Water Street, Liverpool

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Water Street

Water Street is a road in Liverpool, England. Situated in the city centre, it runs from Dale Street to the Pier Head at the River Mersey.

Contents

History

The street was one of the original seven streets that made up the medieval borough founded by King John in 1207, together with Castle Street, Old Hall Street, Chapel Street, High Street, Tithebarn Street and Dale Street. [1] It was originally known as Bonk Street ('Bonk' being Lancastrian dilect for 'bank'), Bank Street and in the 1520s it was named Water Street. [2] [3]

Grade II Listed buildings

Water Street contains some of Liverpool's most renowned buildings, including:

Moby Dick

Water Street is mentioned in chapter 6 of Herman Melville's 1851 novel, Moby Dick . [6] Melville had used William Scoresby's 1820s book An Account of the Arctic Regions as a factual source for Moby Dick. [7] Scoresby's book details how the city of Liverpool was involved in whaling.

Filming

Liverpool's place as the second most filmed city in the UK has led to Water Street being used in many film and TV productions. [8] Water Street has featured in such films as Florence Foster Jenkins , Fast and Furious 6 , The 51st State and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit . [9] [10]


Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herman Melville</span> American writer and poet (1819–1891)

Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851); Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. At the time of his death, Melville was no longer well known to the public, but the 1919 centennial of his birth was the starting point of a Melville revival. Moby-Dick eventually would be considered one of the great American novels.

<i>Moby-Dick</i> 1851 novel by Herman Melville

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the maniacal quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship Pequod, for vengeance against Moby Dick, the giant white sperm whale that bit off his leg on the ship's previous voyage. A contribution to the literature of the American Renaissance, Moby-Dick was published to mixed reviews, was a commercial failure, and was out of print at the time of the author's death in 1891. Its reputation as a Great American Novel was established only in the 20th century, after the 1919 centennial of its author's birth. William Faulkner said he wished he had written the book himself, and D. H. Lawrence called it "one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world" and "the greatest book of the sea ever written". Its opening sentence, "Call me Ishmael", is among world literature's most famous.

Ishmael (<i>Moby-Dick</i>) Fictional character from the novel Moby-Dick

Ishmael is a character in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (1851), which opens with the line, "Call me Ishmael." He is the first person narrator in much of the book. Because Ishmael plays a minor role in the plot, early critics of Moby-Dick assumed that Captain Ahab was the protagonist. Many either confused Ishmael with Melville or overlooked the role he played. Later critics distinguished Ishmael from Melville, and some saw his mystic and speculative consciousness as the novel's central force rather than Captain Ahab's monomaniacal force of will.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Scoresby</span> English Arctic explorer and whaler (1789–1857)

William Scoresby was an English whaler, Arctic explorer, scientist and clergyman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trywork</span> Furnace for rendering blubber into whale oil

A trywork, located aft of the fore-mast, is the most distinguishing feature of a whaling ship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mocha Dick</span> Sperm whale that inspired the novel Moby Dick

Mocha Dick was a male sperm whale that lived in the Pacific Ocean in the early 19th century, usually encountered in the waters near Mocha Island, off the central coast of Chile. American explorer and author Jeremiah N. Reynolds published his account, "Mocha Dick: Or The White Whale of the Pacific: A Leaf from a Manuscript Journal" in 1839 in The Knickerbocker. Mocha Dick was an albino and partially inspired Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick.

The cetology in Herman Melville's 1851 novel, Moby-Dick, is a running theme that appears most importantly in Ishmael's zoological classification of whales, in Chapter 32, "Cetology". The purpose of that chapter, the narrator says, is "to attend to a matter almost indispensable to a thorough appreciative understanding of the more special leviathanic revelations and allusions of all sorts which are to follow." Further descriptions of whales and their anatomy occur in seventeen other chapters, including "The Sperm Whale's Head -- Contrasted View" and "The Right Whale's Head -- Contrasted View".

<i>Pequod</i> (<i>Moby-Dick</i>) Fictional ship from the novel Moby-Dick

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<i>Moby Dick</i> (1956 film) 1956 film by John Huston

Moby Dick is a 1956 American color film adaptation of Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick. It was directed by John Huston with a screenplay by Huston and Ray Bradbury. The film stars Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart and Leo Genn.

Moby-Dick is an 1851 novel by Herman Melville that describes the voyage of the whaleship Pequod, led by Captain Ahab, who leads his crew on a hunt for the whale Moby Dick. There have been a number of adaptations of Moby-Dick in various media.

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Dale Street is a thoroughfare in Liverpool, England, in the Commercial Centre conservation area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Bedford Historic District</span> Historic district in Massachusetts, United States

The New Bedford Historic District is a National Historic Landmark District in New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States, west of the community's waterfront. During the 19th century, when the city was the center of the American whaling industry, this was its downtown. After its decline in the early and mid-20th century, through the efforts of local activist groups the district has since been preserved and restored to appear much as it was during that period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pequod Glacier</span> Glacier in Antarctica

Pequod Glacier is a glacier over 15 nautical miles (28 km) long, draining eastwards between Parlichev Ridge to the north, and Taridin Ridge and Krupen Ridge to the south, and flowing into Exasperation Inlet on the east coast of Graham Land. It lies parallel and just south of Melville Glacier. The lower part of the glacier was surveyed by Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS) in 1947 and the upper reaches were surveyed in 1955. Named by United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) after the whaling ship Pequod in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick.

<i>Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World</i> American TV series or program

Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World is a two-hour documentary by Ric Burns about the history of the whaling industry in the United States. The film was initially released on May 10, 2010.

<i>Moby Dick</i> (1998 miniseries) 1998 American television miniseries

Moby Dick is a 1998 American television miniseries directed by Franc Roddam, written by Roddam, Anton Diether, and Benedict Fitzgerald, and executive produced by Francis Ford Coppola. It is based on Herman Melville's 1851 novel of the same name. It was filmed in Australia in 1997 and first released in the United States in 1998. The miniseries consisted of two episodes, each running two hours with commercials on March 15 and 16 of 1998 on the USA Network. This is Gregory Peck's final on-screen role.

<i>In the Heart of the Sea</i> (film) 2015 American biographical adventure-drama film directed by Ron Howard

In the Heart of the Sea is a 2015 historical adventure-drama film directed and produced by Ron Howard and written by Charles Leavitt. It is based on Nathaniel Philbrick's 2000 non-fiction In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, about the sinking of the American whaling ship Essex in 1820, an event that in part inspired Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick. An international co-production between the United States and Spain, the film stars Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy, Tom Holland, Ben Whishaw, and Brendan Gleeson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Captain Ahab</span> Fictional character from the novel Moby-Dick

Captain Ahab is a fictional character and one of the protagonists in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (1851). He is the monomaniacal captain of the whaling ship Pequod. On a previous voyage, the white whale Moby Dick bit off Ahab's leg, and he now wears a prosthetic leg made out of whalebone. The whaling voyage of the Pequod ends up as a hunt for revenge on the whale, as Ahab forces the crew members to support his fanatical mission. When Moby Dick is finally sighted, Ahab's hatred robs him of all caution, and the whale drags him to his death beneath the sea and sinks the Pequod.

Father Mapple is a fictional character in Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick (1851). A former whaler, he has become a preacher in the New Bedford Whaleman's Chapel. Ishmael, the narrator of the novel, hears Mapple's sermon on the subject of Jonah, who was swallowed by a whale but did not turn against God.

Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish is chapter 89 of Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick, in which Ishmael, the book's narrator, explains the concept of "Fast-Fish" and "Loose-Fish." If a whale, whether dead or not, is marked by a ship's crew with anything to claim it, such as a harpoon or rope, it is a "fast-fish", that is, it must be left alone by other whalers; if it is not so marked, it is a "loose-fish", which can be claimed by any ship that finds it. The clarity of this doctrine, Ishmael says, prevents disputes from escalating into violence. He describes court cases dealing with disputes between crews of whaling ships, and then extends the concept to society and politics, questioning the concept of ownership and the right to possession.

References

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  2. "BBC - Liverpool Local History -". www.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 28 December 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  3. Grimsditch, Lee (7 August 2021). "12 original Liverpool street names and reasons why they changed". Liverpool Echo. Archived from the original on 28 December 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  4. "7 Water Street and 3 Fenwick Street, Non Civil Parish - 1062579 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Archived from the original on 28 December 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  5. "MIDSHIRES BUILDING SOCIETY, Non Civil Parish - 1291937 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Archived from the original on 28 December 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  6. "Herman Melville – Moby-Dick (Chap. 6: The Street)". Genius. Archived from the original on 28 December 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  7. Routledge, Chris (3 May 2013). "A history of whaling in Liverpool". BBC News. Archived from the original on 28 December 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  8. "About Us". Liverpool Film Office. Archived from the original on 28 December 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  9. Grimsditch, Lee (12 September 2020). "10 Hollywood movies you may not realise were filmed in Liverpool". Liverpool Echo. Archived from the original on 28 December 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  10. Kirwin, Ellen; Rice, Elle May (23 March 2018). "You guide to the famous filming locations across Liverpool". Liverpool Echo. Archived from the original on 28 December 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.