Sugar, Slavery and Shame
The Liverpool AZ Walk Book takes a serious tone, as it explores the cause of Liverpool's prominence. The following, a direct lift from the book's opening chapter;
Liverpool’s fortunes are rooted in slavery. During the 18th century, the port strengthened its position in the triangular trade: merchants sailed goods to West Africa and traded these for enslaved people, who were transported in horrific conditions to the Americas and forced to work on colonial plantations. The produce was then shipped back to Liverpool to be sold. A key slaving port in Europe, Liverpool was ruthless in its pursuit of profit from this activity. Successful companies and learned institutions were built on wealth
What's so good about these books is that they point out things that you would normally miss.
The art deco frieze in the doorway of Martin's Bank, which shows two enslaved boys, in shackles and carrying money bags.
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| Banking built on human misery |
The memorial stone in St Nicholas's Churchyard, to the first black man in Liverpool - Abell.
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| Easily Missed |
And into the absolutely stunning Georgian part of town, where the money lived - including the house of four times Prime Minister, William Gladstone. His family made their money from slavery and his father, also an MP, took more money from abolition reparations than any other slave trader.
On election day, it's a reminder that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
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| My favourite part of Liverpool |
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| House is up for sale, although a possible target for the statue drowning mob |
In a walking first - the walk is interrupted at mid-stage by a good hour in Liverpool's Maritime and Slavery Museum, down on the docks. Seemed apt to learn more.
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| Buttons to press, videos to watch |
Fear not - of course, there were pubs.
Walk Details
Distance - 6.5 Miles
Geocaches - 2 and 2xALC
Walk Inspiration - Liverpool A-Z City Walks, Walk 5
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