Day out | Postcards From Here and There

Liverpool’s Bombed Out Church

St Luke’s Church, known locally as The Bombed Out Church, stands on the corner of Leece Street and Berry Street. The tower is easily seen as you walk from the city centre up Bold Street. Few people ever call it by its true name. When I first visited the city it featured in many directions to places given to me by locals, “go past the bombed out church”, “oh that’s near the bombed out church”, but sadly no map referred to it as such! It is much a part of the city as the Mersey Ferry or The Liver Building. It is a Liverpool icon.

The church was built between 1811 and 1832. Designed by father and son John Foster and John Foster junior in the gothic style, it is built from sandstone. In its early years it was also a concert hall until the building of the nearby Philharmonic Hall in the late 1840s. Around this time it was locally called The Doctors Church as it was the place of worship closest to Rodney Street, the home of many of the cities private doctors.

During these second World War Liverpool was bombed heavily as it was the major port on the west coast and vital for supplies coming across the Atlantic from America. Bombing of the city began in August 1940 and went on until January 1942 though it reached its peak in May 1941. The church was hit by a fire bomb on 6th May 1941 and the much of the building was destroyed, only the walls remained.

In total 4000 people died in the bombings of the Liverpool area and it was decided to leave the church standing as a memorial to them. It is now a managed ruin and in recent years opened for the first time since the bombing. It has hosted events including weddings, markets and even hosted a cinema. The gardens are open to wander around and it is a popular lunchtime spot in the summer for students and local workers.

In December 2014 the installation ‘All Together Now’ by sculptor Andy Edwards was placed in the garden to mark the football match that took place at Christmas 1914 between British and German troops in no mans land between trenches. Although only a temporary exhibit it returned in 2018 to commemorate the end of the first World War.

5 Alternative Reasons to Visit Liverpool

In an earlier post I looked at the 5 Reasons to Visit Liverpool . These were the the things that should be done on a first time trip to the city. If you have more time available you may want to dig a little deeper into the city and explore some of the other reasons that make Liverpool such an excellent destination for a weekend or short break.

Bold Street. Bold Street has had something of a resurgence in recent years and has become a hub for independent retailers, restaurants and cafés. It runs from Hanover Street in the city to join Renshaw Street opposite Liverpool’s Bombed Out Church. At the city end is The Lyceum.

Built in 1802 it has been through a number of incarnations including a gentleman club, a library, a cafe and a post office. It was saved from demolition in the early 1970s but sadly the building is currently vacant.

Heading up from The Lyceum the lower part of the street is a fairly traditional shopping street but one past the junction with Concert Street it reveals its independent heart. Some retailers have been on the street for years, both Mattas and News From Nowhere are Bold Street institutions.

They have been joined by a host of others. Leaf is perfect for tea and the Artisane bakery across the street has lovely coffee, bread and patisserie. If you fancy something a little more substantial then Mowgli and Maray are good options but there are plenty of others.

The Baltic Triangle. An up and coming area just outside the city centre. Home to tech start ups, cafés, restaurants and bars it is very much a happening area. The area is also well known as a centre of street art and I have covered this in a previous post (here) .

For coffee try The Baltic Bakehouse, which also has some amazing sourdough bread, on Bridgewater Street or Baltic Creative on Jamaica Street. If you have an hour or so to spare try a game of Ghetto Golf. Grab a drink at the Baltic Social or Gibberish Tap Room (do check opening times as it does seem to change). If you are there at the weekend try the Baltic Market in the old Cain’s Brewery for some excellent street food.

Street Art. If a visit to the Baltic Triangle has whet your appetite there is plenty more to see and the beauty is it is always changing. There are a lot of pieces in Oldham Place and you can even take a graffiti class at Zap Graffiti on Saturday afternoons.

Church of St Luke. The Bombed Out Church

Located close to the Bombed Out Church on Leece Street why not combine the two combine the two. Entry to the gardens around the church is free. For the more adventurous there is more art to be seen in the streets around London Road .

Craft Beer. The rise in the popularity of craft beer has been as big as that for artisan gin. As a result there are some good options in the city. The Dead Crafty Beer Company on Dale Street has 19 taps which change frequently and they hold regular tap takeovers. Across the road is a beer drinking institution, The Ship and Mitre. A pub for real ale aficionados but also with good selection of craft beers. Heading out of town towards the Baltic Triangle is The Baltic Fleet. In the Triangle itself there is The Baltic Social and Gibberish Taproom.

Natural Wine. Paralleling the growth of the craft beer and gin markets has been the interest in natural/biodynamically produced wines. R & H Fine Wines is a wine merchant hidden away on Queen Street, a small alley off Castle street, close to the Town Hall. They have a great selection of interesting wines from around the world and is well worth searching out. Bunch Wine Bar on Berry Street has an ever changing selection of wines available by the glass or bottle. Hidden away in a small courtyard off Hardman Street is the Buyers Club. There is something for everyone here, eight craft beer taps, natural wines, cocktails and food. Its a relaxing chilled out place to spend an hour or two, especially early evening.

Glacier Bay Alaska

Glacier Bay is a National Park in South East Alaska and is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

There are no roads in or out of the bay yet it receives around half a million visitors a year, most on cruise ships which have access to the bay in summer months. To preserve the area only a small number of ships are allowed to enter the bay each day. The photograph below gives you some idea of scale as the cruise ships are not that small!

Our visit was the highlight of a cruise which had taken in Ketchikan, Haines and Juneau in Alaska. We had the most perfect August day with clear blue skies and a relatively mild temperature. The area is absolutely stunning. a true wilderness area and so peaceful despite being on a huge ship.

The whole bay was full of ice 250 years ago but there has been a gradual retreat of the ice since then. Nevertheless the glaciers are remarkable. There are seven tidewater glaciers in the bay of these four regularly calve icebergs I to the waters of the bay. We spent an hour in front of the Margerie Glacier. At 21 miles in length and a height of 250 feet above sea level it is an impressive sight. For our visit is was calving only small pieces of ice. It remains a spectacular sight even so.

I was struck by how different the glaciers were, each had its own apparent personality. They vary in colour, from ice blue to almost black if they are carrying lots of rubble in them and the ice itself is packed into different shapes. Some are noisy with rumbling, cracking and creaking while others are deathly quiet. Some give the appearance of being awake and active and others slumbering. All are moving but some are faster than others.

The water of the bay is slightly cloudy from the glacial silt released as the glaciers reach the water and calve.

An unforgettable experience and a most beautiful day.