‘Otterspool House’, the once grand home of “John Moss” stood in what is now Otterspool park, South Liverpool. When the Liverpool & Manchester Railway was proposed in the 1820s, John Moss took great interest in the proposed new passenger Railway, investing heavily in the railways. He became Deputy Chairman of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in 1824 as well as Chairman of the Grand Junction Railway in 1834.
It is believed that George Stephenson, chief engineer of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, stayed at Otterspool House as the guest of John Moss for a time. It has even been claimed that whilst at Otterspool House, George Stephenson built a model of the Liverpool & Manchester railway on the dry bed of the River Jordan. I would love to think this was true, however, I suspect this did not happen due to lack of evidence.
Otterspool House was demolished in 1931, leaving the stone steps and raised stone terrace that we see today, as the only clues that such a house existed. The house was originally built alongside the “Otters Pool”, a tidal creek where the sunken field opposite is today. The Otters Pool was fed from the ancient River Jordan that flows from Sefton Park Lake and out into the River Mersey.
The Old Octagonal Café in Otterspool Park, where the house of John Moss once stood
On the stone terrace where the grand house once stood, is the Octagonal Café that was built and opened in 1932, the same year that Otterspool Park opened. Those of a more senior age like myself, will probably remember having ice cream’s from the Octagonal café as a child and may also remember the children’s television series “Why Don’t You”. Why Don’t You was a long running childrens TV program, that ran for 42 series between 1973 & 1995. Where during the late 1980’s, early 1990’s, filming of the series took place in the Otterspool Park café, with the octagonal cafe being the WDY gang”s Liverpool headquarters.
Sadly, this small but attractive building has lain empty for many years and is now in quite a dilapidated state, being at the mercy of vandals. Whilst the café building may not be a historically important building, it would be nice to see the old café saved and given a new lease of life, before it collapses or is burned to the ground. You can still see that it was once an attractive & well constructed building in its day.
Newspaper article reporting on the opening of Otterspool Park and the Octagonal Café from the ‘Liverpool Post and Mercury’, Saturday 2nd July 1932. Curtesy of The British Newspaper Archive.
Whilst walking my dog, I passed the former café to see that the building had been broken into. Two of its doors and the security panelling had been ripped off to gain access. This has sadly revealed the ruined state of it’s interior. There are still visible signs of the building’s past when it was a Café.
I didn’t stay inside too long though to take more pictures for fear of what dust maybe inside…
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