does any one know the name of the stream that ran through Tranmere on the map? Is that Whetstone lane now??
If you mean the stream which ends at Tranmere Pool, that is now Borough Rd. Whetstone Lane is at right angles to it, running down from Holt Hill. The stream was culverted when they built Borough Rd. It used to be called the Happy Valley.
I think it could possibly have originally been called The Birket, which would have made more sense with their being a Birket Pool which it ran into, and a Birket Wood which have been mentioned earlier than 1830s? ordnance survey. Over 100 years ago folk were asking why The Birket in Moreton and Bidston was so called
In her history of Birkenhead, The Headland With The Birches (1991), Agnes McCulloch says the stream was known as The Rubicon, but adds that the origin of the name is obscure.
The original Rubicon was the river in Italy that Julius Caesar crossed in 49BC - his point of no return.
In his 1903 book Birkenhead and Its Surroundings, Henry Kelsall Aspinall mentions the stream, but does not give it a specific name.
On page 2 of this topic, derekdwc mentioned that old maps of Cheshire from 1577 (Saxton) have become available on CD. These are now on regular sale at Greasby library. The maps have been commercially scanned and have been put onto CDs as jpgs by Cheshire Local History Association.
Derek, the link in your opening post to the map, now goes to, https://sites.google.com/site/cheshirelha/ and there is no "Click here to view large Image" Do you know any other link to view the map?
The river which ran through the Happy Valley and was culverted under what was originally named Happy Valley Road but now known as Borough Road, was the Rubicon'
