Mid-19th century stoneware mug depicting Liverpool’s Crown Street Station on one side and Manchester’s Liverpool Road Station on the other, 1830-1840.

Both artistic and descriptive, this mug commemorates the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.

The mug depicts, in raised stoneware, three images based on the 1831 Thomas Talbot Bury illustrations of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway; ‘Moorish Arch looking from the tunnel’, ‘Entrance into Manchester across Water Street’ and ‘Railway office Liverpool’.

The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was the world's first steam powered, inter-urban railway designed to transport both passengers and goods. Its Manchester terminus was Liverpool Road Station, now home to the Science and Industry Museum. Many souvenirs were produced to commemorate the opening, including jugs, mugs, printed handkerchiefs and medallions.