10 Admiral Grove

10 Admiral Grove, a property in Dingle, Liverpool, England, is the house in which Ringo Starr lived for twenty years before he rose to fame with the Beatles.

10 Admiral Grove
General information
TypeTerraced house
Architectural styleVictorian
LocationDingle, Liverpool, UK
Coordinates53°23′21″N 2°57′41″W

Starr's infant school, St. Silas Primary School, on Pengwern Street, was yards away from his front door. He was a sickly child and, due to his many absences from school, was taught to read and write at home. A severe bout of peritonitis led him to spend much of his seventh year at the Royal Children’s Hospital. When Starr was 13, his mother Elsie married a Londoner, Harry Graves. The Starkeys' local pub, The Empress, where Elsie was a barmaid, adjoins Admiral Grove. The pub was immortalised in 1970 by being featured on the front cover of Starr's first solo album Sentimental Journey.[1] During "Beatlemania", the documentary The Mersey Sound, filmed by BBC producer Don Haworth, showed Starr being mobbed by fans on Admiral Grove as he made his way to George Harrison's open-topped sports car.

Birthplace in Madryn Street

On 7 July 1940, Starr (then known as Richard Starkey) was born at 9 Madryn Street in the Liverpool district known as the Dingle. The neighbourhood was heavily damaged by arial bombing during the Second World War. His father, also Richard, and mother Elsie, rented a house at 9 Madryn Street for 10 shillings (£0.50) a week. His parents separated when Starr was three years old, and Elsie and her son moved to the smaller, less expensive two-up, two-down house at 10 Admiral Grove. This remained Starr's home until 1963, when he became famous.[2]

In 2010, it was announced that Starr's Madryn Street birthplace was to be demolished. Local groups called for its preservation, and the city had to board up the house due to relic hunters stealing bricks. An online petition demanding that the house be preserved by the National Trust collected nearly 4,000 signatures.[3] In 2012, Housing Minister Grant Shapps confirmed that the house would be saved from demolition.[4] In January 2013, it was announced that local residents had backed a development plan that would include restoration of 9 Madryn Street.[5] However, the Department for Communities and Local Government announced in September 2013 that it would hold a public inquiry into the plans.[6]

In The Beatles Anthology, Starr is quoted as saying: "I don’t remember the inside of our house in Madryn Street, I was a baby". However, he does remember his grandparents' house, which was also in Madryn Street.[7]

Legacy

Elsie and Harry were persuaded to leave Admiral Grove for a house Starr had bought them in the Gateacre district of Liverpool. Starr would pay homage to both his Madryn Street and Admiral Grove addresses in his 2008 song "Liverpool 8".

In 2016, the house at 10 Admiral Grove was purchased by a Beatles fan who also owns houses owned previously by George Harrison and John Lennon's mother Julia.[8]

See also

References
  1. Ingham, Chris (2003) The Rough Guide to the Beatles, Rough Guides. ISBN 1-84353-140-2
  2. Parsons, Donna S (5 December 2010) "Walking in the Beatles' footsteps". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  3. "Save 9 Madryn Street, Birthplace of Ringo Starr". Petition Online. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  4. "Ringo Starr's birthplace on Madryn Street, Liverpool, saved". BBC News. 14 June 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  5. "Residents back plans for Liverpool's Welsh Streets". BBC News. 14 January 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  6. Apps, Pete (25 September 2013). "Pickles slammed for calling in demolition plan". Inside Housing. Archived from the original on 6 May 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  7. The Beatles (2008): The Beatles Anthology, Chronicle Books. ISBN 0-8118-2684-8
  8. Levine, Nick (25 March 2016). "Avid Beatles fan buys Ringo Starr's childhood home for £70,000". The Independent. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
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