"The Medici Renaissance was in my opinion literally invented by William Roscoe of Liverpool. In 1795 he produced "A Life of Lorenzo the Magnificent" which happened to be one of the most successful history books ever and that between the Age of Enlightenment and the beginning of Romanticsm established once and forever the link between the Renaissance, the flourishing of the arts and the Medici."

 

The Memorial Gardens mark his grave. He is also commemorated by the annual Roscoe Lectures which in recent years have been given by people like the Dalai Llama. The Gardens are on the graveyard of the church where Roscoe worshipped.

The Memorial is also dedicated to Blanco White, who fled his native Spain when the French invaded Madrid in 1808. He settled in Liverpool and wrote poems in Spanish and English.

Roscoe founded Liverpool's first Botanical Gardens at the top of Mount Pleasant.

John and Cynthia Lennon were married at the Registry Office at 64 Mount Pleasant and afterwards came to these Gardens to have their wedding photos taken. Paul, George and Brian Epstein attended.

“ Grand Central” behind the Gardens is the former Grand Methodist Hall. It was used by the Philharmonic Orchestra when their own Hall was being rebuilt after a fire. Rachmaninov played here, and having charged £1000 for his performance, insisted on a further £300 for the encore!

It is now home to Quiggins, a bohemian market with a variety of stalls.

Number 62 was the oldest surviving residential houses in the city, and now houses “Blend"a recommended restaurant, and bar with a beer garden at the rear.

A little further on is "Kimos" a popular, value for money restaurant.
Continue up Mount Pleasant.

The former YMCA building  was the first in Britain built 1875-77, and its tower dominates the mainly Georgian houses in the rest of the Mount. The architect was H.H. Vale.

Most of the houses were built in the early 1800s. Number 82 was the home of the architect, John Foster Junior.

Number 85 was the home of a Bamber Gascoyne, an ancestor of the T.V. presenter, of the same name.
The building with the curved frontage and massive columns is the Grade 1 listed “Wellington Assembly Rooms  ” built from public subscriptions after Wellingtons’ victory at Waterloo.

The interior was very grand, with a ballroom some 80’x37’(24mx11m), a card room and a supper room The raised side entrances are to accommodate Sedan Chairs.

For many years it was home to the Irish Centre, and it is now being re-developed.
The playwright Brandon Thomas was born at Number 101 and later lived at 83. His best known play is “Charleys Aunt”
.Dr. John Bligh lived at 117. He was an expert in Irish culture and language and a supporter of Irish Nationalism. He died in1913
The Victorian Gothic building was the Convent of Notre Dame, and
includes an Oratory of St, Philip Neri. The nuns were conveniently located to tend to the sick and the starving in the Workhouse a few minutes walk away.
To your left is the Clarence/Russell Street area where the Powder House stood.
Even trading vessels were armed prior to the Twentieth Century and this area was so far out of town as to be considered safe for the storage of gunpowder.
Turn right onto Rodney St, famed as the “Harley Street” of Liverpool, and is the birthplace of some famous people.

Rodney Street is named after Admiral Bridges,1st Baron Rodney for his victory over the French and Spanish at St. Lucia in 1782. By 1801 most of the houses had been built.

Numbers 1-5 are late Georgian houses and are said to have set the pattern for the street; three storeys high, two sash windows on the ground floor, three on the upper floors, iron balconies to the first floor, and ornaments on the doorways. The other houses show detailed variation within this pattern. You might also want to take a look at the top of the lampposts- they’re topped with Liver Birds.
Some famous connections were:

Augustus John had his studio at No. 2 when he taught here in the early 1900s.
No. 4 Rodney Street was the birthplace of Brian Epstein; it was a Consultant Gynaecologist’s practice and Brian’s parents paid for a private birth. It was also home to the United States Consul , James Maury from 1790 to 1829. His son Lieutenant Maury’s’ wind and current charts are well known to members of the U.S. Navy, but I bet few knew he was a native Liverpudlian!
At No. 9, near to St. Andrews Church, and No. 74 lived Arthur Clough and his sister Ann Clough. In the 19th century Arthur Clough was a world-famous poet. Some of his works include: "The Bothie, Thyrsis, Amours de Voyage" which he wrote in Rome. He was quoted by Churchill in the latter’s speechon the fall of France in 1940;

“Say not the struggle nought availeth
The labour and the wounds are in vain
The enemy feints not nor faileth
And as things have been things remain.”

 

Ann was a pioneer of further education for women when it was a rarity. In 1871 she was put in charge of the first house for women students in Cambridge, which later became Newnham College. She was also a founder member of the first Society for women’s suffrage in Britain
No. 11 was the birthplace of Nicholas Monsarrat the novelist whose best known work is probably “The Cruel Sea”, set against the backdrop of the Battle of the Atlantic .

This was his best selling novel and came about after serving on a corvette in the navy during the war. .
The ruin of St. Andrew's Church on Rodney Street. has an unusual grave in the shape of a pyramid. Two stories are told to explain this oddity.

The first and I believe most likely is that Mr. W. McKenzie was a life-long card gambler, who wanted to continue his passion in eternity. He requested that he be ‘buried’ sitting at a card table holding a winning hand of cards.
The second, more colourful explanation is that Mr. McKenzie had sold his soul to the devil who had agreed to defer collection until his corpse was committed to earth. McKenzie therefore ensured in his will that he would never be buried. The pyramid shape allowed this.

There are occasional reports of a ghostly figure in cape and Victorian evening wear roaming in this area, although local pranksters seem the most likely explanation.
Opposite is “Pushka,” a recommended restaurant.
No. 34 on the opposite side, on the corner with Rodney Street was the home of Henry Booth who was one of the pioneers of the world’s first passenger railway and the inventor of the railway coupling system.
No. 35, almost opposite, was the home of William Roscoe .
If you look up Hardman Street you will see a restaurant, ”Valparaiso”.

The Patron-chef, Julio Arellano works with the Merseyside Fire Service to provide refurbished fire fighting equipment to his native Chile.

The Liverpool Spanish Club meets here.
No. 62 was originally built as a detached residence in 1796 with the surrounding terrace coming later. It was the birthplace of William Gladstone in 1808 who eventually became the British Prime Minister on four occasions.

He was also a writer on politics and the Greek Classics. When he died there was a funeral service held at St. Nicholas’s Church at the same time as his State Funeral in London.

No. 43 shows the crest of the Hungarian Consul .Mr. C.Thurstan Holland, who established the worlds first X-Ray department lived here.
.No. 54 was the home of Dr. Duncan

No. 59 was home to the distinguished photographer E. Chambre Hardman(1898-1988).

In 1980 Chambre Hardman was awarded an honorary Fellowship at the Royal Photographic Society for services to photography. This is the only photographer’s house and studio that has been preserved in situ. His work, some 140,000 photographs, include the famous photograph of H.M.S. Ark Royal under construction in Birkenhead.

There are also portraits of various stars at the Playhouse-people like Dame Margot Fonteyn, Ivor Novello, and Robert Donat. The house is preserved in a 1950’s time-warp with food and clothing of the era in perfect condition.

The man who restored the house, Brian Holland, also restored Paul McCartney and John Lennon’s houses Plasterboard ceilings were replaced with an authentic mix of lime, horsehair and lath.

The original pitch pine windows were in almost perfect condition, and the new glass in the windows was given mottled imperfections as it would have in 18th Century The house is open to the public Disabled access is via Pilgrim Street
No. 80 was the home of the writer (Giles) Lytton Strachey while he was at Liverpool University where he read History.
Some other distinguished doctors who have lived in Rodney Street include:

Dr. Matthew Dobson whose work on diabetes was critical in leading to treatment for controlling the disease and who established 98.6 F as the normal temperature of the human body.
Dr. James Currie, born in Scotland he practised in Liverpool from 1780. He is best known for being the first biographer of “Robert Burns” in 1800. He was amongst the first to denounce the appalling living conditions in the “courts” and founded the first House for the Insane.
Dr. Alfred Betts Taplin, known as the father of Liverpool psychiatry. He pioneered the humane treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome after World War One. He practiced at Number 1 and 76.
Dr. Nigel Pemberton a friend of “The Mini Robin Hood Of Liverpool”- a dwarf called Richard Dayton worked for a wealthy but mean man, Isaac Barnaby. Allegedly the pair combined to burgle first Barnaby, and then other rich, mean people, and gave the proceeds to the poor. They did so for 3 years, and after nearly being caught, they resumed normal life.
Turn left towards the Cathedral and then second right onto Pilgrim St. On your left is The Pilgrim Pub  named after a privateer which in 1795 captured the French East Indiaman “l’Liberte” and carried her to Barbados where her disposal earned the equivalent of multi-millions of pounds today.

The pub is popular particularly with students, with cheap meals, friendly staff, and a great juke-box.
On your right is Rice St. Go up here to “Ye Cracke” John Lennon romanced his first wife and fellow art student Cynthia in and the Beatles also
came here. Nowadays you will find a mix of locals, students, artists, and on
occasion evening-suited musicians from the RLPO. It has a pleasant beer
garden at the back.
Go back down the hill and turn right to the Unity Theatre. 

The building was originally the Hope Place Synagogue which opened in 1857.There were once Unity Theatres across the country. They began to form in the 1930’s as a revolt against the then Lord Chancellor’s attempt to censor plays that had a left-wing message.

One Merseyside Unity Theatre production, ”Waiting for Leftie” led to indignant questions in Parliament.

It is fair to say that productions always had an edge, and have always been ready to experiment. Although not a community theatre in formal terms, the Unity has always served the community and has helped local writers, actors, and technicians take their first steps to a career in the theatre.

It is known for its friendly and enthusiastic performances, and was named as “Liverpool’s most ambitious theatre” by the Guardian newspaper. Graham Frood joined the Unity’s precursor in the 1930’s and continued to be a member, sitting on the Unity’s Board, until his death in 2003. Appropriately enough his funeral was conducted in the Theatre, a unique service.

About 7 months after his death friends received a final present from him, the sharing of 180 bottles of wine from the cellar of his home in nearby Falkner Street.
www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk email: info@unitytheatre.co.uk
1 Hope Place Liverpool L1 9BG
U.K. 0151 709 4988
International 44151 709 4988
At the end of Pilgrim St. cross to Kirkland’s, now a pub, but once “Bakers by Royal Appointment”.

The owners have tried to give it a new name, The Fly in the Loaf, but I am sure that it will always be known as Kirkland’s. In the early 20th Century parlour maids would meet here and talk about rights for women, while their mistresses went to more upmarket places to talk about the same thing.
Head along the narrow Baltimore Street, next to Kirkland’s.
The modern building ahead of you is the John Moores’ University Learning Resource Centre. Go into its grounds and you will find yourself in the peaceful garden of what was the Convent of Notre Dame. The Chapel, and the rest of the old buildings enclose the garden. There is also a Bistro downstairs in the John Foster Building.
Retrace your steps and walk down to St. Andrew’s Church turn left here and you find yourself back on Rodney St. Turn right at the traffic lights. Opposite is Hannah’s which has some good “open-mic” nights.
Turn right at the bottom of the hill, into “Rapid Discountland." The business was a single small shop 30 years ago, and now claims the longest shop frontage in Britain.
On your right is “The Dispensary” selling the local Cain’s brew.
The imposing building a little further on is the former Methodist Hall, “Grand Central”, the church whose gardens we visited at the start of this walk.

Notice the crests above the entrance, with their Liver Birds, and the pillars with their mock arrow-slits. Inside the Bar Celona's decor is inspired by the Catalan architect, Gaudi. It is fantastic.Most of the building is home to bohemian market stalls,well worth a browse.

 Continue along Renshaw St.

You are now back at the Adelphi, and your nearest station is Central Station,down Ranelagh St. opposite the hotel.