Liver Bird

The liver bird /ˈlaɪvərbɜːrd/ is the symbol of the English city of Liverpool. The use of a bird to represent the city dates to the medieval era, but the idea that the "liver bird" is a mythical creature specific to Liverpool evolved in the 20th century. The bird is normally represented in similar form to a cormorant, and appears as such on Liverpool's coat of arms.

The name of Liverpool may derive from words meaning a pool or creek with muddy water, though other origins of the name have been suggested. The earliest known use of a bird to represent the town of Liverpool was on its corporate seal, dating from the 1350s. The seal is now held by the British Museum. In 1668 the Earl of Derby gave the town council a mace "engraved with ...a leaver", the first known reference to a liver bird by this name. In 1797 the College of Arms granted official arms to Liverpool, which depicts the bird in pride of place with a branch of laver in its mouth as a pun on the city's name.

Representations of the bird can be found throughout Liverpool. Two birds top the clock towers on the Royal Liver Building, at Liverpool's Pier Head, overlooking the Mersey. The building, headquarters to the Royal Liver Assurance, is probably the best-known in the city and was opened in 1911. Each tower is topped by a metal sculpture of a cormorant-like liver bird, designed by Carl Bernard Bartels and constructed by the Bromsgrove Guild.

There are two less well-known liver birds in the city. A third metal bird is on the nearby Mersey Chambers office building, adjacent to the Church of Our Lady and St Nicholas, the parish church of the city of Liverpool. The fourth, a bird carved in stone, topped the original St John's Market building until its demolition in 1964. The stone liver bird is now displayed at the Museum of Liverpool.

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