Legend
The Liver Birds
If they fly, the city falls.
Stand where it happened
- What's there
- Two great copper birds on clock towers above the river
- Legend from
- Liverpool waterfront legend
- Best time
- Any
- Tone
- Wry
If the two Liver Birds ever fly away, the old saying goes, Liverpool itself will be lost.
Two copper Liver Birds stand on the towers of the Royal Liver Building, which opened in 1911. Wikipedia says the building revived the idea that the liver was a mythical bird that once haunted the shore. Local legend says the birds are a pair. The female looks out to sea, watching for sailors to come home, and the male looks over the city and the sailors' families. If the birds ever mated and flew away, the city would cease to exist. In another version they are chained down, because if they flew off the Mersey would flood Liverpool. The 1797 grant of arms names the bird as a cormorant holding laver seaweed.