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Thread: Slavery Streets

  1. #61
    Senior Member dazza's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ChrisGeorge View Post

    I do note that the lane, though undesignated, appears on the 1765 map of Toxteth Park listed as being in the possession of the Earl of Sefton in Robert Griffiths' History of the Royal and Ancient Park of Toxteth (1907) on pages 14-15 though in very miniscule detail making it hard to make out the wording.
    A slightly larger version of the map [LRO].

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Daz
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  2. #62
    Senior Member ChrisGeorge's Avatar
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    Yep. That's it. Thanks, Daz. I am assuming then that what we know as Penny Lane is actually an old country lane, and would have been there even before James Penny came to Liverpool from Ulverston. The question then is whether it was named "Penny Lane" before he came to the city, which would negate the claim that the road is named after him.

    Chris
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  3. #63
    Senior Member marky's Avatar
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    The poem that includes "Penny Lane, Slavery Shame" was installed several months ago, together with a replica of the Liverbird from the Sailors Home.
    Located here on Google Streetview, still showing the remains of the church wall:
    http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&so...,41.7,,0,-1.44
    It caught my eye as the author has linked the street to slavery. This is one of the few mentions of slavery I've noticed on the streets of Liverpool.
    St James Church and Penny Lane are at opposite ends of the boundary of Toxteth Park. Half of Penny Lane (the Northern side) from Smithdown Place and everything from the railway bridge are within Toxteth.
    None of the later addresses mentioned for Mr. Penny would fall within the Parish of St. James.
    Last edited by marky; 12-01-2010 at 11:28 AM. Reason: spelling

  4. #64
    Senior Member ChrisGeorge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by marky View Post
    The poem that includes "Penny Lane, Slavery Shame" was installed several months ago, together with a replica of the Liverbird from the Sailors Home.
    Loacated here on Google Streetview, still showing the remains of the church wall:
    http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&so...,41.7,,0,-1.44
    It caught my eye as the author has linked the street to slavery. This is one of the few mentions of slavery I've noticed on the streets of Liverpool.
    St James Church and Penny Lane are at opposite ends of the boundary of Toxteth Park. Half of Penny Lane (the Northern side) from Smithdown Place and everything from the railway bridge are within Toxteth.
    None of the later addresses mentioned for Mr. Penny would fall within the Parish of St. James.
    Thanks for this information, Marky. Yes I certainly agree that the downtown addresses that are listed for Penny would not have fallen within the Parish of St. James. Still, it's conceivable that as a wealthy merchant, he or his heirs could have purchased or inherited property in the area of Penny Lane. I am just trying to explore the possibility though that the idea that "Penny Lane" was named for James Penny might be a belief that somehow grew up without any foundation in fact. If the street is in fact named for James Penny well so be it... just as Tarleton Street off Church Street is named after the slave-trading Tarleton family (and I have written about and lectured on General Sir Banastre Tarleton in the past) but I would like to see verification that Penny Lane is named for James Penny or his family.

    Cheers

    Chris
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  5. #65
    Senior Member dazza's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ChrisGeorge View Post
    Yep. That's it. Thanks, Daz. I am assuming then that what we know as Penny Lane is actually an old country lane, and would have been there even before James Penny came to Liverpool from Ulverston. The question then is whether it was named "Penny Lane" before he came to the city, which would negate the claim that the road is named after him.

    Chris
    Hi Chris,

    Penny Lane is just inside the boundary of Toxteth Park. It's not very long and leads to Greenbank, the home of the Rathbones. It's not a through lane, like, for example Ullet Lane. I'm guessing that it's no older than the Greenbank estate.

    The association with James Penny may have been posthumously awarded, if it does indeed have anything to do with him? It looks like the family have no connection to the area though.

    Daz
    "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."... ... ... Mark Twain.

  6. #66
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    CG and Daz... I think the same thought has occured to us all.

    Earliest online newspaper ref I can find to Penny Lane is the sale of "Grove House" in 1852. Its listed as "GROVE HOUSE, situated in Penny Lane, Green-Bank near Wavertree".

    Interestingly in 1872, Joseph Boult of the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical Society in a (very long-winded and opinionated) essay entitled: 'Gleanings in the early history of Liverpool and the neighbourhood', states that:

    "The names of Penny Lane and Penketh
    bear testimony to conflict, pinn-nidh, pinn-keit, both
    signifying battle-hill. The names of Penketh and Penny
    are of firequent occurrence on the ordnance survey. In this
    neighbourhood, at the junction of Penny Lane and Smith-
    down Road, are two fields, which, on Lord Sefion's
    map, circa 1764, bear the name of Higher Smetham
    Hey, and Smetham Croft, which are derived from the
    hamlet a certain poor man, Bohert de Smethdon, son of
    Thurstan, was obliged to surrender to King John, in
    exchange for Thingwall, the site of another local court."

    Whilst it is possible that Boult is right about Penny Lane he is almost certainly wrong about the origin of Smithdown (Smetham/don) as this was in the earliest records 'Esmedune'.

  7. #67
    Senior Member marky's Avatar
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    I didn't find Penny Lane on the 1841 Census here:
    http://www.liverpool-genealogy.org.u...41ST-IND-P.htm
    But, it is listed as PENNIES Lane:
    PENNIES LANE, PENNIES GROVE COTTAGE 511 WAVERTREE 10 04
    The above address is on the South side of Penny Lane and therefore is correctly recorded as Wavertree

  8. #68
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    Quote Originally Posted by marky View Post
    I didn't find Penny Lane on the 1841 Census here:
    http://www.liverpool-genealogy.org.u...41ST-IND-P.htm
    But, it is listed as PENNIES Lane:
    PENNIES LANE, PENNIES GROVE COTTAGE 511 WAVERTREE 10 04
    The above address is on the South side of Penny Lane and therefore is correctly recorded as Wavertree
    Hi Marky and Fortinian

    I think the 1841 listings of "PENNIES LANE" and "PENNIES GROVE COTTAGE" is potentially valuable and might indicate that the name of the lane has nothing to do with James Penny, the merchant. It could be that someone nearer our day thought that the street is named for James Penny and it is not. It also does though occur to me that there might be a connection between the designation "Penketh" and the name of the lane, conceivably. Could the road have once been known as Penketh Lane? I do know that Penketh Hall stood near the junction of Smithdown Road and Greenbank Road (Robert Griffiths, The History of the Royal and Ancient Park of Toxteth, Liverpool, 1907, p. 148).

    Chris
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  9. #69
    Senior Member marky's Avatar
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    There is a PDF file for some of the slavery streets (click top-right on this page)@
    http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/d...ead-the-signs/

    It's quite possible Pennies is Penny but has just been written down as heard rather than correctly spelt.
    I checked the 'street directory' section of Gore's Liverpool Directory, 1825...NO Penny Lane or any variant listed. EDIT: It's absence accounted for by the fact the directory doesn't cover the area this far out from town, though some Toxteth Park addresses are included.
    http://www.historicaldirectories.org/hd/index.asp
    Last edited by marky; 12-03-2010 at 01:07 AM. Reason: amended directory information.

  10. #70
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    Good find Marky, i'm sure you've noticed that Penny Lane isn't included in the English Heritage List. I think they have done the research we are doing and cannot find any positive link.

  11. #71
    Senior Member dazza's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ChrisGeorge View Post
    The other alternative might be that, if the thoroughfare is indeed named for the merchant, someone named it after him because of his work as an anti-abolitionist.

    By contrast, he does attribute Greenbank Drive, Greenbank Lane, Greenbank Road as well as Rathbone Road in Wavertree to their origin with the anti-slavery Rathbone family whose mansion was Greenbank House, ironically (though the author doesn't say it!) located near the western end of Penny Lane...
    Chris
    I would be interested to learn whether Penny Lane was actually part of the Greenbank estate of the Rathbones, given their pro-abolitionist stance? If the land was held by another, then that could support a naming just to spite the family?
    "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."... ... ... Mark Twain.

  12. #72
    Senior Member ChrisGeorge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dazza View Post
    I would be interested to learn whether Penny Lane was actually part of the Greenbank estate of the Rathbones, given their pro-abolitionist stance? If the land was held by another, then that could support a naming just to spite the family?
    Hi Daz

    That sounds a bit unlikely to me, Daz. These people might have been political opponents, and felt passionately about their beliefs, but it was a gentlemanly time with a code of honor even between opponents. It would seem to me that to put the name of a man associated with slavery on the Rathbones' doorstep to spite them doesn't seem likely.



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  13. #73
    Senior Member marky's Avatar
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    Cumbria produced a booklet that states:
    "James Penny (1741- 99) was born at Egton-cum-Newland in Furness"
    HTML
    http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...&ct=clnk&gl=uk
    PDF
    http://www.creative-partnerships.com...-lowres-34.pdf
    He was honoured with the Freedom of the borough of Liverpool:
    http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a...87md62&cid=0#0

    I'd have thought definite proof of a link would be all over the internet by now. Maybe the International Slavery Museum have proof.

    Here's a street missing from the slavery streets list shown in post No.45:
    "Crow St. made in 1809 was named after Captain Hugh Crow, the most famous of the Privateer & Slave trade Captains" (source: 240 Years On, A short history of R. S. Clare, pub. 1988).
    Crow Street still exists, together with street-signs at each end, but as it's now within the factory complex it is a 'forgotten street'. I wonder how many other slave streets have been lost.
    Crow Street, Google Streetview:
    http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&so...89.16,,1,-0.99

  14. #74
    Senior Member dazza's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ChrisGeorge View Post
    Hi Daz

    That sounds a bit unlikely to me, Daz. These people might have been political opponents, and felt passionately about their beliefs, but it was a gentlemanly time with a code of honor even between opponents. It would seem to me that to put the name of a man associated with slavery on the Rathbones' doorstep to spite them doesn't seem likely.

    Chris
    Hi Chris,

    Yes, if a neighbour had actually gone ahead and done it, it would've led to a duel no doubt...insulting a man's honour like that [decorum between gentlemen]. Still you have to admit it is a bizarre coincidence given the individuals mentioned and their opposing stance on the slave trade.

    I will be swayed by sound argument and good reason nevertheless.

    Cheers,

    Daz

    PS - is there a date for Roscoe's poem featuring Penny Lane?
    "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."... ... ... Mark Twain.

  15. #75
    Senior Member ChrisGeorge's Avatar
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    Hi Daz

    Roscoe wrote a poem that mentions Penny Lane???? I don't think so. He has a poem titled "Mount Pleasant." As far as I know he wrote no poem that references Penny Lane.

    All the best

    Chris
    Christopher T. George
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