Liverpool Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Leverepul

In the civil parish of Liverpool.
In the historic county of Lancashire (Modern Authority of Liverpool, 1974 county of Merseyside).

Was a small strong castle with tall round towers, five in all, two forming gatehouse. Built early C13. William de Ferrers was given royal licence to 'strengthen his castle at Liverpool' in 1235. Mentioned in a document of 1347 as being moated with four towers. One tower added 1431-3. During the civil war it was occupied by the Royalists in 1643 and in 1659 Parliament ordered it to be demolished but only the gatehouse and parts of the walls were pulled down. The castle was completely demolished in 1725 for the construction of St George's church, which has also since been demolished. The North and West sections of the moat were located during building work in the 1920s. A tunnel was also located which may have connected with a tower on the shore. Early C20 replica of the ruins of this castle built at Rivington.

This site has been described as a;
Masonry Castle.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Nothing visible remains.

A supposed Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1235 Jan 19.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SJ34269027

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 67505

• Web site links
  • http://www.btinternet.com/~m.royden/mrlhp/local/castle/castle.htm
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Lancashire and Cheshire (Malvern) p34
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p136 [slight]
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p248
    Gibson, Leslie Irving, 1977, Lancashire Castles and Towers (Dalesman Books) p32-34
    Davey, P.J., 1977, ‘Liverpool: South Castle Street’, Archaeological Excavations 1976 (HMSO) p138
    Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p706
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Farrer, William and Brownbill, J. (eds), 1911, VCH Lancaster Vol4 p4-8 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=41370
    Hand,C.R., 1910, Notes respecting the Annals of Liverpool Castle p6-31
    Touzeau,J., 1910, 'The Castle of Liverpool' in The Rise and Progress of Liverpool Vol1 p349-358
    Hand, C.R., 1909, Liverpool Castle and its Builders
    Fishwick, 1907, in Fishwick and Ditchfield (eds), Memorials of Old Lancashire Vol2 p15-17
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p198-9
    Gregson, 1824, Portfolio of Fragments Relative to the History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Lancaster (Liverpool) p169-70
• Journal Articles
  • Guy, Neil, 2005, 'Liverpool Castle' Castle Studies Group Bulletin Vol18 p188-201
    Davey,P.J. and McNeil, R., 1980-81, 'Excavations in South Castle Street, Liverpool 1976 and 1977' in Journal of the Merseyside Archaeological Society Vol4 whole issue
    Sale, R.M., 1977-8, ‘Liverpool, Merseyside’, CBA Newsletter and Calendar, 1 p112
    Davey, P.J., 1977, 'South Castle Street 1976: Interim Report' Journal of the Merseyside Archaeological Society Vol1 p13-15
    Charwell, B., 1928, 'Liverpool Castle' in Liverpool Diocesan Review Vol3 p363-366
    Larkin, F.C.,1927, 'Excavations on the Site of Liverpool Castle, 1927' Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Vol79 p175-199
    Anon, 1918, 'Liverpool Castle 1235' Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Vol70 p139
    Gladstone, R., 1907, 'A report on Liverpool castle 2nd October 1559' Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Vol59 p162-4
    Fishwick, H., 1901, 'The Old Castles of Lancashire.' Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society Vol19 p61-3
    Cox, E.W., 1892, 'An Attempt to Recover the Plans of the Castle of Liverpool from Authentic records; Considered in Connection with Medieval Principles of Defence and Construction' Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire [new ser] Vol42 p195-254 [map, plans, diag]
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Calendar of Patent Rolls (1232-47) p89
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/durhameng.html#lancs8]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p268