The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-11-05 00:00:00

MOUNT CLAUGHTON, &c.

the intended residence of William Jackson, Esq., the
father of the! enterprising " Corporation " of Birken-
head, now in course of erection, and on which a great
number of masons and other workmen are daily emyloyed.
The house is an elegant and commanding building, of fine
white veined freestune from Stourton, and in a handsome
style of Grecian, or rather, we think, Italian architecture.
It has, it may be said, four fronts, one to each cardinal
point. The principal entrance is on the west, and the
stone work is very fine throughout, with relieving projec-
tions, and stone balconies or ballustrades to several of the
lower windows to correspond, supported (as well as their
tops) by richly-carved trusses. The doors are topped by
rich cornices of a deeply-cut segmental form at the top,
in lieu of pediments, and these have a fine effect. The
plan on the ground floor forms an oblong square, but the
eastern front has a semicircular projection, with enriched
windows in the centre or main part of the building. This
portion will be of four stories, with an elevation of about
45 feet. The portions on each side of it will form wings
of a story lower. The house stands on an elevated site
sloping gradually towards the eastward, and commands
(as well as the lawn and pleasure grounds in front already
laid out in winding walks and shrubberies, &c.,) a most
extensive and uninterrupted view of the Park below, the
Pool, the Wirral peninsula northward, the river and
shipping, the whole of Birkenhead and Liverpool (which,
saving where the water intervenes, appear to be blended
into one huge metropolis), Everton and Edge-hill, the
shores of Bootle and Seaforth northward in the distance,
and Toxteth-park to the south. We could distinctly re-
cognise in succession every tall chimney, tower, spire, or
conspicuous object along the whole range of the vista.
The trees behind, and the higher ridge of Bidston-hill,
secure this mansion from the west and northwest winds,
and give it a warmth of appearance, as well as in reality,
rarely attainable at such an altitude. It is proverbial that
the well-fed monks of old, knew pretty well how to seat
themselves in pleasant and prolific spots, and our neigh-
,
hour has in his selection of a site for his domicile followed
their laudable example. The distance, in a direct line
from Birkenhead Church, is about t% o miles.
Passing thence, by a pleasant road eastwardly, thro •gh
Claughton, our attention was arrested by numerous taste-
ful villas, particularly on the right, studding the ground
towards the old village and further southern heights of

Oxton. The whole space is intersected by new well-laid
macadamized roads with footpaths on each side. The
villas are of diversified styles of architecture—Grecian,
Italian, Elizabethan, &c., with surrounding parterres,
lawns, and gardens. We passed a large pile of new white
freestone houses, adjoining which a similar pile is in
course of erection ; also a beautiful cottage orne'e, in the
Elizabethan style, within an angular enclosure at the
meeting of two roads. Further along, on the right, is the
Waterworks, conspicuous from the ornamental chimney.
From this the whole township, so abundant is the spring,
can be supplied with any quantity of excellent water for
household purposes, baths, fountains, &c., thoughthe po-
pulation were increased even tenfold. There is, in fact,
water sufficient to supply a community of 150,000. To
the right of the Water Works is " Claughton Firs," the
residence of Thomas Kirkland Glazebrook, Esquire,
commanding a rich and extensive panoramic view. A lit-
tle lower down is the Grange Hotel, and opposite to it, at
the corner of the road leading to Holt-hill, and at which
the road to Claughton Park ; that to Oxton, Woodchurch,
Arrow, and Thurstaston ; and two to Birkenhead, form a
junction, is a large and handsome hotel, nearly completed
for tenantcy. We thence dropped down to Birkenhead,
observing new buildings erected or springing up on every
side.

Oxton-hill which comparatively a few years ago almost
wholly a barren heath is now, to a great extent, covered
with fine houses and 'villas, with good gardens, fields,
woods, and plea,ure-grounds—a village, in fact, of itself.
Tire air in this elevated locality extremely salubrious,
and the prospect from almost any point, uninterrupted
and delightful, embracing a vast extent of land, town, and
marine scenery. The first adventurers in building were
thought to be somewhat fool-hardy in choosing a site so
apparently exposed and unpromising; but the result has
shown here, as in other parts of the neighbourhood, that
they were wise in their generation. By force of cultiva-
tion thriving plantations, orchards, and gardens are rising
all around ; the whole though high has assumed a pleasing
and warm appearance, and we have not heard of any
greater damage to buildings in gales of wind, than that to
which we are occasionally subject in the lower parts of
our own town, which are but little elevated above the
level of the tide.