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The name
of Mill Street is said to derive from a windmill, which stood near to a
junction of what is now Mill Street and Hill Street. shown,
one of many in the area.
Mill Street as a name existed from
the early 1800s. It was opened up around 1815, but it was not the
full
length of present day Mill Street. Mill Street runs virtually parallel
to Park Road but whilst Park Road is an old road, which was developed
early in the history of Toxteth, Mill Street was a new road. Although
the roadway itself existed, it was not developed with properties
until some years after its construction and this was a progressive
development.
Gore's trade directory shows that in
1821 the numbering got only to 104
(even side) and 107 (odd side). No road junctions are available
in the early Gore's to confirm the positions of these properties
but if the numbering is the same as later directories, then
this would have been around the Warwick Street junction.
The build-up of
properties started in earnest in 1830,
by the 1843 Gore, Mill Street reaches 192 (even side) and 193 (odd side).
The numbering in the Gores 1843 directory proves to be consistent with that
in the Gores 1860 and thus we can say that this is just a few properties beyond the Northumberland Street junction.
It
was 1849 before it reached as far as Wellington Road.
By 1860 it has reached just beyond
Denton Street on the odd side, and just beyond Yates Street on the
even side. By 1881 the odd and even
numbering reached 485 and 478 respectively, this is Parkhill Road
- Mill Street was then fully developed. The highest numbered
properties are summed up below to show the development.
|
year
|
highest odd
number
|
highest even
number
|
|
1821
|
107
|
104
|
|
1843
|
191
|
192
|
|
1860
|
235
|
294
|
|
1881
|
485
|
478
|
|
1938
|
485
|
478
|
Modern Mill Street is a mixture of
eras. Very few of the oldest properties survive at the city
end, more are still standing towards the 'Holy Land' (Dingle) end but many
look as if they will not last more than a few years unless
there is some renovation.
The cheap,
low-quality, 19th century properties which lasted perhaps 100 years
were demolished after WW2 and these appaling slums were replaced
with cheap, low-quality council housing most of which failed to last
even 50 years. The so-called professional planners who inflicted
such badly thought-out developments in the name of slum-clearance
destroyed communities and then built
high-rise flats and balconied monstrosities which quickly became slums
again, but at twice the speed. These have been mostly flattened.
It is hoped that the third generation of housing will last
longer but the close-knit communities which developed in these areas
have long gone.
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