Allerton Lodge
In 1806 William Roscoe, of Allerton Hall, sold this plot of land to John Moss, a Liverpool merchant. In 1812 Dr Peter Crompton, of Eaton House, Wavertree, then bought the estate of 55 acres, who in turn sold it to William Calton Rutson, a Liverpool Merchant, who also acquired the adjacent Allerton Tower property. 

Plans were made to combine these estates and a house was built called Allerton Lodge. Rutson died in 1817 and the estate went to his son and heir, William Rutson, DL, JP. 

William Calton Rutson’s daughter, Fanny, married a William James of Barrock, Cumberland, who was the son of William James of Liverpool, who had married a daughter of Nicholas Ashton of Woolton.

Allerton Lodge was sold in 1832 to Theodore Woolman Rathbone (son of William Rathbone of Greenbank), and from about this time the Lodge was being referred to as Allerton Priory.

Allerton Priory
In 1866, John Grant Morris (1811-1897), a colliery proprietor, acquired the property (being referred to as Allerton Priory), demolished Allerton Lodge, then built the present house, which was designed by the Liverpool-born architect, Alfred Waterhouse, for a little over £18,035. The mansion carried on the name of Allerton Priory with the Morris monogram, JGM, and the date, 1867, being inscribed on the inside of the front entrance porch, and also on the fireplace, which is located at the far end of the entrance hallway.

Although John Grant Morris died at his London residence in Grosvenor Place, he is buried in the grounds of St. Peter’s Church, Woolton.

Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus & Mary
In 1897, Monsignor Nugent (1822-1905) founded a House of Providence (Magdalen Asylum): “to provide a Home for young unmarried mothers and babies (after first fall only), and where the young mothers are enabled to reclaim their character, and afterwards provide good and suitable situations…”

The House of Providence, and convent, set up in Woodlands Road, Aigburth, Liverpool, was under the care of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus & Mary. By 1914, the Sisters were also running a Certified School “for mentally defective children” at Ormskirk, Lancashire. On 13th September 1915, the Sisters established a (residential) School for Special Educational Needs (girls) at Allerton Priory, where they remained until 1986. The property was then purchased by Mr Danny Mullholland who set up Allerton Priory Nursing Home [for the elderly], which ceased in 1994-95.

The Grade II* Allerton Priory was eventually purchased by property developers and redeveloped as luxury apartments...

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