Goree Piazzas Warehousing The Strand Area

[Kev]

In 1793, and in response to demand, merchants constructed the 'Goree Piazzas', two massive warehouses at the end of what is now The Strand. They housed the vast quantities of colonial goods that flowed in and out of the port, and according to legend the iron rings set into their walls were used to secure slaves. In truth few Africans were ever brought to Liverpool, but the Goree did owe its name to the tiny island off Senegal that served as a marshalling point for millions of slaves en route to the Americas. The famous Royal Liver Building occupies some of the Piazzas original site.

Source: Slave Routes - Europe (http://www.antislavery.org/breakingthesilence/slave_routes/slave_routes_unitedkingdom.shtml)

Images Courtesy LRO

1) Goree 1946

2) Goree 1947

3) Goree 1948

4) Goree 1949

5) Goree 1955

6) Goree 1913

7) Goree 1947

[Ged]

I knew about the iron rings being a myth but always thought the Liver was built directly on Georges dock, old maps seem to suggest so. The Goree Piazzas seemed to run on half of what is now the central strip of land seperating the North and Southbound carriageways and the Southbound carriageway itself.

[Kev]

It certainly looks like it does Ged, I thought the same thing.

[quincyg]

always amazes me with pics like these, compared with what it's like now, there never looks like enough room to have fitted it all in.
Bit like Church St. I'm old enough to remember traffic going along there but now the street doesn't seem wide enough.

[Waterways]

I knew about the iron rings being a myth but always thought the Liver was built directly on Georges dock, old maps seem to suggest so. The Goree Piazzas seemed to run on half of what is now the central strip of land seperating the North and Southbound carriageways and the Southbound carriageway itself.

Totally correct Ged. They were bombed in WW2, but salvageable. If we had them today, and renovated, it would be very atmospheric along there. The same with the block between the strand and Castle St, Canning Place, James St.

Goree is clearly seen here bottom left - 1850-60:

[Image Removed]

[phredd]

I notice from picture 6 that we had beer from Manchester even in 1913 >>>

"SALFORD ALES" :)

[naked lilac]

Uh.. think a Mod is needed for post #5.. Waterways.. what happened to your post...its been spammed with porno... :ninja::shock:

[Kev]

Uh.. think a Mod is needed for post #5.. Waterways.. what happened to your post...its been spammed with porno... :ninja::shock:

Yes indeed, I wonder if the owner of Leverpoole.co.uk (http://www.leverpoole.co.uk) is aware of his own hosting TOS that state:


Fasthosts reserves the right to refuse service and/or access to its servers and/or services to anyone.

Fasthosts does not allow any of the following content to be stored on its servers:

Adult material - includes all pornography, erotic images, or otherwise lewd or obscene content.
I think it was an attempt at a bit of humour by the owner.

[Ged]

D-amn, did I miss it again :PDT_Xtremez_42:

[Waterways]

Uh.. think a Mod is needed for post #5.. Waterways.. what happened to your post...its been spammed with porno... :ninja::shock:

Oh! a pity I never saw it :)

[Kev]

Here's a birds eye view of Goree Warehouses.

Warehouses highlighted.

If they are not the Goree warehouses, let me know.

Kev

Image courtesy LRO.

[Ged]

No, those buildings are now occupied by Wellington Buildings and the Plaza and are on line with St Nics church and Tower Buildings. The Goree Piazzas were on the strip occupied by what look like an oblong of sheds on the same row as the dock police building pictured.

[taffy]

Kev,

I think they are the Goree Warehouses. The perspective of the drawing is confusing. The location of the warehouses is correct for the Goree buildings. The drawing clearly shows the row of arches along the base of the Goree warehouses. This is a unique feature of this building and was actually a covered walkway

[Waterways]

This picture clearly shows where the warehouses were - they are being demolished. The covered walkways can be seen . Tower buildings in the background, right, gives the location lines.

It would be nice if the highway called The Strand, had a newer version of Goree Piazza built upon it. This would then connect the Pier Head back to the City again.

http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/attachments/liverpool-city-centre/8190d1223701360-goree-piazzas-warehousing-strand-area-goree-1955.jpg

Below in 1983 (Merseyside Transport Trust). The buses on on the south bound carriageway of the "The Strand" - this was the old Goree Street surface. Tower Buildings can be seen in the background.

http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/attachments/road-rail/3225d1180818190-some-old-pics-goree-strand-area-image83001a.jpg

[Ged]

Yes, the drawing Kev posted up has the Goree Warehouses positioned where i've done the red line, which is where they were not.

http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/8823/goree201955xo7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/goree201955xo7.jpg/1/w672.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img56/goree201955xo7.jpg/1/)


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[History Hunter]

Hi Kev,

Can you tell me the date and source of the lovely map you found at the LRO?

I have found from Gores Liverpool Directories, that my ancestors traded from number 1 Goree Piazzas from 1805 - 1812 and number 2 Goree Piazzas 1812-1816. They then built their own warehouses in Brunswick Street in 1816. Where would numbers 1 and 2 Goree Piazzas have been?

[Ged]

The Goree warehouses seemed to stretch from the bottom of Water Street to the bottom of James Street. If numbering started as usual with the lowest numbers at the town hall end, I suspect Nos.1 and 2 would have been at the Water St end of the row. Thefurthest row away on this Appleyard painting.


http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/5124/piazza.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/piazza.jpg/1/w650.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img87/piazza.jpg/1/)



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[petromax]

I knew about the iron rings being a myth but always thought...

I have seen iron rings used to run warehouse hoist ropes across to the next or opposite hoist to double up the capacity of the lift for heavy loads (they are still there at Heaps' Mill). They were positoned in pairs at road level in between hoists. Does anyone know what the Goree Warehouse rings looked like and could this be what they were for?

[Kev]

Goree LRO

[wsteve55]

Interesting pic' Kev',the original dockfront (well,nearly) before the Liver buildings,etc.

[Waterways]

I prefer it the way it was. Imagine the warehouses now, bars and cafes and shops and boats and ships in front. A far more animated, vibrant, appealing atmosphere. The Liver Blgs could have been behind the warehouses. I was a mistake to have filled in Georges Dock.