Just off Dale Street
between Cheapside and Vernon Street, you will find Hockenhall Alley. Still standing in the alley
is one of the city’s oldest surviving late 18th century houses.
It is one of those little streets that many of us have
probably used to cut through from Dale Street to Tithebarn Street without
paying much attention to the surroundings. Albeit pretty sparse these days, the
street has a history all of its own.
The book, 'A compendious account of the election at
Liverpool Nov., 1806', gives the following information on the electorate of the
time:
The Box (referring to the Ballot Box) in
Wykes’ court.
From the Box for Hockenhal alley, more generally
known by the name of Molyneux's wient.
Moleneux's Weint
Astle William
Baker
Harvey Samuel
Soapboiler
Bruffield Samuel
Roper
Holmes Edward Plaisterer
Thomas Roper Hoskison John Watchtool
maker
Fazakerly James
Roper
Lunt Joshua Bricklayer
Ryder Thomas
Shipright McDonald Joseph Clockmaker
 |
| Hockenhull Hall near Tarvin Cheshire |
The street was originally called Molyneux Weint after the
Roman Catholic minister, and constable of Liverpool Castle, Richard Molyneux,
in 1611, it was renamed after a Cheshire family, the Hockenhalls/Hockenhulls
who were related to one of Liverpool’s Moores family who had some standing in
the city at the time. The Hockenhalls
have a 900 year old ancestral home, Hockenhull Hall, in near Tarvin in
Cheshire, designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building. It is part of a working farm and in 2009 it was
placed on the market with an estimated price of £4 million.
 |
| Hockenhall Alley by Herdman |
No.10 Hockenhall Alley is believed to have originally formed
part of a short row of houses, between the breweries and warehouses of
Cheapside and Cunliffe Street, number 10, with its tiny yard, backs onto
Cheapside’s Rose and Crown pub.
Liverpool Corporation decided that they needed to widen Dale
Street in1808, as the town began to develop and in the1863 book, Recollections
of Old Liverpool, 1863, by ‘A Nonagenarian’ the author says;
“Great difficulties were constantly thrown in the way of
alterations by many of the inhabitants, who had lived in their old houses, made
fortunes under their roofs, and were hoping to live and die where they had been
born and brought up. The most obtuse and determined man was a shoemaker who
owned a small house and shop which stood near Hockenall-alley. Nothing could
persuade him to go out of his house or listen to any proposition. Out he would
not go, although his neighbours had disappeared and his house actually stood
like an island in the midst of the traffic current.
“The road was carried on each side of his house, but there
stood the cobbler’s stall alone in its glory until the authorities, roused by
the indignation of the public, took forcible possession of the place and pulled
the old obnoxious building about the owner’s ears. The cobbler stuck to his old
house to the last, showing fight all through, with a determination and
persistence worthy of a nobler cause.”
 |
| The house as it is today |
By the 19th century there were warehouses either side of
number 10 which stored goods from the docks. The house however remained between
its new neighbours. The house became a chemists’ until the 1950’s and later
clock repairers, ‘John Nelson Limited’ that name can still be see on the door
plate, but it has been empty and boarded up since John Nelson ceased to trade.
The house was given Grade II status a couple of years ago,
and was described as “a rare and important survival of an exceptionally modest
working class dwelling that illustrates the inner city living conditions of
some of the poorest members of late 18th and early 19th century society.”
Liverpool's executive member for heritage and the
environment Berni Turner is quoted as saying: "The building in Hockenhall
Alley is known locally as the Fisherman's Cottage. It's a one-up, one-down
building from the end of the eighteenth century and looks like something out of
a Charles Dickens novel.
"It's a fascinating and quirky survivor from that time
and we are delighted it has been listed".
The Dickensian building, which only has one small room on
each floor, still has original features including a narrow timber winding
staircase, a plank and batten door and lath and plaster ceilings.
Sources
Liverpool Central Library
Yo Liverpool
Sevenstreets
Liverpool Records Office
