History of Liverpool.......

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF LIVERPOOL By Tim LambertDedicated to Fiona Kent

LIVERPOOL IN THE MIDDLE AGES
The great city of Liverpool began as a tidal pool next to the Mersey. It was probably called the lifer pol meaning muddy pool. There may have been a hamlet at Liverpool before the town was founded in the 13th century. It is not mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086) but it may have been to small to merit a mention of its own.
King John founded the port of Liverpool in 1207. The English had recently conquered Ireland and John needed another port to send men and supplies across the Irish Sea. John started a weekly market by the pool. In those days there were very few shops so if you wanted to buy or sell goods you had to go to a market. Once a market was up and running craftsmen and tradesmen would come to live in the area.
As well as a weekly market the king gave the citizens of Liverpool the right to hold an annual fair. In the Middle Ages a fair was like a market but it was held only once a year for a period of a few days. A Liverpool fair would attract buyers and sellers from all over northwest England.
John divided the land at Liverpool into plots called burgages on which people could build houses. He invited people to come and live in Liverpool.
In 1229 the king granted the people of Liverpool another charter. This time he gave the merchants of Liverpool the right to form themselves into an organisation called a guild to protect their interests. In many medieval towns the Merchant's Guild also ran the town. In Liverpool the guildsmen elected an official called the Reeve to run the town on a day-to-day basis. The first mention of a Mayor of Liverpool was in 1351.
Medieval Liverpool would seem tiny to us. Even by the standards of the time it was a small town. In the 14th century Liverpool probably had a population of about 1,000. It was not more than 1200.
Many of the people of Liverpool lived at partly by farming. Others were fishermen. Some were craftsmen or tradesmen such as brewers, butchers, blacksmiths and carpenters.
A little stream ran into the pool and it powered a watermill that ground grain into flour for the townspeople's bread. There was also a windmill Southeast of the pool.
In the Middle Ages some wine from France was imported through Liverpool but its main trading partner was Ireland. Skins and hides were imported from Ireland. Iron and wool were exported from Liverpool. Despite its small size Liverpool sent 2 MPs to Parliament in 1295.
Curiously Liverpool did not have its own parish church, only a chapel. (A chapel was a kind of 'daughter' church dependent on a parish church nearby). The first chapel in Liverpool was the Chapel of St Mary. By the middle of the 14th century there was also the chapel of Our Lady and St Nicholas. St Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, which was obviously appropriate to a port like Liverpool. By 1235 there was a castle at Liverpool.

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LIVERPOOL IN THE 16th and 17th CENTURIES
by Tim Lambert.

In the 16th century Ireland was still Liverpool's main trading partner. In 1540 a writer said: 'Irish merchants come much hither as to a good harbour'. He also said there was 'good merchandise at Liverpool and much Irish yarn, that Manchester men buy there'. Skins and hides were still imported from Ireland. Exports from Liverpool at that time included coal, woollen cloth, knives and leather goods. There were still many fishermen in Liverpool.

The port also benefited when English troops were transported to Ireland to put down rebellions in the 16th and early 17th centuries. The troops spent money in the town.

Liverpool was growing at this time but it still had a population of only 2,000 in 1600. The population of Liverpool probably reached 2,500 by the time of the civil war in 1642. Like all towns at that time Liverpool suffered from outbreaks of the plague. There were severe outbreaks in 1558 and 1609, 1647 and 1650.

In 1515 a grammar school was founded in Liverpool.

In 1642 the civil war between king and parliament began. At first Liverpool was in royalist hands but in May 1643 Parliamentarian soldiers took the town. They dug ditches and erected earth ramparts around Liverpool to defend it from royalist attack. In June 1644 Prince Rupert led a royalist army to try and re-capture Liverpool. He described the town as a 'mere crows nest which a parcel of boys could take'.

At first attacks were repulsed but then the Parliamentary troops left by sea leaving the people of Liverpool to defend their town themselves. The royalists attacked Liverpool one night. The townspeople resisted fiercely but were overcome. Many of them were killed. The royalist troops then sacked the town.

However Liverpool only remained in royalist hands for a matter of weeks. In the summer of 1644 the royalists lost the battle of Marston Moor. Following the battle they lost the whole of the North of England, including Liverpool.

Liverpool began to grow rapidly in the late 17th century with the growth of English colonies in North America and the West Indies. Liverpool was, obviously, well placed to trade with colonies across the Atlantic. The town boomed. In 1673 a NewTown Hall was built on pillars. Underneath them was an exchange where merchants could buy and sell goods.

At the end of the 17th century a writer named Celia Fiennes visited Liverpool and gave it a glowing report. She said: 'Liverpool is built on the river Mersey. It is mostly newly built, of brick and stone after the London fashion. The original (town) was a few fishermen's houses. It has now grown into a large, fine town. It is but one parish with one church though there be 24 streets in it, there is indeed a little chapel and there are a great many dissenters in the town (Protestants who did not belong to the Church of England). It's a very rich trading town, the houses are of brick and stone, built high and even so that a street looks very handsome. The streets are well paved. There is an abundance of persons who are well dressed and fashionable. The streets are fair and long. Its London in miniature as much as I ever saw anything. There is a very pretty exchange. It stands on 8 pillars, over which is a very handsome Town Hall.'

She also said: 'The town of Prescot stands on a high hill. It is a very pretty, neat town with a large market place and well paved, broad streets.'

In 1684 almshouses were built in Dale Street. They were followed in 1692 by almshouses in Shaws Brow.

In 1699 Liverpool was finally made a parish of its own. The first parish church was St Peters, which was built in 1704.

In 1660-78 parts of the castle were demolished. The rest was demolished early in the 18th century.


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LIVERPOOL IN THE 18th CENTURY
by Tim lambert.

In the early 18th century the writer Daniel Defoe also commented on Liverpool's booming trade. He said: 'Liverpool has an opulent, flourishing and increasing trade to Virginia and English colonies in America. They trade round the whole island (of Great Britain), send ships to Norway, to Hamburg and to the Baltic as also to Holland and Flanders (roughly modern Belgium).'

In 1708 the BluecoatSchool for 50 poor boys was built. (It was called that because of their school uniforms). The Royal Infirmary was founded in 1749. In 1754 a NewTown Hall was built.

Liverpool continued to grow rapidly. By the early 18th century it had probably reached a population of 5,000. By 1750 the population of Liverpool had reached 20,000 and by 1801 77,000.

Many of the inhabitants were immigrants. In 1795 a writer spoke about 'the great influx of Irish and Welsh of whom the majority of the inhabitants at present consists'.

Many of the poor lived in dreadful conditions. Their houses were overcrowded and streets were dirty. There were no sewers only cesspits. The worst houses were the cellar dwellings. The poorest people lived in cellars under buildings. Often they slept on piles of straw because they could not afford beds.

The first dock in Liverpool was built in 1715. Previously ships were simply tied up by the shore but as the port grew busier this was no longer adequate. Four more docks were built in the 18th century. Liverpool grew to be the third largest port in the country behind London and Bristol. It benefited from the growth of industry in Manchester. Since it was a nearby port goods from Manchester were exported through Liverpool.

From about 1730 the merchants of Liverpool made huge profits from the slave trade. The trade formed a triangle. Goods from Manchester were given to the Africans in return for slaves. The slaves were transported across the Atlantic to the West Indies and sugar was brought back from there to Liverpool. At the end of the century a famous actor visited Liverpool. When he was booed he told the audience that every brick of their town was 'cemented with the blood of an African'.

In the 18th century sugar refining became an important industry in Liverpool. Shipbuilding also became a flourishing industry. Rope making also prospered. (Rope was, obviously, needed in large amounts by ships). In Liverpool there was also some manufacturing industry such as iron working, watch making and pottery.

In the 18th century rivers were deepened to make it easier for ships to sail on them. The Mersey and Irwell were deepened in 1720 and the Sankey Brook in 1755.

The American War of Independence began in 1775. At first it disrupted Liverpool's trade. Obviously it ended trade with the colonies themselves but it also meant American ships attacked English merchant shipping trading with the West Indies. They captured the ships and tool their cargoes. This was called privateering. In 1778 France, Spain and Holland declared war on Britain. That meant ships from Liverpool could attack French, Spanish and Dutch ships and take their cargoes.

From 1748 night watchmen patrolled the streets of Liverpool at night. In 1778 a dispensary was opened in John Street were the poor could obtain free medicines.


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LIVERPOOL IN THE 19th CENTURY
by Tim Lambert

In 1801 the population of Liverpool was about 77,000. By 1821 the population had reached 118,000. In 1835 the boundaries of Liverpool were extended to include Kirkdale and parts of Toxteth and West Derby. By 1851 the population of Liverpool had reached 376,000. There were many Irish immigrants in the early 19th century. Their numbers reached a peak during the potato famine in the 1840s.

In 1802 Harthill Botanic Gardens were laid out.

At the end of the 18th century, sea bathing became fashionable among the upper and middle classes. They believed it was good for your health. In the early 19th century many people went sea bathing on the beach Northwest of Liverpool but in time newly built docks encroached on the beach.

The port boomed and many new docks were built. By the middle of the century Liverpool was second only to London. The Manchester ship canal was completed in 1894. Although the docks dominated Liverpool there were other industries such as shipbuilding, iron foundries, glass manufacture and soap making.

In 1799 and 1802 private companies began to supply piped water to the town. But it was expensive and poor people could not afford it. They relied on barrels or wells. A municipal water supply was begun in 1857.

The Philharmonic hall was built in 1849. It burned in 1933 and was rebuilt. The Central Library was built in 1852. St George's Hall was built in 1854. William Brown library was built in 1860. Picton Reading Room was built in 1879.

The Royal Southern Hospital opened in 1814. An eye hospital opened in 1820. The NorthernHospital followed in 1834. StanleyHospital opened in 1867. The WalkerArtGallery opened in 1877. Stanley park was laid out in 1870 SeftonPark was opened in 1872. The Palm House was built in 1896.

From 1830 horse drawn buses ran in Liverpool and from 1865 horse drawn trams. The trams were converted to electricity in 1898-1901.

Liverpool officially became a city in 1880. By 1881 its population had reached 611,00. In 1895 the boundaries of the city were extended to include Wavertree, Walton and parts of Toxteth and West Derby.


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LIVERPOOL IN THE 20th CENTURY
by Tim Lambert.

By 1901 the population of Liverpool had reached 685,000. In 1904 the boundaries of the city were extended again to include Fazakerly.

The TowerBuilding was built in 1908. In the 1910s three of Liverpool's most famous buildings were erected on the site of St George's dock, which had been filled in. The LiverBuilding was built in 1911. The CunardBuilding was built in 1916. The Port of Liverpool building was also built at that time. The Lady Lever art gallery opened in 1922.

More than 13,000 Liverpudlians died in World War I. In 1921 a memorial was erected outside the Cunard building to all the Cunard employees who died in the war.

In 1928 a survey showed 14% of the city's population were living in poverty. This was, of course, much worse than what we would call poverty today. In those days poor people were living at bare survival level.

In 1934 the Queensway road tunnel was built. The Kingsway Road Tunnel followed in 1971.

In the early 20th century the city suffered a shortage of houses. Overcrowding was common, as was slum housing. The council built some council houses but nothing like enough to solve the problem. Furthermore Liverpool suffered severely in the depression of the 1930s and up to a third of men of working age were unemployed.

During World War II Liverpool was a target as it was, obviously, an important port. Some 3,875 people died in Merseyside and more than 10,000 houses were destroyed. Many more people were seriously injured and many more houses were damaged.

After World War II the council was faced with the task of replacing bombed houses. It also had to replace many slum houses. Like other cities Liverpool 'redeveloped' central areas of the city in the 1950s and 1960s and many new council houses and flats were built. Overspill towns were built near the city at Kirkby and Skelmersdale Unfortunately demolishing terraced houses and replacing them with high rise flats broke up communities.

In 1974 the boundaries of the city were changed so it became part of an administrative area called Merseyside.

The Roman Catholic Cathedral was consecrated in 1967. The Anglican Cathedral was not completed until 1978.

In the later 20th century industries in Liverpool included engineering, cement manufacture, sugar refining and flour milling. For a time, in the 1950s and 1960s the local economy boomed but it turned sour in the late 1970s and 1980s as Liverpool, like the rest of the country suffered from recession. Liverpool became an unemployment black spot. One consequence of Liverpool's social problems were the Toxteth riots of 1981.

In the last years of the 20th century there were some hopeful signs. Liverpool remains a very important port. Because of its position in the Northwest it is the main port for trading with North America. In the 1980s Albert Dock was redeveloped and turned into an area of bars, shops and restaurants.

Liverpool is now trying to promote tourism using its heritage as an attraction. MerseysideMaritimeMuseum opened in 1980. The Tate Gallery of Modern Art opened in 1988.

The Museum of Liverpool Life opened in 1993. A Custom and ExciseMuseum opened in 1994. A Conservation Centre opened in Queens Square in 1996. Also in 1996 the Institute For Performing Arts opened.


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The Cunard Building, Liverpool

The Cunard building was the centre of Britain’s cruise ship industry for many years, a land based reflection of the glory and wealth of cruise liners. Constructed between 1914 and 1918 its design is influenced by grand Italian palaces and reflects the Greek neo-classical revival. Owned by American Samuel Cunard, who sent the first mail boats across the Atlantic, the building has American Eagles looking down on each corner. Cunard later merged with White Star owners of the Titanic, some of the company’s famous ships included the Mauretania, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary.

Ships at the Pier Head
Cruise liners were once a common sight on the River Mersey, millions of people passed through Liverpool on their way to or from North America. Passengers included immigrants sailing to a new life, tourists and celebrities, before the advent of air travel the only way to cross the 3,140 miles of ocean to New York was by liner.

Passengers travelling with Cunard would arrive at the Cunard Building to deposit luggage, change money and make last minute arrangements. The basement of the building housed the luggage to be stowed in the hold, within the building there is an ornate corridor with black and white marble floor linking Brunswick Street and Water Street. The first class passenger waiting room is on the river side of the building and has all the luxury and fittings that would provide a foretaste of the elegance of life aboard ship.

The glamour of liners
Cruise Liners were like a small town with a large staff and a long list of requirements, Cunard Liners mainly used Huskisson Dock until the 1960’s. Prior to 1919 North Atlantic liners used coal to fuel their engines, the Olympic was the first ship to switch to oil. Loading of coal onto the great liner Mauretania needed 500 railway wagons, took 24 hours and was a messy business, all of the ships furniture had to be covered with sheets, stewards and cleaners then had a day to scrub paintwork clean.

The liners provided employment for armies of people in Liverpool, each time one arrived as the last passengers left down the gang plank heading the other way was a procession of painters, cleaners, plumbers and a variety of other tradespeople who would go onboard to prepare the ship for her next voyage. Liverpool laundries would provide the thousands of clean sheets, towels and napkins needed for a voyage, in the 1900’s there were approximately 300 laundries in the city. When a liner arrived for an overhaul it would take four weeks and employ 2000 people to clean and paint every last nook and cranny of the ship.

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Steam Packet Company, Liverpool.

Today ships berthing here carry mainly passengers to Ireland, but 150 years ago this area was crowded with immigrants fleeing the terrible conditions caused by the Potato Famine. Liverpool was overwhelmed by millions of people seeking a new life, many stayed just a short time before they moved on.

This area was once packed with people
Two million Irish came to Liverpool in one decade, fleeing a country that had been devastated by famine, this was approximately a quarter of Ireland’s population. From January to June 1847 300,000 Irish immigrants arrived in vessels that were termed ‘coffin’ ships, passengers were packed together on deck in all manner of weather, some ships arrived with a third of the passengers dead. The trip across the Irish Sea could take three days if the weather was bad. The onward journey to America was almost an even worse ordeal, one in six of emigrants who sailed for America in 1847 died. Nine million people emigrated to America through Liverpool, at the peak of this tidal wave of humanity a thousand ships a year were leaving the port.

A new life

The crossing to America could take anything from a month up to 14 weeks, steerage berths on ships could be as small as six feet square for four people. Many died on the journey, the food and water was unhealthy and disease was prevalent. The peak year for emigration was 1852 when almost 300,000 people left Liverpool.

Emigrants would gather here
Liverpool’s pre-famine population was about 250,000, the burden of feeding and housing the Irish immigrants was immense. Lodging houses were full and people slept where they could in unsanitary and densely packed conditions causing a typhus epidemic. In June 1847 the British government passed a law allowing authorities to deport homeless Irish back to their country of origin. About 15,000 were loaded onto boats and returned to Dublin and Cork, where they were abandoned on the docks.

For those who remained in Liverpool conditions were if anything even worse. Many of the immigrants lived in crowded cellars in the Vauxhall and Scotland Road area. Typhus, dysentery and Cholera were prevalent, Liverpool’s first public health officer Dr Duncan estimated that in the town 60,000 people caught the fever and 40,000 contracted dysentery.

On 28th May 1865 a tea-clipper left Liverpool with 153 Welsh men, women and children on board, it was bound for Patagonia in the southern tip of South America. By 1869 there were 5000 Welsh living in Patagonia and the Welsh language is still spoken there to this day.

One of the many ships in dock
To your right inland is St Nicholas’ Church. A Fisherman’s chapel has been sited here since the 1200’s. The church once led directly onto the shore and the River Mersey would lap onto the wall which is built quite high up from the street. Bull and bear baiting took place on the shore area directly in front of the church in the middle ages. And during the Naploeonic war cannons were put on the site to protect the city.

The road between the waterfront and St Nicholas Church is The Strand, named after strand of river. Along this road was the overhead railway, known locally as the dockers umbrella, which ran a 7 mile length from Seaforth dock to Dingle in the south.

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Steam Packet Company, Liverpool.


In front of you is the area from which millions emigrated to a new life and new hope in the New World. Walk ahead, through the black gates, and you’re taking the same steps as one of those emigrants heading for the ships.

Today ships berthing here carry mainly passengers to Ireland, but 150 years ago this area was crowded with immigrants fleeing the terrible conditions caused by the Potato Famine. Liverpool was overwhelmed by millions of people seeking a new life, many stayed just a short time before they moved on.

This area was once packed with people
Two million Irish came to Liverpool in one decade, fleeing a country that had been devastated by famine, this was approximately a quarter of Ireland’s population. From January to June 1847 300,000 Irish immigrants arrived in vessels that were termed ‘coffin’ ships, passengers were packed together on deck in all manner of weather, some ships arrived with a third of the passengers dead. The trip across the Irish Sea could take three days if the weather was bad. The onward journey to America was almost an even worse ordeal, one in six of emigrants who sailed for America in 1847 died. Nine million people emigrated to America through Liverpool, at the peak of this tidal wave of humanity a thousand ships a year were leaving the port.

A new life

The crossing to America could take anything from a month up to 14 weeks, steerage berths on ships could be as small as six feet square for four people. Many died on the journey, the food and water was unhealthy and disease was prevalent. The peak year for emigration was 1852 when almost 300,000 people left Liverpool.

Emigrants would gather here
Liverpool’s pre-famine population was about 250,000, the burden of feeding and housing the Irish immigrants was immense. Lodging houses were full and people slept where they could in unsanitary and densely packed conditions causing a typhus epidemic. In June 1847 the British government passed a law allowing authorities to deport homeless Irish back to their country of origin. About 15,000 were loaded onto boats and returned to Dublin and Cork, where they were abandoned on the docks.

For those who remained in Liverpool conditions were if anything even worse. Many of the immigrants lived in crowded cellars in the Vauxhall and Scotland Road area. Typhus, dysentery and Cholera were prevalent, Liverpool’s first public health officer Dr Duncan estimated that in the town 60,000 people caught the fever and 40,000 contracted dysentery.

On 28th May 1865 a tea-clipper left Liverpool with 153 Welsh men, women and children on board, it was bound for Patagonia in the southern tip of South America. By 1869 there were 5000 Welsh living in Patagonia and the Welsh language is still spoken there to this day.

One of the many ships in dock
To your right inland is St Nicholas’ Church. A Fisherman’s chapel has been sited here since the 1200’s. The church once led directly onto the shore and the River Mersey would lap onto the wall which is built quite high up from the street. Bull and bear baiting took place on the shore area directly in front of the church in the middle ages. And during the Naploeonic war cannons were put on the site to protect the city.

The road between the waterfront and St Nicholas Church is The Strand, named after strand of river. Along this road was the overhead railway, known locally as the dockers umbrella, which ran a 7 mile length from Seaforth dock to Dingle in the south.




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Steam Packet Company, Liverpool.


In front of you is the area from which millions emigrated to a new life and new hope in the New World. Walk ahead, through the black gates, and you’re taking the same steps as one of those emigrants heading for the ships.

Today ships berthing here carry mainly passengers to Ireland, but 150 years ago this area was crowded with immigrants fleeing the terrible conditions caused by the Potato Famine. Liverpool was overwhelmed by millions of people seeking a new life, many stayed just a short time before they moved on.

This area was once packed with people
Two million Irish came to Liverpool in one decade, fleeing a country that had been devastated by famine, this was approximately a quarter of Ireland’s population. From January to June 1847 300,000 Irish immigrants arrived in vessels that were termed ‘coffin’ ships, passengers were packed together on deck in all manner of weather, some ships arrived with a third of the passengers dead. The trip across the Irish Sea could take three days if the weather was bad. The onward journey to America was almost an even worse ordeal, one in six of emigrants who sailed for America in 1847 died. Nine million people emigrated to America through Liverpool, at the peak of this tidal wave of humanity a thousand ships a year were leaving the port.

A new life

The crossing to America could take anything from a month up to 14 weeks, steerage berths on ships could be as small as six feet square for four people. Many died on the journey, the food and water was unhealthy and disease was prevalent. The peak year for emigration was 1852 when almost 300,000 people left Liverpool.

Emigrants would gather here
Liverpool’s pre-famine population was about 250,000, the burden of feeding and housing the Irish immigrants was immense. Lodging houses were full and people slept where they could in unsanitary and densely packed conditions causing a typhus epidemic. In June 1847 the British government passed a law allowing authorities to deport homeless Irish back to their country of origin. About 15,000 were loaded onto boats and returned to Dublin and Cork, where they were abandoned on the docks.

For those who remained in Liverpool conditions were if anything even worse. Many of the immigrants lived in crowded cellars in the Vauxhall and Scotland Road area. Typhus, dysentery and Cholera were prevalent, Liverpool’s first public health officer Dr Duncan estimated that in the town 60,000 people caught the fever and 40,000 contracted dysentery.

On 28th May 1865 a tea-clipper left Liverpool with 153 Welsh men, women and children on board, it was bound for Patagonia in the southern tip of South America. By 1869 there were 5000 Welsh living in Patagonia and the Welsh language is still spoken there to this day.

One of the many ships in dock
To your right inland is St Nicholas’ Church. A Fisherman’s chapel has been sited here since the 1200’s. The church once led directly onto the shore and the River Mersey would lap onto the wall which is built quite high up from the street. Bull and bear baiting took place on the shore area directly in front of the church in the middle ages. And during the Naploeonic war cannons were put on the site to protect the city.

The road between the waterfront and St Nicholas Church is The Strand, named after strand of river. Along this road was the overhead railway, known locally as the dockers umbrella, which ran a 7 mile length from Seaforth dock to Dingle in the south.




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