FALLING SOMEWHERE AS RAIN

Having grown up in Liverpool, I have seen the city change and evolve over the last sixty years, developing to meet the demands of modernity and change, but each new wave of improvements or extensions seems to break across an implacable bedrock which refuses to relinquish its shape to the tides. No matter how many new buildings and constructions spring up on the seven streets, the original fabric of the yawning seaport still manages to hold fast amongst the jetsam of commerce. Near one of the Northern entrances to the main city and on the grounds of the newspaper offices, is a vast sculpture, celebrating the city’s vital role in opening up the New Worlds in the eras of exploration and trade. Erected in 2006, the ‘Face of Liverpool ’ is a massive steel lozenge perforated by a circular hole holding a steel ring like the mount for a globe. The circle serves as a frame or a portal to the Mersey estuary and the docks and the surrounding dais is marked with a message in morse code. The wh...

I recently reported on a photographic dérive around Liverpool and my visit to St James Cemetery which sits in the shadow of the Anglican Cathedral. St James is situated in an abandoned 15th century quarry, which provided much of the construction stone for the old docks and Town Hall. Converted into a mausoleum and graveyard to house the manifold dead, especially following the Victorian Cholera epidemic, which ran through the city due to improper housing and unsanitary conditions, leaving thousands dead and the main necropolis in north Liverpool literally overflowing. In the shadow of the huge gothic cathedral, the peaceful gardens have now had many of the original internments removed and the statuary and monuments left to decay. However, the site is now maintained and secured by a working group and it has become a popular tourist destination. Naturally, any ancient site such as this will engender myths and stories and a wealth of historical detail. Many of the cities luminaries, as wel...