Allerton Oak - Izeria

The Allerton Oak is an Irish oak tree in Calderstones Park in Liverpool, England. It is thought to be around 1,000 years old and is described as the oldest oak in North West England. It is reputed to have been the setting for a medieval hundred court and said to have been damaged in an 1864 gunpowder explosion. The tree won the 2019 English Tree of the Year competition and had been entered into the 2020 European Tree of the Year competition.

1. History

The Allerton Oak is around 1,000 years old and is thought to pre-date the 1066 Norman Invasion. The tree has a girth of 5.5 metres (18 ft) and is thought to be in good health, producing some 100,000 acorns each year. The Allerton Oak is said to have been the site of a medieval hundred court that sat beneath its branches, though some believe that the nearby neolithic burial monument at Calderstones (demolished in the Victorian era) is the more likely site for the court. The tree is also reputed to have been damaged in 1864 when the merchant ship Lottie Sleigh, carrying 11 tonnes of gunpowder, exploded on the River Mersey, some 3 miles (4.8 km) away. The detonation blew out the windows of the nearby Calderstones Manor and is said to have caused a large crack in the trunk of the tree which has weakened it structurally. The tree and the land it stands on was owned by Henry and Charles MacIver from 1875 until 1902 when they gave it to the Liverpool Corporation to form Calderstones Park. The tree became a landmark and during the Second World War local soldiers were sent acorns and leaves from the tree as good luck tokens from friends and family; as a result seedlings of the tree are thought to have been grown across the world. A report on the tree in 1970 suggested that it would be dead by 2020 due to rot in its trunk; despite this the tree as of 2014 was said to be thriving. In 2007, an acorn from the tree was planted as its successor and the new tree has become known as "Allerton Oak the Younger". The pair are the only two Irish oaks in the park. The branches of the Allerton Oak have been supported with metal props since 1907 and it is fenced off to protect it. As of 2019, Liverpool City Council and Mersey Forest are undertaking an £80,000 project to replace the props with a modern support system that will be adjustable to accommodate the tree's growth. The Woodland Trust described the Allerton Oak as "a spectacular example of a city tree" and valued it at £500,000 in 2019. The Allerton Oak was entered into the Tree of the Year competition in 2019. The tree won the England category with 34% of the 11,000 votes cast and was selected from all the British national winners as the national entry into the 2020 European Tree of the Year competition. The tree won a £1,000 grant from the People's Postcode Lottery to help pay for its maintenance.

1. References

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Calderstones Park

Calderstones Park is a public park in the Allerton area of Liverpool, England, about 4 miles (6 km) south-east of the city centre. The 126 acres (0.51 km2) park is mainly a family park. Within it there are a variety of attractions including a playground, a botanical garden and places of historical interest. There is a lake in the park with geese and ducks, and the Calderstones Mansion House, which features a café and a children's play area.

Cafe Landmark

Calderstones House

Calderstones House, Calderstones Park, Liverpool, England, is a 19th-century mansion house which is now at the centre of a public park. The house was built in the Allerton suburb in 1828 for Joseph Need Walker, a lead shot manufacturer. It is a 'restrained neo-classical' ashlar mansion of three floors, with a separate and extensive stableyard and coach-house which was originally set in 93 acres (38 hectares) of parkland. In 1875, the house and estate were acquired by Charles MacIver, co-founder of Cunard Line, for £52,000. In 1902, the MacIver family bequeathed the estate to Liverpool Corporation, who transformed it into a public park. They soon acquired the adjoining estate of Harthill and established the current 126 acre (51 hectares) park. The Grade II listed building became the offices of the Liverpool Corporation's Parks and Gardens department, and in the 1940s part of the house was transformed into a self-contained flat for the Assistant Head Gardener. The 1940s also saw a neo art-deco open-air theatre constructed at the back of the house, designed by Sir Lancelot Keay. For most of the 20th century, the mansion housed a tea-room and café and was used for wedding receptions, parties and other functions. In the 1970s the house became council offices, and it remained in that use until 2012, when the council placed the house on the market. The Reader, a national charity centred around literature and shared reading, was given preferred bidder status in January 2013. They have a licence agreement to use the buildings for meetings, events and activities, and have a 125-year lease. In January 2017, The Reader began redevelopment work to restore the house, having secured funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Liverpool City Council and independent funders. The redevelopment was completed in Autumn 2019, when it reopened as The Reader's International Centre for Shared Reading—the world's first public building dedicated to literature and wellbeing. An outbuilding was converted into a children's attraction called the Storybarn, featuring an ice cream parlour. The redevelopment included the restoration and preservation of the Neolithic Calder Stones, which give the local area its name. The Calder Stones now form part of The Calderstones Story, an interactive, permanent exhibition at Calderstones House that tells 5,000 years of local history.

Landmark Museum

Calderstones (Liverpool ward)

Calderstones ward is an electoral district of Liverpool City Council within the Liverpool Garston Parliamentary constituency. The ward was created for the elections held on 4 May 2023 following a 2022 review by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England, which decided that the previous 30 wards each represented by three Councillors should be replaced by 64 wards represented by 85 councillors with varying representation by one, two or three councillors per ward. The Calderstones ward was created as a single-member ward from the eastern half of the former Church ward with a small section of the former Woolton ward. The ward boundaries follow Queens Drive, Woolton Road, Aldbourne Avenue, Beaconsfield Road, Yew Tree Road and Allerton Road. The ward is named for and includes Calderstones Park.

Government Neighbourhood

Carleton House Preparatory School

Carleton House is a Catholic private preparatory school in Liverpool, England, that educates children from the ages of 3–11. It is a member of the Independent Schools Association and is overseen by the Independent Schools Inspectorate.

School