Sailors Gates

Liverpool Sailors' Home, was open for business in Canning Place, Liverpool, England from December 1850 to July 1969. The home was designed to provide safe, inexpensive lodging for sailors, and to offer educational and recreational opportunities, in contrast to the temptations on offer in the docklands area.

The home was not only a magnificent building it also played a pivotal role in establishing Liverpool as one of the world's successful commercial seaports following the dismantling of the Slave trade.

The building was demolished in 1974, a few years after its closure in 1969. Decorative features were preserved. Mermaid Railings from the home can be seen in Portmeirion in North Wales. The most famous decorative feature, the wrought iron gates jokingly known as the "Pooley Gates" after their maker, were sold to Avery in Birmingham and were on view at their museum located in the historic Soho Foundry until 2011. During their working years the gates had been associated with two deaths, helping to create the story of subsequent hauntings around Canning Place. In 2011 the gates were returned to Liverpool and installed near their original location as a monument to the Sailors' Home in Liverpool One.