Sefton Park

The park is located roughly within the historic bounds of the large area of the former Royal Park, Toxteth Park. The park is 235 acres (95 ha) in area and is designated by English Heritage at Grade I in the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. The site of the park was once within the boundaries of the 2,300-acre (930 ha) Royal Deer Park of Toxteth which became "disparked" in 1591. The land eventually came under the control of the Earl of Sefton. As Toxteth rapidly grew, green fields and woodland of Toxteth Park became narrow streets and courts packed by tiny houses where air was stagnant, little or no sanitation, with running water supplied by a single tap in the middle of each court. At the same time, there was demand for large aristocratic mansions in the South of Liverpool. In 1862 the Borough Council Engineer recommended a site for this development.