Edge Hill | |
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Sign on Holt Road at the boundary of Edge Hill |
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Edge Hill shown within Merseyside | |
OS grid reference | SJ365900 |
Metropolitan borough | |
Metropolitan county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | LIVERPOOL |
Postcode district | L7 |
Dialling code | 0151 |
Police | Merseyside |
Fire | Merseyside |
Ambulance | North West |
EU Parliament | North West England |
UK Parliament | |
Edge Hill is a district of Liverpool, England. It is located to the south east of Liverpool city centre, bordered by the city centre, Kensington, Wavertree and Toxteth. Edge Hill University was founded here, but moved to Ormskirk in the 1930s.
The area was first developed in the late 18th/early 19th century (Georgian era). Many of the Georgian houses of the time still survive. Edge Hill was designated a Conservation Area in 1979. Most of the Georgian property around St. Mary's Church is now English Heritage listed. The later terraces, of the Victorian era, have also largely been demolished. Although some modern housing has been built, the area still has a depopulated appearance, with many vacant lots and derelict pubs and shops.
A notable resident was Joseph Williamson (1769–1840) a tobacco magnate who was responsible for much of the building in the area during the early 19th century. He is remembered as the "Mole of Edge Hill" due to his employing hundreds of men to construct a network of tunnels beneath the Edge Hill area. Part of the tunnel network is now open to the public as a tourist attraction.
In the early 19th century, Edge Hill was the site of two railway works. Both the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and the Grand Junction Railway initially set up workshops, but with restricted expansion as the business grew, the Grand Junction Railway moved its main locomotive production to Crewe in 1843. Locomotives continued to be built at Edge Hill until 1851. The Liverpool and Manchester was absorbed by the Grand Junction in 1845, which in turn became part of the London and North Western Railway in 1846.