Search old photos of Liverpool and Merseyside from across the web

There are thousands of old photos of Liverpool across the web. Many of them are posted in forums, old and abandoned sites, or deep in comment conversations. Many are posted with little context or labelling, and so often don't show up in web searches.

IoL is a search tool which aims to bring these soursces together, and make finding old photos of Liverpool easier.

You can simply start browsing the whole index, pick a topic, or search for your favourite places!

Explore the photos

Or use the search box in the top right of any page.

An old photograph of Lime Street, Liverpool, taken from a high vantage point looking down onto traffic

Lime Street, 1964

A view down onto Lime Street, showing the original shops in front of the station, and the row of buildings known as St George's Place.

An old photograph of the William Brown Library in Central Liverpool

Central Library, William Brown Street, 1900s

The Picton Reading Room of Liverpool Central Library, on William Brown Street.

An old aerial photograph of Liverpool looking down onto cleared bomb sites in the aftermath of the Second World War.

City centre, 1946

Aerial view of the city centre, showing the clearing of bomb sites.

Categories of old photos

Some of the photographs can be grouped into categories - subjects that are seen across the ages. You can explore them here.

The number in the box with the category name is the number of old photos in that category.

war 1 aerial 8 police 1 bicycles 1 social 1 transport 3 buildings 5 landscapes 12 trade 1 businesses 2 shops 3 institutions 2 entertainment 2 streets 1 retail 12 traffic 1 interior 2 retail 1 blitz 2 religion 1 Cathedral 1 churches 1 people 2 christmas 1 education 2 art 1