Liverpool Landscapes

Mar 14

New Scottish Royal Commission database

The new RCAHMS website

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) have redesigned and relaunched their website. From here you can search five of their databases: Canmore, PASTMAP, Scran, AirPhotoFinder and HLAMAP (explanations of each are on the website). Each record pulled back from searching links to all relevant photos in their database, along with reports and relevant books in a bibliography.

The new design looks smart, is easy to navigate, and for those (like me) for who it is important, the site works cleanly without images and CSS loading. It should work well with screen readers. I’ve not used one myself, but if you have any comments about this or other sites with that technology, feel free to vent below!

Mar 12

Liverpool Rebranding, and have your say in the Lime Street debate

Liverpool is no longer seen as being part of ‘the north’ – rather it has carved out irs own niche as a unique place, alongside places such as Edinburgh. To capitalise on this turnaround in its image and reputation, and in the light of Capital of Culture 08, a £150,000 branding exercise will see a new post-08 logo being plastered over a fly-over near you. You can also wear it on a sticker or a pin badge. The Liverpool Echo has details of the research and branding.

Artist's impression of Lime Street Gateway development

Liverpool has had its fair share of new skyscrapers in the past few years. Now the steel and glass replacement for Concourse House is no longer on the cards a debate is growing over whether Lime Street looks better or worse without a tall building on its frontage. More of fewer tall buildings in the city centre? The tower discussion goes on at Liverpool.com

Mar 5

Liverpool civic pride during an old Credit Crunch, and Royal Court restoration competition won

This wouldn’t be a blog if the phrase ‘credit crunch’ was not thrown about here and there – it’s the topic of the moment. But of course history has a couple of other examples of similar lean periods in the past (to say the least), and the BBC Liverpool website is currently hosting a feature about ‘Creativity in the Great Depression’.

The article details the PhD thesis (Spectacular Urban Culture in the Age of Decline: Liverpool and Manchester, 1918-1939) of Manchester University’s Dr. Charlie Wildman, who has been investigating the 1920s and 30s in Liverpool and Manchester. Dr. Wildman discovered that the city authorities invested in public transport and civic and commercial architecture during the Depression years – examples include the Mersey Tunnel, the Phil, and extensions to the Town Hall.

The most interesting feature is the £1m raised to build the Catholic Cathedral, although to quite different designs of Edwin Lutyens than that actually constructed.

In other news, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris have won the competition to restore the art deco Royal Court theatre. By the looks of the photos on that page, it seems they’ll be keeping the great 1930s architecture, while reinvigourating the interior. Good luck to them – I must mention that this is where I went to my first gig: Liverpool band the Lightning Seeds in 1997!

Mar 3

The link between Liverpool and Somalia, and a peek at the new Liverpool Museum

Somalia has the most interest in the word Liverpool as search term in Google – even higher than the United Kingdom. Why do you think this is? It almost certainly has to do with football, I should think, but are there any other factors?

Also, take a look at the developing Museum of Liverpool on the Architects Journal website. Of course, it calls it a ‘first look’, but we’ve all been gawping at it for years, haven’t we?

Feb 18

Triumph, Disaster and Decay the save survey of Liverpool’s Heritage

From www.savebritainsheritage.org:
“As Liverpool emerges from its year in the limelight as European Capital of Culture, a new exhibition, mounted by SAVE Britain’s Heritage, takes a sobering look at the state of the city’s architectural heritage.” This exhibition is being held at the RIBA gallery in Liverpool from 16 February until 6 March 2009. Check out the SBH’s news pages for more details.
They also have a new publication, Triumph, Disaster and Decay, a survey of Liverpool’s heritage. It “shines a light on fine buildings suffering from long-term neglect”. It also covers new development in the World Heritage Site and clearance in the suburbs, and includes a gazeteer of buildings at risk in Liverpool. The book costs £12.50, or £10 for Friends of Save.

Also, the Echo Arena is one of four Liverpool buildings in the running for a top national architecture award, the Civic Trust Award.

Feb 1

Liverpool.com salutes Port of Liverpool Building

Liverpool.com have a short but detailed article on the Port of Liverpool Building, one of the Pier Head’s Three Graces. With a few photos, and details of restoration by the building’s current owners Downing, the piece includes details of the interior and maritime decor. There’s also an artist’s impression of what Mann Island will look like from the bottom of Water Street when the new developments next to the Port of Liverpool Building are completed. Not as bad as I’d imagined, to be honest. What do you think?

Jan 31

Historic Liverpool website complete

As you may or may not know, the Liverpool Landscapes blog is partner to the Historic Liverpool website. That website is now ‘complete‘.

Of course, no website worth its salt is ever really complete, but you should be able to browse and read everything, and find a lot of interesting bits of history in your part of the city – or any part of the city! The main feature is the interactive map. Here you can begin to zoom in and pan around (and zoom out again!) and click on any of the dots on the map which interest you. There are also a couple of other things you can find on there, such as a rough outline history of the city of Liverpool as it developed from a backwater fishing village in the shadow of West Derby and Chester to a major port and settlement in its own right.

Of course, now that everything is tidily complete, the next thing I’m going to do is add bits piecemeal all over the place, so keep popping back and you’ll find more there to look at.

The most important thing now, though, is to ask for your help. Do you know any ‘secret’ or hidden bits of history dotted around Liverpool, or Merseyside in general? That’s going to be the focus of additions to the site. If you send me your suggestions, complete with a little description and location, then I’ll put a pin in the map so everyone can see it! Full credit will be given to you, of course! If you’ve got a photo I can use, all the better! All comments are gratefully received, at martin [at] historic-liverpool.co.uk.

Jan 7

Liverpool as blueprint for British culture capital

Although officially no longer the European Capital of Culture, Liverpool’s success in 2008 has led to it becoming the blueprint for an ongoing series of similar, British-based awards in the future. Culture Secretary Andy Burnham (a Blues fan, it has been noted) announced today that the new award would be presented every two years. Liverpool 08 mastermind Phil Redmond will be drafted in to lead a working party to explore the idea, which hopes to stimulate regeneration and investment in other parts of the country, in the way it did in Merseyside.

The impact of the Capital of Culture year will be debated at the University of Liverpool. Called Impacts 08, the event will be attended by Burnham and Redmond, and will discuss the effect of events like the Tall Ships Race and Paul McCartney’s concert Liverpool Sound, which brought in £5m. Along similar lines, Edwin Heathecote in the Financial Times examines the legacy of 2008 in terms of the built landscape, giving a fairly positive view of such developments as the Blue Coat chambers and the massive Liverpool One centre.

Finally, what English Heritage suspects is Britain’s first mosque is being regenerated, over 100 years after it fell out of use. It is hoped that this centre on Brougham Terrace, West Derby Street, will show the age of the roots of British Islam. The mosque was founded by and Englishman, Henry William Quilliam, who converted to Islam in 1887.

Independent – Britain’s first mosque to be reborn – after more than a century

BBC News – Revamp for England’s first mosque

A few more things for those of you who like your online resources:

English Heritage’s Heritage Explorer website includes a page on Liverpool as a case study for how to use their educational resources. The site concentrates on West Derby, and the project carried out by a Year 2 class to look at the historic environment around their school. The page includes a lesson plan, and some tips on how to get the kids studying. As well as this case study, the Heritage Explorer site is full of other historic resources for use in the classroom.

Another of English Heritage’s projects is featured on the Council for British Archaeology’s new website. The Aerofilms collection is a massive number of aerial shots of the whole of Britain, spanning nearly 100 years. Only a handful of images are currently available, including one of Liverpool’s old customs house and surrounding bomb devastation in 1946, but plans are afoot to get this amazing resource online in the future.

Also, for those interested in the archaeology hidden under Liverpool Bay, Wessex Archaeology are conducting a pilot scheme to investigate this body of water as part of their England’s Historic Seascapes research, in association with English Heritage. There’s a great summary of all the exciting stuff that should be found on the seabed on their site, and I’ll try to keep you up to date with their findings.

Jan 4

West Derby trams, new CBA website, and an end to 2008

The latest edition of the free Liverpool Link newsletter has a fairly long article about West Derby trams. Recently, roadworks on Mill Lane have revealed the old iron rails which the trams ran along – single lane with passing loops – and which were permanently visible until around 1970. Green trams (to Green Lane, of course!), and white first class trams ran along the route, until replaced soon after the last World War by motor bus services. Another still-visible reminder is a small junction box on the corner of the cottages leading to St. Mary’s Church. If I’d have read the article in time I would have tried to get a photo, but alas I was too slow before I had to leave Liverpool for New Year! If I find I’ve actually got one hidden on my computer somewhere, I’ll add it, but in the mean time go to West Derby village and have a look for it – it’s a reminder of a disappeared age!

For those of you interested in finding out more about history and archaeology on the Internet, the Council for British Archaeology has a new site (www.britarch.ac.uk), which has been launched for the 2009. As well as a more modern layout, the site gives you links to online resources such as the British and Irish Archaeological Bibliography (BIAB), and publications such as the Council’s own British Archaeology Magazine, as well as advice on how to get involved in archaeology, or keep up to date with archaeology in the news.

Finally, it is now 2009. Liverpool is no longer the European Capital of Culture. That accolade belongs to Vilnius in Lithuania and Linz in Austria. But Liverpudlians took this year’s celebrations to their hearts, took pride in the events, and took personally any attack on Liverpool deserving such an honour. Ringo will certainly remember that. But the greatest challenge has always been what comes after. Liverpool One is all but complete, although Zavvi didn’t survive to see its new shop in the development. The new Museum of Liverpool is rapidly taking shape. And numerous projects have sprung up or been given new lifeblood by the injection of money and interest in the city. I can’t help but think that all this momentum will be carried on by the city. Despite the huge numbers of tourists who came to Liverpool in 2008, many more will not have been able to make it, and will come next year, or the year after. Thousands more will have told their friends, who will make the trip in the not too distant future. As long as we’re here to welcome in the same way we’ve welcomed people throughout our thousand year history, Liverpool will always be the Capital of Culture.

Nov 29

Woodlands Remembered and Created

There is a very strong woodland feel to events in Liverpool this weekend.

Mab Lane in West Derby is being transformed by the planting of tens of thousands of new trees on a brownfield site, in order to create “the world’s most colourful woodland“. Work is expected to start in Spring next year, and will cost £700,000.

Also this weekend, Liverpool’s Pool Project are celebrating that which first brought royal attention to the area, and which is largely forgotten today: the royal hunting forest of Toxteth. The idea is to recreate one of King John’s hunts through 21st Century Toxteth, and at the same time gather information about the archaeology, biology and botany of the area bounded by modern Upper Parliament Street, Smithdown Road, Ullet Road and Sefton Street.

Toxteth Park was part of a large area of land on the north side of the Mersey which was popular with medieval royalty for hunting and riding. For hundreds of years it was ’emparked’, in practice meaning nothing could be built on it. Only when this status was removed did large scale building begin in the area. In its early days it was the preferred suburb for rich Liverpool merchants to escape the hustle and bustle of the city centre. In later years these richer inhabtants of the city moved to other areas such as Rodney Street, north Liverpool/Kirkdale and West Derby. Toxteth became covered in vast swathes of Victorian terraces, built to house the ever-expanding working classes who kept the factories and docks going.

For more information, see the Toxteth pages of the Historic Liverpool website.

Liverpool history, online sources and local history on the web