Victoria Park was originally the gardens of a large property called Arudy House, owned by Victor Poutz, a French cotton merchant. He was believed to have been the first importer of cotton to the region. In common with many successful business people of the era he decided to move across the water from Liverpool, to the more affluent Wirral. After Victor left, the house fell into disrepair but was eventually restored and renamed 'The Towers' because it incorporated the two towers from the original building. Today, standing in its place is a block of flats which has retained the name of "The Towers."
i lived in the towers with my mum ,dad, sister and my grandad was the caretaker,used to love playing in the cellars,even though there was a big park outside.if i remember right it was divided into 6 flats on three floors..big house but spooky.
I've had a few talks with mates about that builidng and said i'm sure i remeber it,not just from picture. But they said "they didn't and I was to young to remember it. But you have just settled the argument! thaank you
My dad remembers this building really well, he said during the war it was used to house 'prisoner of war' and then when it was derelict he used to play in it with his friends and twin brother lol. and he used to shout as us for doing things
Some of the trees in the park date to when the house was standing; well worth a walk around to look at them. There are some fine ones; old horse chestnut, holm (evergreen) oak, pine etc. The avenue of limes was planted in the 1930s. There used to be two Coronation trees, planted 1911 and 1937 I think; one's certainly gone, the other may be lurking in the well-grown patch between the community garden and the road.
When my sister and I were children we used to play up in Vicky Park with most of the other children in our road. We lived in Tudor Road, not far from the park. We would spend hours up there playing cowboys and indians, soldiers, or just ball games. Sometimes we would go up to the top part of the park,there were lovely flower beds. We would go into the forbidden flower beds, and end up getting chased by the Park Bobby, as we called him. I remember running like a mad thing! I do remember The Towers, a friend of mine lived there. I never went into the building, it was quite spooky looking. I used to think it looked like a castle where King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table could have been.It is very interesting to know it's history.
