Netherton | |
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Netherton Village |
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Netherton shown within Merseyside | |
OS grid reference | SJ352997 |
Metropolitan borough | |
Metropolitan county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | BOOTLE |
Postcode district | L30 |
Dialling code | 0151 |
Police | Merseyside |
Fire | Merseyside |
Ambulance | North West |
EU Parliament | North West England |
UK Parliament | |
Netherton is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, on Merseyside, England but historically in Lancashire.
Situated in the southern part of the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, north east of the centre of Bootle, Netherton is also north of Litherland and to the west of Aintree. Netherton also neighbours Sefton Village.
Netherton is a mostly residential area, comprising the semi-rural Netherton Village, (which consists of privately owned houses set around the old Village Green) and the large council estate built by the former Bootle Borough Council on the other side of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.
The estate is unusual in the fact that many of the houses are still occupied by the same residents who moved in as young couples with families when the houses were brand new. The social profile of the first resident population does not comply to modern notions of council estate dwellers. Many of these people were hard working people with middle class aspirations, whose lives and careers were interrupted and often changed forever by the Second World War. However, the demographics of the Netherton area have changed significantly over time. A large number of the male residents moved in from all parts of the country to be key skilled workers at the English Electric factory heavy engineering works on Dunnings Bridge Road.
The main estate, centred on Marian Square, was built in the mid 1950s to alleviate housing shortages in Bootle after the heavy bombing the town suffered during the Second World War. Historical records show that of about 18,000 houses in Bootle, only about 1,000 survived the German bombings completely intact. A remaining 16,000 houses were partially damaged and over a thousand completely destroyed.
The Sefton Estate (which includes Stonyfield, Waterside, Harrops Croft and Higher End Park) was built by Lancashire County Council some ten years after the Netherton estate in the mid 1960s and were the first council houses in the area to have central heating.
Marian Square is opposite the health centre in Magdalene Square (the two squares are divided by Glovers Lane, and should not be confused). The first shops (approximately five, including a health clinic and opticians) were built on Magdalene Square and were later demolished when the new shops and first new post office on Marian Square were opened. The original plans for the redevelopment for Magdalene Square, which were on view as a model in Bootle Town Hall in 1965, were for a 22 storey tower block and a leisure complex including swimming pool, neither of which were built (probably due to a lack of further investment in the area).