Looking for a charming and historic day trip in the North West of England? You need to visit Port Sunlight on the Wirral Peninsula. This picturesque model village was created in the late 19th century by William Lever, founder of Lever Brothers (now Unilever), to house factory workers. Not only is it a beautifully preserved example of a planned industrial village, it’s also home to the Lady Lever Art Gallery, one of the UK’s top museums.
Here is a handy Port Sunlight day trip guide to help you plan the perfect day out on the Wirral.
Table of Contents
A Little Bit of History about Port Sunlight
Port Sunlight was the creation of William Hesketh Lever. He and his brothers were on the look out for a site for a new soap factory. Port Sunlight had everything they needed. It add access to the Mersey for shipping but was crucially just outside the boundaries of the Mersey Port Authority and so no fees would be due to them. There was a pool of labour to work in the new factory in Birkenhead and the train line ran right by the site. Just building a factory was not enough for William, he wanted to create a place for his workers to live. A place with gardens and community. Work started in 1888. 30 architects helped to create Port Sunlight. Nowadays 900 buildings are Grade II listed and the factory continues to produce Unilever products.
A Little Bit of History about why I wanted to visit Port Sunlight
Three things drew me to Port Sunlight. Ebenezer Howard and the Garden City movement, the Lady Lever Gallery and the Unilever factory. Obviously the art gallery, I’m Cultural Wednesday after all! Garden Cities? Once upon a time I undertook a module on Planned Towns and became fascinated with the industrial planned villages of new Lanark, Bournville, Saltaire and Port Sunlight. The factory? Before I was Cultural Wednesday I was a producer on BBC Working Lunch and visited countless factories, I love them. Port Sunlight is my perfect kind of outing.
What to See at Port Sunlight
As you step out of Port Sunlight train station you are greeted with picture postcard vision. Black and white buildings clustered around wide green lawns.
Lady Lever Art Gallery
Like a building from Ancient Greece the domed classical style gallery stands at the end of the Diamond. Inside the Lady Lever Gallery is Lord Leverhulme’s considerable art collection. Every major Pre-Raphaelite is here. Most notably William Holman Hunt’s Scapegoat and Millais’s Bubbles. There is also the best collection of Wedgwood Jasperware anywhere. An incredible selection of Napoleon memorabilia. Tucked away in a side gallery are paintings by Dame Laura Knight and Munnings acquired by the 2nd Lord Leverhulme. All in all an absolute delight, if I lived closer I would visit multiple times a year.
- Open: Tuesday – Sunday 10am – 5pm
- Admission: Free
Gladstone Theatre
Turn right as you leave the station. You will see a large red brick building. This is the Gladstone Theatre. Opened by William Gladstone, then in between stints as Prime Minister, in 1891. Originally the building was a dining room for the men working at the factory. Once a canteen was opened on site the building was repurposed as a theatre which it still is today.
Lever House
Lever House looks like an imposing muncipal building. In fact it is a factory. Well, the actual space where things are made is round the back. Lever House is still the home to the Unilever offices. Sadly tours of the factory are not available. We poked our noses through the door and gawped at the impressive domed entrance hall.
Hulme Hall
Hulme Hall started life as the women’s dining room for the factory. Once the canteen opened it became a community hall which it still is today. Hulme Hall’s claim to fame is that it was here that the first ever Beatles first gig with Ringo Starr. The Beatles performed here on 18 August 1962 for the annual horticultural society dance with Ringo on drums for the first time.
Christ Church
In the middle of Port Sunlight stands the church. Designed by William and Segar Owen in the Gothic revival style it was opened in 1904. When the church first opened it was non denominational but today is United Reform.
War Memorial
Unmissable and deeply moving Defence of the Realm is one of the largest war memorials in the UK. Unusually it depicts women and children as well as men. All the names of the Port Sunlight residents who died in World War I and II are inscribed on the memorial.
Port Sunlight Museum
Situated in the old library just over the way from the Lady Lever Gallery you will find the Port Sunlight Museum and Worker’s Cottage. The Museum tells the story both of Port Sunlight and the soap manufacturing that took place here. Next door is a Worker’s Cottage furnished as it would been at the turn of the last century.
- Open: Daily 10am – 4.30pm
- Admission: £8 adults
Port Sunlight Parks and Gardens
Everywhere you look in Port Sunlight you will see gardens. Even as you look toward the modern factory blocks trees frame the view. There are 130 acres of gardens in Port Sunlight, allotments, bowling greens and rose gardens.
The Dell
The Dell snakes through Port Sunlight as befits its origins as a tidal inlet. Nowadays mud creeks have given way to rhododendrons and graceful trees. It is a pleasant place to wander. If the Dell Bridge looks familiar, then maybe you recognise it from Peaky Blinders which was filmed here.
The Diamond
I confess that I have no idea why the Diamond was given its name. To my eye it looks rectangular. Anyway, the diamond is filled with roses including the Port Sunlight rose. In the summer the scent is fabulous. I was especially taken with the analemmatic sundial. It has a grid marked with the months of the year, stand on the relevant month and it will tell you the exact time.
Eating and Drinking in Port Sunlight
My visit to Port Sunlight started with coffee and pistachio croissant at the Nettle cafe. Sadly there were no seats and I had no time to linger for a cup of tea next to an imposing bust of Napoleon in the Lady Lever Gallery … next time!
- Nettle, 2 King George’s Drive. Serves tea, coffee, cakes and light lunches. Open Wednesday – Sunday
- Tudor Rose Tea Rooms, 88A Greendale Road. Serves tea, coffee and light lunches. Open daily
- Bridge Inn, Bolton Road. Serves everything that you would expect in pub. Open daily.
- Lady Lever Gallery cafe. Serves tea, coffee, cake and light lunches. There are two places to take tea at the Lady Lever Gallery downstairs in the basement or upstairs in a colonnaded room surrounded by busts of Napoleon. Open Tuesday – Sunday
How to Get to Port Sunlight
Port Sunlights makes an excellent day trip from either Liverpool or Chester. Being midway between the two. I caught the train from Chester and got off at Port Sunlight, the journey took me half an hour. From Liverpool get off at Bebington a journey which also takes half an hour. Or you can drive, there is lots of free parking at Port Sunlight.
Top tips for visiting Port Sunlight
Don’t go on a Monday, the Lady Lever Gallery is closed. Consider booking a walking tour before you go, we had an excellent local guide full of insider knowledge. Book via the Port Sunlight Village Trust website, tours cost £15. Do allow a full day for your visit, I could spend a whole day just in the Lady Lever Gallery.
Industrial heritage is every bit as cultural in my book as an art gallery. Take a look at my posts on the Duisburg Nord steel works and Chemnitz for more industrial heritage travel ideas.
