The Beatles: Liverpool to Abbey Road

On 6 July 1957 John Lennon was playing with his group, the Quarrymen, when he first met Paul McCartney in the church hall of St Peter's. McCartney eventually joined the group, which later became the Beatles. The meeting makes this parish church the starting point of the story. In the churchyard is the grave of Eleanor Rigby, whose name, by coincidence, is the same as that of a Beatles song.

Visitor guidance: An active parish church on Church Road; the churchyard with the grave is at its entrance.

The McCartney family moved into this council-built house in Allerton in 1955, when Paul was at secondary school. The National Trust, which has owned it since 1995, markets it as the birthplace of the Beatles, since this is where the band composed and rehearsed its earliest songs.

Visitor guidance: National Trust property; check the Trust's site for opening and booking.

The Cavern opened on 16 January 1957 as a jazz club in a cellar, with the Merseysippi Jazz Band as the first act. The club hosted its first performance by the Beatles on Thursday, 9 February 1961. It closed in 1973 and was filled in during construction work on the Merseyrail underground loop, then reopened in 1984. It is still a music venue.

Visitor guidance: Open as a music venue on Mathew Street.

Penny Lane is a road in the south Liverpool suburb of Mossley Hill, and the name also covers the nearby bus roundabout. McCartney recalled that he would get a bus to Lennon's house and have to change at Penny Lane, so the two often hung out at that terminus. The song, released in February 1967, grew from that childhood. Its popularity led to the regular theft of street signs.

Visitor guidance: A public street and roundabout in Mossley Hill.

Strawberry Field was a Salvation Army children's home, opened on 7 July 1936. Lennon grew up nearby, and one of his childhood treats was the garden party held each summer in its grounds. His song "Strawberry Fields Forever" made the name famous in 1967. The Salvation Army opened Strawberry Field to the public for the first time in September 2019.

Visitor guidance: Open to visitors on Beaconsfield Road, with an exhibition and a cafe.

On 30 January 1969 the Beatles performed a concert from the rooftop of their Apple Corps headquarters at 3 Savile Row, in central London. The band played a 42-minute set before the Metropolitan Police arrived and told them to reduce the volume. It was the final public performance of their career.

At 11:35 on 8 August 1969, photographer Iain Macmillan was given ten minutes to take the cover of Abbey Road outside the studios. The Beatles recorded almost all of their albums and hits here between 1962 and 1970. The nearby zebra crossing has become a place of pilgrimage for Beatles fans.

Visitor guidance: The crossing is on a public road; the pin marks the studios beside it.