Just the facts!

Too busy to take the quiz? Well now you don't have to. Just pick a catagory to get the low-down on some of Liverpool's greatest achievements. You could even take a look and then do the quiz, not that we encourage cheating or anything...

Architecture

Wellington’s column

At the top of William Brown Street, on Commutation Row, there is a column topped by a statue of the Duke of Wellington. It commemorates his many military victories. The unusual thing about the statue is that it is cast from the iron of French cannon, captured at the Battle of Waterloo. This 1815 battle was perhaps Wellington’s most famous victory and saw the end of Napoleon’s dominance in Europe.

The Duke of Wellington

The Lyceum

The Lyceum building stands at the bottom of Bold Street in the city centre. The building is now used as a post office but it originally held Europe’s first circulating (lending) library. The Liverpool Library was founded in 1757 and moved to the Lyceum in 1802.

'Bold Street from Waterloo Place' by CT Prescott, painted in 1893. The Lyceum is at the bottom of the street on the left.

St George’s Church

St George’s Church in the Everton area of the city holds an unusual record. It was the first church to be built from pre-cast, standardised parts. It was designed by John Cragg and Thomas Rickman and built in 1817. The iron sections formed the structural members and some decorative features. They were put together like modern flat-pack furniture!

Liverpool’s two cathedrals

Liverpool is one of the few cities in the world to have not one but two cathedrals. The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King is the youngest listed building in Liverpool (it was opened in 1967). It has a huge crypt beneath it which is the legacy of an earlier, unfinished design. The Anglican Cathedral also holds a few records, such as being the largest Anglican Cathedral in the UK and having the largest working church organ in the country. The cathedral also boasts the highest and heaviest peel of bells and the highest vaulted roof (53 metres / 175 feet) in the world.

Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral

Court dwellings

In the 19th century, many people in Liverpool lived in dirty and crowded cellars or courts. These unsanitary conditions led to disease and many people died. In 1847 Liverpool appointed Dr William Duncan as the city’s (and Britain’s) first Medical Officer of Health. He campaigned against poor living conditions and for the provision of clean water supplies. His work saved many lives. Today you can drink in a pub named in his honour.

Court dwellings in Liverpool. Dr Duncan campaigned against such squalid housing.

The Liver Building

The Liver Building is one of the most recognised buildings in the world. As well as its international fame, the building is remarkable for several reasons. The Liver Birds on top of the towers are 6 metres (18 feet) tall, taller than a double-decker bus. It was also the first multi-storey office block in the country to be made out of reinforced concrete. The Liver Building also has the largest clock faces in the UK. They are 25 feet (7.62m) across. That’s two and a half feet (.76m) wider than Big Ben on the Houses of Parliament in London.

Pier Head and Liver Building