Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral Now and Then The Arno

if you were looking dirctly from woodchurch road then the arno would be behind the land where the petrol station was(just up a bit from the halfway house pub) up at the top of the hill,chris,the kwik save was directly opposite osmaston road on woodchurch road,kwik save has now gone and it is a couple of large shops,"home and bargain" and "lidl".

just remembered but i think the road in between sainsburys and other shops is called duck pond lane,i dont remember the duck pond,must be too young lol.i am nearly 40, does anyone know when the shops were developed or more importantly when did the duck pond dissapear.

Thanks for that; I've known where the Arno is since 1940! It used to be one of my Gran's favourite places, so I got to know it at a young age. It was Kwiksave I didn't know. Now you've located it for me, I can confirm that Derekdwc's quarries were clay pits for the brickworks.

Cheers, Chris

There used to be two ponds by this lane, both towards the Woodchurch Road end, going from this end, one pond was on the left within the public area and the other was in a chicken farm on the right behind a fence that had a black steel corrugated panel fence with netting above. I think the farm also had ducks, this is going back to the 1960's before they smoothed over the fields to the west, which was done before 1972.

Mention of the destruction of what I presume is the first pond is at
http://attheriversmouth.blogspot.com/2006/07/ponds-on-wirral.html

thanks diggingdeeper,now my curiosity has got me again.after reading your link,the writer mentions a few pools,all of which i have heard of or know the area except for "the dungeon pool".any idea's????

The 2 ponds you are talking about, the one on the left was a natural pond, the one on the right which is where the alotments are behid sainsburies and farmfoods car parks was a MAN MADE DUCK POND. The only part of it which is still in exsistence is under the Steel manhole cover in the carpark at the back of Farmfoods

No real idea, Wirral SBI (special biological interest) state it is at Thurstatson.

There are a number of ponds around "The Dungeon" in Thurstaston just off the wirral way, but don't know of any being named.

These ponds continue in the area known as Heswall Fields which is most of the land between The Dungeon and Heswall Shore

http://www.wirral.gov.uk/LGCL/100006/200073/1008/content_0002158.html

http://www.wirral.gov.uk/LGCL/100006/200073/1008/content_0000988.html

In Thustaston down by the shore on the left which used to be a military camp I think but is where the Rangers? site is the ornamental pond with the bridge is where I caught my first carp .
Further along about 100 yards or so Heswall way there are some ponds we used to call the Seven sisters which were before you reached the Dungeons

thurstaston
Going along the cliff top towards West Kirby we used to fish in a pond that was only a few yards from the cliff edge.
The pond was only about a foot deep and was full of small 2 inch carp which we used to catch and sell to the pet shop in Grange Road Birkenhead.
Nearby was a pond on Caldy golf course where we could catch
Rudd or Roach?

my first ever fish was in that very same pool,with my dad when i was about six or seven,caught it on a bamboo stick with line tied to the end.my dad could not beleive it !....ice cream in one hand and stick in the other...aaahhh memories

Just thought I'd come back to this post as its very interesting. I took some pics the other day and may of found the sundial in question mentioned in one of the posts.

I remember the sundial. The first pic. looks like 1940's/50's. The view is towards Woodchurch Rd. when all the land between the Arno & Woodchurch Rd. was allotments. Comparing rooflines, the road at right angles to Woodchurch Rd. is Curzon Rd.
http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&cp=sww1ttgrcmg9&scene=29155369&lvl=1&sty=b

Interesting about the allotments - a couple of my late Grandfathers brothers were listed on the 1911 census as 'Market Gardeners - The Arno' so maybe this was private land. Another brother was a Greengrocer on Conway Street in 1909 - presume this was related and a very early joined-up supply chain in modern business-speak !.

Yes, I think you're right. In times gone by, vegetables would not have been moved very far. On the attached map, 1890's, although there's nothing shown at that time at the Arno, I can find at least 3 large nurseries marked. I'm sure these would have been for growing produce & could just as easily have been called market gardens.

It interesting you mention there where allotements all the way up to the arno from Woodchurch Road that might explain why there is a terrace on the field at the back of the current allotments which is great for rolling or cycling down!
I think the Arno didnt open as a public garden until 1912 so probably just marked as a quarry and open land on maps before then??