4 a housecalled called mansion a erected had and Barton Samuel , hadbought itinabout 1813from Samuel Woodhouse who, according to James Lane andEverton Valley was theestate of area the built, bounded by Sleepers Hill, wereRd, Walton houses these below-right). Before (fig house terraced Victorian on achimney breast inherbrickbuilt, late built, sandstone wall when removing plaster Sleepers Hillandwhohadfoundaroughly off St Bodley lives in who resident Anfield an The LHSwebsite received anenquiryfrom recyclingVictorian withaconnection toAdmiralNelson Courtesy of the Athenaeum. Courtesy ofthe A detailfrom Bennison’s 1835survey. Bronte House Hope atEverton,ShawStreet, StFrancisXavierCollegebuilding).Doorsopenat1.30pm. L38QB(theformer the wide range of photographic, digital printing, exhibition, display andsignageservicesit offers. display exhibition, printing, widerangeofphotographic,digital the C3imaging,,forgenerously tothank LHS wouldlike issueatareduced this printing Society. costtothe company’s the Visit detailsof websiteforfull Postal Correspondence: LIVERPOOL HISTORY SOCIETY–2018MEETINGSPROGRAMME The Pilgrim Librarian: Treasurer: Webmaster &MembershipSecretary: on it (fig below),(fig it on replacing 15 April 18 March 18 February Committee Secretary: Allan Williams • Williams Allan . Meetings willtakeplaceat2pmintheGraceRoom,1stFloor, Building, Cornerstone FayCarter([email protected]) • Newsletter co-ordinator: Chairman &AdministrationSecretary:

The Liverpool History Societyisaregistered charity -Number1093746 Liverpool CartersandtheirHorses The FinestintheKingdom– Commerce, Culture andtheCity, 1840-2002 Rushworths ofLiverpool–AFamilyMusicBusiness: 1908-1918: theOriginalLiverpoolPals Social &EconomicOriginsoftheLiverpoolTerritorials LHS Administration Secretary, LHSAdministration 32RugbyDrive,Aintree LiverpoolL108JU Village, www.liverpoolhistorysociety.org.uk Journal Editor: Ann Clayton• containing hundreds ofhouses. after prominent Victorian architects and the estate was covered with five streets named the Philistines inevitably won the battle and the garb ofbuilders rescuing Bronte from the handsofthe Philistines in adjoining, hasinthisrespect done goodservice in that ‘ estate ‘ Woodhouse familywas stillthere, that the Writing in1875, Picton says that the wine to becalled Bronte. that’s 52,500 gallons! Nelson alsoasked forthe A pipe,incidentally, equates to 105gallons so home. at friends for few a and fleet his of use 500 pipesofMarsala from Woodhouse forthe Nelson was inthearea about 1804,heordered by Nelson. Picton alsotells usthat, when island andwas thenameofanestate owned the elsewhereon Bronteis but wine, Marsala estate inSicilyandhadgrown grapes there for The Woodhouse familyhadlongpossessedan the recent formation ofStanley Park, Graham Jones([email protected]) still preserves much ofitsamenity Keith Lloyd([email protected]) Keith MarieMcQuade• ’. Afew years later, however, LHS email:

Fred Forrest ([email protected]) [email protected] Newsletter Editor: Programme Secretary: ’ and Rough sandstonechimneybreast.

Of the five streets built on the former on sited was built House Bronte estate, streets Woodhouse five the Of outbuildings had beenrecycled from thehouseitreplaced. its and House Bronte in used even be, of course, that some of the stone eventually becameacouncil depot. Itcould bottom ofSt Domingo Rd (thenLane),which on the1906 O.S. mapas shown is what was House Bronte for stone gone. Itseemslikely that thesource ofthe the area asitwas builtup, mostnow long sandstone, andquarrieswere openedacross The area isarichsource of the wall. incidentally, ishopingto make afeature of of thesamenamenearby. Thehouseowner, Walton Lane,now gone, but there isaClose as thenameofastreet ontheothersideof Streets. The Woodhouse name was preserved Butterfield and Bodley of end BreezeHill the are sandstone quoinsanddecorations on much cheaper. Itisalsonotablethat there plaster whencommon brickwould have been wonders why itwas usedand buried under from not is estate Bronte one oftheterraced housesonthesite ofthe If therough sandstone foundhiddenaway in required minimalmovement ofit. use ofthesurplussandstone there would have Streets, Butterfield where thebiggest houseswere and built, sothe Bodley to closest Sharon Brown Dr NicholasWong Major PaulKnight Matthew Duddington Matthew www.c3imaging.com Cynthia Stonall Cynthia

Cobb’s Quarry

Bronte House Fred Forrest

at the , one

Rob Ainsworth’s photo. June 1990,lefttoright,25-31Pembroke Place. and PGalkoff’s kosher butchers shop. last surviving example ofcourtyard housing main heritage assetsonthesite: Liverpool’s grizzly murders. Theproject focusesontwo a formerzoo, roller skating Victorians and century to thepresent, suchasthesite of stories from thisvibrant street from the19th newspaper research, uncovering fascinating the area through census, street directory and volunteers hasbeenresearching thehistory of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).Ateam of24 National Museums Liverpool, supported by School ofTropical Medicine (LSTM) and The project isapartnership between Liverpool Galkoff’s andtheSecret LifeofPembroke Place between the planned between LSTM the and March 1995,Galkoff’s toexistence clings Rob Ainsworth’s photo. demolition of31. demolition HISTORY SOCIETY www.liverpoolhistorysociety.org.uk be uncovered. order to explore andshare thestories yet to research relevant to Pembroke Place in the area orwhoare actively undertaking other localhistorians whoare familiarwith delighted to work withLHSmembers and aged 3-93. At this stage the team would be team having worked with over 500 people, element ofthisproject sofar, withtheproject Community engagement hasbeenakey the city to life. October 2018–bringingstories ofthispart late 2017, with the exhibition – due to open in Removal ofthefaçade is dueto commence in will reveal the of Liverpool aspartofanexhibition which finery,Museum the original at its to returned P.frontageof Galkoff’s,tiled the recreationof history, theculmination ofwhichwillbethe to preserve thislegacy ofLiverpool’s Jewish the supportofHLF, work cannow go ahead its tiledfaçade was addedin1933. Thanks to a once thriving Jewish community inthearea, a kosher butchers in1907. Thesoleremnant of furniture shopandwas eventually turnedinto as a house, then a greengrocers, followed by a life its Galkoff’s started 1820s, the in Erected understand more about people’s lives there. uncover more remnants ofthehousingand excavation will be conducted in 2018 to from geophysical surveys, anarchaeological Liverpool. Using information obtained conditions endured by thousandsinVictorian are testament to thesmall,dark,dampliving converted into backrooms ofshops,which of the twentieth century. half Three housesremain, first the during built homes quality systematically demolishedandbetter of Liverpool inthemid19th century, was for around halftheworking classpopulation Court housing, providing accommodation Secret Life ofPembroke Place.

by LSTM. the site was purchased from hisexecutors history societies/groups. After Rob’s death, West) andmany Merseyside heritage and Conservation Team, English Heritage (North co-operation and assistance of Liverpool’s Culture, Media andSportwiththesupport, it was Grade IIlisted by theDepartment for referred to EnglishHeritage, andinApril2007 Galkoff’s was time same the At 1820. around built Georgian, as identified PembrokePlace 41 to 29 properties remaining the and officer inspected by Liverpool’s conservation In December 2004theproperties were there was no activity threatening the site. space fortheLSTM carpark),andfrom 1995 from carryingout thedemolition(to provide and prevented thedevelopment agency Property Services Department intervened of no. 29 (bolted to it).Thecity council’s have compromised thestructural stability plan, destructionofno. 31would directly of neighbouringshops.Intheproposed plans forthearea includingdemolition covenants due to subsequent development had to challenge thereversal ofprotective and after getting planningpermission,Rob In hisbidto retain its mainheritage features, living accommodation above theretail area. building backinto useasasmallbusinesswith refurbishing the property andbringing the him innewsletter 34)withtheintention of 07 Ainsworth (see his account in LHS Journal Pembroke 29 Place, was purchased in1990 by the late Rob Galkoff’s, P because Society This project isofparticularinterest to the Or phonePoppy on: [email protected] For enquiriese-mail: www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/galkoff For more information visit: , 2008,p88andtheSociety’s tribute to Cynthia Stonall andPoppy Learman WINTER 2017 0151 4784573

#50 1 Newsletter 18 June 2017 – Guided tour by Bryan Biggs 17 September 2017 – Dr Graham Jones 15 October 2017 – Arnold Lewis Meeting report: Meeting report: Meeting report: TH BLUECOAT 300 ANNIVERSARY Keith Lloyd WHY NOT DROWN LIVERPOOL? Veronica Maguire LEWIS’S DEPARTMENT STORES John Cowell

The tour started at the main gateway where The Bluecoat is built in brick with painted Our new season opened with an impassioned The Daily Post had regularly reported on Arnold Lewis presented his talk with slides Before David Lewis died in 1885, he instructed Bryan explained that the building is the stone dressings and a slate roof, H-shaped in talk, subtitled Welsh water for an English city, the Tryweryn scheme, and readers were and documents illustrating aspects of the his partner Louis Cohen to acquire Brunel’s oldest surviving structure in Liverpool city plan. Bryan took us into the court yard garden by one of our own members regarding the informed that another scheme, prior to the Lewis’s story. He took us back to when neglected Great Eastern steamship. It was centre. The school was founded in 1708 by the area and explained that originally the rear of sacrifice of a Welsh community in the mid- dam announcement, had progressed almost David Lewis (né David Lewis Levy) came transformed into a floating bazaar and Reverend Robert Styth (rector of Liverpool, the school resembled the front but in 1821 it 20th century. unnoticed. The Telford sluices at Bala Lake to Liverpool from London, seeking his entertainment palace and sailed to the River died 1713), and Bryan Blundell (a sea captain, was remodelled to give it a convex elevation. had been removed with new ones constructed fortune. A bright and astute 16-year-old, he Mersey in time for the 1886 International slave trader, the school’s principal benefactor The front encloses three sides of a quadrangle Following a summary of 19th century work to downstream to enable floodwater from a was apprenticed to the outfitters, Benjamin Exhibition of Navigation, Trade & Commerce and later twice Mayor of Liverpool in 1721–22 and is separated from School Lane by a low provide reservoirs at Rivington and Vyrnwy, diverted Afon Tryweryn to top up Bala Lake. Hyam & Co., and was eventually promoted in Liverpool that year. The ship, with a and 1728–29). With construction having started wall with railings and gate piers. The the talk moved to the end of WWII and With the combined supply flowing for free to a senior position opening new branches 1000-seat theatre, restaurants and various in 1716-17 by Thomas Steers and Edward block of five bays has two storeys with round- Liverpool’s need to provide new employment, along the River Dee to Huntington, where in other towns. In 1854 he married Bertha entertainments, was anchored in mid-Mersey Litherland, the same engineers that built arched windows, whilst the central three bays for which an essential element was more water only a much shorter pipeline to Liverpool Cohen of Dover. David opened his own store from April to September, and over 560,000 the old dock, the building was extended and project forwards under a pediment containing to supply new industries. Four days before would then be required, the Cwm Tryweryn at 44 Ranelagh Street in 1856, manufacturing people paid a shilling each to be ferried to partially opened in 1718 as a boarding school, a clock. Christmas 1955, the Daily Post announced the community realised that it was this action that and selling clothes for boys. His new venture it for a great day’s fun. When the ship was the Liverpool Blue Coat School for Orphaned proposed damming of the Tryweryn valley had sealed their fate. thrived through innovative and extensive later sold for scrap one of its masts ended up Children (blue being the colour for charity). The Bluecoat Display Centre, a contemporary in Merionethshire to provide a £16 million advertising combined with the provision of as a flagpole outside the Kop of Liverpool’s By the following year it had 50 children, with craft gallery, opened in the rear courtyard in reservoir. A Capel Celyn Defence Committee Work soon commenced with roads being goods of exceptional quality. football ground (Ed: see LHS Journal 13, room for 100 more, and construction was 1959, being known as the Bluecoat Arts Centre was formed, electing prominent locals closed, diversions created, a rail link closed, 2014, p67). finally completed in 1725. from the 1980s, and now simply The Bluecoat Dafydd Roberts as chairman and Elizabeth and a coffer dam constructed to facilitate work The business traded ethically, offering money since 2007. The 2005-2008 renovation at a cost Watkin Jones as secretary. Plaid Cymru on the main dam. Two tunnels were dug, one back guarantees as long as purchases had not Lewis’s store in Liverpool was severely A charity school supported by various of £14 million included a new 2250 square arranged a rally at Bala where their President, carrying the River Tryweryn under the dam been kept for more than three months and damaged and rebuilt twice, first from a fire in Liverpool traders, it was owned by St Peter’s meter extension, built mainly in brick to link Gwynfor Evans, argued that ‘if Wales had a site to continue its course to Bala and the were not worn or damaged. Lewis’s aim was late 1886 and then in 1941 during the May Blitz. , teaching the values of the Anglican with the old building, with a copper roof and political existence, actions of this kind would other for receiving overflow from the spillway. for small unit profit to be compensated for by Lewis’s became a public company in 1924. faith. Our guide showed us what may be the more modern materials internally. This new be unthinkable.’ In 1963 the time had come to close the school high unit turnover. The business grew rapidly: Sadly, in the past 50 years the store declined, oldest known graffiti in Liverpool: carved wing houses a flexible performance area and on 25 July and, as a final act of dissolution, to soon Lewis diversified into selling wide ranges a victim of asset-stripping, bankruptcy and initials in the stonework presumed to be made four art galleries. The Bluecoat was reopened With Liverpool’s Council having repeatedly remove the Welsh Bible from Capel Celyn of clothing and associated accessories. changes of ownership. The former store by the school children of the day. The school on 15 March 2008, during Liverpool’s year refused to meet the Defence Committee, in Chapel on 28 September. The diversion building is now listed, accommodating a moved to a new site in in 1906. as the European Capital of Culture, with an November 1956, Tudor Jones, Gwynfor Evans tunnel was plugged on 1 September 1964 and The existing Ranelagh Street premises hotel, a gymnasium and other businesses. exhibition entitled Now Then, showing work and Dafydd Roberts attended a meeting it took a year to fill the reservoir, submerging grew into an impressive 6-floor emporium On 3 May 1941, during the Liverpool Blitz, by five artists including Yoko Ono. During the of scheduled to all previous life therein. It was named Llyn with decorative spires and a clock tower. The legacy of David Lewis himself survives the concert hall and adjoining rooms were early summer a display entitled Mr Roscoe’s discuss Tryweryn. As Gwynfor Evans rose Celyn in memory of the lost community. New stores were established first in Bold through his philanthropy. Generous during severely damaged by an incendiary bomb, Garden, comprising part of Liverpool’s Botanic to address the meeting, none other than Liverpool Corporation’s opening ceremony Street as Bon Marché – later in Basnett Street his lifetime, he bequeathed his wealth to be and during the following night the rear wing Collection, was held. On 13 May a fire broke Mrs. Bessie Braddock commenced shouting was a public relations disaster, and it was not – then in other cities. He was a consummate used for the benefit of the working classes was destroyed by a bomb blast. Herbert Tyson out in a kitchen on the first floor of the west and banging her desk lid, an action echoed until 2005 that Liverpool City Council finally showman who believed that shopping should of Liverpool and Manchester: hospitals, Smith, an artist famous for his sculptures wing causing significant damage. by her compatriots, and the police were apologised for the actions of its predecessor be an enjoyable experience. He established libraries, playgrounds, a workmen’s hostel around Liverpool and who had a workshop called to remove the visitors. Having been Council. the world’s first Christmas Fairyland and and club resulted. The David Lewis Centre there, raised the alarm to the fire brigade and In addition to the performance areas and art rebuffed again by Liverpool’s Council, the Grotto and arranged for spectacular events to in Warford, Alderley Edge has provided personally rescued many works of art from galleries, the complex now provides studios residents of Capel Celyn came to Liverpool The whole talk together with over 100 images take place at each of his stores. residential, medical and therapeutic support the destruction. Restoration took place after for artists and craftspeople, a restaurant a fortnight later and marched to the Town can be found on the LHS website as a pdf for people with learning disabilities, epilepsy the war, being completed by 1951, and the and café, and a number of retail outlets. Hall on the day of the Council’s vote. under Local History, Articles. Lewis’s slogan was Friends of the people. At its and autism for well over a century – probably building was recorded on 28 June 1952 in the The tour finished in the old chapel section Gwynfor Evans was granted a 15 minute height in the 1950s Lewis’s empire had nine the best memorial to David’s philanthropy. National Heritage List for as Grade I. of the Blucoat which, having been used as a address but despite his eloquence and stores – including Selfridges in London – concert room, has now been converted into persuasiveness the councillors voted to employing over 14,000 staff. David Lewis and a bar after being closed for some time due promote the Bill. A second meeting was his wife were childless, so to continue running to the fire in 2008. We left via a dark wooden required to confirm that Liverpool’s citizens the expanding business David drafted in his staircase, the oldest in the building and were also in support of the scheme and when Australian relatives. A nephew by marriage, possibly original. John Braddock realised the opposing Welsh Louis Samuel Cohen, eventually became his were in a majority, he delayed the meeting successor, and Liverpool’s first Jewish Lord to allow an influx of Council employees to Mayor in 1899. ensure that the vote was in favour of the scheme. The Bill had quite a bumpy ride Besides introducing hardware, tobacco, through Parliament, but was passed on patent medicines, stationery and literature 31 July 1957. into their stock, Lewis’s had a huge impact on the nation’s beverage consumption when they began selling tea at half its previous price, and Capel Celyn’s residents in Liverpool, 21 Nov 1956 promoted its consumption. It was advertised by means of a catchy vocal waltz entitled Bryan’s commentary on a beautifully Lewis’s Beautiful Tea, and Arnold delighted his The plaque on the Ranelagh St face of sunny afternoon the now-converted Lewis’s audience by playing a recording.

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