The mystery of Liverpool's lost football stadium that historians have been trying to solve for years may finally have been solved.
Back in the Victorian era, Liverpool Caledonians FC, were one of the leading clubs in the city.
Despite the part they played in Liverpool's sporting heritage, relatively little is known about the club and where they played.
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While records show that Woodcroft Park, a 30,000 capacity stadium in Wavertree, was the home of Liverpool Caledonians FC, the exact location of the stadium remained a mystery for years.
Last year, the ECHO spoke to Local History Secretary Mike Chitty from the Wavertree Society, to try and get an answer to the unsolved puzzle.
Liverpool Caledonians formed in 1891 and were one of the four leading football clubs in the city at the time, along with Liverpool, Everton and Bootle. As their name suggests, their players were mainly Scottish.
During their search for the location of the stadium, the Wavertree Society managed to narrow down their search to three possible places.
They are located between Picton Road and Smithdown Road, west of the main Liverpool-Runcorn railway line.
The site of Woodcroft Park is believed to have been "a minute's walk from Wavertree Station, and within easy distance of Sefton Park, Wavertree, and Fairfield", according to reports at the time.
Site 1 - West of Bagot Street
The first site is based west of Bagot Street, on the north side of Smithdown Road.
Mr Chitty said: "This area, now occupied by Woodcroft Road, Portman Road and Egerton Road, was immediately adjacent to the old house known as ‘Woodcroft’ – sometimes referred to as Woodcroft Cottage – off Smithdown Road."
The size of this field as referenced in a map called "Wavertree Tithe Map" from 1846, appear to be consistent with the measurements of the land where Woodcroft Stadium was based. These measurements were laid out in a lease from 1891.
However, Mr Chitty said: "The difficulty with this option is that, according to the evidence of street directories, much of the land was developed for housing during the 1890s, which would appear to be inconsistent with the continued use of Woodcroft Park by the Old Boys and others."
Site 2 - Land east of Bagot Street, on the north side of Lawrence Road
The second site is based to the south of Grosvenor Road and is now occupied by Bartlett Street, Banner Street and Bligh Street.
Mr Chitty said: "It was the north-east corner of the Woodcroft Estate – and the only part that could justifiably claim to be within a minutes' walk of the former Wavertree Station in Wellington Road."
However, problems were also found with this theory when looking at an ordnance survey from 1890.
The survey showed houses had already been built along the north side of Lawrence Road, with provisions made for three side roads.
Mr Chitty said as in the case of site one, there are also problems with suggestions that site two was home to Woodcroft Park, as "almost all of the houses in Bligh Street, Banner Street, etc. were already occupied by the time of the 1901 census.
"So it cannot have been the Woodcroft Park mentioned in the Liverpool Mercury for 10 Nov 1900."
Site 3 - Land east of Bishopgate Street, on the south side of Picton Road
The third possible site narrowed down by the Wavertree Society is based to the north of Grosvenor Road and was only developed for housing after 1901.
Mr Chitty said: "However, it was never part of the Woodcroft Estate and was not in the ownership of Serjeantson, Tayleur, etc.
"It therefore seems unlikely – despite the Scottish sound of the new street names – that it was the land leased by them to the Caledonians in 1891/2."
Looking back at his findings over the years, Mr Chitty said from its name, The Woodcroft Estate, would appear to be the obvious site of Woodcroft Park.
But "Without further evidence, it isn't possible to say with certainty where Woodcroft Park was situated."
However, now it seems, two local historians Daz White and Glen Huntley, who run the local history website bygoneliverpool.com have finally solved the puzzle.
Building on Mike Chitty's already impressive body of evidence, the historians uncovered errors in the maps at the time to include streets that had never actually been built, just proposed and included on the maps in an effort to make them future proof.
Pouring over old newspaper archives also uncovered further clues as to the location of the stadium.
A newspaper clipping from the Liverpool Mercury on Thursday, May 19, 1892, revealed the ground was not just one minutes' walk from the station – it actually adjoined the station.
Another clipping in the Edinburgh Evening News, dated Thursday, April 21, 1892, showed the ground was so close it is described as being ‘at Wavertree Station’ when a cinder track was added in 1892.
The clipping read: "The Liverpool Caledonian Football Club, which have established a fairly good reputation this season have laid down a cinder track at Wavertree Station, and will hold sports next month."
With site one (west of Bagot Street) and site three (land east of Bishopgate Street) not adjoining the station (as well as other factors eliminating them in light of new evidence) they were dismissed as possible locations.
This left the team without a doubt that site two, which was situated in the Woodcroft estate, as the original site of Caledonians FC's stadium, Woodcroft Park.
Mike Chitty had previously tracked down a contract for the ground allowing us to imagine what the stadium would have been like. It showed that Woodcroft Park featured pay boxes, a press box, substantial hoardings, turnstiles and ‘other erections and conveniences’.
On December 16, 1892, the business behind the Liverpool Caledonian club was insolvent and ceased trading. The ground and fixtures were put up for sale immediately.
In 1893, rugby club Liverpool Old Boys took over the grounds. Woodcroft Park also hosted athletics events on its cinder tracks.
But any grand ambitions for the stadium fizzled out, as an 1898 map recorded the area carpeted by houses.
So the mystery has finally solved thanks to the incredible work of local historians, Mike Chitty from the Wavertree Society, and Daz White and Glen Huntley whose full and detailed search into Liverpool's lost football ground can be found here.
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