Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past History Information Request Underground stream in Wallasey

Just read that piece Paul, brilliant!

I also just read the piece and thoroughly enjoyed it. What an amazing lady. Pity it's only Wallasey you want memories of as I have many memories of Bromborough in the 40's and 50's and early 6o's.

Hi Ruth, please put a piece together and I will do a "special" recollection on the site. Now and then I go "outside" Wallasey to bring a wider story. Good luck and I hope to read it soon. In fact that offer is for everyone because people from Wallasey don't seem too interested. Let's put your memories down and I will publish it on my site.

Hi guys, saddly i didnt get to speake to my nan today, she was out when i called, so left her card and prezzy, but next time i see her, i will take a pen and paper, and quizz her on any little tit bits of local knowledge and information. she does tell me little gems sometimes. ive never really been into history, but our local history is quite intresting, and im quite hooked on this thread now, so please await with baited breath for my next thrilling installment

sarah xx

Rude, get there and see him. I bet he's a fountain of knowledge. If he's from Seacombe,ask about that dam Dale Inn!

Ah good old Mother Redcaps you can walk underground from there to anywhere in the country honest .. my Nan told me and she was OLD.. Sorry, I shouldn't mock but most of what was said about Mother Redcaps was Urban Myth, although the back store of the building ran into a partial slope, when the place was demolished and again when the nursing home that replaced it was built, no sign of the supposed caves running from there was ever found. The seaward entrance to the cave in the garden in Wellington road can actually be seen in the wall of rock on the pitch and put on the prom below this house's garden (it's bricked up and looks a bit like a door). The cave runs on beneath the house but is blocked with sand after a wartime bomb exploded directly above it in 1940/1 ish so nobody is sure where it goes BUT it could just stop on the other side of the road (I would suspect it does because it would surly have been mentioned by other if it continued on much beyond, it's like was said above SOMEONE would have told and the urban team would have well got wind of it).

Totally agree Ian. I remember asking my Dad about the caves - apparently there are loads of them in both the Red and Yellow Noses, which is what you'd expect in sandstone cliffs eroded by the sea. You can just about see some of the entrances if you're looking for them, though most have been covered by the prom infill.

He lived in Wallasey Village and he and his mates used to play in them in the 1910s (this was obviously before they were bricked up, the prom was built and stray WW2 bombs had fallen on them!). He said that most were very small but there were two which went inland a fair way and needed candles and a bit of bravery to explore. One of these was the Wormhole, which is the one with an entrance in Rock Villa's garden. I went with him on one of the days when the cave was opened to the public (probably in the 1960s)and he remembered it well. The 'tour guide' - from memory a Boy Scout - came out with all the spiel about tunnels going to Mother Redcap's, St. Hilary's Church and even Bidston Hill! Dad told him that he'd never come across any tunnels in his explorations which were big enough for a young lad to crawl through, never mind a big hairy smuggler! and he'd never heard those tales when he was a lad.

I went down the cave myself on another open day some years later and the guide came out with exactly the same stories. I suspect it was a standard script full of romanticised 'what might have been' stories to make it more interesting for the visitors (the cave is actually pretty boring!). I tend to believe what my Dad told me because he made no attempt to embellish it with oulandish tales.

It seems to me that one of the problems with local history is differentiating between fact and folk lore. Unfortunately there are a couple of books on the Wallasey tunnels which seem to ignore the difference and mix fact and fiction with conspiracy theories. Did you know, for example, that when the nursing home was being built on the Mother Redcap's site, the contractors discovered a huge pit with tunnels leading off it? Knowing that if it was reported the place would be swarming with archaologists and delay the build, the contractors opted to fill it in and keep quiet. Once in writing, this 'faction' becomes fact to a lot of people who will later quote it - 'it must be true because I read it in a book'.

Sorry for the rambling and ranting!

Think the tour guide was pulling your leg. Yes I have been down them and also have internal photographs and plans. The entrance is in a house in Wellington road. I'm 60 and New Brighton born and bred but can't see what that has to do with anything. Next we will get the old chestnut about them being linked to Mother Redcaps.

Would love someone to tell me where the entrance/exit at the St Hilary's end might be? Suppose it has been kept secret all these years. Nah, someone on Wikkiwirral would have investigated and soon found that one out. Not much you can keep from these guys and girls thankfully. [/quote]

well thank you for dismissing my memories and local knowledge of wallasey, whats this because im new i can,t possibly have anything new to add that the guys and girls on here havent dug up already. what a lousy attitude you have

Dont mock me then, if you dont realise that the older generation have far more knowledge about their surroundings then younger people then you are the fool, shall i mock you.

My mum is 93 next month - and is bright, alert and has a very good memory of Wallasey Village, having lived there all her life. She was born in Granville Terrace (now Wirral Villas site)that was at the end of Green Lane.

Perhaps what we should (somehow) arrange is for all the elderly nans and mums and aunts to meet together for an afternoon natter - with someone like PaulWirral there to attempt to orchestrate the conversation direction. I am sure we could nag a pub or the like into providing the facilities.

Snod

wow what a lovely idea, im sure my nan would like that, she is very alert and active, im sure she would love it. what do you think paul.

sarah xx

Great idea

Yes indeed! Hope you do get this organized, what a terrific idea!

Maybe, some of our mature members could go too to break the ice and initiatate topics?

id love to go, if nothing else just to listen to the old,s storys.

sarah xx