1854: Liverpool with its Parliamentary and municipal boundaries

This map offers more information than its title lets on. Not only does it show the Municipal and parliamentary boundary of the borough of Liverpool, it has these handy lists:

• Named municipal wards, numbered on the map
• 30 Churches of England, plus the Floating Chapel in George’s Dock, with their streets given.
• Church-affiliated schools.
• Non-CofE places of worship such as Catholic chapels, a synogogue, a Hebrew church and all manner of Dissenting Chapels (from Baptists, to Wesleyans and Welsh Calvinists and Scottish Kirks)
• Ecclesiastical Districts, which I take to be the parish of the churches in the list.

If you compare this map to the Liverpool Townships map (and rotate it to put north at the top) you’ll see that the boundaries are similar. Liverpool’s township / parish boundary is in the middle; Toxteth, Everton and Kirkdale look a little different, with the townships cut off where they extend beyond the boundary of the borough of Liverpool. Everton Township only covers half the area that the Township map would suggest, with West Derby making up the rest. I’m not sure why or when this was changed – feel free to add any thoughts in the comments!

Street names on the boundary

A couple of street names are explained by their position on the map. Boundary Place, Boundary Road and Boundary Street are obvious: they sit on the boundary of the borough. Parliament Street is another one: it was once called Townsend Lane (a clue in its own right!). But, also, an Act of Parliament was needed to allow the building of a new part of town – Harrington – in Toxteth. The name of the street commemorates this, even though Harrington never really got going.