its height as second city of the British Empire during Queen Victoria's reign. In England, sex between men was punishable by death until 1861 under the Buggery Act 1533. In summer 1806, twenty four men aged 17 to 84 from in and around Warrington, Manchester, and Liverpool were arrested for sodomy and other homosexual offences (three men were from Liverpool: Aspinall, Denton, and Smith and were all acquitted). Nine of the men were eventually tried by magistrates John Borron and Richard Gwillym at the Lancaster assizes. The trials became known collectively as the "Remarkable Trials", a reference to a pamphlet of the same name published shortly afterwards. After the executions of three men, the two magistrates decided to investigate the scale of, and clamp down on, further homosexual offences in the region. They relied heavily on the interviews, statements and confessions of a Manchester artisan named Thomas Rix. During his testimonies, Rix spoke of his life and sexual experiences in Liverpool in the 1790s, suggesting that sodomy was widespread in the town. Rix spoke of homosexuals congregating in the ropewalk which led from Whitechapel and Dale Street - which had recently been widened and improved. Research by James Allanson Picton claims that there was a ropewalk on Sir Thomas Street which connected Dale Street to Whitechapel from as early as 1725. He describes Sir Thomas Street as a street that was partially built on at the east side which contained a chapel at the Dale Street end. The remainder of the street contained the ropewalk, a barn and other buildings at the Whitechapel end. The research claims that this area remained considerably unbuilt on until the end of the 18th century. According to Rix, most of his homosexual encounters with other men were casual and took place in streets, taverns and pubs. He made particular reference to a tavern ‘kept by a widow woman in Trueman Street at the bottom of Dale Street in Liverpool’. Acquaintances and sexual partners that he met involved a man named John Barron, a broker, a publican, a joiner and a weaver. His encounters also involved other artisans 'from other classes and petit-bourgeois milieux', including three gentleman’s servants and a fustian cutter named Simister who was well known for manipulating young men into homosexual sex. 19th century Recent research unearthed by Dr Jeff Evans highlights the extent to which gay men were arrested and persecuted