Lord Street has remained one of Liverpool’s main shopping districts for over two centuries but the curious history of one of the city’s most famous roads stretches much further back than that.
Its past doesn’t quite match the original seven streets of Liverpool set out in the charter of King John in 1207, but its roots do stem from the castle that was constructed to fortify the fledgling medieval settlement.
Liverpool Castle stood roughly where Derby Square and the Queen Elizabeth II Law Courts are now. In 1668, a proposal was put forward by Lord Molyneux, the Lord of Liverpool, to cut a road through the castle’s orchard to a nearby heath and stream.
Despite some opposition from the local burgesses, an agreement was eventually reached and in 1671 Lord Molyneux Street was constructed, with a bridge over the stream and pool that ran through where Whitechapel is today.
The important thoroughfare was later renamed Molyneux's Lane and was described as being ‘ill-built and very narrow’ around 1775, by historian Richard Brooke, with ‘several good houses, inhabited by respectable families, some tolerably good shops, and several taverns’.
By the late 1700s, residents and shopkeepers paved the road and paths and it became known as Lord Street. The area continued to evolve with the construction of what are now Grade II listed buildings.
Lord Street was bombed by the German Luftwaffe during the Blitz in World War II and had to be largely rebuilt in the 1950s but it is still thriving and oozing with history.
Here is a collection of photographs, showing how Lord Street has evolved over the last 350 years and more information on its past.
1. The history of Lord Street
This is how Liverpool Castle and the surrounding area looked in 1689, just a few years after Lord Molyneux had a cut a road through its orchard. That road would become Lord Street. | William Gawin Herdman - Pictorial Relics of Ancient Liverpool
2. The history of Lord Street
Lord Molyneux had a house built on the street in the late 17th century. The townhouse survived for 250 years before being destroyed in the Blitz in 1941. | W.G.Herdman lithograph/Pictorial Relics of Ancient Liverpool
3. The history of Lord Street
Lord Street was paved by residents and shopkeepers around 1799. Here we can see men in top hats and ladies in petticoats stroll down Lord Street in 1828, with St George’s Church in the background. | Robert Irving Barrow/Liverpool Museums/Wikimedia
4. The history of Lord Street
In 1882, Venice Chambers was built by Edmund Kirby and it still stands at No.61 Lord Street. Described as a 'gothic parapet and yellow and white glazed brickwork in lozenge patterns' it is now home to Rococo Coffee House. | Rodhullandemu/CC BY-SA 4.0/wikimedia