The Lower Brook had a source in Wavertree Botanic Gardens, where it rose in two ponds near Edge Lane; both branches joined in present-day Sefton Park before flowing through a series of natural cascades into the Otterspool, a creek on the Mersey shore.
The watercourse was recorded in the 13th century Chartulary of Whalley Abbey as the "Oskelesbrok", when it was described as forming the boundary of Toxteth, and flowing into "Oterpol".
[1] The name, also written as "Haskelesbroc" and "Hoskellesbrok" in the period, may contain a reference to the Old Norse personal name Askell.
[2] The brook later gained the name of the "River Jordan", probably during the 17th century when Toxteth Park was disparked and let as farmland.
[4] The course of the river was changed radically in the 19th century, when housing developments and parks were laid out and much of the watercourse was incorporated into a series of ornamental water features.