Prince Rupert's Tower To Open For Historic Event

An ‘Everton FC in Everton Day’ will unfold on Saturday 29 June, tailored for fans who can’t get enough of our rich history.

Staged at the historic ‘lock up’ tower which features on the official Club crest, the free gathering from 11am-1pm (BST) is jointly organised by the Official Everton Heritage Society and the Friends of Everton Park.

The 1787 tower above Netherfield Road South is rarely opened, but on Saturday supporters will be able to take a look inside the ancient monument, with its usually dark interior lit by candles.

An informative talk will then unfold about the Lock-Up’s history and how another Everton district tower initially rivalled it as the potential central point on the Club's famous crest.

Across the path next to the tower, of course, is the site of the former Everton Toffee Shop with its own folklore.

Supporters will be invited to take the short 30-yards walk into Village Street, now a southern green tree-lined boundary of the modern Everton Park. This was the birthplace of modern football on Merseyside, the site of the long lost Queen’s Head pub where, on a dark November night in 1879, the fledgling St Domingo football team became Everton Football Club.

Fittingly, ‘Village Street’ will be a linking premium space at our new riverside stadium, allowing supporters to access key member areas, including a new Queen’s Head Bar and others saluting the likes of Howard Kendall and Dixie Dean.

Ken Rogers, chairman of the Official EFC Heritage Society and the Liverpool Echo’s Everton correspondent during Howard Kendall’s glorious 80s era and beyond, will be amongst those at the tower. Ken has written many Everton books including the stadium’s centenary history ‘Goodison Glory’.

He said: “Evertonians are fiercely proud of their heritage and I’m one of them. I look forward to sharing some inside stories from a lifetime reporting on the Blues, not least regarding the tower from where there is now a direct line of sight to our emerging new stadium.

“It is fitting that we are opening the Lock-Up’s giant iron door and reflecting on Royal Blue memories as we prepare for what will undoubtedly be an emotional and eventful final campaign at our spiritual home of Goodison Park.”

There is parking on Village Street and also in Everton Park’s nearby official ‘View’ car park, approached off St Domingo Road.