Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past History Information Request Birkenhead and it's beginnings help

I'm hoping to get together info purely as a topic we can research.
hoping to get info on the first roads and streets built(maps),the workforce where they lived and the building materials.
what quarries were there first and when worked (possibly put on a map

Think the firsts roads may have been
Grange Lane
possible Whetstone Lane
1790 Embankment built across Tranmere Pool to carry Chester Road into Birkenhead
1820 Birkenhead Ferry started a steam boat service (This ferry closed in 1870)
Houses were built along Church Street, a big hotel was built at the bottom of Abbey Street and Birkenhead became, for a short time at least a holiday resort. Visitors took advantage of the fine sandy beaches and bathed in the clear water of the Mersey
1826 Hamilton Square started getting built
1801 Population: Birkenhead 110 Tranmere 353 Oxton 137 Claughton 67
1810 Population: Birkenhead 105 Tranmere 474 Oxton 128 Claughton 88
1821 Population: Birkenhead 200 Tranmere 825 Oxton 169 Claughton 119
1831 Population: Birkenhead 2,569 Tranmere 1,168 Oxton 234 Claughton 224

short history

1150 Circa Birkenhead Priory founded by Hamo Mascy
1275 & 1277 Edward I visited the Priory
1330 Edward III granted the Priors and their successors forever the right to ferry over the Mersey
1536 Circa The Priory closed
1544 Priory lands and ferry purchased by Ralph Worsley
1572 Worsley died, the lands and ferry passed to the Powell family
1643 Cavalier troops, ‘Kept a guard about Berket wood’
1644 Cavalier troops, ‘possessed themselves of Berkett in Worrall’
1713 Priory lands and ferry bought by John Cleveland, a merchant of Liverpool
1716 Cleveland died, lands and ferry passed to the Price family
1762 Six-horsed coach ran between Woodside Ferry, Parkgate and Chester
1790 Embankment built across Tranmere Pool to carry Chester Road into Birkenhead
1801 Population: Birkenhead 110 Tranmere 353 Oxton 137 Claughton 67
1810 Population: Birkenhead 105 Tranmere 474 Oxton 128 Claughton 88
1815 Small steamboat appeared in the Mersey
1817 Tranmere Ferry ran the first steam ferry boat
1820 Birkenhead Ferry started a steam boat service (This ferry closed in 1870)
Houses were built along Church Street, a big hotel was built at the bottom of Abbey Street and Birkenhead became, for a short time at least a holiday resort. Visitors took advantage of the fine sandy beaches and bathed in the clear water of the Mersey.
1820s The origins of the "modern" ferry service at Woodside began
1821 St. Mary’s Church opened
1821 Population: Birkenhead 200 Tranmere 825 Oxton 169 Claughton 119
1822 Steamboats on the Woodside Ferry Service
1824, when William Laird first took an interest in Birkenhead, it was a town in its infancy. The advent of the steam ferry had brought its residents and it was set to develop as a dormitory town for Liverpool. The parish church of St. Mary had just opened and the ferries and hotels were beginning to thrive.
1824 William Laird set up his shipyard on Wallasey Pool
1826 Hamilton Square started getting built
1826 A second shipyard, with patent slip, opened on Wallasey Pool
1829 Lairds built their first iron vessel
1831 Population: Birkenhead 2,569 Tranmere 1,168 Oxton 234 Claughton 224
1833 Act passed for appointment of ‘Commissioners for the Improvement of Birkenhead’
1833 Lairds built their first paddle steamer
1834 Woodside Royal Mail Ferry Hotel built
1838 Monks’ Ferry started (This ferry closed in 1878)
1840 William Jackson’s Works set up
1840 Birkenhead – Chester Railway opened
1841 Population: Birkenhead 8,223 Tranmere 2,554 Oxton 546 Claughton 240
1842 Woodside Ferry purchased b the Birkenhead Commissioners
1843 Spring Hill water works opened
1843 Old Hall demolished
1844 Foundation stone of Docks laid
1844 Railway Tunnel to Monks’ Ferry constructed
1845 Market opened
1847 First Docks opened
1847 Birkenhead Park opened
1851 Population: Birkenhead 24,86 Tranmere 6,519 Oxton 2,007 Claughton 714
1853-1856 Gaving Docks between Woodside and Monks Ferry constructed
1853-1856 Lairds’ yard set up on river front
1854 Great Western Railway opened through route from Birkenhead to London
1858 Birkenhead Docks transferred to Mersey Docks and Harbour Board
1858 Lairds built their first steel ship
1860 Street Tramway started
1861 Birkenhead with Claughton, Oxton, Tranmere and Rock Ferry became a Parliamentary Borough
1861 Population: Birkenhead 35,929 Tranmere 9,918 Oxton 2,670 Claughton 1,584
1863 General Hospital opened
1864 Public Library in Hamilton Street opened
1864 Flaybrick Cemetery officially opened 30 May 1864 and named Birkenhead Cemetery
1866 Birkenhead – Hoylake Railway opened
1866 Alfred Dock opened
1871 Population: Birkenhead 42,997 Tranmere 16,143 Oxton 2,610 Claughton 2,437
1877 Charter of Incorporation granted, Birkenhead became a County Borough
1877 Wallasey Dock opened
1878 Railway extended to Woodside
1881 Population: 84,006
1881 Thurstaton Common acquired by the Corporation
1883 Children’s Hospital opened
1885 Mersey park opened
1886 Mersey Railway Tunnel completed (electrified 1903)
1887 Town Hall opened (serious fire occurred 1901, Dome and Tower rebuilt)
1891 Population: 99,857
1893 School Board appointed
1896 Electricity Generating Station opened
1900 Livingstone Street Baths opened
1901 Population: 110,915
1901 Electric Tram Service commenced
1902 Education Committee took the place of the School Board
1903 Hamilton Square Gardens acquired by the Corporation
1907 G.P.O. Argyle Street opened
1909 Vittoria Dock constructed
1911 Population: 130,794
1913 Tranmere Infirmary opened
1918 Birkenhead Parliamentary constituency divided into two divisions
1919 First Motor Bus service commenced
1921 Population: 147,577
1921 Alwen Water Scheme completed (commenced 1911)
1922 New Ferry cross-river service closed
1925 Works on the Mersey Tunnel commenced
1927 Arrowe Park purchased by the Corporation
1928 Borough boundaries extended to include Thingwall, Landican, Prenton and part of Bidston
1928 Williamson Art Gallery and Museum opened
1931 Population: 147,946
1933 Borough boundaries extended to take in Noctorum, Woodchurch and parts of Arrowe, Bidston and Upton
1933 Byrne avenue Baths opened
1933 Bidston Docks opened for traffic
1934 Queensway opened
1934 Central Library opened
1937 Last electric tram route closed
1938 s.s. Mauritania launched
1939 Rock Ferry cross-river service closed
1945 Hamilton square illuminated ad immense crowds in the square for Victory celebrations
1947 Number of houses 34,020 (estimated)
1948 Population: 132,000 (approx.)
1948 Area: 8,958 acres

A good potted history ! Well done Derek.

a copy and paste job from different sources
apologies for not putting sources.

I would really like to find out who paid for the streets to be built and where the labour force to build roads, docks, houses and worked the quarries lived also feeding them.
All these must have been massive undertakings.
The only quarries I can think of are Storeton andby the monkey steps Tranmere

The Mechanics Magazine, 1847:
Gentlemen,—Yesterday farther trials in blasting with the patent gun-cotton were made at the Flaybrick Quarry, Birkenhead. This quarry is now being actively worked, getting stone for the Birkenhead Docks in busy progress; the stone is a freestone.
Mr. Brown, the resident engineer to the works, together with several gentlemen, accompanied me to the quarry to witness the experiments; the results of which, I am pleased to state, fully satisfied all of them, that the use of gun cotton for quarrying purposes was eminently superior to that of gunpowder; in every instance the gun-cotton relieved from the bed large masses of stone of a size best adapted for those works, or any of similar magnitude; many of the blocks weighed from four to seven tons. The few trials made in this quarry proved most satisfactorily to all present, that the amount of saving to the contractors from there being no waste or spoil would be very considerable.
I am, Gentlemen, Your obedient servant,
JOHN F. WHEELER. Liverpool, May 7, 1847.

Thanks nightwalker
Wonder if that was the Rec ground which if you walked up Tollemache rd from St James church would be on the left where there is a playground and a relatively new estate built
So Flaybrick quarry maybe started 1847 or earlier - or did they take most of the rock from the actual cemetary part leaving just soil for when the cemetary was created
Earlier quarries?

Apparently when they were digging the foundations for that new estate they foung underground tunnels/earthworks.
Anyone shed any light or just a rumour?

Nice work Derek! thanks

Don't know about the quarries but much of Victorian Birkenhead & Wallasey was covered in Clay Pits and Brick Fields.

In 1833,a act of parliment came into force for regulating the police force and at the same time establishing a market within the township or chapelry of birkenhead.

by 1843 the population increased to over 11,000,which meant an increase of costables,which reached 16 constables,1 inspector,1 superintendent,they were also resposible for fire management,the fire engine was kept at Mr Gough's stables at the woodside hotel

Maybe worth a read again

https://www.wikiwirral.co.uk/forums...graphical_Dictionary_of_.html#Post295105

Thanks Bert
Another worth a read again in which mentioned 1815 - 1860s tramway from Flaybrick quarry to Wallasey Pool
flaybrick

what's bugging me is
1821 Population: Birkenhead 200 Tranmere 825 Oxton 169 Claughton 119
but how did they manage to build
various streets
1821 St. Mary’s Church opened
1824 William Laird set up his shipyard on Wallasey Pool
1826 Hamilton Square started getting built
1826 A second shipyard, with patent slip, opened on Wallasey Pool
1829 Lairds built their first iron vessel
1831 Population: Birkenhead 2,569 Tranmere 1,168 Oxton 234 Claughton 224
Would there have been journeymen stonemasons and quarrymen who travelled round the country working wherever they were needed?
Also as regards the earlier population counts would that have been just landowners and gentry only, not counting servants and various labourers who worked for them?

Here's an interesting article written by a visitor to Birkenhead in 1845 which amongst other things touches on quarries and the labour force:

THE NEW CITY.
IN the county of Cheshire, on the western shore of the river Mersey, and directly opposite to Liverpool, there stood in the year l8l8 the little village of Birkenhead, consisting of but three houses besides the Priory and a few small cottages, and remarkable for nothing except its bleak situation and barren soil, where pasturage could scarcely be found for a few sickly sheep, and nothing would flourish but the weeds that spring from the salt marsh and the rotten bog. But the spirit of enterprise was kindling in that fameless spot. Regular ferries were established to the opposite and more prosperous shore; the unfruitful soil was drained and tilled, and its natural treasures, in the shape of inexhaustible quarries, laid open to the eye of day. Here then was matter for human skill and human industry to work upon, and wondrously has that work progressed. In the census of l83l the population of this "little village" was 3,400; in l841 it had increased to 8,200; a railway had been opened to Chester; several large iron war steamers launched from its ship yards; gas and water-works established, and a thorough "go-a-head" spirit diffused among its inhabitants; and so far they have gone a-head with a vengeance. A number of talented and enterprizing gentlemen have been appointed Commissioners for the management of the town, and under their superintendence Birkenhead is fast rising to importance and notoriety.
It has been called "The New City," and assuredly it bids fair to be the noblest city in the world. Its population is now estimated at 30,000, having more than trebled itself in the last four years; so that if it continued to progress in the same ratio, it would in fifteen years rival the great metropolis itself. But this enormous nite of increase cannot be expected to last long.
As no one person can possibly be acquainted with all the wonders in this marvellous age, some account of the present state of this extraordinary town may porhaps be interesting to those whose minds are too fully occupied with affairs nearer home, to seek for information upon more remote subjects, unless it be placed involuntarily before them.
The area of Birkenhead as described by Act of Parliament, not including the numerous villages in the vicinity, is 1388 acres, or nearly two square miles; and almost the whole of this large space is already laid out in magnificent squares, (one of which, now completed in the Edinburgh style, covers over 6 acres) and streets from 300 to 2,000 yards in length, proportionately wide, and thoroughly drained. Nearly 200 acres have been appropriated to a public park, which is tastefully designed by the celebrated Mr. Paxton, and now almost finished; combining the beauties of water, grass, lawns, gravel walks, gigantic rock-work, artificial hills, trees, flowers, and shrubs of all kinds, and various ornamental buildings: and a lovely spot it is, or rather will be, for it is yet in its infancy, and age alone can soften down asperities, hide defects, and give their full deep richness to the young plantations.
A natural pool or inlet from the river Mersey, at the northern extremity of the town, has been taken advantage of for the construction of an enormous dock for shipping, of which the inner basin, when complete, will present an area of l50 acres of water, 19 feet deep; which far exceeds the area of all the Liverpool docks together. This noble sheet of water is to be entirely surrounded by stone quays, yards, and warehouses: and the outer basin, comprising 37 acres, will be enclosed by one uniform quay 100 yards wide. The probable cost of completing this mighty work has been estimated at a million pounds. There are now nearly two thousand workmen employed upon it, and doubtless in a few years the tide of commerce will roll into its ample gulf.
The supply of building materials in Birkenhead is perfectly exhaustless. Standing upon one of the clay beds of the new red sandstone formation, brickyards have sprung up around it in every direction; while the sandstone itself, lying just below the clay, rises on the western side of the town into a range of low hills, where it is extensively quarried; and the stone for the dock-works is being excavated in such a manner as to leave winding roads in the solid rock up the ascent, with a view to the formation of a public cemetery. Besides these vast and costly works, the town contains a new covered market, a noble structure, l50 yards long and 50 wide, roofed with wrought iron, and having two highly ornamental fountains down the centre; a town-hall, which is about to be abandoned for a larger building in course of erection: two handsome stone churches, and five dissenting chapels. Houses are being built as fast as workmen can be found to build them; and there are but a few here and there unoccupied; in many cases indeed they are let before the roofs are put on or the windows glazed. Joiners, Painters, Plumbers, Builders, and Artisans of almost every kind, here find constant employment in vast numbers: and if there is distress among this class of the population in other parts of the kingdom, let them come here rather than go to the expense and trouble of emigrating to America or New Zealand.
Such is Birkenhead towards the close of the year l845. A growing wonder to the neighbourhood, a prodigy even in the eyes of its own inhabitants, a place whose fame is fast spreading north, east, south, and west, and whose future greatness can only be prevented by some unforeseen and mighty obstacle. Five-and-twenty years ago it was a barren marsh:—behold the natural magic of enterprise and active industry!
"Nil mortalibus arduum est."
H. Birkenhead, 1st November, l845.

Derekdwc

My family came from Cheltenham in about 1845, all were tradesmen from tailors to carpenters to bakers, if you look at the Census from 1841 onwards you will find people in digs and living around Birkenhead from all over the place.

I was looking at on old map on the t'internet awhile back and the area from the park ,Claughton rd, Bentinck st, Conway street was named as the "Clay Fields".