[2][3] The Grade II-listed building, which was opened in 1787, was originally an overnight holding place where local drunks and criminals were taken by parish constables.

Punishments would usually be similar to community service such as clearing ditches, unblocking drains or removing rubbish.

It is sometimes called Prince Rupert's Tower, though it was in fact erected 143 years after Prince Rupert's Royalist Army camped in the area during the English Civil War Siege of Liverpool in 1644.

[4] It is likely the name arose because Everton Brow was historically where preparations were made to attack the Parliamentarian garrison holding Liverpool Castle.

Prince Rupert, as commander of the Royalist cavalry of Charles I is said to have looked down on the fortress and dismissed it with the words: "It is a crow’s nest that any party of schoolboys could take!".