A wall on the north side of Childwall Road, near its junction with Thingwall Road, contains two unusual stones. They are around 12 metres apart, and stand out from the plain sandstone blocks making up the rest of the wall. They are clearly decorated, each appearing to have been carved with four horseshoe shapes.
Common explanations for these stones are that “this is where horse thieves were hanged”, or that “Shacklady’s Smithy was sited close by”. However, there is no hard evidence for either of these claims, despite their popularity. Looking at old maps, there is no evidence for a smithy, or any other small building, as far back as 1830.
An alternative may be that these are not horse-shoe carvings at all, but weathered examples of ‘cup and dart’ decoration, which has long been common on houses small and large. Several large houses once stood in this area, but have been demolished to make way for modern housing. The stones may have been repurposed from one of these, such as Yew Tree House, or Mossfield, which both stood on land where the wall was later built. Turning again to maps, the wall seems not to be older than the 1930s, when Childwall Road was widened to include a central reservation.
However, that’s not to totally discount the idea that these stones did indeed once come from a blacksmith’s.
Horseshoe stones at risk
A car crashed into this wall in 2016 (https://www.thewavertreesociety.uk/wavsoc/news16/page18.html) knocking down a section which included one of the stones. Fortunately, the wall was rebuilt with the horseshoe stone in place once more. Thanks are due to the Wavertree Society who got in touch with the company responsible for the repair work, and the horseshoe stones both remain there to this day.
Further reading on the horseshoe stones
The Horseshoe Stones, Wavertree Society, retrieved 19th September 2025
Example of Egg-and-dart moulding, Wikimedia, retrieved 19th September 2025
Hidden Wavertree 1999 – Part 2, YouTube, retrieved 19th September 2025