The Wirral - part III

This is the third part of my introduction to the Wirral; a set of postings to show you where I live. Part I was a general introduction; part II showed some of the buildings; and this section is devoted to Wirral’s countryside.


Birkenhead Park contains a number of specimen trees as well as open ground and a large lake. It has recently been renovated and the lake has been dredged.


On the banks of the Mersey is Eastham Country Park, an area of woodland where the Grey Squirrels happily feed out of one’s hand.


This is a good place to find fungi in the Autumn.



In the centre of the Wirral is a red sandstone hill – Bidston Hill. Covered in a mixture of pines, birches and heath it is a lovely place to wander on an autumn day as the Birch trees change colour.


Caldy Hill on the western side of the peninsula gives a splendid view over Caldy and West Kirby and out to Hilbre Island in the River Dee. The hills of N Wales can be seen quite easily on a clear day.


This is the view from Hilbre Island back to the shore of Wirral at West Kirby with Little Hilbre in the foreground.


Hilbre is a Mecca for birdwatchers and when the tide comes in a host of birds like Grey Plover, Knot and Dunlin crowd around its sandstone shore.


The gardens of Liverpool University at Ness are beautiful and have a fine collection of heathers.


Royden Park has a beautiful pool and a walled garden.


In the walled garden there is a splendid herb garden and a miniature cornfield with all the old cornfield flowers.


Thurstaston is a wonderful area of mixed woodland and heath in which wildlife abounds.



It is adjacent too Royden Country Park and one can walk from Greasby village to the shore at Thurstaston without leaving countryside and only needing to cross one main road.


Thurstaston has a number of sandstone outcrops which are ideal scrambling grounds for children. This one is known as Thor's Rock.

From Thurstaston there is a walk in either direction along the old railway line which now forms the Wirral Way country park.


There are lots of footpaths and a few quiet lanes on the Wirral. The hedgerows in some parts are a mass of Blackthorn in early Spring.

This is a just a taste of the Wirral countryside and parkland, I hope you enjoyed it.

The Wirral (Part II)

The Wirral is full of tourist attractions and excellent places to visit. I shall show some of the architecture in this posting and leave the countryside for another day. Most of these photos are ones I took in the 1960s and '70s.


This is the new landing stage for the Mersey Ferry (it is obligatory at this stage to sing ‘Ferry Cross the Mersey’ as per Gerry and the Pacemakers).


In the middle of Birkenhead is Hamilton Square, a piece of 19th century architecture which includes a number of ‘listed’ buildings. (Buildings which are specially listed as of interest and which the owners can only alter with specific permission.)


One side of the square has the old town hall – now the area’s museum.


In the middle of the square is a model of an Eleanor Cross. (The Eleanor crosses were 12 lavishly decorated stone monuments, of which three survive intact, in a line down part of the east of England. King Edward I had the crosses erected between 1291 and 1294 in memory of his wife Eleanor of Castile, marking the nightly resting-places along the route taken by her body as it was taken to London.)


The highest point of the Wirral is Bidston Hill on which stands Bidston Mill.


A number of attractive pubs and restaurants can be found throughout the Wirral. This is the Cottage Loaf at Thurstaston. (Mum is the woman in the middle of the group outside, talking to a friend, John Banham.)


The Wirral has a number of old and unusual churches. This is the church at Capenhurst. The church was built between 1856 and 1859 and in 1889–90 the tower was added.


One of the many villages on the Wirral is Burton which has a some thatched cottages. Burton is an attractive village with a few black and white timber-framed houses and sandstone cottages. Surprisingly, it was a port in medieval times but is now well inland as a result of the silting of the River Dee.



The red sandstone church at Burton has a working clock on its western tower with only one hand.


This attractive church is St Mary’s, Eastham. A place of worship has been here since before the time of the Domesday Book which mentions a priest at Eastham. The present church contains architecture from many periods although a major restoration took place between 1876 and 1880. Some of the masonry in the north wall dates from the 12th century. The nave dates mainly from the 13th century, the tower originated in the 14th century and the aisles in the 15th century. The south porch dates from the 16th century. The tower was rebuilt in 1752 and the chancel in 1863.


Many of the top slave, cotton trade and manufacturing families of Liverpool had their main residences on the Wirral. One of these, the Lever family, owned Thornton Manor where Viscount Leverhulme lived. A local philanthropist, his empire included shipping, grocery and soap manufacturing. It is now a country house hotel and wedding venue.


This is the main gatehouse at Thornton Manor.


This is Hillbark (also known as Royden Hall), once home of the Royden family. An imposing, if rather tastless, mock-Tudor building it dates only from 1931, though incredibly enough it was originally built in 1891 near Bidston Hill for soap magnate R.W. Hudson and moved brick by brick to its current position by Sir Ernest Royden.


This is the smithy at Thornton Hough. Although it looks older, the present smithy was built in 1905 to replace the original one, which was demolished to create space for the erection of a church.

The Wirral (Part 1)

Where do I live?

I thought some of my readers from other countries might be interested to see whereabouts in the UK I can be found.


Firstly, a map showing where the Wirral Peninsula is in relation to the rest of the United Kingdom. Wirral or The Wirral is a peninsula in North West England. It is bounded to the west by the River Dee, which forms the boundary with Wales, and to the east by the River Mersey. The terms "Wirral" and "The Wirral" are used interchangeably, the merits of each forming the subject of local debate. I prefer the Wirral and 'on The Wirral' to Wirral and 'in Wirral'.


This is the Wirral showing how close it is to Liverpool, sandwiched between the Rivers Dee and Mersey. There are two road tunnels and a rail tunnel under the Mersey connecting The Wirral Peninsula to Liverpool. There is a bridge over the Mersey at Runcorn and two over the Dee at Queensferry.

The roughly rectangular peninsula is about 10 miles (16.1 km) long and 7 miles (11.3 km) wide. At one time it was all in Cheshire and was a Hundred of Cheshire. A hundred was the division of a shire for administrative, military and judicial purposes under the common law. Originally, when introduced by the Saxons between 613 and 1017, a hundred had enough land to sustain approximately one hundred households headed by a hundred-man or hundred eolder. Wirral's boundary with the rest of Cheshire was officially 'Two arrow falls from Chester City Walls', as mentioned in the Domesday Book.

Since 1974 the northern part of The Wirral is a Metropolitan Borough in Merseyside whilst the southern part is still in Cheshire.

The main town on The Wirral is the ship-building port of Birkenhead. Once a powerhouse of the Industrial age, it's skyline is peppered with grand Victorian and Edwardian buildings. Little of the its industry remains nowadays.


I live in Pensby which is a really uninspiring part of The Wirral. Most of it was built up in the twentieth century. Unlike it’s larger neighbour, Heswall, it has no interesting or inspiring history. Apart from a couple of old cottages it has no interesting architecture and its woodland consists of about forty Sycamore and Beech trees on a little triangle next to a playing field.

However, on a good day, I can walk from Pensby to next door Arrowe Park which is a very pleasant woodland and parkland or down the lanes to Barnston Dale which is a piece of ancient woodland. Unfortunately Barnston Dale is private so there is no access to the woods themselves.

Next time I do a posting about the Wirral I shall show some of its tourist attractions.