A fanciful penny's worth, but seem to recall, somewhat hazily it must be said, of some tradition/folklore associating Whetstone Lane area with Parliamentary forces during the English Civil War. Was there any such activity on the Wirral at that period?
"The Priory was used as a garrison during the Civil War in the 17th Century and the main hall was surrendered by the Cavaliers to the Roundheads and then demolished"
A follow up on the Priory mention and the Civil War according to the source below:
"1644 Parliamentary troops marched on Church Street during the Civil War (1642-1645) under the command of Sir William Brereton. They destroyed the one time Lodging House of the Benedictine monks"
Did the town witness conflict between the two sides and if so could that have lead to some oral tradition about weapons being readied in the area of Whetstone Lane?
From The Headland With the Birches: A History of Birkenhead, by Agnes McCulloch (1991) - 'The effects of the Civil War reached Birkenhead when, in 1643, Royalist troops occupied Birket Hall and the woods surrounding it ... in 1644, the Royalists in Birkenhead were defeated. It is a long-held belief that Cromwell's troops halted on Tranmere Hill, whence they opened fire on the headland. The hall was partially destroyed and Tranmere Hill became known as Holt Hill, derived apparently from Halt Hill.'
Wow that's excellent...Sounds like another piece of the Whetstone Jigsaw fitting into place..
I think we might be getting carried away and jumping to conclusions.
As far as I'm aware, there is no evidence that Holt Hill was originally called 'Halt' Hill. Holt is an Anglo-Saxon word for a wood. I could just as easily jump to similar conclusions by saying that Holt Hill was one of the first stretches of road to be turn-piked and that early 19th Century maps show it once had a tollgate forcing travellers to stop.
I doubt very much if the Holt got its name from anything other than being a wooded landscape. The bottom line is we can speculate all we like but it doesn't prove anything.
I tend to agree with geekus. Agnes McCulloch's book is the only place I've ever seen the 'Halt Hill' theory quoted and it has always seemed to me unlikely.
If it was named Halt Hill in the 1640s - relatively recently in historical terms - why would the name not survive in that form into modern times?
As geekus says, 'holt' is an ancient word for a wood and Tranmere Hill was presumably wooded in pre-industrial days.
Also, it's quite a long way from Holt Hill to the headland and I doubt if Cromwell's gunners would halt there to fire on the priory hall. I'm no expert, but I'm sure artillery in that era tended to bombard targets from closer quarters.
Mind you, interesting as it is, all this is getting us no nearer to answering the Whetstone Lane query.
None of the artillery available during the civil war were by any means accurate, even at close quarters they were very unreliable and more of a terror effect on troops rather than actually hitting anything. The heavy and even the light artillery pieces were not designed to be dragged up hills to fire, especially if wooded.
As for Whetstone Lane, we'll get there eventually.
God help us, Come yourself, Don't send Jesus, This is no place for children.
Wouldn't the Cromwell troops if coming from Chester had to have used Whetstone Lane - Grange Lane to attack the Priory(there being no Old or New Chester Road across Birkett (Tranmere)Pool at that time? What strategic value would the Priory have had with there being such a small population here at that time.
The tower on the Everton FC badge takes it name from Prince Rupert who beseiged Liverpool during this civil war
re The civil war. All you read about are the battles on land - which side would the navy have been on. Could troops have been landed at Wallasey Pool and then advanced up Church St to the Priory as suggested earlier
