As a young boy, John Lennon scaled the walls of the Salvation Army children's home, Strawberry Field to play with other boys his age. Growing up in Liverpool, Lennon had a turbulent childhood, raised by his aunt Mimi after being given up by his mother Julia. His aunt recalled young Lennon’s excitement at the summer garden parties, who would jump up and down when he heard the Salvation Army band begin to play and exclaim “Mimi, come on! We’re going to be late!”

In 1967, The Beatles released "Strawberry Fields Forver," a single written by Lennon in which he evoked his childhood memories of the house and gardens.

The original house was torn down in 1973 and replaced due to structural issues, but a selection of bricks were reserved and placed at auction. Mini Museum's material comes from one of these 1973 bricks, which would have once been a part of the home that Lennon sang about.

Each specimen is hand-cut by our specimen technicians and comes displayed in a cushioned gem jar. The jar is enclosed inside a classic, glass-topped riker display case that measures 4"x3"x1". A small information card is also enclosed.

Please Note: Color will vary widely on this specimen between red, gray, and swirls of both colors. The unique texture and coloring is the result of uneven firing and rough materials used at the time. This makes each specimen completely unique.

"And nothing to get hung about / Strawberry fields forever."

~ John Lennon, “Strawberry Fields Forever” (1967)

The Beatles remain perhaps the most influential and certainly the most successful musical act of all time. Always boundary pushing, their compositions ranged from the accessible love ballads of their early recordings to kaleidoscopic experimental works later in their career. The 1967 single “Strawberry Fields Forever” is particularly evocative of this shift towards the psychedelic. The song makes use of a wide variety of instrumentation, from the Indian swarmandal to cutting edge synthesizer sound. The result is one of the most memorable tracks in the Beatles’ discography.

The song was written by John Lennon, who based it upon Strawberry Field, a children’s home in Liverpool whose garden he would play in as a child. The house was built during the Victorian era in the Gothic Revival style. The earliest record of the house comes from 1870 when it was owned by shipping merchant George Warren. It then passed to another merchant, Alexander C. Mitchell, whose widow would later sell the property to the Salvation Army in 1934. Two years later, it opened later as a home for children.

It was this home’s garden that Lennon’s song referenced. As a boy, he would scale the walls to play with the other children living there. Growing up in Liverpool, Lennon had a turbulent childhood, raised by his aunt Mimi after being given up by his mother Julia. His intrusions into Strawberry Field served as an escape for the young Lennon from the stresses of childhood, delighting in his encounters with the other children who were living in the home. His aunt recalled young Lennon’s excitement at the summer garden parties, who would jump up and down when he heard the Salvation Army band begin to play and exclaim “Mimi, come on! We’re going to be late!”

The house continued to operate as a children’s home until the 1970s, by which time its structural integrity was failing. It was demolished in 1973, replaced with a new building specifically built as a children’s home. In 2019, the Salvation Army opened up the grounds for public visitation.

Today, Strawberry Field remains a pilgrimage site for diehard Beatles fans, who travel from all over the world to see the grounds and leave their mark on the property’s famous red wrought iron gates that sport many pieces of Beatles graffiti. This fragment comes from a brick from the original manor that was sold in 2018 to support the revitalization of the property and its conversion to a public centre.

Looking for more Beatles memorabillia? Check out the story of the Cavern Club brick specimen here!