Liverpool was a humble fishing village for half a millennium until the spilting-up of Chester and the booming slave trade prompted the building of the first dock in 1715. From then until the abolition of slavery in Britain in 1807, Liverpool was the apex of the slavery. After the abolition of the trade, the port continued to grow into a seven-mile chain of docks, not only for freight but also to cope with wholesale European emigration, which saw nine million people from half of Europe leave for the Americas and Australasia between 1830 and 1930. Some never made it further than Liverpool and contributed to a five-fold increase in population in fifty years. An even larger boost came with immigration from the Caribbean and China, and especially Ireland in the wake of the potato famine in 1845. There's been a renaissance of sorts since the 1990s as EU development funds and millennium money have kick-started various projects.
Transportation in Liverpool
By Car: From the M6 the city of Liverpool is easily reached via the M58, M56 & M62 motorways. Liverpool city centre is approximately 45 minutes drive from Chester, Manchester and North Wales; just over 1 hour from Blackpool, the Lake District, Yorkshire Moors and the Peak District National Parks; just over 4 hours from London.
By Coach: There are good express connections to Liverpool from most towns and cities in Britain (to Liverpool there are half hourly services from Manchester, hourly services to York and every two hours to London and Birmingham). The National Express coach station is located in Norton Street, Liverpool City Centre.
By Air: Liverpool John Lennon Airport is just 8 miles from the City Centre. There are regular scheduled flights from Belfast and Dublin and Cork, Isle of Man, Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, Geneva, Madrid, Nice, Paris, Palma and Malaga. Merseytravel operate a regular low cost bus service into the City Centre seven days a week and taxis are also available.
By Ferry: Liverpool ferry port is one of the UK's major Ports & covers both banks of the River Mersey, both in Liverpool and Birkenhead. Liverpool Ferry Port handles over 30 million tonnes of freight a year, including one third of all freight moving between Britain and Ireland. Liverpool bound passenger ferries are operated by P&O Irish Sea, Norse Merchant Ferries, Irish Sea Express and Steam Packet Company. Ferry arrivals from the Isle of Man and Dublin dock at the terminals just north of Pier Head, close to Albert Dock while the Liverpool Belfast Ferry docks at Norse Merchants Birkenhead terminal.
The built environment of Liverpool contains over 2,500 listed buildings. Amongst its superlatives: Liverpool has the largest panel of stained glass in the world (in Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral), the largest brick building in the world, and the first enclosed integrated dock system in the world. The Anglican Cathedral has the longest nave, largest organ and heaviest and highest peal of bells in the world. Architects well represented in Liverpool: Giles Gilbert Scott, Peter Ellis, Harvey Lonsdale Elmes, and John Foster. Sir Edwin Lutyens is represented by the completed crypt of his projected Metropolitan Cathedral, which was built to a simpler design by Frederick Gibberd.
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