In this regular La Vida Liverpool feature, guest writer and historian David Hearn educates us on some fascinating local history. With a wealth of knowledge, David gives talks and walking tours on subjects such as the history of Liverpool, wars, slavery, maritime, Liverpool’s links with America and more. In this feature he talks us through the lovely Liver Birds of Liverpool….
There are many images that make Liverpool famous around the world but, surely, one of the most iconic must be the Liver Birds perched high on the Liver Building. The female Liver Bird looks out to sea anxiously awaiting the return of their loved ones from their adventures around the world while the male Liver Bird, far more practical, looks across the city to see if the pubs are open. These Liver Birds have stood over Liverpool since 1911 and were designed by German designer Carl Bartels.
You may think that at 5.5 meters the Pier Head Liver Birds are the biggest in Liverpool but that honour goes to a much more recent sculpture. The Meccano Liver Bird, designed by Merseyside sculptor and artist Emma Rodgers, is 11 meters high and honours not only the history of Liverpool but also the memory of one of its famous sons, Frank Hornby who invented the world famous construction toy.
Outside the Town Hall at first or even second look you are hard pressed to find a Liver Bird but there is one. If look very closely you will find one very small Liver Bird. Looking at the building from the front look to the left face and you will see a door that leads to an arched metal frame in the railings surrounding the building. On the top of the arch is a lamp and on top of that lamp is a very tiny Liver Bird.
Surely everyone around the world who is interested in football will be familiar with the Liver Bird on the crest of Liverpool Football Club but if you visit Goodison Park on the outside of one of the stands is a banner reminding everyone of Everton’s first League Title in 1891 and on that banner is a medal from that year showing a Liver Bird surrounded by a laurel wreath of victory. Both our great teams reinforce the importance of the Liver Bird to the city.
How many of you have noticed the Liver Birds on the Mersey Tunnel ventilation building at George’s Dock on The Strand? I’m fairly sure that you will all have seen them but you would be entirely forgiven for not recognising them as Liver Birds.
High on all four sides on the ventilation tower itself you will find two Liver Birds. But they are so high up you need better eyes than I have or a camera with a long lens. The Liver Birds are seen from the front rather than for the side as they are usually portrayed. Their wings are raised on both sides and their head, complete with a crest, are between their wings.
Over the doorways on the wonderful Herbert Rowse designed building on The Strand you will also find Liver Birds but, again, they are not immediately recognisable. If you look closely however you can see the pointed beak, eyes and outstretched wings of a Liver Bird which is flying straight towards you.
Above the arched window on the right hand corner of Compton House (the former home of Marks & Spencer) you will find a modern bas-relief of two Liver Birds flanking a friend of theirs, an American bald eagle. Compton House was at one time the Compton Hotel and the building still has the British royal arms on one corner and the arms of America on the other but Liverpool has many, historical and cultural links with America so it is entirely appropriate that Liver Birds are portrayed with an American eagle.
If you have used Central Station during the last 10 years I’m sure that you could not have missed seeing this Liver Bird even though it has moved around the shopping area outside the station a few times. The Liver Bird which is called “The Spirit of Liverpool” and was conceived by Liver Bird Inc., funded by the Liverpool Commercial District Partnership and is in memory of the late Paul Rice, the partnership’s former chief executive. The sculptor was Rick Myers.
Not all Liver Birds are old. It is, perhaps, not surprising that Liver Birds are used in advertising in and around Liverpool. One obvious place that you would expect to find a Liver Bird doing some advertising is the coffee shop at the Royal Liver Building where they will even put a chocolate Liver Bird on your Cappuccino! Liverpool City Sights bus tour has a very up to date Liver Bird on its buses – the Liver Bird is concentrating on the commentary which it is listening to on headphones.
Liver Launderettes are the largest operators of launderettes in the UK and they have used a Liver Bird as their logo since the 1960s. St George’s Hall has dozens of Liver Birds but one that needs to be seen is this wonderful gold Liver Bird on the inside of the doors to the main hall. The Liver Bird is coming towards us and has its wings stretched out.
Liverpool does not have a monopoly of Liver Birds. These examples can be found on the Wirral: Hoylake Sailing Club on the promenade in Hoylake boasts these two great examples. The dappled sunlight on the sign of the Royal Mersey Yacht Club in Rock Ferry. Home of the Open Golf championship on a number of occasions, the Royal Liverpool Golf Club can be found on Meols Drive between Hoylake and West Kirby.
Finally, I have a favourite Liver Bird. Dating from 1831 it is an early depiction of a Liver Bird and it is only tiny, stained and broken but that is not surprising when considering what it went through some 80 plus years ago. This Liver Bird is in St Luke’s Church at the top of Bold Street. St Luke’s was reduced to a shell in the May Blitz of 1941 but this Liver Bird survived.
There is a Liverpool saying that if the Liver Birds ever leave then Liverpool will fall. May 1941 was perhaps Liverpool’s darkest hour and St Luke’s symbolises how close the city came to falling but it didn’t and this tiny Liver Bird is a symbol of how Liverpool survived everything that was thrown at it.
Main image credit: Ian Fairbrother
