ABC Wednesday - L

L is for Liverpool

We travelled to Warrington on Sunday to watch the Rugby League Division One Playoff final between Halifax and Barrow Raiders. Our glorious Raiders team won, its first cup in 27 years, despite going behind twice and looking as though they were going to throw everything away. Nothing like sport to experience anguish, despair, hope and elation within moments.

Warrington is just a short train journey to Liverpool and we visted there on Monday. The Walker Art Gallery has a Bridget Riley retrospective - Flashback, not only of paintings but her sketches and calculations as she worked out the compositions.

The origins of the Walker collection date back to the early 1800s when William Roscoe, who collected early Italian and dutch paintings, banking business failed. (How things change and yet remain the same). The Liverpool Royal Institute acquired 37 of these fine paintings. The collection expanded and in the 1870s the present building was completed, funded and named after the alderman and brewer of its title. It was thought he was not particularly interested in paintings but liked architecture, having built some elaborate pubs, and the temperance movement was on the rise so maybe he was trying to divert their attention.
The Victorians were fond of the neo-classical form. Here is St Georges Hall (interiors here) sometimes called the people's palace. The foundation stone was laid in 1841. As I was taking this picture a local said to me go round the corner, the entrance is there, and have a look inside. Off we went, underneath are the holding cells where people were taken before being hauled before the judge. Journeying up the stairs past the judges chambers and old law court onwards to the great hall and surrounding rooms it is a vast building. The floor of the hall is covered but underneath and protected are a mosaic of 30,000 Minton tiles. A building built with all confidence of those early Victorians, on completion in 1851 the plaque inside says, this was the world's first air-conditioned building.
Liverpool is has many fine Victorian buildings of all styles and uses
but also many new ones. Here heading towards the Albert Dock, is the Hilton hotel and the bus stops on the left.
Now Liverpool may be famous for The Beatles, but what is that figure dancing in the distance. Its another Liverpudlian,
the one and only Billy Fury whose heart gave up to soon but is not forgotten by his fans of whom I would guess these are two.
I'm feeling in need of some greenery so here is a touch of autumn colour and a seat outside the pub or perhaps

sit here and watch the sun on the water.
Here is the other side of the warehouses. The sailing boat at the back on the left is the Zebu which was built in Sweden to carry timber between the Baltic states. The Albert Docks were built for sailing ships of up to 1000 tons of cargo capacity and could be loaded and unloaded directly from the warehouses. With the decline of the sailing ship these docks too declined and there was little shipping activity into them after the 1920s, finally the docks closed in 1972 and the area fell into disuse. (Liverpool has vast areas of other docks). The area started to be regenerated in the 1980s and is now the warehouses are converted into apartments, shops, museums and galleries and it is a popular tourist destination. Liverpool is a UNESCO World Heritage Maritime Mercantile City.

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