Industrial Merseyside 1600-1900 Factsheet and activities FREE ENTRY liverpoolmuseums.org.uk 1 Industrial Merseyside • The 1700s and 1800s were a • Ports at Liverpool and Chester were period of growth in industries: used in export and trade. They were manufacturing industries (making involved in the transatlantic trade in goods for sale) and transport enslaved African people. This awful industries (moving goods and people trade made Liverpool a very around). Liverpool and Merseyside wealthy place. developed in both these areas of • Many people moved out of the industry. countryside into towns where • There were natural resources in new jobs were being created. The Merseyside which helped industries population of Liverpool grew from grow, such as coal, sand which could the small Tudor town of around a be used to make glass, and clay for thousand people. There were around potting. 85,000 living in Liverpool in 1800 to • The development of canals (in over 750,000 in 1900. the 1700s) and railways (in the 1800s) linked Liverpool to other industrial centres. © Lee Garland Research: Find out more about the history of slavery with the International Slavery Museum www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/history-of-slavery/ transatlantic-slave-trade 2 Spotlight on Rainford pottery industry Excavations in Rainford near St Helens have uncovered evidence for the pottery and clay tobacco pipe-making industries there from the 1600s to the 1800s. Chance finds have often helped locate archaeological sites, such as this tall cup found in a garden. A community excavation by Merseyside Archaeological Society and the Museum of Liverpool then located a dump of pottery. These pots had been beautifully made but something had gone wrong when they were fired in the kiln. This left them bent and warped or the shiny glazes on the surface bubbled, so they were thrown away. “The site was so rich in finds! Each time a corner of pottery emerged, we held our breath.” Rainford’s Roots volunteer How many pieces of pottery can you find in this dump of pottery and kiln waste which was found during test pitting? 3 What’s in your pot? Lots of examples of multi-handled drinking cups have been found in Rainford. These date from the 1600s. Sometimes they had lids to keep drinks warm or fresh. Inside a similar vessel discovered in Shropshire, 138 silver coins were found. The discovery was reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme. What other things might you find hidden in a cup like this? 0 Activity: Fill up and colour in your pot. 4 Clay pipes at Rainford Library These clay pipes were found during excavations at Rainford Library. Rainford was an important pipe manufacturing centre. Rainford Library is built on the site of a Victorian pipe-maker’s workshop. colour me 0 5 Spotlight on Bickerstaffe A glass-making workshop near Bickerstaffe, Lancashire, was excavated in the 1960s. A rectangular furnace was colour found, where the ingredients, including local sand, would me 0 have been melted to make glass. Large coarse pottery vessels, known as crucibles, would have held the molten (melted) glass until the glassworker was ready to create vessels by blowing into a long metal tube to create a glass bubble at the end. Fragments of fine pale green glass were found. Documents tell us that some of the glassmakers were from France. They were probably Huguenot, a group of Protestants who moved away from France after the Catholic government treated them badly because of their beliefs. 6 Glass made at Bickerstaffe The glass being made at Bickerstaffe was both window glass and fine drinking glasses. Question: Can you think of other uses of glass today? We know some of the glass was being used locally. An inventory for a yeoman, (a person who was free, and not a servant, and who worked on his own land) called Rauffe Roose, from Ormskirk, who died in 1601 includes both window glass and drinking glasses. A list of Rauffe Roose’s goods and chattels included: • glass in the parlor windowe • glass in the new chamber • [glass] in the clossett • [glass] in the parlor and the backe syde in glass • 14 glasses & 10 earthen pottes 0 The base of a wine glass from the 1600s – imagine what it might have been like and draw the rest. Activity: Write your own inventory (list) of what is in your bedroom. 7 Liverpool’s Docks The first dock in Liverpool, later known as the ‘Old Dock’, opened in 1715 at the mouth of the Pool, an inlet of the Mersey which gave Liverpool its name. Over the next 200 years Liverpool built more than 50 docks, stretching seven miles from Seaforth in the north to Dingle in the south. Many historic docks fell out of use in the 1900s and were filled in, but their remains are sometimes excavated when new buildings are going to be built at the waterfront. In 2001 the Old Dock was excavated by archaeologists before the Liverpool ONE shopping centre was built. The dock was found to have been cut into the natural sandstone and dock walls built from brick with stone toppings. Activity: Archaeologists use maps to spot changes in the landscape, this helps them know how places have developed over time. Spot the docks on this 1836 map and research their names. 8 Manchester Dock Before the Museum of Liverpool was built an archaeologcial excavation on the site revealed the Manchester Dock. The dock had been built between 1800 and 1810. The dock was constructed by reclaiming land from the River Mersey. One common type of find at the Manchester Dock site was sugar moulds. These were made in Prescot and were thrown away here to help build up the land from the river. Many small sugar refineries existed in Liverpool 200 years ago. The raw sugar was produced by enslaved Africans on plantations in the West Indies and shipped to Liverpool to be refined into high quality expensive cones of sugar, using these pots. Some of the pots are badly worn showing that they were heavily used. Activity: Potter William Ashcroft stamped his name on the pots he made. Can you print your name in plasticine, playdough, clay or pastry? 9 Defence As Liverpool merchants were dealing with valuable goods they often built secure warehouses and defended their ships with small cannons. The sea could be a violent place with navies and privateers (individuals licensed by the navy) defending their waters by attacking foreign ships; and pirates attacking and stealing cargoes. A cannon was found during building works at Old Hall Street, Liverpool. This type of short-barrelled gun was made in small iron foundries in larger seaports such as Liverpool, Bristol and London. They were used for arming smaller merchant vessels, and to protect vulnerable coastal communities and estates. They were also used to attack by private war ships and slave merchants. Activity: have a go at making a rubber band cannon: www.youtube.com/ watch?v=oq145AHJPw0&feature=youtu.be 10 Food Specialized types of kitchenware are made from the 1600s onwards, such as this salting pan for salting and cooking meats. This was discovered in Newton-le-Willows. Kitchen equipment such as colanders, storage jars, and large mixing bowls or pancheons are found by archaeologists. Liverpool ‘s most famous food is ‘scouse’, a type of stew, originally known as ‘lobscouse’ introduced from Scandinavia and first mentioned in 1706. Activity: Have a go at cooking your own scouse www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/lamb-scouse To make a veggie version you can cut out the lamb and add more vegetables. This is called ‘blind scouse’. Street food including mussels, cockles and oysters were eaten at the Georigian market at South Castle Street, Liverpool. The shells were thrown away and found by archaeologists in 1977. Question: What objects in your kitchen might be found by archaeologists in 100 years? Think about what cooking utensils are made of and what would survive in the ground. 11 Fashion Clothing has always helped express someone’s wealth, style and identity. Controls were sometimes put in place to make sure good quality clothes were being sold: “It is ordered by the sayd inquest that the mayre for the tyme being shall apoynte a tanner and a shoe maker” (Liverpool Town Books 1541) Archaeological finds of personal items tell us about changes in fashion: Hair or wig curlers were found during excavations on South Castle Street, Liverpool. Curlers were commonly used from the 1600s and were probably made by pipe makers as they used the same type of clay. Decoration on pottery can often tell us more about what people were wearing. Watch: Getting dressed in the 18th century Decorative shoe buckle found at www.youtube.com/ Sefton Old Hall. watch?v=UpnwWP3fOSA Question: Does what you wear tell other people about what you like such as sports, your favourite colour, games or music? 12 Schools A big development in the industrial “In this school the teaching is period was the availability of free very intelligent. The Master’s schooling for all children, introduced in fault seems to be that he the 1870 Education Act. is a little too easy and good Even before national laws created natured, for he has the respect schools, Liverpool merchants funded of his pupils and otherwise education. The Pleasant Street Board School opened in 1818 and aimed to manages them well, but allows educate poor children. The forward- too much talking.” thinking teaching style there attracted (Report of 1864) some criticism: Question: What do you think these objects are and what would they have been used for? Activity: Can you find out how old your school is and its history? 13 Empire The industires of Merseyside, broke on the way to Liverpool.