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LI A sketch of the Town and Trade -Extract from Gore’s 1807 (All spelling & grammar is as written) Various
Etymologies have been given to the name of Liverpool, many of them ingenious,
but the most satisfactory seems to be from the well known sea weed, called Lever
in the West of England, a sprig or slip of which is placed in the beak of a
cormorant, as the town arms; and by a very easy metonymy the bird itself might
receive the name, for wherever these Arms are displayed, there is in reality the
Lever, or Liver, as it has been since called, without resorting to the
supposition of this bird being the fictitious creation of heraldry. It seems
probable that Liverpool was of greater importance some ages back, than it was
about two centuries ago, when there were only 138 householders and cottagers;
the tonnage of their shipping was not 230 tons, scarcely in the whole the size
of one small ship, and the total of the seamen 75, about the number now usually
sent in one privateer; as long before this period it was an ancient Borough, and
besides the charters known to have existed as far back as the reign of King
John, there is strong presumptive evidence of much earlier ones, now lost. The Castle,
built by Roger de Poitiers, was pulled down in the
reign of George II but the Earl of Derby’s castellated Mansion, built
in the year 1406, and for many years used as the Borough Gaol yet remains. There are
Fifteen Churches, St Nicholas’, St Peter’s, St George’s, St Thomas’, St
Paul’s, St John’s, St Anne’s, St James’, St Catherine’s, St
Matthew’s, St Stephen’s, Christ Church, St Mark’s, All Saints, and the
Holy Trinity; besides Three Meeting Houses for Dissenters, six for Methodists,
One for Quakers, Three for Baptists,
and Four Roman Catholic Chapels; there are also places of worship for Jews
&c. The Churches are in general large and well built; most of them furnished
with organs, with lofty spires and towers, which, joined with the prominent
features of the other Public Buildings, give great dignity to the appearance of
the town. The
Infirmary, Seaman’s Hospital, The
Work-house is of prodigious extent, is magnificent in its appearance, and has
hitherto been so well governed, as to furnish to other places an attractive
model for the proper domestic management of the poor. The New Gaol
has been censured for its great size and extent, and much improper ridicule has
been directed towards it, which must fail of its intended effect, if we
consider, if we consider the increasing situation of the place, and the much
greater room now required for the right ordering and arranging a well regulated
prison, upon beneficial and humane principles, than what was thought necessary
for those pinfolds for men, which have so long remained a disgrace to the police
of most countries. The commerce
of The Town
Hall has lately received great improvements, and when completed will be a superb
structure. The The House of
Recovery, situate near the Work-house, is a very large and commodious building
of white free stone, with every requisite convenience. The Fort has
been an object of censure, but yet it is in a situation to annoy an enemy in
every part of his progress, without doing damage to itself to the Town, which
perhaps, cannot be said of any other spot, however favourable it may appear at
first sight. The Wet
Docks, or such wherein water is kept by means of flood gates, are at the Old
Dock, the Salthouse Dock, George’s Dock, The King’s Dock, and Queens Dock,
besides three very large dry Docks or such wherein the tide is suffered to ebb
and flow, as in most of the other ports, and Five large Graving Docks, all
formed with strong Quays of hewn stone. The extent
of the Quays of the Wet and Dry Docks alone, is upwards of three miles,
independent of the Graving Docks, Piers, and outside Quays, which are near four
miles more. These Docks, though capable of accommodating a most prodigious
number of vessels, are yet hardly sufficient for the increasing trade of the
Town, and others are now in contemplation. The Theatre
is a handsome, spacious building, after the design of Sir William Chambers, in
which the best performances are in the summer months, when Comedians from The Music
Hall is large, elegant, and well attended, and once in about Three Years a
Festival of Music has been held there. There are
good Baths, Machines, and other conveniences for sea bathing, for which purpose
Liverpool is a place of great resort, in so much that the Inns are hardly
sufficient to contain the visitors, tho’ there are many of them, and some
large and commodious. Upon an
eminence, formerly called Quarry Hill, but now St James’ Walk, is a most
delightful walk, to which many beautiful additions have been lately made. The Hackney
coaches are numerous, and so well regulated that no impositions can take place,
if strangers and others would rightly inform themselves of the fares and rules.
Mail coaches, Stages, Wagons, &c. go out daily to most parts of the kingdom,
as well as packets for There is
also great carriage upon the The Markets
are plentiful, and in general cheap; but though the Magistrates take abundant
pains to prevent abuses, they have never been able totally to
suppress them. The
different Itineraries and Gazetteers, published for some years
back, have been uniform in describing Liverpool as it was about 80 or 100 years
ago, and mention buildings as now standing, that are hardly in the memory of any
of its inhabitants, and that it is next to Bristol in its commerce; but it has
long taken the lead of that ancient and opulent city, in a most superior degree,
as appears by the Journals of the House of Commons. The late demands of men from
the different ports, proportioned to the tonnage, where The
situation and local advantages of the Town, particularly its nearness to the
Salt Mines, are amongst the causes of its prosperity; but the liberal spirit of
its Body Corporate, in holding out terms of invitation to commercial men to
settle here, instead of devising means to prevent them, must have greatly
contributed to the same end. Also to the
same prudence, differently directed, must be attributed that tranquillity and
order, that are so much remarked by strangers to reign in this place. To enter
into the particulars of the trade and commerce of Liverpool, would be an arduous
task, as it extends very largely to every part of the World, where the East
India Company, and some other Trading Companies, have not secured to themselves
an exclusive right by Charter.
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