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Published: September 4th 2022
Views Looking Toward the Organ
inside the massive Liverpool CathedralSo why Liverpool? With this trip being quite fluid based on where we were asked to cat sit through Trusted Housesitters and the location and timing of being able to meet up with friends, the rest of the time was pulled together in a much different way than we normally do. Based somewhat on geography, things to see in that area, finding a place to stay at a reasonable price and easy to get to by public transport, Liverpool made the cut! We didn’t have much time to research what we would do or see while there, but figured there would be enough for a few days so the train tickets were bought and the reservations made. In the end, it worked out to be a nice stop on our journey.
Of course, when most people think of Liverpool, a band of 4 guys seem to immediately come to mind to most. Yes, there was plenty to remind you in the city that this was the home of “The Beatles” with its tour buses designed to give you the Beatles History Tour, the souvenir shops, the statutes of them down near Albert’s Dock where everyone seem to have their photo
taken with, and of course the street with the Cavern Club made famous by them. Liverpool is also the home of both the Cunard and White Star Lines which bring to mind ocean liners such as the RMS Titanic, the RMS Lusitania and the RMS Queen Mary. There were also plenty of places named after either the ocean liners or places named in the Beatles songs, but there is much more to learn about and enjoy.
We didn’t know much more than this when heading there so we decided that this may be the city to do a Hop On-Hop Off Bus Tour as we have done them in other locations and they provide a very good overview of a city and helps you in deciding the areas that you’d like to go back to see more in depth. We decided on the regular city tour, rather than one dedicated to the Beatles. We were fortunate to have a tour guide that we could easily understand, as we did find some of those from Liverpool were a little more difficult for us to realize that they were actually speaking the same language with an accent that was a little
“stronger” to our ear.
We started our tour down near the modern looking Museum of Liverpool. With our only having 2 days here and it being nice weather we decided to forego the museum and learn more about the city we were in by listening to the tour guide explain the many places we would pass on the bus. Three very impressive buildings are located down near the Mersey River. They are commonly called “The Three Graces” which consist of the Royal Liver Building (doesn’t have anything to do with body parts – it housed the Royal Liver Assurance Group which provided people assistance if they lost a wage-earning relative), The Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building. Not to be left out, the Beatles statute is located across the street where everyone (well, not quite everyone as we did not participate) that comes by stops and has their photo taken with the fabulous four.
In the 1700s Liverpool was quite involved with slave, sugar and tobacco trade between the West Indies, Africa and the Americas. As a result of the American Civil War the slave trade was reduced immensely so manufacturing, shipbuilding and machine work filled
in. More docks were installed and by the end of the 1800’s Liverpool had become a major port. With the city’s growth by the mid 1850’s many of the impressive buildings that we saw on our tour were built. With the wealth of the community the library, Philharmonic Hall, Art Gallery and St. George’s Hall were now welcome additions for the citizens here. The Philharmonic Dining Rooms which is a pub across from the Philharmonic Hall was pointed out on the tour so we made a note to try to stop back to that one when we explored more later. In fact, we did stop the next day to have a drink and see the interior of this impressive 5 story building. It was almost overwhelming as you couldn’t take it all in as every inch of it had details to enjoy. Many of the rooms were named after famous musicians and the interior was decorated with copper panels, mosaics, beautiful mahogany woodwork and stain glass. If only the walls could talk and tell the stories and deals that have been made over the years within this impressive interior.
We had to chuckle some when the tour guide stated
that many of the buildings here are compared to a few that are in the US – one has the familiar shape of the Flat Iron Building in NYC and the Radio Tower here was compared to the Space Needle in Seattle among others mentioned.
We also passed Britain’s largest Cathedral here in Liverpool. It definitely made an impression when driving by so added that to the list of places to come back to on our next go around on the hop on/hop off bus. The literature we were provided when we entered, stated it is actually the largest Anglican Cathedral in Europe and fifth largest in the world with its tallest tower and tallest and widest Gothic arches. As anyone that has followed our blog knows, we have been in quite a few Cathedrals over the course of our travels and have admired many. Due to the massiveness of the structure, just walking up to the entrance, you felt overwhelmed by its dimensions. It is not an ancient structure with the typical additions and changes of style seen in numerous other Cathedrals we have seen. It was started in 1904 and when you see a very unusual item
in this Cathedral you learn of the designer of both. Near the bottom of the stairs that lead up to the tower which you can visit for a view of the city, there is one of the iconic “red telephone boxes”. Definitely interesting to have a phone booth inside a Cathedral. When you read the information, you find that the person that designed the Cathedral also designed the famous “red box” – quite a contrast in scale! It was interesting to note that in the Cathedral they recognized that some of the money that came to the Cathedral was a result of the slave trade historically and made mention of it to the public.
We drove by a very large gate to Chinatown and as we have been trying to have other than Turkish cuisine while here, we made a note to stop back for lunch. We were told that Liverpool has the oldest Chinese community in Europe as the first came back in the 19
th C. as seamen. As a result, there were plenty of Chinese restaurants to choose from for our lovely lunch. With renting an apartment while here in Liverpool we have been eating our major
meal during the day when we are out exploring, making it easy to then put a salad together for dinner. Nice having access to kitchen facilities, which always helps with not having to eat all meals out, but we also don’t want to be tied to cooking our major meal at home – we are on vacation after all!
We spent most of our time here walking the numerous interesting streets of Liverpool enjoying the architecture, the lively crowds and great restaurants and cafes. On the last day we were here we had read about a program called “the History Whisperer” that was open at St. George’s Hall. Unfortunately, the building was not completely open to the public, therefore as a result they had developed an audio-visual tour of part of the building providing an interesting history of what went on here. We weren’t quite sure when we decided to go as to what it would be about, but found it quite interesting. This neo-Classical building was built in 1854 and actually was a result of 2 design competitions, with very different purposes in mind. There was a need for a courthouse and jail on one hand with the
number of criminals to be dealt with here, and the other very contrasting need was for a concert hall for the wealthy citizens to enjoy. As it turned out, the same designer was chosen as the winner of both. This was definitely fortunate in the end. Due to financial difficulties in building two separate buildings, it was decided in the end to combine the needs of both into one building, St. George’s Hall. How they did this was to have the prison in the basement with the courtroom on the next floor up. The concert hall with its impressive tile floor was above that.
The program that we saw was one where they told the stories of many real-life citizens that had been for a number of reasons imprisoned here. The crimes committed ran the gamut from violent crimes to those of stealing a loaf of bread and everything in between. There were some very famous trials held here such as the “black widow sisters” that were convicted of murdering a person by poison. They were suspected of killing a few others in the same manner, but the charges were for only the one. It became very suspicious when
it was found that after marrying the men, they took out life insurance policies on their husbands. In the end, both sisters were sentenced to hang. If interested in finding out about the other “famous” trials you can google “trials held at St. George’s Hall” and find many more.
The others that we learned about were the more “common” crimes such as pickpocketing or stealing a loaf of bread. The sentence for these types of crime would be either hard labor or “transport”. In this case, that meant immediate transport of the person to Australia. One family story told was of one where both parents had died and the 2 children were left on their own. The older brother got a job working for a wealthy family and he stole a pen to give to his younger sister as a present. When caught, he was sent to Australia immediately leaving the young girl on her own with no way of contacting her brother. This story was told from the many letters she wrote her brother and could not send. Definitely many difficult stories were told. At the end of hearing these and visiting the cells that would hold 40
people each, we were taken to the court room where the trials took place.
It was very unfortunate that we were not able to visit the Concert Hall as we were told it was a magnificent space. We were provided with a post card showing a picture of it so I have included that for you to see. The guide stated it was quite possible to have someone in the court room being sentenced to hang, while the wealthy were enjoying the concert hall one floor above. The court room at St. George’s Hall was opened in 1851 with the last trial held in 1984.
We were only here for two days so got a taste for the city, but can now see that there is more to explore so could easily come back for a few more days. It is always great when these last-minute planned stops turn out to be good ones. We couldn’t extend our time here as we now have a commitment for another cat sitting in Lingfield which is farther south. Another area that we have not been to before which works out well for us!
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