Although Ann & I have lived in Liverpool all our lives, it is surprising how little we know about the things which are around us, in everyday life. I suppose this is down to complacency on our part, picking up historical information on a need-to-know basis, and what interests us on a day-to-day basis.
This being the case, we had heard about an historic walk in the City, run by, one John Simmons, called The Liverpool Nobody Knows Tour… and I must admit…. what a cracking tour it was…
Leaving the car at home… we boarded the bus early, to take us down to Liverpool City Centre…
The bus to the city
This could very well be the last bus fare I pay in Liverpool, as when I arrived home, I had a letter, from Merseytravel, issuing me with my free bus-pass, given to all Merseyside residents, on application, valid on or after your 60th birthday, and valid until your 65th birthday, when a person is issued a free National Bus-pass. So there it is…lol
Anyway, as is the norm, for a weekend with Ann & I, we firstly, headed down to the old ‘Great Western Hotel’ building… for many years, derelict, but modern times, have seen it renovated for Liverpool University Halls of Residence for part of the student accommodation projects in the city… There we had a first rate breakfast as usual… If you have not tried their meals… I would highly recommend, you try them out…
The ‘Great North-Western Hotel’ / Lime Street
Part of the Hotel, is now given over to a branch of ‘Weaterspoons’, on the ground floor to the left side of the old hotel, and I must admit… what a great job they have done, with it, one of the dining rooms retains all its original features, in keeping with the historic value of the building itself…
Click images to enlarge….
After breakfast we wandered over to the advertised meeting place of the walk, just by the end of the flyover, taking the road towards the ‘Town Hall’, the meeting place was the ‘Ship & Mitre’ on Duke Street Liverpool.
Sadly, Ann and I were the only ‘takers’ on today’s walk… but for Ann & I, it turned out to be a bonus, in that a 1-1 personal walk was on the cards, and John Simmons turned out to be one of the most historically knowledgeable Liverpool historians, I have ever met… his walk & talk was absolutely superb !!! and you would definitely be missing out, if you didn’t make an effort to give it a go yourself…
The weather on the day was great…. sunny but not too hot, which made the walk so enjoyable, I could not stress, the amount of information given on the walk itself, and I would be writing for a week if I did, so I’m afraid this is going to be an abridged version, showing our own (Ann & I) highlights, and to be frank, it would not be fair to the reader, if I gave away all the secrets of the walk, thus spoiling it for other walkers in John’s care for the day…
One of our first stops… was one of the best preserved Georgian Merchants Houses, within the City, at No. 1 Trueman Street, built in 1790…
No 1 Trueman Street
After a few more really interesting facts along the way, we headed for the Town Hall, meandering through the streets of old Liverpool, to take in sights and stories such as the true ‘Gentlemens Club’ the old derelict dwellings of Liverpool’s Slums, echos of the war years, including this super emergency exits from one of the City’s WW2 air raid shelters…
We walked further, into parts of the city, which I have never walked even though I have lived here all my life, of course I have walked the MAIN roads… but to venture down the back roads of these areas, produced some fantastic builds, and of course the narration by John, simply enhanced the experience and brought the walk to life….
We headed to the Quaker area of the City Centre, when John told us of the Meeting House, School, Cemetery, shops, etc which made up this secret place within the city… Whilst there we came across an exceptional piece of Urban Art, which I just had to capture…
As we walked along the main road of Duke Street, John pointed out buildings of interest and the stories behind them, we arrived at Liverpool’ Town Hall, explaining that the Pineapples on the railings of the hall, were, in the day the hall was built, a sign of the wealth of the city. we walked around into Exchange flags, and John explained various aspects of the area including the story of Britain’s War Gold, and the storage of it in Liverpool.
Walking further, along Castle St, passing Victoria’s Monument, and into the new Liverpool one area (with a short comfort stop), we headed for the South Liverpool area of the city with its equally interesting history, including the Bridewell below, in which Charles Dickens, spent a night as a Special Constable (sworn in… in the Bridewell), down at Liverpool Docks…. AMAZING !!! (plaque on wall).
Ann and John… outside the Campbell Square Bridewell
After the Bridewell, now a City Restaurant, we walked towards the Rope-walks area, and on to China Town another really old part of the city, once again gleaning stories of the past from John, and taking in his vast knowlege of the City… We came across another of the Merchants houses down one of the streets, an imposing building, once again hidden away, John told us how the merchant, had made money, from sending iron mongery to Africa, then picking up slaves for the America’s returning with Cotton and Tobacco, to Liverpool, an amazing fact which John told us, was… a full ships cargo of slaves was worth the equivalent of $2m in today’s money, so you can see how lucrative this abhorrent trade in life was…
Thomas Parr’s Mansion (Merchant and Banker)…
One of the most fascinating stop for myself along the way, was the only remaining back-to-back rows of houses in the city… Although these have been converted into apartments, the frontage has not been altered as they are grade II listed buildings… but you can plainly see that these 3 storey houses, must have been so cramped back in the day… compared with today’s standards.
the plaque on the end of the left image, denotes the back wall of each property
(click an image to enlarge)
We then walked into China Town, discussing the role of the are within the Social and Historical Record of the City… It was nice to see that the old Scandinavian Hotel (this is its local name), which was derelict for such a long time (I remember passing it every day when I was working in China Town as a young apprentice plumber in the early 70’s), but has now been converted into University Accommodation)…
Scandinavian Hotel… click to enlarge
John, then took us up, past and round the back of the Anglican Cathedral, explaining the architectural significance of buildings and churches in the area, including the early 1900’s Church of Science, now a Roman Catholic church, and our walk continued into the Toxteth Area of the City, to look at the first drive-in bank in the UK (now a funeral directors), and onto Liverpools first Greek Orthodox Church…
Greek Orthodox Church, with the old Drive-in Bank to the left
John then took us around the Texteth Area to show us the the Jewish Synagogue, and the house, in which, a collector of Japanese Art used to live, and who the Emperor of Japan awarded him with honours… It is reported the house was like a Japanese Museum, such was the nature of the Collection…
St. Margaret’s (left) Japanese House (middle) Synagogue (right)
We then headed back towards the City, and past the Nurses Association building and the Florence Nightingale Memorial. we were heading for Liverpool’s WW2 memorial of …St. Lukes (bombed out church) at the top of Bold Street, however, along the way, we came to the old Jewish School in the city. This was the for runner of King David’s School up at the Childwall Fiveways roundabout… the old school is now used as storage…
The old Jewish School
By the time we arrived at St. Lukes, we had been walking non-stop for 3.5 hours… and although John explained at the start of the walk, that we could leave the walk at any time, and continue at the point we left off during other walks from John… We were starting to suffer…lol (John had told us there was about an hour left on the walk… ). So we thanked John, gave him a paper gratuity, promised to join him again, and limped down Bold St. towards a Costa Coffee Shop… and a well earned, sit down lol.
Then a quick nip into Tesco’s on Hanover Street to buy some wine to take home, and a packet of Paracetamol, for our aches and pains… and headed home… but all-in-all a great walk and talk… Will definitely be back… to join the walk where we left off…. or persuade him to do it in the other direction…. from John’s normal route, but, finish to start… lol