The photo above (one of mine taken on a recent weekend walk) is of the turret on the corner of King’s Gap and North Parade. I’ve walked, ran, cycled, driven past it thousands of times without giving much thought at all to its origins.
So, can anyone enlighten me? Before the houses and apartments were built what was there? Hopefully someone knows the answer!
There was a beautiful bungalow there years ago.
There used to be a beautiful Art Deco (?) style house there. When I was little & indeed until it was demolished, I dreamed of living there. Never understood why it had to go. Fabulous house, fabulous location. 😕
The whole site of what is now King’s Court was occupied by a beautiful seaside house known as The Gap which was set in substantial grounds. I don’t have a date for The Gap nor, sadly, can I find any photographs on line but I imagine it was built in the 1800s. I remember it fondly as my family lived at 7 Curzon Road and my grandmother in the top flat of 10 Curzon Road.
The house itself faced the sea and was single storey for the most part with a two-storey section at the western end. It was white stucco style with French window style doors with blue shutters to the front elevation and a Welsh slate roof. The entrance porch was on the easternmost gable end facing The King’s Gap and was approached by way of a gravel drive from the road. The entrance gateway was widened to form the entrance to King’s Court and the original castellated gateposts rebuilt. The house was sited well back from the beach with a large front lawn and the castellated building in the photo was a prominent feature. A low blue-painted wooden fence was built above the sea wall and provided a good target when walking back home from swimming off the sandbanks.
The southern and western side of the grounds comprised sand hills running along the rear of the site and the length of the Curzon Road boundary with a large wooden garage standing next to 10, Curzon Road. There was no pavement down the boundary of Curzon Road but what we called ‘the bank’ which was just a continuation of the sand hills with typical wildflowers and wildlife. Foxes and hedgehogs were amongst the inhabitants of the sand hills. A delightful path ran from opposite the entrance of Dalston (13, Curzon Road) to the house. As a young boy, I spent many happy hours collecting caterpillars and racing snails on the bank. On occasions the children in the road were allowed to play in the grounds.
A Professor Wells from the Liverpool University medical school owned the property and in the early to mid-1970s he sold the property to John Bradshaw, a well-known local businessman and builder from Caldy, who said that he was buying it for use as his residence. The professor and his wife moved into 11, Curzon Road directly opposite the property and were of course horrified to find that Mr Bradshaw had other plans entirely. The house was demolished and the grounds destroyed in front of their eyes. The only remnant of the grounds is the little wooded area at the top of the site opposite Marine Road.
A condition of the planning consent was the retention of the boundary wall and the castellated building in the photograph. The turret was however half demolished by workmen and was only saved after I alerted my mother who rang the Council to alert them to its destruction. It was then rebuilt. During the Wells’ time a Union Flag would be flown from a flagpole on the turret to mark important national days! I think it served as a garden shed but perhaps it once had a more illustrious purpose!
The Gap was one of a number of beachfront properties with grounds of this type including The Chase in Barton Road (now Barton Close) and Sandhey along the promenade which have been lost to new developments of little architectural merit. Hoylake is very much the poorer for their destruction.
Thanks for all the information. Set against the boundary wall is a large iron cylindrical item, looking like a old pump but with no obvious water spout. Any ideas what this might be? Thanks again.for info.
I used to deliver papers there as a teenager and remember being told that the owner was H G Well’s Nephew.
I have to thank Peter Wilson for such a fascinating insight and recollection for this post.
I too have walked past the turret and wondered what it was.
The house, gardens and surrounding area sounded idyllic and I hope someone may unearth a long lost photograph.
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I think there is a lesson for us all here regarding property developments and safeguarding our interesting and significant buildings.
Unfortunately nothing seems to have changed and we are still at the mercy of money mad developers, land grabbers and loose planning controls. .
Yes, James, it was an idyllic spot from what now feels like a lost age of old Hoylake.
We used to call this ‘Pippin Fort’
I moved to Meols as a child in 1975 and remember playing with friends in what must have been the trenches used as a part of the foundations of the current buildings shortly after.
This lovely old sandstone building brings back happy memories of Hoylake, what a pity that so much of it is being pulled-down to make room for over-priced rabbit hutches.
I now live in the SE (Weybridge) and perhaps unsurprisingly the same thing is happening here.
the turret itself was always known as a folly
I have two photos of the Wells’ house which I am sending in and which I hope will appear. I took them in 1977 just as the demolishers were moving in. I remember my disbelief on looking round one of the show houses later built on the site and seeing the prices they wanted for them.
Hi, it would be good to see the old pics of the house as I can’t find one anywhere else 🙂 many thanks
X
My grandmother was the housekeeper to Professor and Mrs Wells throughout the 60’s and early 70’s. My school holidays were spent at The Gap with my gran and as she ‘kept house’ I was allowed to ‘help’, doing dusting and little jobs. Summer days were spent playing in the grounds and running on the lawn that swept down to the sea. The little turret was the gardener’s shed and mowers and lawn rollers were kept inside. It had a little wooden stair that took you to the top and for much of my young life that was my ‘princess tower’. The photograph brought me such happy memories!!
In that case your Grandmother ordered me and my young friends away from playing in the road close to the house. in the 1960s “The Professor is WORKING… go and play somewhere else.”
Does anyone have information about “P G Young Esq”? I have a post card addressed to him at Dalston, Curzon Road, Hoylake. It’s from a person called Muriel, posted in Llanfairfechan on 15.06.1943.
The card apologises for not replying to his letter but says she must blame the coming of “Formby” (her quotes).
Evie Arnold
Evie
Yes. I grew up at No. 7 Curzon Road.
This part of Hoylake is built on a sand dune system which once stretched along the entire north Wirral coast. Dalston (No.13) which is directly on the seawall was the first house to be built in the road and I understand it was built by the Young family. It dates from around 1900. It is a beautiful family house.
During my childhood (1960s & 70s) it was still occupied by a Mr Young. However, I never knew his first name, he was just ‘Mr Young’ so whether he is the same Mr Young or perhaps his father I cannot say.
He let the children in the road play in his garden. The top lawn was good for football!
He had a keen interest in electronics and was famous for driving very, very slowly through Hoylake in an elderly Morris Minor once a week to the Blue Anchor pub.
He died in the mid 70s (approximately) at a grand old age – well into his nineties.
To my knowledge he never married and the house was sold after his death. Although, well kept outside, it had been badly let go inside and neighbours were all worried that it might be demolished and developed with flats. Luckily the Trees family bought the house and made a fine job of restoring it to its former glory.