Rice Lane City Farm Nature Trail
Govenor Concannons Grave
Christopher Concannon 1826-1885 was one of the earliest governors of the prison. His term of office coincided with the chaplaincy of the celebrated Catholic priest, Farther James Nugent who lived in Number 1 Hornby Road. During this period there was some improvement to the extremely harsh conditions of former years, whether due to Concannon, Nugent or both would be hard to say.
After retiring due to ill health, Concannon died at his home in Southport in 1885, Nugent lived on until 1905, a fin statue in St. Johns Gardens in Liverpool city centre memorialises Nugent.
The Crichton Memorial
Doctor Duncan Crichton 1841-1884 was a Scotsman who qualified in medicine at Glasgow University in 1867,he travelled to Liverpool and became a surgeon for the Cunard Shipping Line, He settled to private practice at Donard Large, Walton Park and acquired a great reputation for philanthropology (A philanthropist is a friend to the poor people).
After his death at the age of 43, his parents and friends erected an impressive monument to remember him by, on it was inscribed:'Care not to live long, but rather to live fully' also with the Horace quotation on the other side translating to say: 'Many are the tears shed for the good men slain.
The Crichton memorial was indeed impressive before it was vandalised.
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Robert Tressell
Robert Philip Noonan 1870-1911 wrote under the pen name 'Robert Tressell', he was born on 18th April 1870 in Dublin. His mother Mary Ann Noonan was a servant to the family of Sir Samual Croker, once an inspector to the Royal Irish Constabulary and later a resident magistrate. Mary had several children by Sir Samual and was provided with a house and allowance by him.
Noonan learned the art of sign writing and painting in South Aftrica after running away from home at the age of 16; whilst in South Africa, he bought a piece of land and employed a servant he called 'sixpence'. He fought for the white South Africans against the British in the Boar War 1899-1902. It was during the war that he caught the dreaded disease (tuberculosis), in those days there was no cure for TB.
Also in Africa, Noonan was married to Elizabeth Hartel who sadly died of typhoid four years later and Noonan was left with a young daughter Kathleen to provide for.
It was now that he decided to return to Britain as he felt the climate would be kinder to his illness. He arrived in Hastings, Sussex in 1901. He witnessed such brutal poverty that he became a pioneer socialist in the kier Hardy mould. It was during this period that he wrote 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist'.
After a short time it became apparent that Noonan was becoming increasingly ill and he decided to try the climate of Canada. Noonan put Kathleen in a convent school and gave her the manuscript he had, almost as if this was all he had to give to her. He told her to take care of it as it may be worth something one day. Noonan tried to find work in order to buy his ticket to Canada, but before he did he died on February 3rd 1911 at the Liverpool Royal Infirmary; he died poor and virtually unknown
Kathleen sold the manuscript and it was eventually published in 1914, 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist' was about the English class system and exposed the conditions of the time. It described the work mans life of the time, the subjection, deception and destitution of the people whose labour helped to create the luxury and glitter of the Edwardian Age.
Today the book is an international bestseller and has been printed in many languages. The impressive monument of his paupers grave was unveiled by his granddaughter in 1977 as a result of a campaign led by Mr Eric Heffer MP. The grave attracts visitors from as far away as the USA, Canada and Japan.
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The Dove Gate
The gate was produced by a student at liverpool Polytechnic, it is designed in the form of a dove representing peace, it shows once again that the cemetery is a place of rest and peace.
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Titanic Grave
The Titanic sank somewhere in 41 North and 50 West The Titanic sent some message with her reported position: 41 44' North, 50 24' West and later 41 46' North, 50 14' West.
Ernest Edward Samuel Freeman, Senior Deck Steward:
Mr Ernest Edward Samuel Freeman, 43, was born in London. When he signed-on to the Titanic on the 4 April 1912, he gave his address as 5 Hanley Road (Freemantle, Southampton). His last ship had been the Olympic, he was listed as Chief Deck Steward on the Titanic but he was actually a secretary to White Star chairman J. Bruce. Ismay.
He received monthly wages of £3,15s. Freeman lost his life in the disaster, his body was recovered but the MacKay Bennett.
Mr Ismay had this tombstone erected in his honour, some say out of guilt for his decision not to put enough lifeboats on the ship to save everyone. What a difference one person's decision can make, the inscription reads:
"In Memoriam Ernest Edward Samuel Freeman, last surviving son of Captain S. W. Kearney Freeman, R.M., husband of Laura May Jane Freeman. Last in the "Titanic" disaster, April 15, 1912. He remained at his post of duty, seeking to save others. Regardless of his own life and went down with the ship. 239. Erected by Mr J. Bruce Ismay. To commemorate a long and faithful service".
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The Pirates' Graves
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Walton Workhouse
The land that the workhouse was built on was purchased from the Earl of Sefton for a sum of just over £11,000 and consisted of 37 acres. The money was raised from the sale of the West Derby Union Hospital.
The first stone was laid on March 29th 1864 by Thomas Haigh, chairman of the West Derby Union Board of Guardians. The work on this new site was expected to take 4 years and was formally opened on April 15th 1868 at a total cost of £65,000 including the land.
It had facilities to house a total of 1,000 inmates and was almost full by the opening date due to the transfer of inmates from Mill Road Workhouse which was also on the agenda to be sold off to pay for this but had a reprieve and later inmates were transferred back to Mill Road after refurbishment.
At the Walton Workhouse, the Board of Guardians provided the drugs for the inmates which in those days was not the standard as it was up to the doctors to provide their own.
Food was very basic and inmates fell into one of 9 different classes, which determined the quantity they got. adults were given a larger bread ration than children.
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James Carling
James William Carling 1857-1887 was born on Scotland Road to a poverty stricken Irish family. At the age of five he began to earn a living as a pavement artist, becoming know in the city as 'Little Chalkie'. At the age of eight he was arrested as a beggar and sentenced to six years in an industrial school. After being released he made his way to the USA where he worked in Vaudeville.
Carling produced 43 illustrations for Edgar allen Poe's classic book 'The Raven'. He was then beaten in a competition for publication of his illustrations and he left and returned to Liverpool.
He died on July 10th 1887 in Brownlow Hill Workhouse of pneumonia and malnutrition.
In 1936 Carlings illustrations were purchased by the Edgar Allen Poe museum, in Richmond Virginia where the remain on constant exhibition and are hailed as the finest visual evocation of poe's tortured genius.
On September 1st 1934 a memorial stone was unveiled on Carlings grave by his biographer Dr Roscoe Fisher. The stone bore the names of the 15 paupers who share the grave. However sadly in the early 90's the stone was destroyed by vandals.
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St. Peters Stones
St. Peters Church was the first to be built in Liverpool after the formation of the Diocese in 1699 and the church was completed in 1704.
Church street in Liverpool takes its name from the church of St. Peter which domination the street until it was demolished in October 1922.
Top Shop now stands on the former site of St. Peters and above the top windows carved in stone are the crossed keys of St. Pete.
Outside the shop incorporated into the pavement is an old stone from the church containing a brass Maltese Cross as a reminder of what once stood on the site.
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