C O N T E X T 1 0 8 : M A R C H 2 0 0 9 29 Sankey Canal, the first modern canal built in England during the industrial revolution. Blackburne’s son, John Junior, was also an investor in slave ships, he built the Grade II listed Blackburne House as his country residence in 1790. The building went on to become Liverpool’s first high school for girls in 1844. Ashton’s son, Nicholas, used his inherited wealth to purchase Woolton Hall, commissioning Robert Adam to redesign the interior, which is thought to be his only completed work in Lancashire. Falkner Square, built around 1830, is Liverpool’s only completely intact Georgian square. With its wellmaintained park it provides a much-needed green space in a densely populated area. The square was built by the former slave trader Edward Falkner, who diversified his interests, as many slavers did, to include land and property development. Liverpool has a wealth of green spaces, many of which have connections to slavery. A number of the city’s public parks were originally the grounds of wealthy merchants’ estates. The beautiful Reynold’s Park, Woolton, was built as the home of John Weston, a slave trader who invested in more than 20 voyages. Harvey Lonsdale Elmes was commissioned to build Allerton Tower for Hardman Earle, whose family had been involved in the slave trade for a number of generations. Hardman Earle was also the owner of a Caribbean plantation. Springwood was built by William Shand, a West Indian plantation owner who named his home in Liverpool after his estate in Antigua. Roby Hall and estate, later to become Bowring Park, were built by John Williamson, another of Liverpool’s affluent 18th century slavers. Otterspool Park was the property of John Moss, a Caribbean plantation owner who, along with three other West Indian slave owners, Josias Booker, JohnTinne and Charles Parker, paid for the erection of the Grade II listed St Anne’s Church, Aigburth, in 1837. On the outskirts of Newsham Park stands Newsham House, now used as Liverpool’s Judges Lodgings. The Grade II listed mansion was erected by Thomas Molyneux during the final years of the 18th century. Molyneux was a prolific slave trader. In 1846, 11 years after his death, the whole estate was sold to Liverpool Corporation for £80,000 and was laid out as a public park. Liverpool’s slave trading wealth is also displayed on the Cheshire side of the Mersey. Sir John Tobin was a slave ship captain who also invested in his voyages. His knowledge of Africa and her trading routes led him into the very lucrative palm oil business after the slave trade was abolished by the British in 1807. In 1835 Tobin built the Grade II listed St John’s Church, Liscard, as well as Liscard Hall, which burnt to the ground in 2008. The grounds of Liscard Hall became Wallasey’s Central Park when the local corporation bought the estate in the final years of the 19th century. One of the best examples of the lasting legacy of slavery in Liverpool can be seen in the Anglican Cathedral. Although the cathedral is a 20th century building, inside there is a memorial to the merchant, Richard Watt, who died in 1796. His descendant, Adelaide Watt, donated £2,000 for the building of the cathedral, and in acknowledging the role her ancestor had made in creating the wealth her family enjoyed she had a memorial inscribed in his name. Richard Watt had made his fortune in Jamaican sugar plantations. His wealth bought him estates at Speke Hall and Bishop Burton in Yorkshire. At the time of Watt’s purchase of Speke Hall, the tenant farmers were using the now Grade I listed building to house their livestock. The purchase and restoration of the hall by the Watt family undoubtedly saved one of Britain’s finest Tudor mansions (now owned by the National Trust) from destruction. English Heritage is revising its listings to highlight the role that slavery and the slave trade played in creating many of Britain’s most important buildings. This acknowledgement of the importance of the trade to the development of British architecture will help to spotlight a corner of British history that has been neglected for far too long. Footnotes 1 Muir, RA History of Liverpool (Liverpool 1907) 2 Westgaph, L unpublished MA dissertation (University of Liverpool 2008) 3 Hughes, QLiverpool: city of architecture (Liverpool 1999) 4 Fox Bourne, HEnglish Merchants (London 1886) 5 Hughes, QLiverpool, City of Architecture, (Liverpool, 1999) p16 Bibliography Fox Bourne, HEnglish Merchants (London 1886) Hughes, QLiverpool: city of architecture (Liverpool 1999) Muir, RA History of Liverpool (Liverpool 1907) Westgaph, L unpublished MA dissertation (University of Liverpool 2008) Speke Hall
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