Ashcroft

The suburb of Ashcroft was officially gazetted on 7 April 1972. It is in the Parish of St Luke. Ashcroft was created between 1961-1965. The first sod was turned on the 3rd of August 1961. It was one of six suburbs that formed the Green Valley Housing Estate created by the Housing Commission of New South Wales during the affordable housing crisis of the 1960s.

What’s In a Name?

The suburb of Ashcroft is named for the Ashcroft family, who owned grazing paddocks where the town now lies. The suburb name was proposed by the Green Valley Progress Association and the Liverpool and District Historical Society in 1964 to celebrate the 150th year of the Ashcroft family’s involvement in the grazing and meat industries in Liverpool. The street names in Ashcroft are those of early local colonialists.

^{Butcher's shop Quality Corner of E.J. Ashcroft and Sons, corner of Macquarie and Scott Street, Liverpool, 1910}

The Ashcroft Family

Thomas Ashcroft ran the Cricketer’s Arms (formerly the Woolpack Inn) in 1847. After he died in 1867 his wife Margaret (nee Smiles) (1826-1915) established Liverpool’s first butcher shop Quality Corner on the corner of Macquarie Street and Memorial Avenue. Her son, Edward James Ashcroft (1853-1920) inherited the family shop, and later went on to form a successful meat wholesale and export company, E.J. Ashcroft and Sons. Edward Ashcroft was also Mayor of Liverpool from 1883-1885. For many years he lived at Collingwood House, an early colonial house in the Liverpool area which still stands on Birkdale Crescent, Casula. Edward’s son Leslie Ashcroft (1882-1955) maintained the family business, became the first president of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce and went on to become Mayor of Liverpool twice (1914-1915 and 1920-1925).

^{Butcher's shop Quality Corner of E.J. Ashcroft and Sons, corner of Macquarie and Scott Street, Liverpool, 1900}

The Liverpool Regional Museum has an extensive collection relating to the Ashcroft family and Collingwood House can be visited by guided tour (email liverpoolregionalmuseum@liverpool.nsw.gov.au for more information)