Showing posts with label Bidston. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bidston. Show all posts

Wednesday, 12 December 2012

The HitchHikers Guide to the History of the Wirral Coastline

 
 
At over 560 pages long, this book will enlighten the reader to the History of the Wirral Coastline, with a collection of previously unknown materials and pictures. The collection also offers a reminder of the type of buildings that swept not only the Wirral but as a country during the Industrial and Victorian eras. The area boasted many beautiful mansions, houses, public buildings and gardens which were created to mark the beginning of the modern way of life and make Britain look the most advanced country and front runner in world during its Industrial and Post Industrial eras. The area has been blessed with vast amounts of History and for a small area it excels more than most. Forget Westminster, the first parliament in the UK was actually on the Wirral, a little area of Merseyside across the River from Liverpool. It is the nation's capital of Viking history. Inside this book you will find information of the Viking Ship found in an area called Meols where Vikings first came ashore onto the Wirral. The name Wirral is derived from the Gaelic meaning “Wyre Heal” or “Myrtle Corner”. This is because of the peninsula being heavily forested in the past. The area was populated by large amounts of deer and other game, so much so that in Medieval times kings and noblemen used the area for hunting. The emblem of Wirral is the Wirral Horn. The Horn is a brass tipped hunting horn used by the foresters of Wirral and is portrayed in many of the Coats of Arms associated with the peninsula. The horn was given to Alan Sylvester... the first Forrester of Wirral and has passed through thirty generations to the present owner... the Honourable Vivian Baring who has leant it to Wirral Museums where it has been on display. There has been a settlement at what is today known as Wallasey for many thousands of years. Archaeological investigations at the highest point of Wallasey... St Hilary's Brow unearthed artefacts dating back to the Stone Age. The name "Wallasey" is derived from the Gaelic... "Wealas Eye" which roughly translated means Welshmen's or Strangers' Island. This was due to the fact that Wallasey could only be reached by crossing water whether it be the River Birkett, Wallasey Pool, the River Mersey or Liverpool Bay Birkenhead has often been overshadowed by its neighbour, Liverpool, but it has its own unique and interesting history. It was at the forerunner of the Parks Movement which the New York Central Park is designed on that of Birkenhead Park. Birkenhead was also first place in Europe with a street tramway. To the north of Birkenhead lies a ridge known as Bidston Hill. The hill lies between Wallasey Pool and the marshlands that extended from Moreton right the way up to Prenton prior to the Leasowe Embankment being constructed and Moreton Marshes being drained. The hill is an extension of the Storeton Ridge that runs down the Wirral as far as Storeton Quarry, where the Storeton Tramway (an early railway) conveyed the rock quarried at Storeton to docks at Bromborough Pool (Port Sunlight) on the banks of the River Mersey. At the north-western corner of the Wirral Peninsula, approximately one and a half kilometres off the coast, adjacent to West Kirby, there lies an exposed reef of sandstone. At high water, most of the reef is submerged. The three parts of the reef that are exposed form the Hilbre group of islands. Geological evidence suggests that originally, there was one large island. But, over the years, tide and weather erosion have worn away at the soft red sandstone to create three islands. The three islands that form the Hilbre chain of islands are known individually as Little Eye, Middle Hilbre and the main island of Hilbre itself. West Kirby is a town on the north-west corner of the coast of the Wirral Peninsula, in the county of Merseyside, England, at the mouth of the River Dee across from the Point of Ayr in North Wales. To the north-east of the town lies Hoylake, with the village of Caldy to the south-east.
 
  • Paperback: 578 pages
  • Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (21 Sep 2012)
  • ISBN-10: 1479363030
  • ISBN-13: 978-1479363032
  • Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15.2 x 3.8 cm


  • To Purchase the Book from Amazon Please Click Here http://www.amazon.co.uk/HitchHikers-Guide-History-Wirral-Coastline/dp/1479363030/ref=la_B008D4XQY2_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1355322076&sr=1-5

    Retailers can Purchase the Book from Here

     
     
    
    

    The History of Birkenhead & Bidston



    At over 170 pages long, this book offers an insight into the areas of Birkenhead & Bidston during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries using information and plenty of pictures. Situated on the Wirral Peninsula, Birkenhead was a popular area during the British Inudtrial Revolution and has contributed greatly to new innovations and most notibly ship building at Cammell Lairds. Whilst industrialisation was occurring in Birkenhead, nearby Bidston became a popular area with beautiful scenery to offer, it became a luxery area for wealthy merchants and businessmen. Birkenhead is perhaps Wirral's best known area, famed for centuries of maritime trade and commercial activity. The name Birkenhead derives from the Old English 'birchen' which translated into' birch trees on a headland'. This of course refers to the area known today as Woodside which in ancient times was a large piece of land filled with Birch trees that jutted out into the River Mersey. Although today many people consider Birkenhead the centre of Wirral's economy, it is only in recent years that this area has become heavily populated and the hub of Wirral industry. Prior to the 1800's there was very little in Birkenhead to talk about other than the old priory, a ferry house and a sparce population. Birkenhead had a meagre population of 110 people in 1801 suggesting that very little trade or activity went on in this area. Within the short period of 50 years and thanks to some very clever town planners, the population had rocketed to over 8000 residents sparking the boom which transformed Birkenhead to the town we know today. For anybody that is interested in Ships and Ship Building, Birkenhead has been famed for its linkage with the two. From Cammell Lairds to the "Ferry Across the Mersey" Birkenhead has contributed greatly to the British ship building industry. Bidston is a suburb of Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula. In modern days is a mixture of the well-preserved Bidston Village, Bidston Hill, the industrial estate Bidston Moss and a modern housing estate. Not only has Bidston played an important role on the Wirral through Geographical natural beauty. Bidston has also got vast amounts of history of its own. From Bidston Hill to Bidston Hall, the area has played an important part of the History of Wirral and is still today an area that attracts many to visit its beautiful surroundings and buildings.
     
     
  • Paperback: 180 pages
  • Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (21 Sep 2012)
  • ISBN-10: 1479362360
  • ISBN-13: 978-1479362363
  • Product Dimensions: 22.8 x 15.2 x 0.9 cm

  • To Purchase the Book from Amazon Please Click Here http://www.amazon.co.uk/History-Birkenhead-Bidston-Wirral-Peninsula/dp/1479362360/ref=la_B008D4XQY2_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1355322076&sr=1-2

    Retailers can purchase the book from here