On the southern edge of Liverpool, Hunts Cross sits where the suburbs of Woolton, Allerton, and Speke converge, with the town of Halewood – part of the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley – forming its eastern boundary. The area is predominantly semi-detached and detached housing, much of it dating from the late Victorian and Edwardian periods, with further development added during the 1930s. Its character is broadly that of an affluent southern Liverpool suburb, quieter in pace than the inner city districts a few miles to the north.
The Village and Its Ancient Crossroads
Hunts Cross Village occupies the ancient crossroads of Speke Road, Hillfoot Avenue, and Woodend Avenue, which once marked the southern boundary of Much Woolton. The name itself traces back to fox hunts that would gather at this junction before setting off – a detail commemorated in a collection of fine china tableware by Booths, produced for the Liverpool Hunt. Historical maps of the area also show a nearby monument known as Hunt’s Folly, alongside Honey Hall, Woodend Farm, and Rose Farm. A medieval stone pedestal of the village cross still stands at the corner of Hillfoot Road and Speke Road, having been moved a short distance in the 1960s when Hillfoot Avenue was widened. Local folklore holds that whoever removes the stone will be possessed with the power of the Hunt. Similar crosses survive in the nearby villages of Cronton, Woolton, and Garston. Today, the village retains a post office, churches, pubs, restaurants, several banks, a village green, a market square, and a Grade II listed 19th-century railway station – making it one of the more complete village centres remaining in Liverpool.
Notable Places and Local Connections
The western part of Hunts Cross contains a large Asda supermarket complex, built on the former site of the Triumph Speke car factory, where the TR7 sports car was once manufactured. Opposite the railway station, a large house once stood on farmland originally belonging to the Tushingham family – the childhood home of actress Rita Tushingham. Some houses along Ashton Drive were built using bricks salvaged from the demolition of that property. The Tushingham family gave the land to the council with the condition it be used for a community library; a mobile library visited weekly until the late 1990s, when the nearby school opened its library to the public. A later proposal by Merseytravel to convert the site into a bus turning circle was successfully contested by Rita Tushingham and the Hunts Cross Residents Association on the grounds it breached the terms of the land’s transfer. Two places of worship remain locally: St Columba’s URC and St Hilda’s Church of England. St Andrew’s RC has since been demolished and the site sold for housing. The 28th Allerton Scout Troop, founded in 1955, was historically based at St Columba’s URC.