I am a great fan of travel guides and usually have one for each trip we take. For me they are essential in planning a trip and making sure you get the best out of the time you have available and see all the major sights. What they don’t always do is let you explore deeper into a city and take you to the curiosities, the secret places and the downright strange. For that you need local knowledge and its here that the internet and travel blogs can sometimes be most useful.
Many visitors to Liverpool will do something Beatle related, may visit one or both cathedrals, spend time in one or more of the excellent museums and may even travel to see the two famous football grounds. In doing many of these things they may pass some of the equally interesting aspects of the city that are rarely in the guide books. This post looks at some of them. Try to take in some as part of your stay in the city.
Night and Day. The Georges Dock Building and ventilation system can be found behind The Port of Liverpool Building at Pier Head. It is often overlooked yet it is close to the Three Graces and is certainly well worth a few minutes of your time. Built in the Art Deco style in the early 1930s it also houses a ventilation shaft for the Birkenhead Tunnel which was opened in 1934 but its hidden gems are round the back of the building on Georges Dockway. A pair of black basalt statues by Edmund C Thompson entitled Night and Day.
Big Cats. A short walk from the two statues is the site of the former Bank of Liverpool building (7 Water Street) which dates from 1899 and is Grade II listed. What is remarkable here are the entrance doors, each has the bronze head of a big cat. Are they lions, tigers, panthers? There seems to be some debate but what is not in question is how good they are and yet easily missed.
Martins Bank. The old Martins Bank building is also on Water Street but the real interest is on the side of the building on Exchange Street West. Here you will find a small plaque on the wall. During the Second World War most of the countries gold reserves were moved out of London and put into the vaults of Martins Bank.
The Seven Streets. Liverpool can trace its origins back to 1207. It its beginnings it consisted of just seven streets which still remain today though names have changed in some cases. Castle St, Bank St (now Water St), Chapel St, Dale St, Juggler St (now High St), Moor St (now Tithebarn St), and Whiteacre St (now Old Hall St). The streets are marked with a plaque. The one for Castle Street is on the eastern side of the street nearest to Derby Square.
The Sanctuary Stone. A short walk from Water Street brings you to Castle Street. This was the location of the old medieval market and the boundary is marked by the Sanctuary Stone embedded in the pavement on the western side of the street. Medieval markets and fairs had their own rules and laws and were quite separate from those of the town. An individual being sought for breaking laws or owing money in the town could seek sanctuary in the market and so the boundaries of markets were marked with stones.
Queens Avenue. Queen Avenue on the eastern side of Castle Street looks, at first glance, like the entrance to a Victorian shopping arcade. However looks can be deceiving and you find yourself here looking down one of the most picturesque streets in the whole of the city and one so often missed by visitors. It is home to a small gallery and a rather fine wine shop.
Maltese Cross. Church Street is one of the major shopping streets in the city. On the pavement just outside Top Shop is a brass Maltese cross. It marks the location of the alter of St Peters Church which was built in 1700 and demolished in 1922. It gives the street its name.
Bluecoat Garden. Running from Church Street is Church Alley which leads to the magnificent Bluecoat Chambers. A Grade I listed building built in 1717 it was originally a school but is now an arts centre. The garden is to be found in the courtyard at the back of the building and it is an area of peace and tranquility in the heart of the city. It is a great stopping off point and if the weather is nice a good place to sit and enjoy a coffee.
