The origins of the city of Liverpool date back to 1207, when King John issued letters patent advertising the establishment of a new borough - ‘Livpul’. Soon after, in 1235, the building of Liverpool Castle was completed on the spot where the Victoria monument now stands.
In its early days, Liverpool comprised of just seven streets, laid out in an H shape said to have been designed by King John, which are all still there today:-
Bank Street, now Water Street, so named as it led down to the banks of the River Mersey.
Castle Street ran along a height of land between the river and the pool, between the castle and the market where the Town Hall now stands.
Chapel Street led down to St. Mary Del Key, later to be St. Nicholas, down by the quay allowing residents the luxury of not having to walk all the way to the parish church in Walton.
Dale Street was the main thoroughfare from the centre of the old borough, down into the "dale" at the head of the creek of Liverpool, where the tunnel entrance is now, out to London and all points south.
Juggler Street is the only one not still in existence and was where Jugglers would entertain the people coming to market. The Town Hall was built on it and it is now High Street at the side of the Town Hall.
Moor Street, now Tithebarn Street, originally a private path over the field of the land-owning Moor family, renamed when Sir William Molyneux erected a tithe barn to collect produce.
Whiteacre Street, now Old Hall Street, as it lead to the location of the the More Hall later to be known as the Old Hall when the family built a new mansion, Bank Hall, in Kirkdale.
Liverpool would remain a relatively small and unimportant city with a population not much bigger than a secondary School today until its rise to prominence in the 18th century as part of the booming transatlantic trade. It is interesting that this came to pass indirectly because of the Great Plague and The Fire of London.
In
1666 a Mr Alleyn Smith, a noteable sugar refiner from London,
transferred his activities to Liverpool after the Great Fire started in
the area of his bakery, though not caused by him. An extract from
Moore's Rental of Liverpool 1667-8 details ... "Sugar-House Close ...
This croft fronts the street for some twenty-seven yards and I call it
the Sugar House Close, because one Mr Smith, a great sugar-baker at
London, a man as report says, worth forty thousand pounds, came from
London to treat with me. According to agreement he is to build all the
front twenty-seven yards a stately house of good hewn stone ... and
there on the back side, to erect a house for boiling and drying sugar,
otherwise called a sugar-baker's house ..." This sugar refinery was at
Red Cross Street, situated off The Strand, and now an access to the Law
Courts and was established in about 1673. Richard Cleveland and Daniel
Danvers - the latter originally came to Liverpool, in 1670, aged 23, on
behalf of Alleyn Smith, a relation by marriage, also set up in the sugar
business and partnered Mr Smith in his business endeavours. Not many
ships left Liverpool at this time as it was subordinate to Chester and
its main trading partner was Ireland. Skins and hides were imported from
Ireland with iron and wool were exported from Liverpool as well as coal
from Wigan. The three of them, together with Henry Blundell of Ince
Blundell, his cousin, William, and his sister, Winifred, taking an
eighth share, worth £40, in the outward cargo, they funded the ship The
Antelope to sail off for Barbados.
Shoes might seem a
trivial item in a cargo list, but can be taken as an indicator of a
wider variety of the goods exported. When the Antelope sailed from
Liverpool to Barbados the list includes as bought in Warrington: 18
pairs of men's plane shoes at 2s.4d. Total £2 2s.Od. 6 pairs of women's
shoes Is.lOd.. lls.Od. 6 pairs of slippers 2s.4d. 14s.Od.'5. Also went
quantities of Lancashire and Cheshire cheese and The Antelope in 1666
also carried 20 cwt. 1 qt. 11 Ib. of cheese costing £20 4s. 2d.
The Antelope brought back a cargo of sugar cane which Smith, according
to Sir Edward Moore who sold him the land for his refinery, was
expecting at least £40,000 of trade per year from Barbados.
In
1704, some 27 years after the start of the industry in Liverpool, only
760 tons of raw sugar was imported through the port. By 1785 this had
risen to 16,600 tons shared between up to a dozen sugar houses. Other
small industries began to attach themselves to the town. In 1715 Thomas
Steers built Liverpool's first dock, beginning the city's drive to
economic power and pre-eminence.
Go to Part 2 - http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2021/01/liverpools-growth-privateers-and.html
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