Liverpool's "Walled Settlement"

Today's Meander was Walk 7 of the 7 Liverpool Hills; it was a very short walk, 2.56 miles / 4.12 Km, and can be viewed at http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4365352.html
The name Walton comes from the Saxon words 'weald' and 'tun', meaning, as the heading of this post states, 'Walled Settlement'.
As with the other '7 Liverpool Hills', (this is number 7) anyone can download the maps and/or the Points of Interest Guide at http://www.bikeright.co.uk/merseyside/7hills/

I have to be honest, this is the least inspiring of the 4 Hills we've visited so far.

Don't get me wrong, the 'Points of Interest' provided lots of very interesting information which you can read at the 'check-points on the map.
I digress.
As you can see from the map (link provided above)...

...we started our Meander from Kirkdale Merseyrail Station...

...and headed off to the start of the walk at the top of Spellow Lane in front of the gates of...

'The Peoples Club'

Liverpool's first, official Football Club...

Everton FC also known by the nickname ‘The Toffees’, because of Molly Bushell’s famous Everton toffee (See Walk #1 posted on 7th July 2016)

...complete with the statue of William Ralph "Dixie" Dean (22 January 1907 – 1 March 1980) (Find out more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_Dean)
Across the road, along with the an entrance to Stanley Park and the Everton FC Shop, is Salop Chapel...

...a Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster. (Find out more at http://www.freepresbyterian.org/church/liverpool/)
As we walked along County Road, you couldn't fail to miss this mural...

...of a woman with multicoloured hair on what was an Ethel Austin building. It was created by street artist Whoam Irony (see more of her work at http://whoamirony.tumblr.com/) and commissioned by the Liverpool Street Artist Festival as part of a project to rejuvenate the area.
Looking down the streets to our right we could see Goodison Park...

...and, when we read 'Point of interest #3', it provided an explanation of the street names, as we walked along County Road.
The next impressive building was Arnot St Mary CofE Primary School...

A friend of ours worked here during the 1980s...

On the opposite side of the road is 'The Glebe Hotel'...

...built in 1882 and a Grade II listed building; renamed Bernie May’s Bar and Bistro.
It was named The Glebe Hotel because it was built on land belonging to the church - known as glebe.

There's also a local legend that a tunnel runs from the The Glebe Hotel to St Mary’s Church.

We continued along County Road to view The Tudor School House (1515)...

...now a day nursery, creche facility, and meeting hall...

It's one of only two surviving original Tudor schoolhouses in Liverpool.
We've already seen the other one on our Woolton Ridge and Camp Hill Meander.
Next, another dissapointment! 
We were unable to enter the grounds of St Mary’s Church!

However the points of interest provided an engaging overview of its history.
Inside St Mary’s Church is an ancient Saxon Cross and this is the replica we could see from the path...

Heading back along the path, we circumnavigated St Mary’s Church as we read about...

• a Pagan Stone Circle,
• Domesday Book reference,
• Ancient Monks,
• the Burial Ground and
• the Plague Pit.

Still no access.
We also noticed, over the road the...

WALTON-ON-THE-HILL

TOWN HALL A.D. 1893

...plague and Coat of Arms...

We could have caught the 310 bus home from here but chose to meander back via Walton Village, Heathcote Road, Church Road West and City Road.

Some lovely buildings and interesting history of the area. 

You can view the slideshow, of today's photographs, below...

or go to https://sharalike.com/s/n56Y

Looking forward to the next 3 Hills!

Stonebridge Park

If at first...
This is where I'd planned to go on the Croxteth Hall & Country Park walk. If you remember the route was blocked by Alley Gates.

All turned out well, as it did today on this walk.

The map for this 6.7366 miles route is available at http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6039492.

Again I wasn't confident but it turned out well with some interesting highlights.

As too-earlies we caught the train to Walton, using our senior travel passes. 

From the station we made our way to Rice Lane Recreation Ground and onto the Liverpool Loop Line. 
After walking about a mile (from the start) we left the LoopLine and walked down Liver Industrial Estate, past Taskers.
At Long Lane (B5187) we turned left then right into Everton Cemetery. 

Now that was a total surprise.
What do I mean?
For starters we were asked by the "Flower seller" what we were looking for. 

Odd we both thought. 

We told him we were just on a Sunday stroll but, had noticed the sign informing readers of the presence of "Commonwealth Graves". 

We continued walking into the Cemetery.

I don't think I can put into words what we saw. If you can, go and look yourself. 

The map provided an indication of what to expect, but not the impact it has.

Go on,if you're local take a look. I'll come back to this later.

The route wasn't that obvious from the Cemetery to the playing field alongside Lower Lane. By following the tracks of vehicles we ended up on good paths. Also disturbed a couple of rabbits.

At Lower Lane we turned right, towards the A580 and, just before the Traffic lights entered Stonebridge Park.

Yes, second attempt and we had made it to, what turned out to be, a well maintained park with lots of wildlife; coots, moor-hens, ducks, heron, butterflies, wild flowers etc.

A couple of "fishermen" had camped overnight and were enjoying the sun between a couple of showers.

At Stonebridge Lane we turned left and walked along the road up to the footpath alongside the River Alt; 

...the path taking us via Fazakerley Hall Recreation Ground and onto Lower Lane. 

University Hospital Aintree (still called Fazakerley Hospital by locals) can be seen on the opposite side of the road, and to the right. 

We turned left then, almost immediately, right into Brookfield Drive.
Passing HM Prison Altcourse, we turned left, down Higher Lane, and re-entered Everton Cemetery via The Lodge.

This side of the Cemetery had very clear areas for those who once supported specific local Teams (Red area and Blue Area). Even in death...

On leaving the Cemetery, the "Flower Man" had to stop us and explain why he had questioned us, when entering earlier.

He thought we were looking for Brian Epstein's Grave. (http://www.brianepstein.com/) It was in the adjacent Jewish Cemetery, closed on a Sunday, although, apparently, many entered Everton Cemetery and climbed over the wall.

The rest of the walk was retracing our steps to Walton Station, with a slight change across Rice Lane Recreation Ground.