Liverpool is undoubtedly the most fitting place for a permanent national memorial to the victims of slavery, as a city shaped by the slave trade more than any other in the country. However, I have not seen any evidence to suggest that there were any purpose-built “slave pens” in the town (Letters, 13 December).
An advert for the sale of “One Negro Man and Two Boys” in Liverpool that took place in 1767 refers to the individuals being “brought up to the place of sale to be viewed”, possibly indicating that they were being kept in a cellar, but currently we can only speculate as to how these people were confined while waiting to be sold as human chattel.
In Liverpool, as in other places around the country, the sales of the enslaved usually took place in the coffee houses, taverns and offices of the town’s merchants and brokers.
Laurence Westgaph
Historian in residence, National Museums Liverpool