Liverpool Slave Trade History Walking Tour

This tour will take you round the original seven streets of Liverpool and explore the banks, offices and very streets that the slavers walked and conducted their everyday business. Visit places where slaves were traded on the streets of Liverpool and even visit a pub that existed in the days of the early slave traders.
The whole of Liverpool was mortgaged for £10,000 to fund the construction of the world’s first commercial tidal dock. Learn how this was a major turning point for Liverpool.

See some of the places where slaves were sold in Liverpool and newspaper adverts announcing the sale.

Take a walk along Castle Street (one of the original streets of Old Liverpool) and see the building where the only branch of the Bank of England existed outside of London.

Such was Liverpool’s dominance of the transatlantic slave trade that one in five African captives crossing the ocean was carried in a Liverpool slave ship.

Come to Liverpool and Discover.

Minimum booking is for 2 people

Meeting Point

Royal Liver Building

Royal Liver Building, George's Dock Gates, Liverpool L3 1HU, UK

On the river side of the Liver Buildings at the Pier Head in Liverpool. Your guide will have signage indicating the meeting point.

Not included:

• Gratuities

What to expect:

Duration: 2 hours

Our Lady and Saint Nicholas Church and Garden

Church Street, St Nicholas Place, Liverpool

Many Slave Traders worshipped at this church and were buried in the church yard. Find out about the lives of these traders.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Hargreaves Building

Chapel Street, Liverpool, L3 9AG

Learn about the Cotton Broker and Banker William Brown who founded the Bank of Liverpool and Brown & Shipley Merchant Bankers.

10 minutes

Tithebarn Street

Tithebarn House Tithebarn Street, Liverpool, L2 2NZ

Visit Rumford Place and the Confederate Embassy of the American Civil War. Learn how Bulloch set up his network of spies in Liverpool and how the Confederate armies were supplied with weapons and ships.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Cotton Exchange Building

Old Hall Street, Liverpool

Discover how Liverpool was the world leader in cotton trading and how the "Liverpool Rules" still exist today. Learn how cotton trading build the wealth of Liverpool and its merchants.

10 minutes

Exchange Flags

Liverpool, L2 3YL

The original "Exchange" where traders carried out their business and where slaves were sold. See the Nelson Monument and hear about its history and meaning.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Memorial to Sir Alfred Lewis Jones

Pier Head, Liverpool

Learn how Sir Alfred Jones obtained his vast wealth and the monopoly of the Elder Dempster Shipping Line. Learn about his philanthropy and how he funded the setting up of the School of Tropical Medicine.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Liverpool Water Street

Water Street, Liverpool

Visit the Business and Banking sector of 18th and 19th Century Liverpool and learn how the bankers became wealthy on the back of the American trade that enabled them to build such richly designed buildings for their banking houses. See the Martins Bank Building, the old Bank of Liverpool Building.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Dale Street

Dale Street, Liverpool

See some of Liverpool's 18th Century Streets that still exist and escaped the demolition during the widening of Dale Street in Victorian times. Visit a public house that existed (and was probably visited) by Liverpool's early slave traders in 1726 (and maybe enjoy a drink there). Walk some narrow streets and passageways from Old Liverpool.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Castle Street

Castle Street, Liverpool

Learn about the buildings on Castle Street - how they were connected to merchants and slavery and see the building that housed the first branch of the Bank of England outside of London.

10 minutes

Queen Victoria Monument

1 Derby Square, Liverpool, L2 1AB

Visit the place where Liverpool Castle once stood before being demolished in 1726. Learn about St George's Church that was built on the site and was the place of worship for Liverpool mayors and town councillors.

5 minutes

Liverpool Town Hall

Town Hall High Street, Liverpool, L2 3SW

The Mansion House of Liverpool's Lord Mayor. Learn how the building was funded and what it was used for. See the fabulous architecture and decoration. See depictions of African people on the frieze.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Graving Dock

Pier Head, Liverpool

After a slave ship had completed the arduous and terrible journey from Liverpool to Africa then to America and back to Liverpool, the ship would be in poor shape and require refitting. This was done in what are called Graving Docks. The original graving docks from mid 1700's remain in Liverpool and are visited on this tour.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Merseyside Maritime Museum

Albert Dock, , Liverpool, L3 4AQ

Pass by Merseyside Maritime Museum that houses the International Slavery Museum. This can be visited free of charge at the end of your tour.

Pass by without stopping

Salthouse Dock

Strand Street, Liverpool, L3 4SL

See the Salthouse and Canning Docks that were built in swift succession to Liverpool's Old dock in order to accommodate the rapidly increasing trade with America. Some parts of these docks were constructed using the massive stones from Liverpool Castle. You will be treading on the cobbles and stones that slave traders and merchants trod when attending to their ship's cargo.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Thomas Steers Way

Liverpool One , Liverpool

See the place where Liverpool's Old Dock was built by Thomas Steers in 1715. It was the building of this dock that enabled Liverpool to exploit it's position on the map and develop the African and Transatlantic trade that brought incredible wealth. It is possible to see part of the old dock through an observation window set in the ground and by prior arrangement have a guided tour of the actual dock.

5 minutes

James Street

James Street, Liverpool, L2 7PQ

Walk through some of the back streets of Victorian Liverpool and take in the classic architecture of the old banking houses and visit a modern sculpture that enigmatically evokes the slave house on Goree Island.

10 minutes