Hidden History
February 20, 2016 / October 24, 2023 by Martin Greaney | Leave a Comment
Following the curve of Princes Parade, on the north west side of Princes Dock, are a set of rails which are one of the few clues left to the presence of Liverpool Riverside Station. Today the rails might look odd, as they are constructed like a tramway’s, with heavy stone setts bringing the level of […]
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Buildings
January 14, 2016 / November 11, 2022 by Martin Greaney | 4 Comments on Blackburne Place ventilation shaft and the Wapping Tunnel
This red brick and sandstone tower on Blackburne Place is a beautiful ventilation shaft for a railway which once ran beneath it, and could be seen as representing the tunnel and railway in a nutshell. The tunnel itself, Wapping Tunnel, is partly bored through the local natural sandstone, with brick lining above, mirroring the architecture […]
October 30, 2015 / November 14, 2022 by Martin Greaney | 1 Comment on Hartley Quay Dock Railway
The dock railway was built in Liverpool to solve a challenge which other cities did not face. With dock expansion, ships were docking further and further from the central business district. Places like Manchester and Bristol stood astride their rivers, and twice the mileage of docks fit in each mile of river than in Liverpool. […]
Book reviews
October 19, 2015 / October 25, 2022 by Martin Greaney | Leave a Comment
Is this the best Liverpool memoir? It’s certainly different to all the rest. There are plenty of memoirs and autobiographies written by people who lived through some of Liverpool’s darkest days (or, at least, they lived in Liverpool’s darkest areas – not many memoirs by the Victorian gentry). Some are semi-fictionalised, like Her Benny, and […]
Maps and mapping
March 2, 2015 / November 11, 2022 by Martin Greaney | Leave a Comment
Liverpool was one of the first British cities to be rendered in three full dimensions on Google Earth. There was, as a crazy extra, a rumour going around that it was in preparation for a new Google office which was opening in the city. That latter rumour was soon quashed, but as a blog interested […]
Landscapes
June 12, 2012 / November 17, 2022 by Martin Greaney | 2 Comments on Bootle: seaside village
This map is taken from a detailed one from the Illustrated Globe Encyclopedia printed in 1878. The point of interest I’m drawing your attention to is Bootle. In 1878, and also visible on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map of the area, the village of Bootle sits alone to the north of Liverpool. The docks […]
June 23, 2011 / September 29, 2023 by Martin Greaney | 1 Comment on Liverpool Heroes 4: Jesse Hartley
Continuing our look at the men and women who have had the greatest impact on the Liverpool landscape, this time we examine the work of Jesse Hartley, dock engineer. Jesse Hartley (1780-1860) is best known as the architect of the Albert Dock. But this was just one of his achievements as Civil Engineer and Superintendent […]
August 31, 2010 / November 8, 2022 by Martin Greaney | 2 Comments on Edge Hill – the First Ever Passenger Station
Edge Hill has had two stations. The earlier of these was the first passenger station in the world, along with Liverpool Street in Manchester. The first of the two stations opened in 1830, and sat in a sandstone cutting with three tunnels at one end. The passenger terminal at Crown Street lay at the end […]
