page_title: Walton, Liverpool
section_title: Notable buildings
hierarchical_section_title: Walton, Liverpool / Notable buildings
caption_attribution_description: English: Liverpool Inner City Zoological Park and Gardens opened in 1884 and survived only until the early 1900s. The land is now occupied by a retail park, but this ticket booth survives and as can be seen is now a pizza takeway.
context_page_description: Walton is an area of Liverpool, England, north of Anfield and east of Bootle and Orrell Park. Historically in Lancashire, it is largely residential, with a diverse population.
context_section_description: In 1884, the Liverpool Inner City Zoological Park and Gardens opened on what is now the Cavendish Retail Park. Its star attraction was "Pongo", a chimpanzee who lived in the Monkey House. The zoo itself was known for its large bronze Liver Birds which sat atop of the entrance gates, and its splendid beauty. The gardens closed in the early 1900s and the only surviving remains is the Ticket Booth, which is now a pizza takeaway beside The Plough function rooms (formerly a public house). Rice Lane City Farm is also in Walton, at the end of Rawcliffe Road, occupying the land that once was Liverpool Parochial Cemetery.
  The Prince of Wales pub on Rice Lane was nicknamed "The Sod House" by King Edward VII, after making a royal visit to the zoo and entering it for refreshments, perhaps because the landlord used clods of earth ("sods") draped over the beer barrels to keep them cool.
  The former Shell garage on Rice Lane (now a used car dealership) was once the official workshop of Ferrari for their race team when competing at Aintree Grand Prix course in the 1950s.
  Walton Town Hall was demolished in the 1960s to make way for the Queens Drive fly-over. The side wall, which includes the name etched in stone, still stands on the northbound side of the A59 at the fly-over. The wall is currently owned by Croppers garage which occupies the space.
  Walton was also once the location of Walton Hospital, on Rice Lane. Several famous Liverpudlians, including Paul McCartney and Joe Fagan, were born at the hospital. The hospital was also once a regional centre for neurology and neurosurgery. As demand for services continued to increase the capacity for patients at the relatively small Walton Hospital site decreased and in 1998 all neurosurgical services were transferred to the newly built Walton Centre, on the same site as Aintree University Hospital in Fazakerley.
  Walton Hospital started life in the late 19th century as West Derby Union Workhouse and nearby Walton Parochial cemetery contains many tens of thousands of unmarked and uncelebrated "common" graves of the poor who depended on it for sustenance. This cemetery, which now houses the City Farm, also holds the grave of Robert Noonan, also known as Robert Tressell, who fell ill and died in Liverpool while waiting for a ship to emigrate to America. In 2019, Tressell was commemorated with a march to his graveside led by a brass band.
caption: Ticket office for the zoo
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