A forgotten piece of Liverpool history linked to the world-famous Cavern Quarter has been discovered after decades hidden away in an aviary. Paul Bird, 46, from Skelmersdale, who runs Junk Man Property Clearances and the Junk Yard shop on Ormskirk Road, uncovered a stained-glass sign while clearing a property in Burscough.
Discovery of the Sign
The striking circular sign, bearing the words 'Cavern Walks' and 'Mathew Street', once hung at the entrance of Cavern Walks before being removed decades ago. Paul found it during a clearance at a repossessed property. The owner told him he had worked on renovations at Cavern Walks years earlier and rescued the sign after it was removed.
According to Paul, a site manager from Derbyshire wanted to take the piece, but the worker felt it belonged in Liverpool and took it home instead. It then spent years stored in an aviary before being forgotten.
Paul told the ECHO: 'It was a bit of a sad story in a way because we got called up by one of the local estate agents we do work with to clear a repossessed house because this guy had been evicted, but he was being given a chance to get some of his belongings out first, so we went to help him move his stuff into storage.'
'We were helping him get his tools out of his shed, and then I noticed there was an aviary next to it, and I just spotted this bit of stained glass. I asked him what it was, and he told me it was the old sign from Cavern Walks when it was renovated.'
'He had forgotten about it until we started clearing, so it had been there this whole time. It was a bit damaged but still really visible and stunning.'
Preserving the Piece
The owner told Paul he could keep the sign as a thank you for his help, on condition that it would not be forgotten again. Paul carefully recovered the remaining pieces and reassembled much of the stained glass before taking it home to keep safe.
Paul said: 'As soon as I saw it, I thought it just looked lovely. I get excited about little things sometimes, and my wife has to calm me down, but as soon as I got it out and saw it, I was like, 'this is actually amazing', and even my wife said it was absolutely stunning when she saw it. It's just incredible.'
Historical Significance
Paul's research suggests the sign once formed part of a canopy leading into Cavern Walks from Mathew Street. Although the exact installation date is unknown, he believes it dates back to the early years of Cavern Walks, possibly linked to redevelopment following the surge in Beatles tourism during the early 1980s.
He said: 'I think it was removed in the early 80s. Apparently, the sign was above the Christopher James Jewellery Shop in Cavern Walks.'
The discovery quickly attracted attention after Paul shared photographs on Facebook, with dozens of people sharing memories and old photographs of Cavern Walks.
Paul said: 'Within about half an hour, I was getting messages from all sorts of people saying, 'this is amazing' and people were sending photographs and saying, 'I think this is where it was'. Loads of people were saying they used to walk past it every day or work in the jeweller's. So it's been really interesting.'
'It's crazy the amount of different memories and conversations it's sparked between people.'
Future Plans
Paul hopes to learn more about its origins before deciding what happens next. He has spoken to antique specialists about its future, but his preference is for the piece to remain in the city.
He said: 'We've spoken to a couple of antique dealers in Liverpool who have recommended us to put it into an auction as we want it to go to someone in Liverpool or someone with connections to Liverpool, so that would be a good way to make sure someone local buys it, even if it's a bar or a collector.'
'We want to make sure we've done our research on it properly, and we know what it is, but the feedback from everyone has been fantastic.'
'Even though it needs restoring, it's probably the rarest thing I've come across in the five years of doing this. The fact that it's still mostly intact is incredible.'
'Liverpool has massively built a lot on the history of the Beatles and the Cavern Quarter. It's iconic. So for something like this to just disappear and be gone forever would be sad when it could be up somewhere for people to see.'
'I think there's something different about Liverpool, in a sense where a lot of cities don't appreciate what they have as much as Scousers do.'
