The street was named for lime kilns owned by William Harvey, a local businessman.

When the street was laid out in 1790 it was outside the city limits, but by 1804 the lime kilns were causing problems at a nearby infirmary.

The doctors complained about the smell, and so the kilns were moved away, but the street name remained unchanged.

[5] Built as part of an inner-city ring road project that was never fully completed, the flyovers were demolished in 2019 having been deemed unsafe.

The street is mentioned as the favourite haunt of prostitute "Maggie May" in the Liverpool folk song of that name, most famously recorded by the Beatles on the album Let It Be.