Cheshire 20 - Port Sunlight / The village /The Lady Lever/The Scapegoat /Salem/ Hadrian and Lob scouse /a trayful of money

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Where shall we go today? How about a museum/an art gallery and a model village all rolled into one. It will be a warm space , interesting things to see with a cafe for lunch . What is there not to like ? It became one of those ideas that turned out rather well in the end. You know the sort of trips you think about doing but put off time and time again.

We pulled out our extra warm coats, a scarf, a pair of gloves and a hat and set out in the car with no name . The weather had turned extremely wet some days yet on others it was surprisingly cold with overnight frosts and chilly air . We were heading 45 minutes up the road towards Port Sunlight on the Wirral . We had been before . This was probably my third visit and each time I had seen something different . It seemed a good place to spend a morning , have a spot of lunch and then move on up the Wirral to the very top where we would see the sea, a lighthouse an old fort and Liverpool

Port Sunlight is a model village built in the 19th century between Lower Bebbington and New Ferry on the Wirral . The Lever brothers wanted to construct a village to house the workers from their nearby soap factory . Work began in 1888. The name derived from the soap which was called Sunlight . Those of us of a certain age will remember Sunlight soap and other brands from our childhoods . A yellow soap that was in large blocks, had a distinctive smell and used daily . I remember the feel and the smell of both Sunlight soap and Lifebuoy . Although Lifebuoy was red rather than yellow. I remember too the advertising campaigns which featured the famous painting of Bubbles . Rather twee to be fair but it served a purpose advertising the soap to the nation. A painting we were to see in the gallery later.

The village housing was built for over 1000 individuals. They must have felt all their Christmasses had come together moving into the village on the doorstep from their work. The village comprises of 900 grade II listed buildings and must have been a lovely place to live . It still looks fantastic and a wonderful place to bring up a family. Compare it with modern housing estates with little boxes for houses . No gardens as such . All boxed in and all looking the same . Here it looks like a paradise catering for your every near compared the cottages in rural communities and dingy terraced houses of the new Victorian cities . . Declared a conservation area no building work can detract from what is already there . The unique character will remain for years to come . That is a good thing .

We parked up on a large free car park near to the Port Sunlight museum and the Lady Lever Art Gallery. Situated at the head of an extremely long avenue lined with workers cottages and with trees up the middle . The two lanes came together at the top forming a interesting backdrop of the museum/art gallery, a war memorial, a fountain which was shut off for the winter and a memorial to the Lever family. There were green spaces everywhere and the village atmosphere was created in what was essentially an urban environment . A lesson to housebuilders of the age that you can produce something lovely to live in that is practical and loved by the tenants . A salutory lesson - give your workforce a nice environment and all the facilities and you have a reasonably happy workforce who give their all for you.

It was in 1887 that the Lever brothers began to look for a new site for a factory . They bought 56 acres of flat unused marshy land which was large enough for their immediate needs and large enough to expand in the future . Prime location due to the nearby River Mersey and the railway lines . The idea was to build a housing estate suitable for the workers where they would be handy for the factory and have everything they needed on site . Between 1899 and 1914 800 houses were built . Different architects were used so that the estate would be different in all its parts . Some houses were Tudor in style with black wood and white painted walls . Others built in brick bought in from Belgium . Some were of a more Arts and Crafts style . The houses were not the only buildings provided for the workers . Each house had a garden and for those interested allotments were made available . Public buildings were provided to include the Lady Lever Art gallery , a cottage hospital for workers , a concert hall and a swimming pool . Spiritual needs were catered for with a church and a temperance hotel . Lord Lever believed that a happy workforce was key to the success of his factory and provided education and entertainment for his workers . Perhaps this should be a lesson in housebuilding today . Build something different for people to live in , give them gardens for the children to play in. Provide schooling and educational /recreational facilities and perhaps life would be different in the UK today.

The aims of the village was to socialise and Christianise his business opportunities and his workforce . He wanted close family units and a close link between worker and employer. The owner did not encourage profit sharing . Instead he spent the profits on the good of the whole community . He believed it was not right to give the profits to the workers to spend on whisky but better to spend it on recreation for all, comfortable homes to live in and nice houses . One of the many Victorian philantropists who did the same around the UK. There are a number of factories around the country - Bournville , Saltair and New Lanark where the owners had a social conscience.

The museum/art gallery is situated at the end of the tree lined avenue and is classically inspired . Built of reinforced concrete and cladded with Portland stone it sets the scene for what is inside. Fronted by columns and two domed roofs it compliments the building style of Port Sunlight . Built in 1913 it was to commemorate the late Lady Lever who had been an avid art collector . .

The museum is free to visit and is like a Tardis . It goes on forever with room after room full of exhibits . The collections are quite eclectic and never fail to amaze. We were welcomed in and issued with a map. Sorry the reception said - Some rooms are closed as we are preparing for exhibitions . As part of the wider Liverpool group of museums the smaller ones host various exhibitions from time to time . A donation box was strategically placed and a donation of £5 was politely requested.

So come with me and let's go on our tour of the art gallery/museum . The first room we enter will be the Main Hall and is the room that houses the Victorian paintings which included Millais , Rossetti and Byrne Jones the Pre- Raphaelites . Plus some Leightons , sculptures and 18th century furniture .Today was school children day. They sat on the settees scattered around the room drawing art they liked or were told to like . They were extremely well behaved as the teachers told them they could draw all of an object or just part of the object . They seemed engrossed and perhaps that was the idea of the Lever family making sure their workers were immersed in culture , art and history. A Laotian proverb goes " A tray full of money is not worth a mind full of knowledge " Perhaps the Levers thought this about knowledge . So what paintings were in the Main Hall? . The Scapegoat - an ugly painting if ever you saw one . A scraggy goat with a red ribbon attached to its horns . It wanders a barren landscape . You just know the goat is going to wander about until it dies just by looking at it . Painted by Holman Hunt between the years of 1854 to 1856 it represents the goat described in the book of Leviticus . The goat represents the sins of the Jewish community and is driven off into the desert to die. And with the dead goat comes a freedom from the sin. . It has always been a "favourite " go to painting of mine and I would have loved to have stood in front of it for a while but the children seemed obsessed with it . It seems everyone is drawn to what is just a painting of a goat and a shaggy dishevelled one at that . An art dealer once explained to the painter that it was so awful he would not be able to sell it. Who would want such a sad ugly goat on their walls ? It did sell and to Lady Lever who must have seen something in it.

The other outstanding works collected by Lady Lever included Millais Lingering Autumn and other Pre- Raphaelites . A modern Epstein was placed on the long table. Collecting continued in the gallery even after Lady Levers death . Paintings that included a Leighton and a Turner . Some of the paintings were behind very shiny glass which makes them harder to view and others hung high up more of an old fashioned setting for paintings than the modern trend of low hanging in the newer galleries . But all in all a fantastic room full of some wonderful paintings .

From the main hall we walked through Room 6 which housed more 18th century furniture all set out in room settings of the period. Fireplaces inlaid and ornate . A handful of Joshua Reynolds paintings hung on the walls . From Room 6 we will walk into the first of the rooms with the large cupolas letting in the light . Full of 18th and 19th century sculptures Rooms 3 , 4 and 5 opened up to one side of the rotunda room and these were filled with Wedgewood . Everything from jewellery to fireplaces inlaid with the delicate blue and white designs so common to Wedgewood pottery . Room 5 was the Chinese room full of objects retrieved from emperors tombs to Chinese porcelain.

Across the hall were rooms 7, 8 and 9 where we found more chinese chinoiserie and the oddly named Napoleon Room . We were shocked at what we saw at every corner . So much to admire and enjoy . Rooms 13 and 28 faced each other . We found we were getting lost in the maze of rooms coming back on ourselves time and time again . Room 13 housed the Mortlake tapestries that hung from ceiling to floor . Room 28 was the William and Mary room . The next room was shut to the public ready to be arranged for a new exhibition . This meant that we needed to head for Room 14 where we found more famous Gobelins tapestries which decorated an 18th century room .

It was hard to imagine just how much more there was to see in this fantastic museum . Rooms 15 , 17 and 18 were mirror images of the earlier rooms as were 21, 22, 23 and 24 . They all were based around the second of the rotunda rooms but this one numbered 19. Without our free map we would have been totally lost . Rooms 21 - 24 were filled with Adam furniture , and another complete set of 18th century designed rooms . Upstairs was a gallery and one the way up we noticed a green velvet curtain completely closed with a drawstring which invited the viewer to open the curtain and view what was behind . A description in Welsh was on a pedestal at the side of the painting . We were looking at the Salem chapel painting by Vosper . A painting purchased by the Levers which the Welsh National museum want to buy back. . It depicted 19th century chapel life in Wales with one congregation member attending late. She wore the traditional welsh costume and stove pipe hat . Her cloak is said to have the devil painted in the folds .

By now we had seen everything including a bust of Hadrian and it was time for lunch . The small cafe was fairly quiet . We had got there before the schoolchildren . On the menu was Lob Scouse - that is stew to everyone else unless you are a Liverpudlian or Welsh . And extremely tasty it was too with a helping of red cabbage and crusty bread .

I think we got more than we expected from the lovely art gallery . A good day out in the warmth and with a wealth of things to see and admire . Next stop would be the Port Sunlight museum just down the avenue and a trip up the coast to the top of the Wirral and the Irish Sea .

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