Today, Ann and I ventured into Liverpool, and to the Archives, for some research… after we had finished, we walked up to Mount Pleasant, in search for some other Liverpool Local History, our aim for today, was the Roman Catholic Cathedral, which at one time was the site of the ‘old’ Liverpool workhouse.

Click to enlarge

The Liverpool Workhouse was built in 1772, to house the ever increasing poor population of Liverpool, flooding in from all over Europe, as the gateway to the America’s and Canada, with the lure of a new prosperous life in a new country… The Irish Potato Famine, would also, bring a huge influx of mass migration into the city… All reports are that the workhouse was a dreadful existence for inmates. The inmates would be fed and boarded, and would do menial work. Although inmates could leave the institution at any time, their prospects on the outside with no money, food or lodgings… would soon find themselves once again finding their way back into the workhouse.

Meal time in the workhouse

In 1930 the workhouse site was closed and put up for sale. In 1931 The Roman Catholic church, bought the site to erect a new and magnificent Roman Catholic Cathedral for the City (affectionately known as ‘Paddy’s Wigwam’)…

  The Cathedral as we see it today, was opened in 1967

And what of the history of the Brownlow Hill Workhouse?…  Although the workhouse is thankfully long gone, one nice item remaining from the era, can still be seen today…. The large bell, on the right of the set of four, in the Cathedral’s Bell Tower, was taken from the the ‘Workhouse’ Chapel… to be rung and heard over the City, on a regular basis.