In our book of archive photographs - 'Gateacre & Belle Vale' - we included (on page 80) a view of the pedimented gateway in Halewood Road. It stands within the perimeter fence of Woodsome Park, the apartment blocks that were built on the site of the former Gateacre Hall Hotel. The gateway survives because, unlike the hotel, it was a Listed Building, having been designated as such in 1975. So when the hotel complex was demolished, in 2004, the gateway was left untouched.

In our caption to the photograph in the 'Gateacre & Belle Vale' book, we state: "The gate has a local nickname, the Slave Gate, as legend suggests it was brought here from the Liverpool waterfront where it had connections with the slave trade". Recent discussion within the 'Childwall, Gateacre & Woolton - Photos & Memories' Facebook group has uncovered other local stories about the gateway - and revived the controversy. Here are some of the comments posted:

"As a child I was told about the Slave gate but thought it happened on-site. I was mortified". "Good story, but no slaves came to Liverpool". "It was said that if you looked through that gate you would die". "The gate used to be open, but it was meant to curse you if you went through it". "The story we were always told is that it was cursed because the Gateacre hall was built on a monastery and the monks put a curse on it". "Apparently every time it was opened somebody on the Nook died in not very nice circumstances"

What is the truth behind these stories? Where exactly did the gate come from? What connection, if any, did it have with slavery? Thanks to thousands of hours of research by the 'Bygone Liverpool' research team (Glen Huntley and Darren White) we can now finally reveal the answers.

The large Georgian house that became the core of the Gateacre Hall Hotel had a number of different names during its lifetime. In the 18th century it was known as 'Mersey Vale', but in the 1880s - by which time it was the home of Liverpool cotton broker George Hunter Robertson - it was known as 'The Laurels, Nook Lane'. In our September 2005 Newsletter, we reported the discovery of a Time Capsule - a glass bottle stuffed with old documents - by demolition workers. This included a series of notes about people, places and events in Gateacre, handwritten in 1881 by Mr Robertson's two teenage sons. None of them, however, mentioned the gateway. Thanks to the recent research, we now know the reason for this: it was only brought to Gateacre in 1883. George Hunter Robertson was the man responsible, and it would seem that he had an interest in studying and acquiring antiquities. (After he left Gateacre, he bought Plas Newydd outside Llangollen, including "the priceless treasures that it contains".)

Glen and Darren of 'Bygone Liverpool' have carried out a painstaking study of old photographs, paintings and drawings of old Liverpool buildings, in search of the original location of the gateway. Their focus - bearing in mind the alleged link to the slave trade - was the area close to the old waterfront. Eventually the source was identified: the Merchants' Coffee House, which faced onto St Nicholas' Churchyard, close to where Tower Buildings stands today. A watercolour by Edwin Beattie shows the pediment and pillars quite clearly; and it was in 1882/83 that this building was demolished to allow the Dock Road ('Georges Dock Gates' being the official name of this stretch) to be widened.