everysinglestreet

#everysinglestreet [18/10/20] Liverpool Ten Streets – In the footsteps of Dylan

Graham Holland   

Stats

  • Sunday 18th October 2020
  • 34 streets – Carlton Street, Clay Street, Cotton Street, Denison Street, Dickson Street, Dublin Street, Galton Street, Gibraltar Row, Glegg Street, Greenock Street, Lightbody Street, Little Howard Street, Love Lane, Maddrell Street, Oil Street, Porter Street, Princes Parade, Regent Street, Roberts Street, Saint Nicholas Place, Saltney Street, Sherwood Street, Springier Street, Stone Street, Upper William Street, Vandries Street, Vulcan Street, Walter Street, Waterloo Road, Whitley Street, Bath Street, Canada Boulevard, Chadwick Street, Paisley Street.
  • Total: 1,442 (25.64%)
  • Remaining: 4,181

Notes

It’s my birthday today so last night Richard and I stayed in Malmaison on Princes Dock. It was just the excuse I needed this morning to run some of the roads off Regent Road, known by everyone as ‘the Dock Road’.

There’s a sign at Princes Dock that says ‘No swimming’ and ‘No diving’. It’s a good job I saw it in time! Princes Dock is where the Liverpool Canal Link starts, linking the Leeds & Liverpool Canal across the Pier Head in front of the Three Graces, and into the Albert Dock.

Took a photo of Roberts Street for Chris and Jane!

I love how so many of the docks are named people and places from Britain’s past – Victoria, Trafalgar, Waterloo, Stanley, Clarence, Nelson…

Just north of the spaceship-like ventilation tower for the Kingsway Mersey Tunnel are Liverpool Ten Streets. From south to north, these are Oil Street, Vandries Street, Vulcan Street, Porter Street, Regent Street, Carlton Street, Cotton Street, Dickson Street, Dublin Street, and Saltney Street (plus Clay Street). Lined with brick-built warehouse buildings, these streets have been neglected for decades. However, there’s now a massive redevelopment plan for the area that will see it brought back to life. Check it out here. tenstreetsliverpool.co.uk The area is already home to new businesses including Invisible Wind Factory (music venue), Wired Aerial Theatre, Drop the Dumbulls Gallery, and Pirate Recording Studios.

Running along Regent Road and the surrounding streets produces an appreciation for the history of the area. There are plenty of old photos showing this area busy 24 hours a day with workers at the docks and the warehouses. The dock entrances would all have had grand gates and been guarded to (try to) prevent smuggling. The water fountains embedded in the wall would have been a welcome source of fresh water for people and animals. The Overhead Railway trundled past, taking passengers north to Seaforth and south to Garston.

On 14th May 1966 Bob Dylan was in Liverpool. He was playing at the Odeon Theatre (on London Road) that evening and wanted some publicity photos but didn’t like the traditional staged ones so photographer Barry Feinstein took him to Dublin Street. On one side of the street was a warehouse, but the other side was houses (long since demolished). There were kids outside playing while their parents were watching Everton beating Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup Final. It was in one of the warehouse doorways where the famous photo was taken of Bob Dylan and a bunch of kids. Back in 2007 Dylan fan Chris Hockenhull tracked down the ten kids in the photo and recreated it, sadly without Bob. You can read about it here. metro.co.uk/…/dylan-waifs-together-again-2-538277

It’s impossible to capture the sheer size and scale of the Stanley Tobacco Warehouse. The grade II listed building was completed in 1900 and was thought to be the world’s largest building in terms of area at the time. It covers 36 acres and took 27 million bricks, 30,000 panes of glass, and 8,000 tons of steel. There were plans in 2014 to transform the building into 476 apartments, but I’m not sure how that’s going.

One building that has been transformed is the North Warehouse (1854) which is now Titanic Hotel. The adjacent Rum Warehouse (1950) is a function space. Just next to this is the flight of locks where the Leeds & Liverpool Canal drops down into the dock system. Before the Liverpool Canal Link was completed this section was rarely used, and any narrowboats wishing to moor up in the Albert Dock would have to leave the dock system and go into the river to get to it.

Love Lane could do with a lot of love.

I stopped by the river to watch three pilot boats guiding a large ship into the middle of the Mersey. It’s hard not to marvel at their skill.

Follow me on Strava

Similar Posts