Pooley Gates

Pooley Gates are gates and a gateway, made of cast iron and dating from around the 1840s to 1850s. They were created in Liverpool by Henry Pooley and Son, designed by John Cunningham, and were installed at the Liverpool Sailors Home by 1852. After the Liverpool Blitz, the gates were removed during restoration works, and the Sailors Home was demolished in the 1970s. In 1948, the gates were offered for sale to W & T Avery, which had merged with Henry Pooley in 1931. By 1951, they were erected at Avery’s Soho Foundry in Smethwick, Sandwell. In 2011, permission was granted to relocate the gates back to Liverpool, and they were subsequently installed in Paradise Street near the former site of the Sailors Home.

The gates consist of a lower part divided into four sections, with the two central sections functioning as gates. Each gate features diagonal lattice infill that is cast to resemble rope, with a knot at each intersection. They also have a central lozenge containing a cast mermaid with two tails. Above the gates is an elaborate superstructure, which includes a Liver bird above ropework draped with cloth, flanked by nautical symbols such as oars, flags, bugles, ships' wheels, and intersecting dolphins.