National Museums Liverpool Blog - Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Karen's blog has reminded me - it's Mother's Day on Sunday, and as you'd expect, we have a range of fabulous free Mother's Day e-cards for the occasion.

New designs this year include 'The Fairy Tale' by James Sant, pictured above, from the Walker's collections. Or if your mum doesn't scare easily (and lets face it, most mums are made of pretty stern stuff) you could always send her the 'Mummy of Pedeamun' from the National Conservation Centre.

Make your own dino mask

Yep, the puns on this blog just keep coming...

Anyhoo, lots of lucky kiddiewinks (about 300 of them actually) got stuck into the Dino Days sessions at World Museum Liverpool at the weekend. There are more workshops this weekend (check out the what's on section) where the many delights will include examining fossiled dinosaur poo - a perfect Mother's Day if you ask me.

If you can't get down to the museum (or even if you can) you might want to enter our 'design a dinosaur stamp' competition. The three best get a dinosaur goodie bag. You can download the application form pdf(119kb), which also includes details of how to enter.  

If you'd rather have a posted version contact Mike Graham, Learning Resources, World Museum Liverpool, William Brown Street, Liverpool, L3 8EN or call him on 0151 478 4241. The deadline is 30 March.

'Grain barge', copyright Bernard Fallon

If you missed Bernard Fallon when he briefly returned to Liverpool to open the exhibition of his photos The Long Way Home at the National Conservation Centre, then don't worry. A podcast of Bernard giving a guided tour of the exhibition is now available on the website. Yes, we do spoil you.

For further proof of how much we spoil you, there have been extra talks added for our other photography exhibition, Merchant Palaces at the Lady Lever Art Gallery. Exhibition curator Joseph Sharple's talks about Merchant Palaces have been so popular that 2 more dates have been added on 27 March and 16 April. Full details are in the Merchant Palaces events programme.

Image courtesy of Liverpool Daily Post and Echo

A grim period of Liverpool’s history was when the town was Europe’s leading slave trade port.

Comparatively few slaves were brought to Liverpool - it was the trade itself that generated big profits.

Ships sailed from Liverpool laden with manufactured goods such as pots and pans, guns, alcohol and textiles. These were exchanged for slaves in Africa who were then taken across the Atlantic.

The Africans were then sold and such commodities as sugar, coffee, tobacco, rice and cotton – all produced by slave labour – were purchased.

The slave trade was fuelled by profit and Europeans’ desire for luxuries, creating the demand for captive Africans to do the work. They received no pay and were not allowed any freedom. Millions of enslaved Africans were taken to the Caribbean and the Americas not only on Liverpool ships but from other British and European ports.

It took many years of campaigning by abolitionists such as William Wilberforce, Olaudah Equiano and Liverpool‘s William Roscoe to finally get the trade outlawed in Britain in 1807.

The Transatlantic Slavery Gallery at Merseyside Maritime Museum focuses on this fascinating and thought-provoking story.

A map shows the location of various British slaving ports and the approximate number of slave ship voyages between 1700 and 1807. Liverpool had the greatest number with 5,300 voyages during this period.

A globe shows the triangular route taken by slave ships. First they went from Liverpool to west Africa. After picking up slaves they crossed the infamous Middle Passage over the Atlantic lasting six to eight weeks. The third part of the journey was back to Liverpool.

My ancestor Earl Guy set sail from Liverpool on the Ariadne as second mate in 1802. They picked up 177 slaves at the Rio Pongo in Africa before setting off for Demerara (now Guyana) in South America.

Earl was one of eight crewmen who died on the voyage and was presumably buried at sea.

He may have been named after the Earles, who were a well-known family of Liverpool slave traders. There is still an Earle Street, off Old Hall Street in Liverpool city centre, named after them.

A new Maritime Tale appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo.

Norman Killen - lost in music

Two Liverpool legends turned 60 this week, both of whom I met when I started working at the Walker Art Gallery a long time ago (we’re talking more years than I have fingers here).

I’ll never forget being introduced to Julian Treuherz on my first day of work as an information assistant at the Walker. He told me that he thought the front of house staff were the most important people working in the building, as we were the first ones the public saw when they came in.

Give him his due though, as the keeper of 3 national galleries (the Walker, Lady Lever Art Gallery and Sudley House) and the brains behind blockbuster exhibitions including Rossetti in 2003 and Alma Tadema in 1997, he wasn’t exactly insignificant himself. Julian retired on Friday but I hear that he'll still be involved with a major exhibition at the gallery next year.

Also celebrating his sixth decade is one of my former colleagues from the info desk, Norman Killen. He spent most of my first weeks tidying up after me, then once he had knocked me into shape he started broadening my musical horizons with some mix tapes that I still treasure. He was well placed to do this, for after DJ-ing at many of the city’s coolest clubs including Eric’s and the Sink, as well as working at Probe Records, he has played a major part in improving the musical taste of the city over the years.

As you’d expect, the music at his party on Saturday was fantastic. The birthday boy himself got behind the turntable, in between live music from the Rocketeers and Deaf School, who were joined for one song by a singer who was truly 'one step beyond'. Happily Norman has no intention of hanging up his uniform, or his record bag, just yet. The Walker just wouldn't be the same without him.

Just added another batch of photos to our Manchester Dock photoset on Flickr. Some pretty nice snaps there including this one taken low down in Manchester Dock.

Just got this snap of an event that took place at World Museum Liverpool recently. Students and staff from EMTAS (Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service) worked with artist, Hilary Manuhwa to create this wonderful piece of contemporary stone sculpture representing the theme of 'freedom'. Hilary uses the shona style of Zimbabwe as his inspiration and showed everyone the traditional skills.  I'm told it was a proper learning experience for everyone involved and that they took a lot of pride in their creation.

The finished masterpiece

The sculpture will be on display in the World Cultures Gallery at the museum during Refugee Week (18-24 June) and for the following three months. Then it's off on tour to Salford, Newcastle and Leicester. This session was run as part of our Engaging Refugees and Asylum seekers programme.

PS This isn't be be confused with the other Freedom! sculpture currently at the Maritime.

Gary Sollars in front of his entry in John Moores 24

The extensive listings include free origami cranes at the Artfinder gallery and free sake whilst viewing art at Sapporo Teppanyaki. We don't have access to instant messenging at work, but anyone with a webcam and an MSN Messenger account might be interested in web cam performance art from Transvoyeur (1-4pm). Amongst the artists performing will be Gary Sollars, whose painting 'When I Grow Up I Want To Go In There' was in last year's John Moores 24.

King Canute couldn't stop the waves but at least Crosby has given them something cool to look at as they ebb in and out, with the Antony Gormley sculptures 'Another Place'.

As Billy blogged back in November, the sculptures were on a Belgium beach before coming to Crosby. They were due to move again, but after a huge campaign it was decided last night to let them stay. Congratulations Crosby on this fantastic news.

Read more about the statues on BBC news or have a look at the 'Another Place' slideshow on Flickr to see just why they have been so popular.

The Ghanian flag was put up this morning at Merseyside Maritime Museum, because today is the 50th anniversary of Ghanaian independence from colonial rule. Ghana was formed from the former colonies of the Gold Coast and Togoland and became the first African country south of the Sahara to achieve independence.

Fifty years ago the independence celebrations included races in Ghana's capital city, Accra. A surf boat that took part in the races, rowed by a crew representing Liverpool’s Elder Dempster Shipping Line, is now in the museum's collections. It will go on display in the museum's entrance from Thursday this week.

If you are aged between 12 and 17 and fancy yourself as a budding journo then this could be the competition for you. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Parliament’s decision to outlaw Britain’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade, National Museums Liverpool has teamed up with international children’s charity Plan UK and EducationGuardian.co.uk to launch a young reporters' competition. First prize is a weekend in Liverpool followed by a trip to a Plan project tackling child labour in Senegal. The deadline for entries is 27 April 2007.

Find out more on the EducationGuardian website.

This wonderful image was taken by Hamish Mackenzie at Plan UK.

I can't believe I've missed it!

'Shaun the Sheep' has made his new series debut today on Children's BBC.

The BBC have put together this behind-the-scenes set of photos, which should appeal to anyone who enjoyed Animated Adventures. Apparently a children's series like this is made at lightening speed compared to feature films like The Curse of The Were-Rabbit ... but it still takes days with the makers averaging seven seconds of footage per day.

Wallace and Gromit's woolly friend looks set for super-stardom - at least amongst pre-schoolers.

BBC School Radio's 'Together' series has created two programmes on the transatlantic slave trade, based on the Slaves' Stories feature on our website. Both programmes feature dramatisations of the experiences of fictional Africans and interviews with museum staff and are aimed at Keystage 2 pupils. 'A Shocking Trade' goes out on Thursday 15th March, and 'Free at last!' a week later. Programmes are broadcast at 3am with each available as audio on demand for the following week.

A Liverpool Slave ship about 1780

There are several streets in Liverpool named after slave traders along which I, Stephen Guy, walked many times before discovering the connections.

During the 18th century many of Liverpool’s leading families were actively involved in the trade, including mayors and MPs. Around the city centre today you will see streets named after citizens who owed much of their fortunes to enslaved Africans. A display at Merseyside Maritime Museum highlights these places which are still a part of modern Liverpool.

The Tarletons were one of the most vigorous slaving families in Liverpool over three generations. They were politically active locally and at Westminster. John Tarleton left a personal fortune of £80,000 in 1773 – the equivalent of many millions today. Three of Tarleton’s sons were involved in the slave trade. The fourth son, Banastre, served in the army and later as an MP was a major opponent of abolition. Tarleton Street links Church Street and Richmond Street.

Richard Gildart was Mayor of Liverpool three times and MP for Liverpool from 1734 to 1754. Gildart Street is off Islington.

Cunliffe Street, off Tithebarn Street, is named after Foster Cunliffe, another Mayor of Liverpool.

Although Admiral Lord Rodney (1719-92) was not a slave trader, he spoke against abolition in the House of Lords. Famous for his victories against the Spanish and French, Rodney Street is named after him.

The Transatlantic Slavery Gallery at the museum has several exhibits showing the terrible conditions in which captive Africans were taken across the Atlantic – including a part-replica of a slave ship hold. This shows the cramped conditions in which the slaves were chained closely together below decks, often in stifling temperatures.

A plan of the Liverpool slave ship The Brooks shows 482 figures fitted in the hold. However, on one voyage in 1782 she had an astonishing 646 Africans on board, while in 1786 she carried 609 slaves and 45 crew.  A model based on The Brooks shows in great detail how all these people were accommodated. A thatched partition – or barricado – reaches across the ship to divide the sexes.

A painting of a Liverpool slave ship about 1780 (above) has few clues that she is carrying hundreds of captives. One is a series of ventilation holes below the gun deck.  At some stage three small boats approaching from the coast with Africans on board were painted out – perhaps following abolition.

Details of the records our archives department holds on the subject of Liverpool and slavery can be found on our main site. There is also an online tour of the slavery-related sights of Liverpool, including Tarleton and Cunliffe Streets.

A new Maritime Tale appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo.

The statue of local rock legend Billy Fury, which many people will remember from the courtyard of the old Museum of Liverpool Life, was moved today to a prominent location outside the Piermaster’s House on the Albert Dock.

Rock stars like to make an entrance, so it was quite fitting that the statue turned lots of heads when it swooped into its new location today. I just hope none of the spectators wanted an encore, this would be quite hard to beat!

We haven't heard from the field archaeology unit for a while, which usually means that they are way too busy uncovering interesting finds out on site to make it near a computer. Here's the latest news from Rob Philpott:

The excavation on the site of Manchester Dock has continued for several weeks and we have made good progress in revealing the walls of the dock. The dock had been filled in with crushed sandstone excavated from the first Mersey Tunnel so it could be safely removed by mechanical excavator to a depth of about 4 metres.

Several details of the dock construction were also revealed. Variations in the quality and finish of the sandstone masonry may relate to different phases of the dock construction, in particular the creation of a narrow entrance and locks to convert the original open tidal basin into a wet dock. The stonework still bears the groove marks worn by the ropes. Masons’ marks – mostly in the form of an initial letter – are visible on many of the stone blocks. Other features include the rollers set within fine arched chambers which held ropes to open and close the dock gates.

The dock gates and a wooden tidal gauge have been exposed and recorded in detail. The dock walls have so far partially been recorded by three-dimensional laser scanning which creates a detailed computer model of the walls.

Archaeologist Mark Adams examines the excavated dock gates

Near the dock the excavation has exposed the foundations of a series of brick sheds along the quay as well as extensive cobbled yards and road surfaces. Two small square pits, lined with plaster, may have been tanks to hold water for the hydraulic systems or steam engines in the dock area. A brick engine house has been identified and the settings for cranes and other machinery.

One interesting find has been a dump of broken sugar moulds. These provide a direct link to two of the major industries of Liverpool: pottery manufacture and sugar refining. These pottery vessels, made in a smooth red earthenware, were probably made in Liverpool by one of the numerous potteries in the town. In shape they are a rounded cone with a small hole at the narrow end. They were used to refine sugar imported from the Caribbean and elsewhere. The mouth of the sugar cone was set over a pottery jar to collect the molasses that slowly drained out of the sugar during refining.

We have a good idea of their date as they were dumped in the land-fill which was deposited to reclaim this part of the Mersey in the period 1796-1801. At that date, the sugar was processed from the products of plantations which were worked by enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and elsewhere.