Eastham Ferry...Ferry setting off point Wirral and Liverpool Sid nickaxe 2nd Jul 2025 1:31pm Hi all wonder if anybody can solve a puzzle.....over on the Liverpool side of the river is an area named Grassendale.....next to Garston Docks.

At the river end of North road in the very smart Grassendale area is what to me was a slip way.....very old....and well built.....sandstone

blocks.....has a road attached to it now not passible but still there leading back toward the main road in Garston....visible on Google Earth

I am wondering if the slipway or what ever it was was the dropping off point on the Liverpool side of the River for the ferry that crossed the river.

I seem to think it was Monks who ran the ferry.....so where on the Wirral side would it set off....Eastham??? maybe Jobs ferry.

And could this spot in Liverpool indeed be the ferry's destination.

Nick.

6 262 Read More

Removed Mother from Grave bert1 29th Jun 2025 5:44am https://www.wikiwirral.co.uk/forums...her-back-to-life-in-the-1960s#Post301518

I came across this old thread and thought I'd look into it more. I've withheld the surnames for the protection of any living relatives. After reading 30+ newspaper reports these are the facts.

Mrs Emily ??? died on the 18th October 1960 of a stroke in hospital, she was 69 years old and a widow. She lived in Durley Dr, Prenton.
She was buried on the 22nd October in Bebington Cemetery.

Her son Raymond James ???, 33 of Cole St, went into Well Lane Police Station to seek permission to try and bring his mother back to life using electronics.
He was told he could not play about with bodies and would get in serious trouble should he do so.

After the funeral he went to Bebington Cemetery in a hired car and removed his mother from the grave, he replaced the coffin in the grave and made it look as if it had never been disturbed so it wouldn't be noticed.

He took his mother to an empty house in Claughton Rd and tried to revive her by feeding her sugar, lime juice and milk On October 29th he connected an Electrical Flex from a socket to his mothers foot in an attempt to bring her back to life. The body was found on December 17th 1960 in the empty house.

At the trial Mr Justice McNair said Raymond James ??? should not be tried as a criminal but as a mentally ill person.
Dr Benadict Finkleman report stated Raymond James was suffering from Paranoid Schizophrenia.

Raymond James ??? was committed to Deva Hospital, Chester.

I checked the burial records for Emily and she was buried Oct 22 1960, there's an added note stating, body unlawfully removed by son.
Emily was cremated at Landican Cemetery, 24th December, 1960.

A person of the same age and name Raymond James ??? died in a Liverpool Nursing Home in 2011.

5 310 Read More

Birkenhead Scandal, 1916. bert1 14th Jun 2025 7:17am The Birkenhead local authorities had to make arrangements after yielding to strong public opinion and pressure to end the scandal of deceased British soldiers and servicemen being interred in paupers graves.
The Town Clerk and Cemetery committee considered the matter and instructed the cemeteries to provide free spaces in the 3 divisions of the cemeteries.

The Town Clerk reported the burials of a private nature were never charged for the grave but relatives were charged 30s for the excavation and filling in of the graves. Permission had to be granted from the Home Secretary to exhume those buried in paupers graves and this was a lengthy process.
It was also reported Liverpool authorities had never charged a penny.

2 371 Read More

Temporary Hospitals (WW1) bert1 6th Jun 2025 4:42am I came across 3 poor quality photographs with the title,

"Wounded Belgian and British soldiers being nursed back to health at Shrewsbury Rd and Devonshire Place"

Shrewsbury Rd was a convalescent home (number not yet known)

25 Devonshire Place was an annexe of the Borough Hospital

It appears the driving force behind this hospital was Roy Laird and supported by many generous local people who bought beds at £6 each and bedside lockers and tables at 38s each.
Miss Alice Laird donated £21 towards the setting up of the operating theatre.

63 Hamilton Square was offered by the Laird family to be used for whatever was thought fit towards the war effort.

Other hospitals' including Auxiliary. (not complete yet)

RAMC, Palm Grove
Manor Hill
Bidston Ave
Mersey Park
Hemingford St
Temple Rd

6 686 Read More

Asda Ambrosia Rice Pudding. BultacoAstro 3rd Jun 2025 12:45pm Jethro Tull We Used To Know.

Hi noticed a week ago Asda selling the above for £1.60 a tin but the offer is buy 2 for £2.
I took I walk down a few hour's ago and noticed there was Not one offer on the shelf for anything. Thoe if Google Asda app there are multi offer's on a lot of rice pudding stuff but nothing in store.
After getting the manager down I bought 10 since I got ill again. So make sure you check your phone app for discount's incase they haven't put tag's up.

2 20 Read More

Birkenhead Fever Hospital, 1847. bert1 3rd Jun 2025 12:12pm A letter to the editor, Liverpool Mercury, 1847, a portion below which was effectively a complaint. Headed, Birkenhead Fever Hospital.

" When the houses in Parkfield, the properties of Mr Pim were taken by the overseers of the poor for a fever hospital, it created the greatest alarm to the residents"

Can't say I've ever heard of this hospital.

The 1841 census has Mr Joseph Pim at Parkfield House, it includes, Parkfield Lodge, Parkfield Stables and Parkfield Back Lodge.

Other roads enumerated close by were Exmouth St, Price St, Cleveland St though in 1841 the properties were well spread out.

Modern map shows a Parkfield Ave and Parkfield Place, so it could have been close to those.

9 1,003 Read More

Anti Cigarette League bert1 31st May 2025 6:35am I research family history and I came across a relative of the wife Patrick Croal who at the age of 11 in 1901 died of nicotine poisoning. Newspaper reports said he had been an excessive smoker from a very early age.

The editor of the Sunday School Chronicle, Rev Frank Johnson after Patrick's death took up the fight to have tobacconists to stop displaying cigarettes packed in bright colours next to sweets and to stop selling cigarettes to young boys. He wanted sweet shops not to be able to sell tobacco at all.

Writing in his Chronicle he threatened all tobacconists if they didn't change their ways he would start an organisation called the Anti Cigarette League.
This he did and for a fee of one and a half pennies you could enrol and effectively take up the fight. The organisation went international.

Here in Wirral many joined the League and one school in New Ferry had 200 members.

The Shaftsbury Boys Club gave up a room so the Anti Cigarette League could hold weekly meetings but the meetings were for boys under 9 years old and was heavily attended each week.

The problem eventually reached parliament, proposals put forward was to tax cigarettes, at the time you could buy 10 for one penny and if you looked around you could buy 10 for a half penny. The proposer wanted to put cigarettes out of the reach of children through pricing.

Another proposal was to ban the sale of tobacco to anyone under the age of 16, which eventually happened.

Reasons given, at 16 the body is more mature and tobacco has less affect.

1 349 Read More

Mad Dogs at Large bert1 29th May 2025 6:30pm April 1874 Superintendent Egerton reported mad dogs or dogs going mad were at large in Birkenhead and Claughton. 3 mad dogs suffering from Hydrophobia (Rabies) had all ready been destroyed and its known they had bitten many other dogs and 2 men. He proposed that all dogs in the borough be chained up and restricted for a period of at least 2 months.

The Birkenhead Commissioners and the Watch Committee met to discuss the matter. A couple of commissioners argued if a dog was on a lead with its owners it was under control and could cause no harm. The proposal was passed and all dogs had to be confined for period of 2 months, failure to do so, the dogs would be dealt with.

1 362 Read More

Birkenhead Union Workhouse bert1 28th May 2025 12:50pm There's plenty on here about the Workhouse history, this just a few snippets that may be of interest.

At a meeting in 1862 concern was raised over the price of the land it was to be built on, gone from £6000 to £8000.
There was opposition to paying this amount and proposals were put forward to build the workhouse on Bidston Hill.
Reasons being, cheaper, healthier and it wouldn't upset the town folk.

In 1866 the workhouse accepted 40 Emigrants form the cholera ridden steamer Helvetia, mainly German and Swiss bound for America.
They were taken in to stop the spread of the disease amongst the town.

In 1887 an inquiry was held in to the cost of alcohol used in the workhouse. It cost the Birkenhead workhouse 7s-2d per inmate per annum as opposed to the Liverpool workhouse which cost
2s-0d per inmate per annum.
They accepted they had to try and reduce the cost but accepted the Doctor used it on inmates as a stimulant.

1920 a cinema was introduced.

In 1873 a new Governor and Master was hired, Thomas Williams, 1831-1887 who had previously been Master of the workhouse in Barton upon Irwell.
Thomas was Pvt Thomas Williams, 11th Hussars and took part in the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava.

1 356 Read More

Tranmere Bridge bert1 26th May 2025 8:50am A couple of Newspaper snippets,
Man found drowned in the water by Tranmere Bridge.
Lifejacket demonstration at Tranmere Bridge.

Map is where I think it might have been, anything further?

https://www.oldmapsonline.org/en/Li...n=15.2309/53.43313/-3.0346&year=1897

13 1,594 Read More

Random Wirral Images