Victoria Street: Victorian with a vengeance
This street is one of the more ‘recent’ additions to the Liverpool townscape, if you can call the late 1860s recent. Victoria Street, (along with Castle, Dale, Water and Old Hall Streets – all of them of ancient origin), formed the beating commercial heart of the city centre during Liverpool’s spectacular rise to “second City […]
Before the ‘Three Graces’
This late 19th century image shows the George’s Dock just before the end of its working life. Designed by dock engineer, Henry Berry and named after King George lll, the dock opened in 1771 and initially was used by ships in the American and Caribbean trades. The dock was filled in between 1899-1900 and its […]
Fancy That!
This animated view of Princes Park, complete with hot air balloon, celebrates the Fancy Fair that took place in the park in August 1849. It was produced by John Isaac, Draughtsman & Lithographer, of 62 Castle Street. The fair was a ‘Philanthropic Festival’ held under the auspices of the Mayor of Liverpool and Chairman of the […]
Equestrian Drama in Liverpool.
8th March 2020 – Talk by John Pinfold. The talk covered the following aspects:A definition of equestrian theatre, or ‘hippodrama’ as the Victorians called it, not a circus performance noran outdoor recreation of for example the Wild West, but rather a stage performance in a purpose builttheatre in which horses played a (or often the) […]
Herbert Rowse (1887-1963).
9th February 2020 – Professor Iain Jackson We were grateful to Professor Jackson of Liverpool University, School of Architecture for replacing ourscheduled speaker at late notice. His presentation was based on his book recently published by HistoricEngland.It was suggested that through his commissions for banks, shipping companies and major infrastructureprojects Rowse has enriched Liverpool’s townscape […]
Why Not Drown Liverpool? Welsh water for an English city
What were you hoping could still be saved on 21st November 1956? The Liverpool Overhead Railway perhaps? On that day a small Welsh community marched through Liverpool with their banners, desperately hoping to save their valley from what Liverpool City Council wanted to do to it. What were you listening to on your record player […]
Mersey Ferries Through Time
Ian Collard, 2013. Amberley Publishing. 96 pages, 180 illustrations. Paperback. ISBN 978 1 4456 1333 8. £14.99. Did you know? – – That two Mersey Ferry boats took part in a courageous wartime assault at Zeebrugge in 1918, in which 11 VCs were awarded for bravery? l – That the Mersey Ferries once carried over […]
Why Spencer Perceval Had To Die
Andro Linklater, 2012. Bloomsbury. 296 pages, 10 illustrations. Hardback. ISBN 978 1 4088 2840 3. £18.99. Also available in paperback at £9.99 and Kindle at £5.14. The media has ensured that it would not have escaped your attention that the 22nd of November 2013 marked the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy. However, […]
Liverpool It All Came Tumbling Down (updated edition)
Freddy O’Connor, 2013. Countyvise. 244 pages, 500+ black & white photos and maps. Paperback. ISBN 978-1-906823-70-2. £14.95. Many LHS members will recall the modest little book of the same name that came out in 1986. I certainly do. One of my roles in those days was running Liverpool’s Tourist Information Centres. Freddy’s book of Box Brownie […]
Sugar for the House – Mona Duggan
2013. Fonthill Media. 175 pages, 83 b&w illustrations. Paperback. ISBN 978-1-78155-040-3. £12.99 (£8.50 incl p&p from Amazon). LHS member Mona Duggan, known affectionately as ‘Ormskirk’s History Woman’, sadly passed away at the age of 87 last January. But not before her last book, a history of early sugar refining in the North West, had been […]
