As I walk around Liverpool, which I do on an almost daily basis, the one question above all others I hear myself saying is along the lines of ‘What was there before?’. Sometimes the answer is easy and is within living memory, other times a quick Google search will suffice. The best times though are when it takes in-depth research to unearth the layers of history a particular building, street, or place may be masking beneath its latest incarnation. This has been the case with St. Paul’s Square and its current 21st Century temples of glass and steel.
What was intended as research for a blog post became more fascinating than I had imagined, and developed into a piece of work hopefully more significant.
If you can I would encourage you to first walk around, or visit virtually, the St. Paul’s Square we have today. Then as you read the full research immerse yourself in the winds of change this fascinating spot has experienced over the past 250+ years.
‘St. Paul’s Church-yard’, as it was initially called, was laid out c1760 on what was then ‘Dog Field’. Steers Dock was but 45 years old but Liverpool was now growing into one of the UK’s and indeed World’s key ports. I very much doubt that those who planned the square had envisaged the incredible wave of change that was soon to engulf both it and the growing town.
The next 250 years tells a tale of a city condensed into a square of just 50 yards by 64 yards. It has elements of immigration, religious intrigue, social change, tragedy, industry, commerce, health care, innovation, entertainment, re-birth, and a world first.
I hope to update the research in coming months as I gather further information, some hopefully shared by readers of this blog post.
If you are interested in helping get the PDF ‘published’, or printed for free distribution to interested parties then I’d love to hear from you!
Please click on the following link to open PDF, and I hope you enjoy!
A History of St. Paul’s Church and Square, with Contemporary Cuttings
St Pauls_History_Liverpool1207_v6
It would be great to hear your thoughts, cheers.
Liverpool1207 
I found your History of St Pauls’s Church while researching my direct ancestor John Hope (1734-1808) Architect of Liverpool. Fascinating to read the 1869 paper based on his diaries that suggest he was involved in the building of St Pauls. John Hope certainly lived nearby in 17 St Pauls Square in the 1774 Gore’s Directory, and by the 1790 Gore’s was at 6 Rigby Street close by, and where he died in 1808. His 5 children were all baptised in St Paul’s Church, and he, his wife Elizabeth, and 3 sons were buried there. His younger daughter Sarah Hope who married another Liverpool architect William Byrom is my link to John Hope.
Thank you very much for your shared research!
PS My middle name is Hope. The name has come down my family in the generations since, and now is my granddaughter’s middle name also.
Hi Pamela, thanks for getting in touch. Glad you found the blog useful, and great research yourself! The only two other references to John Hope that I have are in relation to the Goree Warehouses, and Holy Trinity, Wavertree.
I’ve enjoyed reading your fascinating blog about St Paul’s so much!
I’m curious to know what actually happened to the bodies after the church closed- do you know where they would have been moved to? I volunteer for findagrave .com, recently a request was made to locate the grave of someone buried at St Paul’s, I’m having great difficulty finding out anything about it though.