Smithdown Road

«Smithdown Road: twinned with Baghdad». So said the graffiti I once saw. Funny, but ultimately unfair.
From the lofty heights were it joins Parliament Street down to the point where it connects with Penny Lane junction, Smithdown Road (or the A562 to its friends) is just over one and a half miles long. It certainly packs a lot in, flirting with a cemetery, two parks, three major supermarkets and countless businesses of varying heritage. It’s no wonder why ‘The Secret Life of Smithdown Road’ will feature as an exhibition at the 2011 opening of the Museum of Liverpool.
Historically, the roadway was beaten into shape by three English kings. The name itself comes from the area of Esmedune that appeared in William the Conqueror’s Domesday Book. King John added a manor in 1207. Then in 1604, King James I did away with the manor’s surrounding hunting park, allowing people to live and farm on the land for the first time. For years afterwards it was little more than a country lane until the Victorians came and dropped great dollops of brick everywhere.
Nowadays, the road is a cultural hotch-​potch. Speeding its leviathan millennium-​old history up on a time lapse video would show innumerable businesses and characters flickering in and out of life, each one sculpting the communities in their own tiny way. If you squint, you’ll see me. Look! I’m waving!