The street has hardly changed since it was built nearly 200 years ago
The houses along Barlow Lane have hardly changed over the years(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
A small segment of a Kirkdale street has remained unchanged for decades. Parts of Barlow Lane in L4 have transformed like much of the area through the years, however numbers 59 to 73 remain stuck in time.
Built hundreds of years ago, the homes were given Grade II status back in 1975 and mean they can never be knocked down. The two-storey cottages still feature their traditional slate roofs in keeping with how they would have looked when they were originally built.
The ECHO headed down to Barlow Lane this week to see what life is like in the homes. One resident said how she dreamt of living on the street since childhood. Susan Parry first fell in love with the street when she would go past it every morning as a child.
Decades later, her dream came true and she has never looked back since. Susan told the ECHO: “Well, to be honest, when I was at school, going back about 70-odd years now, I used to get the bus along to school from town, and I used to see the houses.
McKenzie Moffatt recently moved to the area and has fallen in love with it(Image: Supplied/ McKenzie Moffatt)
“I used to think they were like Scarlett O’Hara [protagonist in the 1936 book, Gone with the Wind] with the little gardens. I always thought I’d love to live in one of them.”
Meanwhile, having only moved to Barlow Lane fairly recently, McKenzie Moffatt, 21, instantly fell in love with the street.
She said: “I think it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me to be honest [moving to Barlow Lane]. I’d rather live by old people instead of young people. My nan’s jealous, she loves it, she wants to move here.
“She’s always wished for one of these houses and she’s never got it.”
Anne-Marie Thompson has lived on Barlow Lane for decades(Image: Supplied/ Anne-Marie Thompson)
After moving to Barlow Lane three decades ago, Anne-Marie Thompson, 69, is currently the longest resident to live on the street. While dozens of neighbours have come and gone in that time, she said the sense of community is as strong as ever.
Anne-Marie said: “In the summer, we’re all out. Once summer comes, spring comes, we’re all out doing the gardens. We go down there [on the grass besides the house] have barbecues, we’re all very close.”
However, Anne-Marie said she misses one part of the street which she remembers from years gone by.
Barlow Lane received Grade II listing in the 1970s (Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
She added: “We had a lovely butchers, we had a fish shop, we used to have a cart, a man and wife used to come every Friday, Saturday and they used to sell all the fruit and veg.”
“But now it’s all takeaway shops, hairdressing shops, barber shops. All the good shops have gone.”