There was a large Welsh contingent in Anfield - my family were from there and they had Welsh roots. I believe a lot of the houses were built by Welsh workers.
Mark, have a look at the book " Building the Industrial City" edited by Martin Doughty, pub 1986. It has a very interesting chapter on " The Welsh Influence on the Building Industry in Victorian Liverpool". It seems most of the 100,000 houses built in Liverpool in the 19th C were built mainly because of Welsh initiative and enterprise using building materials from North Wales
My father was born in North Wales and so was my grandfather. The latter used to preach in Wales all over Liverpool, Manchester and North Wales every Sunday. Of course, many of the welsh speaking churches have gone now. Like the Irish, the Welsh played a major part in C19 and early C20 Liverpool but sadly, there's no Welsh heritage trail yet, just the Irish one. I'm currently reading a lot about the Welsh in Liverpool as I'm going to do a guided walk on the Scouse Welsh (the Squelch?) on St David's Day.
Julie
1/3 of the churches in Toxteth were Welsh of some kind. Look at this big beauty. "Toxteth Cathedral". Rotting away:
Deprived of its unique dockland waters Liverpool
becomes a Venice without canals, just another city, no
longer of special interest to anyone, least of all the
tourist. Would we visit a modernised Venice of filled in
canals to view its modern museum describing
how it once was?
Professor D. Ben Rees writes about the people from Wales who moved to Liverpool and continue to contribute to life in the city today.
The Liverpool Welsh have been an integral part of the Liverpool scene since the heyday of the slave trade in the last decade of the 18th century. They came in their thousands between 1780 and 1820 and in that period a large number of Welsh Chapels and Churches were built.
Though young and usually poor they were men and women who were determined to make a better world for themselves and their children. Most of them were involved in the growth of Liverpool from a small port to a large cosmopolitan city. The Welsh played their part in the extension of the city to the north and the south. Townships such as Everton, Anfield, Kensington and Wavertree became Welsh in speech and in culture. The streets were often given Welsh names. Young men who arrived in Liverpool with very little money were within 30 years affluent and successful as builders and merchants. Their heritage is still around us in Liverpool, from large stores such as T.J. Hughes to Welsh streets in Anfield, Kensington and Toxteth.
Medicine also attracted Welsh men and women. The Anglesey bonesetters family of Evan Thomas were responsible, through him and his eldest son Hugh Owen Thomas and Sir Robert Jones, for the growth of orthopaedic medicine. Liverpool gained a great reputation in this branch of medicine. The University of Liverpool attracted both sexes as students and many of the notable names in Welsh history taught at the different departments, the poet J. Glyn Davies, a native of the city, in the Celtic Department followed by Idris Foster who later left for Oxford, Melville Richards and Dr D. Simon Evans. In History Professor W. Garmon Jones is still remembered as well as Professor D. Seaborne Davies in the Law Department.
The University today has a large number of Welsh academics. Among the prominent Welsh students of yesteryear we would have to mention the playwright J. Saunders Lewis, the biochemist R.A. Morton, product of the Welsh Presbyterian chapel of Garston, the physicist Gwilym Owen who pioneered the writing of books on science in the Welsh language, and Dr G. Penrhyn Jones who later became a celebrity in the University of Sheffield.
Music has also been at the core of the Welsh culture within the city and we are glad to announce that the Liverpool Welsh Choral Union has been in existence since the National Eisteddfod came to Liverpool in 1900. It first came in 1884 and the last time it was staged at Sefton Park in 1929 when a local Welsh Independent Minister, Reverend J.O. Williams, better known by his bardic name of Pedrog, was the Archdruid. Poets of the calibre of William Thomas (Gwilym Deudraeth), polymaths like William Rees (Gwilym Hiraethog) and hymnwriters such as Peter Jones (Pedr Fardd) have kept the name of Liverpool before the cultured Welsh people of our generation. Some of the Liverpool Welsh have concentrated on writing in English such as the playwright and friend of the Beatles, Alun Owen.
A great deal has been written on the Liverpool Welsh mostly in Welsh though Professor D. Ben Rees and Professor R. Merfyn Jones have illustrated the vast contribution of the Liverpool Welsh to the city and the nation of Wales. The monthly magazine in Welsh called Angor is worth ordering for £7 a year, for it underlines the events that have happened and will happen.
Professor D. Ben Rees writes about the people from Wales who moved to Liverpool and continue to contribute to life in the city today.
A great deal has been written on the Liverpool Welsh mostly in Welsh though Professor D. Ben Rees and Professor R. Merfyn Jones have illustrated the vast contribution of the Liverpool Welsh to the city and the nation of Wales. The monthly magazine in Welsh called Angor is worth ordering for £7 a year, for it underlines the events that have happened and will happen.
Mark, have a look at the book " Building the Industrial City" edited by Martin Doughty, pub 1986. It has a very interesting chapter on " The Welsh Influence on the Building Industry in Victorian Liverpool". It seems most of the 100,000 houses built in Liverpool in the 19th C were built mainly because of Welsh initiative and enterprise using building materials from North Wales
Yes, I have one and have borrowed another one from the library. I've also heard him speak a couple of times and he's very interesting. Turns out he know my grandfather well. That book that you mentioned about Industrial Cities is also good although so far have only been able to read it in the reference library. Thanks for the tips.
Originally Posted by taffy
Julie have you read the books by Prof D Ben Rees on the Welsh of Merseyside. Worth a read if you haven't
Here's a photo of Rev Prof D Ben Rees's Church in Smithdown Place, Wavertree.
There's a connection with the Cameo Cinema.
The Presbyterian Church of Wales, Heathfield Road/Smithdown Place was opened about 1924. The congregation moved here from Webster Road (built 1887). That building was converted into the Cameo Cinema in 1926.
[QUOTE=Waterways;109012]1/3 of the churches in Toxteth were Welsh of some kind. Look at this big beauty. "Toxteth Cathedral". Rotting away:
QUOTE]
Here's another Welsh Chapel built in 1863 in Chapel Rd, Garston by the same architects of the Toxteth "cathedral", the Audsley brothers. This time on a simpler scale. Both churches belonged to what was to become known as the Presbyterian Church of Wales. They also built a mission room , Bethel, in Canterbury St, Garston. The latter building was demolished in the late 1940s.
Whilst there were many Welsh people in Garston in the mid 19th C, the growth of the Bibby's Copper Works on Blackburne St and later also the Crown Copper Works on Window Lane, led to a further influx of Welsh workers and their families.
Difficult to see but here it still stands in Garston:
I have that photo too Kev . One reason why I posted the 1929 image !! At least in that one the tree hadn't grown too much. I was referring to the Canterbury St Bethel mission that had been demolished.
Further to my earlier post about the John Bibby and Son Copper Works in Garston, here's an interesting gravestone in St Michael's Church, Garston. It marks the burial place of John Owens who died age 75 in 1896. He was born in North Wales and joined John Bibby and Son at their Seacombe copper works when it opened in 1836 at age 15. He stayed with John Bibby following their move to Garston in the mid 1860s. The works finally closed in the mid 1930s having been bought up and immediately closed by ICI metals.
The Welsh families were housed in Bankfield Cottages, now called Brunswick St. These are some of the oldest properties in the "under the bridge" area of Garston. Bankfield house recently demolished was the Copper manager's House. Both the cottages and house were built by John Bibby of Allerton for his key workers.
Wales joins in for Capital of Culture fun
Feb 5 2008
by Catherine Jones, Liverpool Echo
WALES is to be involved in a number of artistic activities planned in Liverpool throughout 2008.
The Arts Council of Wales (ACW) is working on a variety of projects to coincide with Capital of Culture.
ACW chief executive Peter Tyndall said: “The fact Liverpool is this year’s Capital of Culture is of great importance not only to the city itself but also to surrounding regions, which includes north Wales.
“North Wales and Liverpool have a long shared history. Artistic collaboration can both draw on this heritage and help to develop new links and interchange.”
Last week Wales made its debut at the British Dance Edition event in Liverpool.
Dance promoters from all over the world converged on the city in search of the new trends in British dance.
Two world-class Welsh dancers, Marc Rees and Tania Raman, performed a showcase.
Other events lined up include Flintshire-based Uma Arwen O'Neil‘s dance-film project which explores the connections between north Wales and Liverpool. It launches this month and runs until May.
Ensemble Cymru is planning a music and narration production with projected images looking at the links between Wales and Liverpool such as the strong Welsh communities and Welsh chapels in Merseyside, plus the shared industrial history of north Wales and Liverpool.
Ty Cerdd – Music Centre Wales aims to hold a National Youth Jazz concert in Liverpool during the spring.
The Pavilion theatre in Rhyl will stage Willy Russell’s Our Day Out which will tour north Wales and Liverpool during June and July, while Theatr Clwyd present The Voyage, set during Queen Victoria’s reign when over 50,000 Welsh people lived in Liverpool.
Finally, Machynlleth Tabernacle will present an exhibition on the life and works of Owen Owen between August 4 to September 6, showing the strong connections between Wales and Liverpool during 1847–1910.
Old Welsh Chapel, Chapel Rd, Garston Feb 2008 view, just before the trees bud into leaf and obscure it for another year !! The chapel is now a private residence.
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