Yahoo News Lost estate where pubs were banned and electricity 'turned off at night'
When a colourful character named William Jones arrived in Liverpool from the village of Llannerehymedd in North Wales in 1860, Bootle was a very different place to what we know today. Although there were pockets of development in the area, it was largely farms, country fields and waste land.
But Jones, who was given the nickname 'Klondyke' after the 19th century gold rush, was a man with a bold vision. After building houses in Toxteth Park and Everton, he turned his attention to the newly-created borough of Bootle.
He bought Bootle Town Hall, and in 1890 he demolished it and started building an estate with a unique character. The development soon became known as the Klondyke estate - a place many families were proud to call home until it was demolished to make way for new housing in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
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Many of the streets that made up the Klondyke - including Annie Road, Eleanor Road and Marion Road - were named after Jones's family members. Other Klondyke streets include Monfa Road, Staley Street, Menai Road, Arvon Street and Springwell Road.
They were part of an area known as Bootle's 'Welsh Streets' - all built by Jones - which included Aber, Bala, Banjor, Conwy, Holywell, Denbigh, Rhyl and Anglesey streets. Jones built around 900 houses in the area, mainly two-up, two-downs with no bathrooms.
However, they became coveted family homes because they had their own electricity supply system. Jones generated his own electricity for the houses, but reportedly switched off the supply at midnight to encourage his tenants to have a good night's sleep.
Jones, who became mayor of Bootle in 1886, was never shy about imposing his principles on residents of the estate. An avowed teetotaller, he would not sell a single yard of his land to brewers, and refused to allow any pubs to be built on his land, despite generous offers.
A tight sense of community soon developed on the Klondyke estate. An article about the area in the Liverpool Daily Post on December 30, 1968 said: "Somehow, too, the old fashioned spirit of comradeship and friendliness seems to have been preserved here and neighbours have community feeling. They seem to know of each others troubles and do their best to assist in times of difficulty."
Accompanying the article is a photograph of Rebecca Tennant, who first moved to Province Road in the Klondyke estate with her mum and dad in 1888. When she first arrived, there were only 10 houses, and they all had extended gardens where people grew vegetables and kept chickens.
The sense of community spirit lived on through the decades as the estate developed, and schools, shops and churches were built to cater to its growing population. In 1979, the Klondyke Residents' Association was formed.
While there was great affection for the houses built by 'Klondyke' Jones, they later fell into disrepair, and Sefton Council decided to demolish the estate after it became clear the homes were no longer fit for habitation. The terraced houses were to be replaced with new-build properties.
People had compulsory purchase orders placed on their homes. For long-time residents of the Klondyke, the demolition programme was deeply distressing.
Some residents refused to move. An 88-year-old woman named Bridget Hogan, who had lived in Willard Street all her life, was eventually evicted from her home after refusing to make way for the bulldozers.
Bridget told the ECHO in 2013: “My parents came to live here in 1910. I had lived there all my life and been an owner-occupier for more than 50 years. I was going to take my time, I knew I had to move because there was a compulsory purchase order.
"It’s all right here but that was the only house I’ve ever lived in. There was nothing wrong with it, it wasn’t falling down.
"I wasn’t worried about being on my own. It was a nice community once, everybody knew everybody. I had a lot of memories in that house.”
The demolition of a landmark Presbytarian chapel on Springwell Road caused particular consternation among local people. Lawyers for Save Britain’s Heritage mounted a judicial review challenge in a bid to save the 110-year-old building, but it was eventually torn down in 2014.
Now, all that is left of the Klondyke estate is a handful of street names. But it lives on in people's memories and will forever be remembered by those who called Bootle's 'Welsh Streets' home.
Were you a resident of Bootle's Klondyke estate? If you are interested in sharing your memories of living there, please contact katie.westwood@reachplc.com
