Despite being bombed to almost complete destruction, a Liverpool landmark is still capable of revealing hidden treasures.
Located in the heart of Liverpool city centre, St Luke's - more locally referred to as the Bombed Out Church - is an event space, meeting point and an important part of the city's history. In 1941, German bombers carried out a series of devastating raids on Liverpool over a seven day period, which became known as the May Blitz.
St Luke's was hit by an incendiary device and the building burned for three days. Miraculously, as it was struck in the early hours, no lives were lost.
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When the flames were finally extinguished, only the shell of the building remained. Now surrounded by neatly kept gardens, the church's remains have been given a new life as both a monument and space for socialising and the arts.
However, back in 2011, custodians of the famous landmark believed they had made an important discovery. Located on a stained-glass window, next to what was formerly the main entrance on Bold Place, is the image of a cormorant.
It has been dubbed the "first Liver Bird" by those who were convinced it pre-dated those created by Carl Bernard Bartels for the Royal Liver Building by almost a century. The discovery was made while work was being carried out to clear an area known as the "forbidden zone", which is closed to the public for safety reasons.
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Jonathon Wild, who created his own bombedoutchurch.co.uk website on the history of St Luke's, said the stained-glass Liver Bird dated from the 1830s, and had not been seen publicly since World War Two. He added: "As this area is out of bounds to the general public due to the condition of the walls, it is very unlikely that anyone has actually spotted this window since the building was regularly used as a church before it was bombed in the war.
"Because this section of the church is off limits, it was only by chance that it was spotted. The window has to be an original feature, and I believe this to be one of the oldest Liver Birds in existence, especially in stained glass."
Back in 2011, former artistic director of St Luke's Ambrose Reynolds said the area where the stained glass window was found had been used as an illegal crack den before arts collective Urban Strawberry Lunch took over the running of the building.
He said: "While the crypt was being cleared out we spotted this cormorant in one tiny little section of stained glass. We are still discovering new things about the church every day, such as sections of a stained glass window which are still in place, and original slates from the roof buried in the soil."
In a later interview with the ECHO in 2014, the former artistic director of St Luke's took a reporter down for a tour of the normally out of bounds crypt. Speaking about the stained-glass Liver Bird, he told our reporter: "To me, it symbolises everything about the church - it's a quiet survivor, sitting alone in the corner."
According to Jonathon Wild's bombedoutchurch.co.uk website, the crypt is hidden from view by a metal door. Once inside, it offers a glimpse of the original construction 'untouched' by the fire but is still in a poor condition due to the weather getting in.
Chambers under the steps at the corner of Berry Street and Leece Street are lit by shafts of daylight streaming through the metal grill at the top of the steps. There is also a coal hole and one of the original boards from the altar.
Do you know of any other lesser known secret rooms or tunnels? Let us know in the comments section below.
On the other side of the crypt under the steps at the Berry Street and Bold Place side, there are blocked up arches that would have led under the main steps of the Church and possibly further. Looking up at the steps to the arched window above, it is there that possibly one of the oldest Liver Birds was discovered after many years.
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