Paul McCartney birth location, Walton, Liverpool

 

Here I am outside the former hospital where Paul McCartney was pushed out into the world while World War Two raged. Now it’s a large apartment block but at the time it was Walton Hospital where most locals went to give birth..

 

Paul’s mum Mary was a 32-year-old midwife and knew this building as she’d qualified to practise as a nurse here. For a short spell she'd been in charge of the maternity ward. His dad Jim didn’t witness the big push as the country was amidst WW2 and he was working as a volunteer firewatcher. It was remarkable they’d met, married and meshed together to produce Paul - when they met in an air raid Mary was 31, rather spinsterish, a Catholic and too ambitious to marry. Jim was 38, an agnostic and a confirmed bachelor. Paul was their first child together though later on they’d have another son.

 

Though Mary had the luxury of a private room Paul was born not breathing. He was in a state of white asphyxia caused by oxygen-deficiency to the brain. The obstetrician and midwife thought he was dead but the latter knew Mary, was a staunch Catholic and prayed fervently for God to intervene. Moments later Paul started breathing unaided. Mary thought the prayers had been answered or perhaps she’d witnessed a miracle and went on to have Paul baptised in a Catholic church. Hours later Jim arrived from fire-watching duties to see a his lad for the first time. He was no longer a deathly white and said later he “looked like a horrible piece of red meat.” The McCartneys took their lad home - a set of furnished rooms on Sunbury Road two miles away in Anfield. Mary would return to this building to give birth to Peter Michael but she didn't see much of her sons lives. They were 14 and 12 years old when she died aged 47 from breast cancer. Cancer had been found in the her breast and a mastectomy was planned but the cancer had spread too quickly and too far.

 

To reach this handsome landmark building you pass a rather vulgar modern white hospital with looks comparable with a prison. It serves to make the former Walton Hospital even more handsome. I parked up and had a stroll around the grounds. Walton Hospital was originally a workhouse and the Clock Tower Drive that takes you to it refers to the broad tower at the front of the building. Strolling around I saw a woman pushing a pram. I waved but she didn't wave back - perhaps my saluting and pointing into mid-space made her think I was a nutter.

 

The hospital closed its doors after a long history in December 2010 and most of it was demolished the following year. There're nearly 200 properties here now in the form of flats, houses and bungalows. Where was everyone? I strolled around for about twenty minutes and didn't see anyone at any of the hundreds of windows.  I saw only five people and one was a delivery driver. There was a car park at the rear but - again - nobody was around. Perhaps there was a meteor approaching earth and it's incoming journey was live on television.

 

If Paul hadn't made we wouldn't have The Beatles - or perhaps we would but in another form with John Lennon doing all the singing. Who knows? Paul’s dad eventually remarried a woman twenty years his junior and ended his days on the Wirral where he was cremated. His mum lies five miles from the hospital in an unmarked grave and the link is here if you'd like to see it:- http://johnhalley.uk/Grave%20-%20Mary%20McCartney.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Walton Workhouse, which later became part of Walton Hospital. Liverpool… |  Liverpool england, Liverpool town, Liverpool history

 

 

Walton Hospital. Where I was born! Although this hospital over the years  was built onto the building in the pic… | Liverpool history, Liverpool  town, Liverpool home