I may have made a leap of imagination, but I was browsing the WikiWirral History the other day and came across an appeal for pictures of New Ferry – see: Help finding pictures of New Ferry
Just down the first page, PaulWirral has made a contribution, and there is a drawing captioned “The magazine ships are seen moored off New Ferry.”
This picture is dated 1864.
Now the leap. Although their names are not given, surely the two ships depicted on this drawing must be the ‘Liverpool’ and the ‘Mersey’? (see questions posed earlier in this thread)
They were built in 1852, and this picture is dated 12 years later – I don’t think there were any other magazines on the Mersey at that time. By off ‘moored New Ferry’, did they mean Bromborough? (are Parish boundaries a little different when applied to rivers?). The view also shows their design as slightly clumsy - which fits with the description (contributed by uptoncx) from the ‘Liverpool Mercury from June 4th 1890:
The [third] hulk is called the Swallow… ...and the grace of her outlines is a striking contrast to the clumsiness of those of her companions. “
They certainly don’t look as sleek as the Swallow! I really didn’t think any views would exist for them, so I’m quite excited by this picture, but before I get carried away, I’d be interested what others think? What do you reckon?
I hope it’s of interest anyway…
Cheers, Billy.
Thanks to PaulWirral for his helpful PM's BTW.
Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.
fantastic pictures of the village - thanks for posting - didnt see them on the previous computer I used - what a sin they were demolished - look sturdy buildings!
The Bromborough details from the 1857 Post Office Directory for Cheshire have been transcribed here www.andysutton.co.uk/old/1857bromborough.htm and include the following - Peers, William - Storekeeper to the Liverpool floating gunpowder magazines Leay, Richard - Assistant Storekeeper to the Liverpool floating gunpowder magazines
as a kid in the 1950s i delivered papers to magazine village the single track cinder path used to scare the hell out of me every night pitch black, there were two small rows of houses on the right paralel to the shore, on the right the path split with house backing to each other and a mortury in lane towards the shore, the house by the dock wall was ocupied by a mr.rogers,he had the contract for scraping the wooden boats and barges, as kids we would play on the boats moored on the end of the wall three boats deep, in return for playing on them when the very high tides came dozens of kids would help to pull the boats to the shore edge and tied they would then be burnt out whenthe tides fell back, mr. rogers would collect the metal, rivets etc. for scrap, , the signal box at port rainbow had aman with a red flag and a green one, he would come out and wave the traffic to stop and the steam train to go across the road,happy days....
Very sadly, my Dad passed away a few weeks ago, which meant getting things in order. Whilst rummaging in my Dad’s garage, an old brass key was found, which is a bit special, as it’s quite likely to be the last remaining identifiable and tangible artefact from the days of the magazine hulks at Bromborough. The key is quite large (4 ½”-5 ½” long) and has a brass tag with the words ‘MAGAZINE DOOR No1’ stamped on it. A smaller key accompanies it.
The description of the ‘Swallow’ (see earlier post – #335954 - 15th Jul 2009) states: Opposite the five ports in the outer hull on each side were five doors, with brass locks and hinges only, opened by a master key”,
So this raises the question: Is this one of the master keys for the magazine hold? I personally think so, but either way, it is a rather nice relic and I treasure it, even if the blade of the key has been broken off. I’ve included a picture of the loading of the ‘Swallow’ as it shows the cases of gunpowder being passed through the outer hull, and the door to the magazine would have been behind the shoulder of the loader (I believe the man in the shot to be Mr Linton, but unfortunately can’t confirm that any more)
I have found a few other things lately with respect to Magazine Village, so felt I should share them here too.
In my OP on this thread, I asked about the ‘Gateway City’ that ran aground here in about 1937. No further details on the fate of the ship have been forthcoming, but I have found another newspaper clip of the event, probably from the Liverpool Daily Post – ‘Nearly Hit powder Boat’
The last picture is an udated picture of the ‘Eastham Hulk and Hoys’ (the hoys were small boats that carried the gunpowder from the shore to the hulk), and is very interesting in that it shows a hulk that is definitely not the ‘Swallow’. So could this be the ‘Liverpool’ or ‘Mersey’?
Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.
Two interesting photographs found in the family collection recently, both taken at Magazine Village, but I suspect a couple of decades apart. I don't think either have been seen outside of the family before.
The first one of the Co-Op Services delivery van I'm guessing was taken early thirties? Perhaps the van enthusiasts out there can identify the make and era of the van? Interesting lack of health and safety with the two discarded oxy-acetylene bottles in front of, and between the wheels...
I reckon the second one was taken in the early years of the century and shows the river framed between the trees at the end of Magazine Lane (same location as the previous photo). It’s very interesting as it captures an Eastham Ferry paddle boat underway in the background – although in poor condition, it’s rare to find any images of these ferries underway (taken from land anyway), and it must be before 1929, when the Eastham Ferries ceased operation. Hope it shows up OK when I post.
My guess is that it’s either the ‘Pearl’ or the ‘Ruby’, as the third boat in the fleet had a slightly squatter funnel. Be interested in comments though.
Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.
Hi I'm trying to find our about Frank Roberts who used to break and salvage wooden boats on the shore at Magazine Village - we often used to play down there. Do you know if it was his business or if he was working for someone else?
Hi qhist, I'm guessing you mean Frank Rogers? I remember Frank ('Uncle Frank' to me) very well. He was the manager of the gunpowder stores at Magazine Village, and as such had a larger, detatched house on the edge of the village near where the dock wall started - for some reason, I remember his lawn, which was always beautifully manicured, and his lovely old 3-legged dog called 'Lobby'. I always enjoyed going to see Uncle Frank - happy days. When the gunpowder work dried up he moved into boat-breaking on the foreshore, mainly to get the non-ferrous metals out of them - anything brass or copper - I'm sorry though, I don't know if he was a one-man band or part of a bigger enterprise. It's one of the questions I should have asked my Dad when he was here... I think Frank was the last to leave the village before it was demolished, and he was given a small bungalow in Eastham, which I also visited many times. I've got a ration book of his at home for some reason... Anyway, here's a picture of Frank, once again thanks to the courtesy of Unilever Archives.
Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.
Where are Unilever Archives and are they open to general viewing? Would they have old pictures of Bromborough Pool village? My ancestors lived there and worked at Price's Candle Works late 1850's.The house in York St now gone. I think it was number 5
Now that you come to mention it, I think the pictures I posted at the Bromborough Pool thread (post #688370 - 27th Apr 2012) were from Unilever. I think that they posted them to me in error when I was asking them about Magazine Village - so yes I think they have got some. (Incidently one of the pictures I posted at that link show York Street...)
Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.
