History Map: pins on the past

Historic Liverpool aims to be a site that takes a geographical look at the history of the city. Every pin in the Liverpool History Map indicates an article. The map is a great companion to the old maps of Liverpool elsewhere on this site.

This map is a gazetteer of all the historic features with articles on the Historic Liverpool website. Add more articles all the time, so it’s worth bookmarking and coming back. You can also follow the Historic Liverpool page on Facebook for updates.

For more history, check out my book Liverpool: a landscape history, available in the shop. There are other websites out there too, which have plenty of material on Merseyside heritage. So head over to the Related Websites page to take a look.

Click on a spot on the history map to see a title and brief description. Clicking on the title will take you through to the longer article. The pins are coloured coded to reflect their category, so check the key on the left hand side.

23 Comments on “History Map: pins on the past”

  • William Leece

    Marvellous site, and as good a reason as I’ve come across for wasting time constructively!
    I’ve spotted a couple of minor errors that you might want to correct, though. Firstly, it’s Princes Avenue/Road/Boulevard in L8, not Princess. Secondly, the houses there are mid-Victorian rather than Georgian – the expansion of the city to the south of Upper Parliament Street and east of Mill Street seems to have paused for for several years before resuming in the 1850s and 60s. The road from what is now the Rialto to Princes Park (ie Princes Avenue etc) was laid out in the 1840s, but its character looks to have been semi-rural in the early days.

    Thanks once again.

    • Martin Greaney

      Thanks William, I shall make those changes shortly! Don’t know how I called it Princess, when I know it’s Princes, and also thankful for you pointing out the dates of those houses, which I didn’t know!

      And thanks for your kind comments on the site – if you love to spend time here then I shall not consider it wasted! 🙂

      Best wishes,
      Martin

  • Martin Bell

    Hello
    My Great Grandad was the landlord of a pub at 251 Walton Road in 1911. His name was Thomas Warren Vallance, he was 33 yrs old and was born in Shropshire (Salop). Do you know what the name was or have any pictures? Guess it was demolished 1930/40’s for the ballroom.

    • Martin

      Hi Martin,

      Is this the one on the corner of Walton Road and Barlow Lane? On the 1891 map it’s called the Palatine Hotel. There’s no name on the later maps, so I can’t be sure if it kept this name or not. Hopefully this answers your question!

      Martin

    • Louise

      Hi
      My great grandad is the same person, Thomas Warren Vallance! His son Thomas Valentine Vallance is my grandad and was born in the pub at 251 Walton Road in 1909.
      What a small world.

      • Gaynor Bannon

        Thomas Warren Vallance is my great grandfather. His daughter was my grandmother. Martin Bell is my first cousin.

  • Nicholas Ellis

    Hello, Martin.

    I was wondering if you, or anyone else for that matter, could help me. I am trying to find out the name of the architect responsible for the actual design or layout of Princes Road and Princes avenue, most notably the boulevard, or if you have any information regarding its initial inception, date of construction and inspiration.

    I have been told a tale akin to ‘folk-lore’ that it was created by the architect with a view to replicating a Parisian boulevard, so charming, that he could ‘waltz his paramour from end to end’.

    Yours sincerely,
    Nicholas Ellis.

    • Martin

      Hi Nicholas,

      I can’t find any information about the architect, but Princes Road was laid out in 1846, and it took a couple of decades to fill up with the impressive edifices its been known for. I’ve not heard that folklore story, but I like it a lot! The area is now a Conservation Area, and deservedly so. 🙂

      Martin

  • samuel cottrell

    hello,not very good at this computer but learning,i did ask about tariff st L5,
    my mother was born there in 1928, was there
    houses in that st or a court, I can only find Warehouses in that st

    • Martin

      Hi Sam,

      The map from the 1950s looks like it had one corner building marked ‘2’, and I can only imagine the address of that building was 2 Tariff Street. So there’s probably a 1 Tariff Street too. Could you mother have been born in either of those?

      Martin

  • iain Taylor

    Isn’t there an apostrophe in Prince’s? Sorry to be picky!
    iain T.

    • Martin

      Interesting question! There should be technically, but a lot of places don’t use apostrophes in their name. There’s no consistency (Bishop’s Stortford is a notable exception). It seems to depend on the habit of use. Princes Park is the same!

      Martin

  • iain Taylor

    The best general source for surviving Lpool architecture is Joseph Sharples, ‘Liverpool’, in the Pevsner Architectural Guide series, pub. 2004. On page 276 he mentions that “Princes Rd’ was in the course of formation in 1843 and Princes Ave. parallel dates from the 1870s.” He does not mention individual architects – and they may have been designed by their builders.

    iain T.

    • Martin

      I second this recommendation! It’s a great book which includes good walking tours of parts of Liverpool. I’d love to know a good place to identify architects. I suspect someone with good knowledge of the city archives could help with this type of research.

      Martin

  • Terry Morris

    Hi
    Some of my 19th century relatives moved from Gloucestershire to Liverpool in the early part of that century. They were millers. They lived in a number of places Princes Terrace and Crist Street are two that I have not been able to find on any maps, I wondered if you could help. Were there any flour mills in these areas? I would really appreciate your help.

  • Burt McNeill

    I love all this, Martin. So clear and interesting. What tech/software do you use? I’m in Leicester and want to map the city’s factories from years gone by.

    • Martin

      Thanks, Burt!
      To create this map I use a WordPress plugin called Geo Mashup (https://wordpress.org/plugins/geo-mashup/), which is pretty easy to set up basic maps with, but also lets people with more experience (or ambition and a willingness to experiment!) customise everything. Other maps use Leaflet (https://leafletjs.com/), which is definitely for developers with a bit of experience, but if fully customisable.

  • Nick Rainey

    I have a relative that was on Prince’s Terrace, Gomer St. and can’t find that either. I wish I was of some help, but if you ever find it and can let me know I’d be very appreciative!

  • Ann Richards

    I wonder if you can help? We are relatives of the Hutchinson family who used to have a flour mill in Liverpool and one at Barrow. It is the address of the Liverpool mill that we are interested in. I can remember going there as a child in the 1950’s and sitting in the car while my Mum got us bran for our hamsters and Guinea pigs. It was either on or close to the docks.
    Any help, would be great!

      • Doug Neilon

        Hi
        We live in Heywood Road L157LS. Lived here 52 years
        The house was built around 1892 we think
        There is 4 similar houses as
        Ours. All number 1,3,5,7 all mock tudor.
        Do you have an old map for around this time. Or any info.
        Many thanks Doug
        Wavertree Garden suburb is here as well

Comments are closed.