St George's Plateau is the flat space between the hall and the railway station and contains statues of four lions by Nicholl and cast iron lamp standards with dolphin bases. Also on the plateau are monuments, including equestrian bronzes of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria by Thomas Thornycroft, and a monument to Major-General William Earle by Birch. Between the equestrian statues is a cenotaph which was unveiled in 1930, designed by L. B. Budden and sculpted by H. Tyson Smith. It consists of a simple horizontal block with a bronze relief measuring over 31 feet (9 m) on each side.
The Plateau has been associated with public rallies and gatherings, including the deaths of Beatles, John Lennon and George Harrison, and the homecomings of Liverpool and Everton football teams after Cup Final Victories. During the 1911 Liverpool General Transport Strike, many meetings were held there, including the rally which sparked the 'Bloody Sunday' attacks, when police baton charged thousands of people who had gathered to hear syndicalist Tom Mann speak.
When I visited the site, there was a small Veteran's Day remembrance service involving a clergyman, a couple of dozen schoolchildren, a pair of bagpipers and a squad of soldiers. Even though it was a dramatically underproduced event, the plateau is such a great forum that it still seemed like a big deal. I made a recording of the bagpipes, and it reveals how difficult a bagpipe duet can be, but it still sounded OK.
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