Bradbury, 1967). The Blitz had left 70,000 people homeless, even aside from the continuing slum clearances.

The Town Development Act of 1952 had encouraged new rural towns like Speke to be built, rather than the redevelopment of town centres, so as to relieve over-population (ibid: 27). Efforts were renewed to develop the housing estate, but with one eye on creating accommodation for a new burst of industry in the area under the auspices of the earlier 1921 Liverpool Corporation Act.

Map of Speke from 1956
By 1956 we can see the extensive building programme which has produced the housing estate and factories like the Rubber Works

Despite this, even ten years after the houses were built, there were complaints that Speke lacked shops, schools, churches and community centres. Speke was left an “isolated, urban, frontier country” (Speke, 2017). By 1952 The Parade (the planned shopping centre) still had to be built. The author of one article, and a former resident, was 9 or 10 years old before there were any shops to go to.

As with other out-of-town estates, mobile grocery stalls were driven around to supply the residents. An independent Speke would require its own shops and amenities, and so a lack of these left it more vulnerable to isolation than if it had been closer to Liverpool.

Tardy improvements

Despite the problems, and the failure to meet lofty ambitions, some improvements did see the light of day in the 1960s. Although building had seemed to stall once the houses were up, public facilities did eventually appear.

In 1952 a new Speke Library replaced the facility housed in a converted Corporation house. The new building was in a converted smithy at the western end of the Speke estate (Bradbury, 1967). The relentlessly optimistic volume Liverpool Builds (ibid) claimed it had a “rustic charm”, but admitted that it still was not big enough. And so, in 1954, another temporary library was opened in a shop in Alderwood Road (ibid: 121).

Finally, a purpose-build building appeared in 1965 in the form of Speke Central Library. The site had been reserved since before the Second World War, and Bradbury (1967: 116) boasted that it was “the first post-war purpose built library in Liverpool to serve a new area”. That’s quite a string of caveats, but it demonstrated a continued attention being paid to the still-growing community. It was planned that the library would include reference rooms, exhibitions rooms and theatre, with “ample space for all of which has been left at the rear” (ibid).

In the same year as the library, the Austin Rawlinson Swimming Bath and Civic Laundry (named after a West Derby-born Olympic swimmer) opened its doors (Boughton, 2017a). These civic laundries were built across the city in the post-war era, totalling “facilities for almost a thousand women per week”!

The centre of the town, the intended hub of the community, was finally taking shape. The Youth and Community Centre opened in Spetember 1964, having been running for some time already. Some ideas in the original Centre may look dated to modern eyes, such as separate rooms for ‘boys crafts’ and ‘girls crafts’, but its facilities were wide ranging, from a coffee bar to space for netball, badminton and other games (Bradbury, 1967: 94).

The Speke Combined Clinic and Ambulance Station was completed in 1961 on South Parade (ibid: 100). This improved essential response times as ambulances no longer needed to come out from Liverpool. The Station also housed doctors and dentists.

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Industry

It was always intended for Speke’s housing and industry to grow hand-in-hand. Industrial estates took advantage of the flat land and growing population from the 1950s onwards. As has been mentioned, post-war development was concentrated on out-of-town areas rather than the inner city.

The 1936 Liverpool Corporation Act allowed the city to buy and sell land for housing. It also let them build factories in order to kick-start development. Speke industrial Estate was built and by 1938 there were 16 factories in the area, and by 1939 there were 28 built or in progress (Boughton, 2017a). The first industries to arrive consisted of motor works, light engineering, food, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The Bryant and May Matchworks took advantage of its proximity to the Garston timber docks. However, the businesses had moved out of the city along with the residents. These new workplaces were not offering brand new jobs. Rather, they relocated existing ones, and unemployment continued to rise in the Liverpool region (Greaney, 2013).

Map of Speke in 1981
By 1981 the map shows industry having filled in the space to the north of the Speke estate, notably the Ford factory to the north east

The slow pace of residential building in Speke disadvantaged these companies too, who complained about slow progress. the Corporation had made them promises to encourage relocation, and they felt let down (Boughton, 2017a).

Speke’s luck truly waned in the 1970s and 80s. The British Leyland plant closed in 1978, and the match factory and the Triumph factory both closed in the 1980s. When Margaret Thatcher’s government set out the Speke Enterprise Zone in 1981 not a single factory opened there (Boughton, 2017b). Decline continued into the early 1990s recession, and Ford’s poor industrial relations added to the woes (Pye, 2009).

Recovery in the 1990s

Speke began to rise out of its low ebb as the 1990s went on. European Union money was spent by the Speke-Garston Development Corporation (a joint venture between the North West Development Agency and the City Council), South Liverpool Housing, and the Liverpool Land Development Company. South Liverpool Housing took over the housing stock from the Liverpool Corporation, and these developments led to investment and long-delayed repairs in the township. In total, this represented £14m in government funding (Boughton, 2017b).

In 1999 Liverpool Vision were set up to coordinate urban regeneration on Merseyside. From 2008 Liverpool Vision funded the redevelopment of Speke’s centre (ibid). Speke Boulevard was styled as an ‘International Gateway’, cementing Speke’s role as an entry point into Liverpool via the airport. Speke was taking advantage of its perfect position as the junction of two motorways, the M56 and M57, algonside links with air, rail and river transport.

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Later history

The Speke Estate was an ambitious undertaking. Its architect hoped to build a self-sufficient town full of people with a range of backgrounds and incomes. Industry would go hand-in-hand with the residential growth, and people would live on the doorstep of their workplace.

But the reality was different: house building was too slow for industry’s needs, and the promised facilities were late in coming. By the time they were built, a number of people had already moved on, not intent to wait. All Hallows School was demolished because it had too few students (Speke, 2017).

When the crucial factories closed in the wake of the post-war slump (like Dunlop and Triumph) it only cemented the troubles. It’s been suggested that Lancelot Keay, that ambitious architect, was deluded to think he could build some kind of utopia (Speke, 2017).

Despite setbacks, efforts continued. In the 1980s the tenements which once surrounded open play areas (like the notorious ‘Speke Castle’) were demolished and replaced with modern houses with gardens. In 1998 the Ford plant became a Jaguar factory. The factory was modernised from a production line to a “total quality management” system using modern manufacturing processes (Pye, 2009). Following the transfer of housing to South Liverpool Housing there’s been a renewed effort to build the original vision of a mixed community (Boughton, 2017b). Measures have been taken like enforcing a minimum proportion of affordable housing in new developments.

Time will tell whether the new energy put into Speke pays dividends.

Transport – the Airport

1928: Airport site bought from Miss Adelaide Watt
1930-3: airport construction

1933: Speke Airport opened. By WWII it was the second busiest in the UK. Air Force kept control after war meaning it lost out to Manchester in 1950s.

1935-40: Edward Bloomfield’s building built
Became RAF Speke until 1961.(Book)

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References

Farrer, W., & Brownbill, J., 1907, The Victoria History of the County of Lancaster, vol III

Speke, Tom, 2017, Growing up on the Speke Estate, Liverpool: a personal perspective, https://municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2017/08/01/speke_a_personal_perspective/, accessed 9th July 2019

Boughton, J. 2017a, The Speke Estate, Liverpool: a ‘satellite town…planned to accommodate all classes of the community’, https://municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2017/04/25/the-speke-estate-liverpool-i/, accessed 10th July 2019

Greaney, M., 2013, Liverpool: a landscape history, History Press, Stroud

Bradbury, R., 1967, Liverpool Builds, City and County Borough of Liverpool, Liverpool

30 Comments on “History of Speke: the coming to and leaving of Liverpool”

  • Keith Page

    says:

    Hi

    My partner and I where walking in the woods behind Alderfield Rd which runs along Speke Boulevard and noticed that whilst we where walking through the woods there was a water source (possible a tributary of the Ram’s Brook) which runs through this area. The thing we noticed was that the water source had been Cut out and had straight edges, and did not look natural. We also noticed that there was a lot of brick possible walls running along side the river; we were hoping you could tell us what was possible in that area before Jaguar and why would the river be cut out in that way. We both said a Mill but could not find any information locally about this. we haven’t looked through your web site which we will do once we’ve sent this email. Please also email me Historical news about Speke if possible.

    Keith & Dee

    Reply

    • Roy Rice

      says:

      Hi Keith and Dee, I have posted a link which I think shows the area you are talking about in 1938, it seems to show Rams Brook. http://maps.nls.uk/view/101104337

      Reply

    • Will Johnson

      says:

      The bricks running along the riverbank at Oglet were what’s remained of the blitz, the rubble from Liverpool city centre was transported to Oglet Shore and dumped along the riverbank.

      Reply

  • Stephen Kayll

    says:

    I lived in West Mains (Mains Rough on the map) between 1953-1962 and Rams Brook was altered to take the storm water from the Ford Factory through the woods and into the Mersey. Sadly a young boy drowned in the brook in the early 60’s about the time Fords was being built. it was a dense foggy night and the boy got lost and fell into the brook. I remember it like yesterday.

    Reply

    • Martin

      says:

      Hi Stephen,

      I’ve not heard about that before. Very interesting information on the Rams Brook, but so sad that this story is attached to it. Thanks for sharing it with us.

      Martin

      Reply

      • Jill

        says:

        Hi my husband and me are both from Speke. We remember the little boy who died who drowned in the huge pipes which were being laid at the time. The boy lived in Ramsfield Road in the flats and his name was Shaun O’Shay (not sure of the spelling)

        Reply

  • Colin Grundy

    says:

    Hi I lived in speke Stockton wood road from birth in 1962 till 1975 ,just to comment on the drowning of the young boy .I lost my uncle who I was told drowned in speke aged 8 I was led to believe was at a pond in the grounds o speke hall his friend he was with also died they both lived in the tenements in garston my uncle’s name was Raymond Grundy .

    T

    Reply

  • peter warn

    says:

    Huyton is a bigger estate than speke, kirkby or halewood and was also liverpool’s corperation’s first estate on the outskirts of the city. i find it strange that it never gets mentioned in any liverpool history books

    Reply

    • Martin

      says:

      Hi Peter,

      Yes, it doesn’t often get mentioned, but it’s got a long history as well as an important recent one. I’ve only got a brief history of Huyton on this site, and more work needs to be done on that page.

      Martin

      Reply

  • Derrick Cameron

    says:

    Hi Martin
    My Grandfather lived in Liverpool 1880 and left in 1920’s to find work in London. He took my father back to visit relatives just before the war. My father remembers a water mark on the walls of the house.Can you tell me when and where the flooding took place
    Thank you Derrick

    Reply

    • Martin

      says:

      Hi Derrick,

      Do you know the rough time when the watermarks might have happened? Might it have been in your grandfather’s time or before that? The River Weaver, on the opposite bank of the Mersey, has a lot of history of flooding in the late 19th century, so floods may have happened north of the river at the same time.

      I’m assuming you’re looking at the Speke area, so let me know if you were thinking of somewhere else.

      Martin

      Reply

  • Derrick Cameron

    says:

    Hi Martin
    My guess would be late 1920’s early 1930’s.
    Before my grandfather left he was living in Balfour Rd Bootle and had relatives in Kearney Place Wallasey.
    Coming from Essex I am not familiar with geography of the various parts of Liverpool.
    Nor do I know which relative he visited. I was hoping that you could tell me were the flood was then I could find which relative lived there. Mt grandfather was one of 9 and he went on to have 8 children.
    His wife’s father was the captain of the ferry steamer in 1871 .

    Derrick

    Reply

  • graham

    says:

    my wife has a brass plate that came from her great grandads cottage we think.It reads Rathbride cottage Speke it has his name at the bottom of the plate.Ernest Connell.do you have any information of this property.We believe he would of lived here between 1880 and 1905 .

    Reply

    • Martin

      says:

      Hi Graham,

      I can’t find anything on the maps marked as Rathbride Cottage in Speke, but I’m always finding new sources so if I spot anything I’ll come back to you.

      Martin

      Reply

  • Oli

    says:

    Hi. Does anyone who uses this site have any information to offer on Hale Road Farm in Speke? I would interested in any personal stories or local history.

    Reply

    • Martin

      says:

      Hi Oli,

      In addition to any stories you get I found some raw data on who was living there are two different points in the 20th century. This website at Spek Archive Online has information on a lot of farms: http://spekearchiveonline.co.uk/hale_road_farm.htm

      Best wishes,
      Martin

      Reply

  • Thomas

    says:

    I live in speke only 24. I have seen many different maps and pictures of speke in my time living here since 5 yrs old. I was waling around and thought a number of things. What are thos triangle things on ogglet shore. Where are the air raid bunkers other than speke hall and what mill was placed hre?

    Reply

    • GEOFFREY D'ARCY

      says:

      They were to stop tanks , probably from somewhere else

      Reply

  • Keith

    says:

    I lived in a home on Damwood Road. My pals and I used to go down Dungeon Lane to the Mersey shore – Ogglet Shore. It used to be a massive dumping ground for the debris from the bombing. The concrete triangle things, as you described, if they are still there amazes me, were tank traps. The shore line was lined with them to hinder the Germans invading England. Although it was a massive tip we had many fun days exploring and playing among the traps and bricks. There was also a farm above ‘Oggie Shore’ that grew bulbs and many unwanted ones were tipped over the edge, of the higher ridge, onto the shore – just added more debris! How many daffodil and tulip bulbs I salvaged I can’t even contemplate!

    Reply

    • Martin

      says:

      Hi Keith,

      It’s great to hear your memories of Oggie Shore! I had no idea there was a bulb-growing farm there. Sounds like you had great fun roaming the area. 🙂

      Martin

      Reply

  • john

    says:

    Charles turner owned the daffodil farms large green houses ran near his property. he played golf at woolten golf course and often carried a shotgun in his bag to shoot ball thieving crows. he drove a jaguar mark 10 a very wide car and after leaving the golf course would stop at the bus stop and give the boys who had been caddying a lift. re the oggie I would walk along the top of the shore line towards the lighthouse and in a small woods just before you reached hale there were concrete underground bunkers. I always wondered what they were

    Reply

  • G D'ARCY

    says:

    They were to stop tanks , probably from somewhere else

    Reply

  • Carl Hughes

    says:

    My nan lived in Critchley Road in Speke. In the mid 70’s, when i was young, perhaps 5-8 years of age, i was playing in the kitchen when i turned to see a black baby/toddler in some sort of tribal dress sitting on the chair watching me. I was too young to understand differences in races at the time. I ran scared into the living room to tell what I’d seen. Of course, there was nothing to see. But my mum and nan could see that I’d had a fright. I was wondering if anyone had a similar experience or if this could tie in with the local history. Thanks.

    Reply

  • Robert Smethurst

    says:

    I was born at the Bus Terminus end of Western Avenue n 1948. Lived there until the early ’70s. My sister was also born there in 1941. My parents had married & moved to Speke from Garston. Interestingly (not mentioned in the article) was the Roote’s Group Shadow Aircraft Factory that became the Dunlop complex. My father, an engineer, had moved from Salford for ‘war work ‘. He lodged at my mother’s parents in Garston & married the landlords daughter!
    So a large & very busy aircraft factory during WW2. Built many hundreds (thousands?) of Halifax bombers.

    Reply

  • Denise sleightholme

    says:

    I loved growing up in Speke
    I lived in bray road and had a great childhood
    My maiden name is hind
    I went to stocktonwood school then Speke comp
    I couldn’t believe the difference from one end of Speke to the other

    Reply

  • Paul Jones

    says:

    I have never commented on anything before and not sure why I feel compelled to now.
    I came across this site whilst looking for a few details to share with an old friend of mine who has been unwell. We both grew up in Speke, Fenton Green, and Lovell road respectively. We both went to Stocktonwood school, the old Friday night All Saints Church discos, and spent summer at the baths or wandering round Ogglet Shore. I played football for the Dove & Olive and Speke Enterprise, both on the fields by Damwood. Went to Hillfoot after Stocktonwood and I think both have been demolished. Don’t know what it is like now, but I loved my youth and never forget where I come from.

    Reply

  • KJ

    says:

    An excellent history of Speke. Many thanks, mate. Appreciate your good work .
    I spent my first 21 years living in Speke (the western end of Damwood Road), and often revisited over the following decades to see my folks (now, sadly, passed away).
    One question for you: any idea of the capacity of the original St Christopher’s Church? As a primary school child, it seemed absolutely enormous! Always full for 11.15 mass, too (at least in the 1960s). It was cathedral-sized, as I recall.
    It was latterly replaced by a small, modern building, as the church-going population declined dramatically, with the parish priest being shared with St Ambrose in East Speke (if I’ve got that right).

    Reply

  • norman lewis

    says:

    very interesting to read about speke, I have some memories of the area with having familty lived there and also myself working for ford motor company 1965 to 1972. we had an awful strike for 10 weeks and on the internet there is no mention of it unlike the dagenham ladies strike by ford ladies. I am now 86 years old and apart from army sewrvice I have never left dear old liverpool. thanks

    Reply

  • Ian McDonnell

    says:

    Hi Robert, I was very surprised to read your comment as I too was born at that end of Western Ave in 1948 my aunty ran the busmans kiosk near the shops, I still do not know who my father was but the name Smethurst shows up in my “other” Ancestry search. You, probably like me, may have had the same midwife that lived in number 72, Mary McCartney. I was born in No. 169 what about you? I would love to make contact but I now live in Australia and have had an interesting life.

    Reply

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