1890: Plan of Liverpool – North Sheet

Hi Donald,

No inconvenience at all - I love this kind of question! There's a great site called the Liverpool A-Z, which is great for finding old roads, and shows the old version of Vesuvius Street in the same place as it is now, but with a lot more of the 'grid-iron' style of roads around it. Some, but not all of the old roads are still there, with the same names. The only confusing thing to remember is that on the old map north is to the left. Hope this helps, and do have a browse around the Liverpool A-Z!

Regards,
Martin

Hi, I've found your comment when looking for 12 Trafalgar Street, liverpool which is the census address for my great great grandparents in 1890! Did you ever find it?

Hi Lynne,

Lambert Street used to go through the site now occupied by Tesco on London Road (north side). It now turns east to meet Craven Street. You can see it on the lower half of this map at: Plan of Liverpool (South Sheet) 1890.

The modern street can be seen on Google Maps.

Dear Margaret,

Thanks for your message - it's great to hear that this site is enjoyed from across the other side of the globe!

Dinorben Street was in Toxteth, to the south of the city centre, and just north of the still-existing Parliament Street. You can see Dinorben Street on the 1890 Plan of Liverpool here (it's right on the vertical black line). These days it's covered by industrial units, and can be seen on the History of Toxteth page here (scroll down to the map).

West Derby is a large parish based around the village of West Derby to the north east. It covered much of Liverpool along with the other parishes of Liverpool, Childwall and Walton-on-the-Hill.

Hope this is of some help!

Martin

Hi margare I was born in dinorben street in 1955 and there
Was a long established Morrison family living there up until around 1960
Hope this helps they moved about 8 miles to hunts cross Liverpool

Hi Sarah,

A couple of people have been looking for this street. It must have been a very small street, as it is unmarked on some maps. It was in the block north of Tatlock Street, and on the below map this can be seen under the final 'D' of Scotland Ward. I'll let you know if I find a more detailed map which actually shows the road itself.

Map: Plan of Liverpool (South Sheet), 1890, centred on Evans Street.

Best wishes,
Martin

Hi Sheri,

Doon Street, in Kirkwall, was part of the large area of terraced housing in north Liverpool. The houses were uniform, with small yards behind, and the streets were laid out in a grid pattern. They were built for the large number of working class people (dockers, labourers etc) who worked in the city. I think they were a definite step up from the slum court houses of the city centre, but the council saw fit to demolish them in the middle of the 20th century, and the area is now covered with modern semi-detached houses.

Here's a map from 1890, with Doon Street circled in blue:

Hello, I don’t know if you’re still looking but I found this photo on a Facebook page of doon street, it’s from the 70s but I hope this helps :) https://ms-my.facebook.com/LiverpoolPicturebook/photos/doon-street-kirkdale-1972/1441125882642334/

I've not come across any pictures of Doon Street, but I'll let you know if a photo of that area shows up.

I presume a refrigerated engine driver would refer to something similar to today's good vehicle drivers. The vehicles would be a lot less sophisticated in those days, with a compartment filled with ice, plus the chilled goods (fish? ice cream? :) ). I don't know whether 'engine driver' suggests he was on the railway or not. Perhaps he worked on the docks transporting ice and goods around the river front. A very intriguing job!

Martin

Hi Dermot,

I've not been able to find a Broom Street in Liverpool, though there is a Brook Street, not far from St. Alban's church in Vauxhall. Could the address have been mis-transcribed in one of the records?

Martin

Hi Katie,

It's still in existence, although it's very short, and can be seen here: https://goo.gl/maps/MXJtp6mzQW82

Martin

Hi Bill,

I don't know if you've already found something, but here's an old map with McKee Street on it: (see bottom left of map). It's right where you'd heard it was, near Scotland Road!

For more of that area, my interactive map of Liverpool shows the road, un-named, running between Lawrence Street and Juvenal Street in the middle of this 1898 map of Liverpool.

Martin

Hi Allan,

The earliest Ordnance Survey map I know of with house numbers is the 1950 one, so any pre-war map with them on will be from another publisher. I'll let you know if I find one, though I don't know of one so far.

Martin

Dear Martyn,

I've been sent a very useful map by a man named Phil D. Hopefully these will help your research!



Regards,
Martin

Hi Derek,

You're right, it was not so far from the docks, in Bootle. You can see Hutton Street on my map of Liverpool in 1890, it's off Athol Street, the unlabelled road running down from the point between the I and N in "Hankin Str". There's a more detailed, labelled version, of Hutton Street on Old Maps.co.uk (you may have to zoom out when you arrive on that page).

Best wishes,
Martin

Hi Kate,

Nottingham Street is very close - in fact parallel - to Rose Vale. You can see Nottingham Street on my map of Liverpool in 1890. It's unmarked, but it's the street parallel to the north of Mazzini Street.

Best wishes,
Martin

Hi Nancy,

I can't find any information about Barker Street. I wonder whether it's a mistake on the part of the person who wrote that entry on the certificate (though probably unlikely on a marriage certificate!). There's a Barker Street on the Wirral, but I think I'm grasping at straws at this point. Sorry not to be of more help.

Martin

Hello Nancy, I expect that you have found Barker Street by now. If not then I can tell you that I found it while searching for the deaths of two of my tree. I went to ‘ search old street names’, entered Barker Street and was presented with a map with a circle over the street. It is very close to Edge Hill railway station. Hope this helps. Stan.

Hi Sara,

Sandy Lane is in the north part of Walton, and is still there today. An old map from 1893 is available from here: https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/336946/396919/12/101394, while the modern Google Map shows it here: https://goo.gl/maps/LSYgoP3Mpm72 (though note that the numbers may have changed since 1893).

Hope this helps!

Martin

Hi David,

I've had a little look but not having much success finding Mordan Street. There's a Morden Street, which is still there in Kensington, but this wasn't built until the 20th century so wouldn't be on the 1871 census. Are there any other clues as to the location, such as where relatives lived which might be nearby?

Martin

Mordan Street is were my ancestors are from it is off Derby Road BOOTLE, between Bankfield street and Brunswick Place which can be found on a present day map

Hi Sharon,

Have a look at this list of street names and see if any could be a likely match: https://historic-liverpool.co.uk/old-maps-of-liverpool/plan-of-liverpool-north-sheet-1890/#5/70.474/-153.325

There are references there so you can see which square of the map they're in.

Martin

Hi Joseph,

I've looked through my own maps, and the wonderful old-maps.co.uk but can't see one where that white space is labelled. The old-maps.co.uk site has an 1891 map with the church on it, so the map you saw must be earlier than that. I'll keep my eyes peeled in case another maps crosses my path. Very interesting history about the land donation.

Regards,
Martin

Hi Helen,

I've not had much luck finding orthall. Could it be a misprint that is meant to say Northall Street? To be honest I'm not having much better luck with that but there are a few roads across England with that name, and that might give you a lead.

Martin

Try Northill street liverpool 8

Could possibly be Old Hall Street

Thanks Sandra,

Hopefully Declan will see your comment and be able to spot it.

Best wishes,
Martin

Hi Graham,

Yes, it seems difficult to find information on it! The old maps show it marked as a laundry all the way back to 1891, when the area was only just being built up. The boys and girls signs are common on old school buildings, but I've never heard of the need to separate boys and girls in a laundry (unless they were going there to wash the very clothes they stood up in!). Perhaps it was intended as a school, but never used as one, or indeed there was some reason for boys and girls to use this establishment (and separately!).

Martin

Hi Vicky,

There was a Pennistone Terrace mentioned in the index to the c.1951 map of Liverpool that I have (soon to be on the website, but not yet). It's not drawn on the map, but is indicated to be close to Townsend Street in Kirkdale. See Townsend Street on this 1890 map: https://historic-liverpool.co.uk/old-maps-of-liverpool/plan-of-liverpool-north-sheet-1890/#5/67.509/-106.458. As you say, it's almost certainly demolished. Sometimes a "Terrace" was a row of houses within a longer street, so it might have been a part of Townsend Street, or one of the unlabelled streets in that map at the link above.

Martin

Hi Janet,

The nearest I can find is a Linton Street which is in north Liverpool. This area could have been labelled as 'West Derby' depending on the record. I can't find any other road with a similar name, but I'd be grateful if anyone else reading this can help out too.

Martin

Hi Denice,

Oh yes! I've never noticed it myself, but Anfield is not labelled. If you click on this link this page should re-load with the location of Anfield in the centre.

https://historic-liverpool.co.uk/old-maps-of-liverpool/plan-of-liverpool-north-sheet-1890/#5/74.776/3.713

It's a pale empty rectangle bordered by the '-ELD' of 'Anfield Road' to the north.

Martin

Hi Dominic,

For photos I'll always recommend Liverpool Picturebook (https://web.archive.org/web/20210731092116/https://www.liverpoolpicturebook.com). I can't find anything on Smollett Street itself but it's worth trying to find streets nearby, as sometimes photos can show other streets in background or on the edge of them.

Regards,
Martin

Hi David,
I'm afraid I've not found any photos in my usual sources, but if I do find some then I'll post them here!
Best wishes,
Martin

Hi Pauline,

Thanks for your kind comments!

The courts off Highfield Street are marked on the 1:500 scale maps. The only one online I can find is here: https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/334195/390985/13/100871, but I can't see Crown Court on there - they just have numbers (Court No1 etc). But hopefully it's a pointer in the right direction.

Regards,
Martin

Hi Bill,

Well spotted! I know these maps are derived from the Ordnance Survey ones, but inevitably there's a delay. But I never thought the delay could be as much as 30 years! The Cottages can be seen on this map on the National Library of Scotland: https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=17.603333333333328&lat=53.42148&lon=-2.98809&layers=168&right=BingHyb, and there's a great article, photos and discussion on Colin Wilkinson's Streets of Liverpool website: http://streetsofliverpool.co.uk/st-martins-cottages/

Best wishes,
Martin

Hi Stewart,

Yes, it looks like Wolfe Street is a shadow of its former self! It used to be a much longer street, with strings of terraced housing on it - enough for there to be at least 191. But I can't find an Upper Wolfe Street, even on the very detailed 1850 map, so I assume It was all labelled Wolfe Street.

You can see the street on my detailed (and searchable) street map here: https://historic-liverpool.co.uk/interactive-maps/old-streets-liverpool/#17/53.39003/-2.97519 or on the South Sheet counterpart to the map on this page here: https://historic-liverpool.co.uk/old-maps-of-liverpool/plan-of-liverpool-south-sheet-1890/#5/50.681/-49.197

Best wishes,
Martin

Wolfe Street, Liverpool 8, started at Hill Street, continued over Warwick Street, and ended at Northumberland Street, I lived at 171 which was last house before Northumberland Street. Then there was chippy that stood on corner of Northumberland Street.

Hi Ursula,

Dunkeld Street was on the north side of West Derby Road. You can see it on the old map here: https://historic-liverpool.co.uk/interactive-maps/old-streets-liverpool/#17/53.41538/-2.95812 (that map also has a search feature). The street has been reduced to a cul-de-sac, and renamed Dunkeld CloseL: https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=17/53.41584/-2.95968. (Google Maps labels a remnant part of the original road with the original name, but there are no buildings on it anymore).

Best wishes,
Martin

Hi Chris,
There's a great map showing the courts on Whitley Street on the NLS maps page, which is extracted below. As you can see, Whitley Street never extended all the way to Vauxhall Road. Burlington Road (which still exists) is the street which you can see the beginning of to the right.



Best wishes,
Martin

Hi George,

McLeod Street was just off Breckfield Road South, and you can see it on my map of old streets here: https://historic-liverpool.co.uk/interactive-maps/old-streets-liverpool/#17/53.42136/-2.95942. There's a search box in the top left corner which will pinpoint the spot for you, and highlight it with a red circle.

Best wishes,
Martin

Not a problem! :) I think the entry probably should read ‘Fontenoy Street’, which shows up in the map search. I’m happy to help with things like this - search boxes will never be as good as human knowledge when it comes to difficult-to-read sources!

Hi Chris,

I think the street you're looking for is Worfield Street, which has Court No. 1 marked as running off it on the 1891 OS map (see below). Worfield Street was close to Leeds Street, but the area has been heavily redeveloped now. You can see the area on my map here: https://historic-liverpool.co.uk/interactive-maps/old-streets-liverpool/#18/53.41219/-2.99129, which is a searchable map.



Regards,
Martin

Hi Cal,

It's definitely possible that this refers to a court house off Highfield Street. I can see on the old maps that there were some courts off that street: https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=18&lat=53.41193&lon=-2.99170&layers=168&b=1 and it was generally a residential area.

Regards,
Martin

Hi Stephen,

You're right, those all look like very similar houses (assuming they didn't move into the massive houses on St Domingo Grove!).

The main things that come to mind are falling out with the landlord or neighbours, problems with the house, and related to this perhaps similar houses in better repair. It might be useful to cross-reference these moves with any other records that you can find, such as births, or jobs, to see if circumstances changed for them in other ways too.

Regards,
Martin

Hi Sue,

I can’t find Fletcher’s Gardens, but you can search for All Saint’s churches here, which might help you cross-reference old maps: https://historic-liverpool.co.uk/interactive-maps/historic-parishes-1851

Best wishes,
Martin

Hi Patricia,

It might be a long shot but I found a photo of Prince Edwin Lane (not Street, I know) showing some three-storey buildings in the background. They are the kind of tenements that were often called 'Something Buildings', so perhaps this is similar to the one your ancestors lived in: https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cWNX07l6C_k/UJet0EgwKZI/AAAAAAAARX8/EV4nPNTinsU/s1600/Prince+Edwin+lane+refuse+collection.jpg

It's on the excellent Liverpool Picturebook website, so see this page and search on it for 'Prince Edwin lane refuse collection' https://www.liverpoolpicturebook.com/p/l4-l5.html

Best wishes,
Martin

Hi Robert,

Sorry for the long delay in replying. If you’ve not found it yet, it can be seen here on my Street Names Map: https://historic-liverpool.co.uk/interactive-maps/old-streets-liverpool/#17/53.38867/-2.96583 If it’s hard to spot, there is a search box in the top left which will highlight the road with a red circle.

Best wishes,
Martin

Hi Vance,

I’ve done a search on my Old Streets map for ‘nes’ and the nearest name that comes up is Furness Street. It’s not in what we think of as West Derby, but it might still count as being in the parish of that name. There are a few other streets that are candidates (Falstaff Street, also not really West Derby). Faulkner Street comes to mind too, especially with a lot of houses on it, but that’s straying a bit from your clues... Try the map yourself: https://historic-liverpool.co.uk/interactive-maps/old-streets-liverpool

Regards,
Martin

Hi Pauline,

Yes, it was parallel to Cranmer Street, and was a very short cul-de-sac. You can see it here on my Old Streets map: https://historic-liverpool.co.uk/interactive-maps/old-streets-liverpool/#17/53.42466/-2.98670 Use the search box in the top left if you need to, but it should be in the centre of the screen via that link.

Regards,
Martin

Hi Tarquin

I have been trying to locate Albion Terrace in Liverpool. Did you have any joy finding anything about it? I can't find it on any of the old maps...

Would be great if you could point me in the right direction!

Thanks

Sebastian.

Hi Louise,

Looking at the old maps it looks like there were never any houses on that end of the street next to Aigburth Road, and that’s going back as far as 1908. It’s a puzzle! I wonder whether there were vague plans to widen Aigburth Road at some point. The old maps show the houses were built in sections, with some roads being half completed for some time. Perhaps the builder had to leave the Aigburth Road-end houses until the end, and then went bust, and they couldn’t renumber because people were already living in existing houses.

Regards,
Martin

Hi Stephen,

Yes, Walnut Street has been obliterated by the moden University developments near the Catholic Cathedral. You can see it on my map of Liverpool Streets (and you can search too). There's a very detailed map on the NLS website here: https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=17.57333333333331&lat=53.40488&lon=-2.96459&layers=168&right=ESRIWorld

It looks like a heavily working class area, dominated by terraced houses, with larger buildings that were probably warehouses or factories. Walnut Street itself had very few houses on it, except towards the eastern end. All the houses in that area are the smallest terraces, with the western end having slightly larger ones, some even appearing to have front gardens.

Best wishes,
Martin
Regards,
Martin

Hi Sebastian,

I’m not surprised you couldn’t find it, as it’s quite a small street! It’s a cul-de-sac (as we’d call it today, anyway) off Low Hill, and you can see it here next to a modern aerial view: https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=17.682764106394306&lat=53.41252&lon=-2.96298&layers=168&right=ESRIWorld

It looks like they were either court houses or small terraced houses.

Best wishes,
Martin

Hi Peter,

I’m not sure how familiar you ware with Liverpool, so forgive me if I tell you things you already know. Scotland Ward is to the north and east of the city centre, where a lot of Scottish, Irish and Welsh families moved to when they arrived in the city. It’s a bit hard to identify where 119C block was without luckily stumbling across it while examining some old maps.

It sounds to me (though I might be mistaken) that Block C is part of a tenement or court, so perhaps this part of the city would be worth exploring: https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=16.985417428843032&lat=53.42405&lon=-2.98617&layers=168&right=ESRIWorld

Best wishes,
Martin

The road you're looking for is Poyntz street. You can find it on Martin's recommended link:
https://historic-liverpool.co.uk/interactive-maps/old-streets-liverpool/#17/53.42466/-2.98670
My Dad's family also lived there in the early 20th Century.
Kindest regards
Emily

Hi John,

The houses in that area were largely built in the late 18th - early 19th centuries, and they included the notorious court houses as well as terraces. I'm certain that the demolition and clearance projects were more enthusiastic than they needed to be, as it was the 1960s and I think many things seemed possible in the new future that was promised! I think the state of the buildings would have varied, but I'm sure the authorities didn't consider anything other than large scale demolition.

The courts would have had to come down. They weren't suitable for inhabitation when they were built. For instance, there was a lack of sanitary facilities that we'd no longer find acceptable, and I've heard it said that some were built using bricks cut in half - lengthways! The buildings themselves were often thrown up extremely quickly.

However, the terraces might have been a different story. I'm sure some would have been better maintained by their owners than others, but they would have been a class above courts. Still, I think the view was that the buildings that would replace all this housing would be better. We now know that the situation would not be so simple.

The old maps from c.1900 show that the courts and terraces were intermingled, and so it would be easy to strike off whole areas as fit for demolition instead of trying to look in detail at what needed knocking down. Of course, when you demolish housing you also destroy communities, and so this is, as you identify, an emotive subject, and not just a debate about architecture!

Most of the books I've read say pretty much what I've summarised above, but there is one book that's not afraid to be emotive, and comes at it from a proudly biased point of view, which makes it good reading. The book is "Liverpool: it all came tumbling down" which came out in 1986. It's a small paperback, written by Freddy O'Connor who was born just off Scotland Road. It has a fair portion of nostalgia, but is also a detailed photographic record of the demolition, with before and after photos (by O'Connor himself), and old maps too. You can still get it second hand on Amazon, and you can probably find it in second hand book shops now and again.

Best wishes,
Martin

Hi David,

Assuming the numbering went from east to west when your grandparents lived there, as it does now, I think number 4 would have been close to the junction with Finch Place (which today comes through to Devon Street, but didn't before the Second World War). There are a few buildings which could be houses, though the ones directly opposite Finch Place on the early 20th century maps look more like they're associated with the houses fronting onto Islington. So I wonder whether your grandparents' houses was further west, where there are some buildings which look more like independent properties.

Best wishes,
Martin

Hi Toni,
You can search for it on my Old Streets map, which is here: https://historic-liverpool.co.uk/interactive-maps/old-streets-liverpool/#19/53.42398/-2.98330. If you go to that link then Aintree Street is the vertica. line in the middle of the screen. Doing a search for it will add a red circle to highlight it.

Best wishes,
Martin

St Albans Church lay OTB = 'Over the Bridge' the actual bridge exists to this day, beneath it ran the historic & vital to business Liverpool-Leeds canal.

OTB Community primarily comprised Irish immigrants fleeing the famine - The Wall family home was # 26 Athol Street and lay directly adjacent to the overhead rail line.

Hi Chris,

'Back' streets are often behind the buildings fronting on to the corresponding 'non-Back' version. So Back Bond Street was to the north of Bond Street, behind the houses that fronted on to it. You can see it here: https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=18.2&lat=53.41847&lon=-2.98552&layers=168&right=MapTiler

It looks like even the houses that were on the main Bond Street were of the smallest type, the court houses. So Back Bond would simply be an access to these properties from the other side.

There are Back streets all over Liverpool, so they were only as poor as their namesakes. Though any residences in a Back Street would naturally likely be smaller than others in the area.

Best wishes,
Martin

Hi,
Yes, indeed, the Adelphi has always been on that spot. But there have been two buildings, with the current one being opened in 1914. The one before it was built in 1876, so if you're interested in 1889 then Rizal would have stayed in that building.
(There was a hotel on the site before the 1876 building, but it was not called the Adelphi, and was converted from two town houses).
I don't have a map of 1888-9 specifically, but there is one which covers that period on the excellent NLS site: Ranelagh Place, 1892-1914. And in case you haven't seen it (or other people are interested who are reading this), there's a map like this one for the south of the city on the 1890: Plan of Liverpool - South Sheet page.
Best wishes,
Martin

Hi Irene,
There's a great map on the NLS website where you can see individual houses on Everton Brow. However, I've not managed to find a map with house numbers on it. Assuming the numbering started from the town end of the street (like it does with modern roads) the link above takes you to the rough location in the 1880s. Note that the area might have changed by the time your ancestors lived there.
Regards,
Martin

Hi Erika,
Perhaps the road you're after is Harvey Street. There's one in the Edge Hill area: go to my Old Streets map and use the search box for 'harvey'. The following link to that page is already centred on Harvey Street, but the search box might help: https://historic-liverpool.co.uk/old-streets-liverpool/#16/53.3982/-2.9469
Best wishes,
Martin