Pier Head Station

This post, along with the others under the sign of "Dock Roads", is a shared research resource, principally for Philip and Hangfeng who are working on an idea that explores the situation of the Bund in Shanghai and the situation of the Pier Head in Liverpool.

This archive image from the 1950's is a revelation! The sense that this area around the Pier Head was part of a thriving metropolis, a place where pedestrians and traffic were part of the same context, that the street was occupied!

There is a great website http://www.photobydjnorton.com devoted to the photos of D J Norton put together by one of his sons, that includes photos of the Overhead Railway in Liverpool. The website explains:

• Dennis John Norton - was my father. Born in Birmingham in 1930, he suffered ill health throughout his life. He died from an asthma attack at the age of 35 in Ledbury, Herefordshire where my family had moved hoping that a country location may help alleviate the symptoms of his illness. He left my mother, brother (aged 4) and me still 9 weeks away from being born.
• Although I never met him I developed many interests that were similar to his - electronics, astronomy and photography. It was this latter interest that he left most evidence of. We have several hundred black and white photo's from the 1950's and 1960's that he took and developed himself. We also have several hundred full colour slides, also from the 1950's and 1960's.
• Many of the photographs are railway related - another great interest of his. The ones that captured my imagination were of Birmingham prior to and during the development of the inner ring road. It was these that inspired me to take these fascinating images out of their dusty old boxes and make them available to the world.
• This is a project that will take time to complete. My aim is to expand the site as and when time allows. Eventually I hope it will stand as a suitable memorial to my father and a life that was cut tragically short.
• If you take copies of the images here for you own use, a small donation to Asthma UK would be very much appreciated. Also, an acknowledgement of their source would help spread his name as an important photographer of his day.

This kind of historical knowledge is what makes what Foucault calls 'subjugated knowledges' available for us to research. There is this photo taken in 1960 that shows how things changed on the Dock Road so quickly in the 1950's and 60's. The website explains:

• In 1960 my parents went to the Isle of Man for a holiday. My father obviously had to re-visit the site of Pier Head station to see what was left. The simple answer - nothing. After it's closure in 1956, the railway remained in place for a year or so with the hope that someone would take it over and get it running again. The investment never happened and the system was dismantled starting in September 1957. The demolition was completed by January 1959.

These are photos of the Overhead Railway that D J Norton took in 1955, the year before closure and demolition took place. It is another world, but one that overlaps with my memories of 1950's Britain.





Posted by Philip Courtenay