Things 61 - 80

 

LIVERPOOL - 100 THINGS 

My home city of Liverpool has many 'firsts' to its' name - a long and distinguished history of creativity, forward thinking and social reform. Like any city, there are darker bits too. This blog is a photo essay reflecting on and celebrating these various themes - my own considered list of 100 things that set my city apart from any other.

61 - 80
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# 61

THE SOUTHERN HOSPITAL

Medical history was made in 1895 when Dr Charles Thurstan Holland located a small bullet embedded in a boy’s wrist using an x-ray for the first time. This massive leap forward in diagnostic technology took place at the Southern Hospital in Liverpool - later known as Sefton General. The hospital was originally the Toxteth workhouse. Sadly, an ASDA supermarket now sits on the site and no trace  of this pioneering centre of medical excellence remains.

During WW2, the hospital served as a military hospital. After the war, a specialised unit in the hospital co-operated closely with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine to work with Far East veterans to screen, diagnose and treat a wide range of tropical diseases. The unit took the lead role as a national centre of excellence in this important work with returning veterans and POWs. In 1948 when the NHS was set up, the hospital returned to civilian service up until its' closure in 1996.

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# 62

ANOTHER PLACE - CROSBY

Since work started to install Antony Gormley's army of iron men on the shore at Crosby Beach, debate has raged as to their artistic merits. But the people that matter most - the general public - took to them at once. The ever changing vista as the ebb and flow of the tide submerges the statues and then reveals them again, is hugely photogenic and attracts visitors from far and wide to this stretch of sand. I love this place. 

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# 63

AGNES JONES

Agnes Jones  was trained in nursing by Florence Nightingale at St Thomas's Hospital London. She was brought to Liverpool by philanthropist William Rathbone in 1859 to care for the poor and homeless. She was the first nurse to be paid to work in a much neglected field of medicine and she introduced some revolutionary ideas about nutrition, education and hygeine

She worked in Liverpool until 1868 before finally sucumbing to fever herself. Agnes is commemorated with a stained glass window in Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral. There is also a rarely seen memorial carved to celebrate her dedication in The Oratory high above St James's Cemetery next to the Cathedral.

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# 64

LIME STREET STATION

In 1867 the world’s largest train station span was built at Lime Street station. It spans 200 ft - 61 metres. The original span still forms part of the current station and is a famous welcome to all who arrive in Liverpool by the main line rail service.

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# 65 

DR DUNCAN

Dr William Henry Duncan is a figure who is well remembered for his efforts to improve the health of Liverpool people. He practised in Rodney Street, taking on extra duties in the Liverpool Dispensary in Vauxhall Road, where he witnessed great suffering. He warned at the time that fever would continue while living accommodation was dirty and lacking fresh air. He believed in quarantining patients to remove them from the "miasma". The theory worked but for different reasons not known at the time. 

Dr Duncan was appointed as the first Medical Officer of Health in England and Public Health has remained a important facet of health care ever since, but his career was not without controversy. As part of his quest to clean up the city he enforced the closing up of cellars without contingency plans for the housing of the homeless, forcing many thousands onto the streets. This well intertioned social reformer has left few tangible footprints in the city - perhaps the most conspicous is (somewhat ironically) having this fine hostelry named after him. 

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 # 66

HORSFALL STREET - TOXTETH

Although no trace remains to tell the tale, this quiet side street in Toxteth was once the site of a major industrial enterprise: The Mersey Forge. At its peak over 1,500 men were employed there, mostly on work for the Admiralty and various foreign governments.  The high wages which were paid brought a new prosperity to the district. The Mersey Forge had a history of government munitions contracts, manufacturing mostly battleship parts and large guns.  

In 1856, when owned by Messrs Walsall, the forge produced 'The Monster Horsfall Gun' weighing an incredible 21 tons and 17 cwt.  This 13 inch, smoothbore gun was tested on the north shore, near Formby. Apparently its transportation there was along streets decked with bunting and crowded by enthusiastic onlookers. A newspaper of the time records that  "for presentation to the government  it was proved that a ball weighing 300 pounds might be shot with effect 5 miles"  This test was on May 21st 1856 , the Crimean War Society states that the peace treaty was signed on 1st April 1856!   It is an irony and perhaps a blessing that this gun never reached the Crimean War for which it was intended. 'The Scientific American', April 26th, 1862 mentions this exact gun.

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# 67

LIVERPOOL PUBS

Liverpool has a fine heritage of drinking establishments. Ye Cracke, Rigbys, The Ship & Mitre and The Beehive all have their own individual charms. But as a statement of Bacchanalian opulence, one of the finest and most ornate pubs in the land has to be The Philharmonic on Hope Street.

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#68

STRAWBERRY FIELDS

Although the song refers to 'Strawberry Fields', the location that Lennon referred to was known locally as Strawberry Field.  The earliest reference to 'Strawberry Field' dates from 1870 - it was part of the estate of a wealthy merchant. That merchant's widow sold the estate to the Salvation Army in 1934. They opened a 'Children's Home on 7 July 1936. The original house (the one that was just around the corner from Lennon's home on Menlove Avenue) was later demolished. It was replaced with a smaller purpose-built home for children which opened in the early 1970s. This home provided three family units, each accommodating 12 children. It too closed in early January 2005 and only the world famous gates remain as a place of pilgrimage for Beatles fans from around the world.

 

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#69

IAN CALLAGHAN

Supporters of Liverpool Football Club have been luckier than most when it comes to watching world class footballers. Many of their stars became household names, known around the world. Ian Callaghan probably isn't one of them. Yet none served the club with greater distinction than this modest and humble man. From a Toxteth background, he joined the club as an apprentice and went on to make 856 appearances for the club. He was booked just once - and that was harsh. He was the consumate professional - a role model on and off the pitch - a player who personified the high ideals of the club he served with such distinction. He remains a modest and personable ambassador for the club - one of life's 'Good Guys'.  A Scouser.

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#70

LIVERPOOL TOWN HALL

In 1865, the last act of the American Civil War was the surrender to the Mayor of Liverpool of the Confederate ship Shenandoah, by her captain James Waddell, at Liverpool Town Hall. First built between 1749 and 1754, the original building was largely rebuilt after a fire in 1795. The building remains largely unaltered since 1820 when the dome was added.

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#71

THE WAPPING TUNNEL

At the top of Kings Dock Street is a small brick arch in the wall - gated off from public access. This innocent looking site is actually a location of great historical importance from the industrial age. This is one end of the Wapping Tunnel - the first rail tunnel in the world, bored under a city. As the railway age began to extend its' network, a link from Edge Hill to the docks was considered vital to link the port with the rest of Britain. Freight and passengers had previously been moved from Edge Hill to the docks overland. 

This tunnel was built to speed up that connection and, remarkably, it is still intact to this very day. The tunnel was ventilated at regular intervals by these shafts - remember coal powered steam trains generated a lot of steam and smoke and these vents - in Chinatown, Blackburne Place and on Grove Street Park - all helped to maintain visibility in the tunnel. Their ornate splendour survives - a testament to the lavish spending power of the second city of the Empire at the height of its' powers.  

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#72

THE WALKER ART GALLERY

The Walker Art Gallery's collection dates from 1819 when the Liverpool Royal Institution acquired 37 paintings from the collection of William Roscoe, who had to sell his collection following the failure of his banking business, though it was saved from being broken up by his friends and associates.

It is named after its founding benefactor, Sir Andrew Barclay Walker (1824–1893), a former mayor of Liverpool and wealthy brewer born in Ayrshire who expanded the family business to England and moved to live in Gateacre. The Gallery holds many famous works in its' collection and is widely recognised as one of the finest galleries outside of the capital.

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#73

ROBERT TRESSELL

The last interment in Walton Cemetery took place in 1948. This almost unknown triangle is tucked away, bounded by the Liverpool to Ormskirk railway line, Walton Prison and Stuart Road. But this hidden gem is the last resting place of the writer of one of Englands greatest ever literary works. Robert Tressell (real name Robert Noonan) wrote The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists - a Socialist manifesto that changed many lives. 

Often bleak, the work was based on his own experiences of poverty and exploitation as a painter and decorator. Tressell paints the workers in his book as "philanthropists" who throw themselves into back-breaking work for poverty wages in order to generate profit for their wealthy masters. 

The book was written at a time when Socialism was emerging as a political force. Tressell was trying to awaken his fellow workers from their resigned supplication to challenge the free market capitalism that oppressesd them so comprehensively. But it was not until the publication of an unabridged version in 1955 that the book's latent potential became recognised . Since then, it is often cited as a 'life-changing' influence by many who have read it - me included. 

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#74

SEFTON PARK

Liverpool is conspicuously well endowed with green spaces. Our forefathers expanded the city by incorporating tracts of green space to relieve the cramped monotony of rows of terraced houses and the infamous' courts'. Most noble of all is Sefton Park.

It was once part of the Royal Deer Park of Toxteth.  The Corporation bought the land for £250,000 from the Earl of Sefton and launched a competition to design a grand park. 29 entries were received and the competition was won by a French landscape architect Édouard André with work on the design also undertaken by Liverpool architect Lewis Hornblower (no - really).

The park was opened on 20 May 1872 by Prince Arthur who dedicated it "for the health and enjoyment of the townspeople". One of it's most notable features is the Palm House - recently restored and gloriously re-introduced to the local circuit as a popular venue.

  
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#75

 4 RODNEY STREET

In 1790 the world's first American consul, James Maury, was posted -  to Liverpool.  The newly independent country had such strong trans-Atlantic links with Liverpool that this was the first place they thought of to send an emissary representing American affairs in this country.

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#76

GAS LIGHT

In 1817, Gas was introduced to the town of Liverpool and used to light the street lamps much more effectively than the original oil lamps. A few of the old lamposts still survive - like this beautiful example in the Georgian Quarter on Faulkner Square.

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#77

WILLIAM ROSCOE

William Roscoe was a local businessman who also dabbled in politics, botany, literature and law. Roscoe was a genuine polymath and a very early “Green”. His fame as a naturalist led to his plans for the Liverpool Botanic Gardens being copied in places as far away as Calcutta and Philadelphia.

But it is for his stand against the slave trade, when Roscoe showed great moral courage, that he will be remebered. Roscoe aligned himself squarely with abolitionist William Wilberforce. The slave traders were a powerful and wealthy force in Liverpool and Roscoe's brave and enlightened stand as an abolitionist made him unpopular in his home town.  

 Fortunately, history views his legacy more kindly. Sir James Picton, Liverpool’s greatest historian, said of William Roscoe: “No native resident of Liverpool has done more to elevate the character of the community, by uniting the successful pursuit of literature and art with the ordinary duties of the citizen and man of business.” 

Liverpool’s 2008 ‘Capital of Culture’ success was built on foundations put in place by men (and women) like William Roscoe.

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#78

LIVERPOOL  SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE

In 1898 the School of Tropical Medicine was the first founded in the UK. Soon afterwards, in 1902 the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine became the first British medical institution to gain the Nobel Prize for Medicine when Sir Ronald Ross connected the mosquito with malaria.

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#79

FESTIVAL GARDENS

By 1981, Liverpool had degenerated into a riot torn wasteland of urban dereliction, social decay and political neglect. The Tories' plan to reverse years of under investment was .. fanfare - a garden festival. Many mocked the 1984 conversion of a square mile of waterfront wasteland into a landscaped park. But in a curious way, we were also thrilled with the idea that Liverpool was, once again, a tourist destination. We got a buzz out of people coming as sightseers to admire our city again. (For those that don't know, the port of Liverpool was, in 1845, the very first tourist destination for a tour organised by Mr Thomas Cook of Leicester).

With hindsight, the garden festival was a seminal moment in our history. Some of us never stopped believing in our city - knowing that there was always a core of decency at it's heart. But it took another twenty years for confidence and investment to return in any meaningful sense.The seeds of the city's recovery were, quite literally, first planted here on the banks of the river. Sadly, the garden festival site fell into a state of neglect as the Tories hadn't provided a long term plan (let alone funding) to sustain the project beyond its' inception. 

It now stands restored as a park in its' own right and is a beautiful oasis of peace, incorporating many of the original features of the garden festival site. It is now set in a vibrant and thriving city - a celebrated cultural mecca - a valid tourist destination to which Ryanair and Easyjet bring visitors from across Europe - and to which cruise liners bring thousands of passengers into it's very heart, every year. It has, once again, become a rewarding destination for those doing The Grand Tour of Europe. The recovery started here.

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#80
  BASCULE BRIDGE - REGENT ROAD

Mention Bascule Bridges and everbody thinks of Tower Bridge in London. But Liverpool's own Rolling Bascule Bridge (Bascule = See Saw in French) is just as full of character and history. In 2008 it underwent a two year restoration to deal with corrosion and now looks as good as it ever did - providing a vital link between Liverpool's North and South Docks across the entrance to Stanley Dock .

Things 81 - 100 

Things 41 - 60 

Things 21 - 40 

Things 1 - 20  

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