Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Oxton & the Shrewsbury connection

You will all know Shrewsbury Road. It's named for the Earl of Shrewsbury, who must have owned land in Oxton in the past. Other road names with this connection are Alton Rd., which is named for Alton Towers which was his main house. Talbot Rd., Talbot is the family name of the Earls of Shrewsbury, also the name of a family estate in Bordeaux; Château Talbot, which produces an excellent claret, but more expensive than I can afford! Chetwynd Rd. & Ingestre Rd. are named after another of his estates near Newport in Shropshire. There may well be others. Anybody know?

Never knew them Chris, very interesting.

Just looked a few up myself.

The family name of the Earls of Shrewsbury seems to be Talbet, not Talbot?



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Maybe thats where Devonshire Place & Devonshire Road comes from?


Beresford Road - Derrived from Beresford Gardens in Shrewsbury?

The connection goes further than that. The Diocese of Shrewsbury which to this day still controls the RC churches in Birkenhead still has a base in Birkenhead Park (cole st entrance)and sometime in the past the Bishop of Shrewsbury decided that he was need more in the Birkenhead area and relocated to the Oxton area .

very interesting

Quite right, Jonno; he had a house in Eleanor Rd.

[/font]I don't know Beresford Gardens here in Shrewsbury. Where did you find it?

Eleanor Rd - the bishop sure knew how to live!

Yep. He should have been in the North End with his flock.

Apparently Oxton would not look like it is without the mess that one of the later (1880's) Shrewsbury's made of the family fortune - which resulted in large tracts of land being sold to developers.

Paradoxically, this also led to some parts of old Oxton being upgraded and 'gentrified', when previously much of it had been tenant farms etc.

I used to deliver parcels to his house in Eleanor road. His servants, sorry nuns were miserable people who could barely if ever say thank you.

Never understood why Shrewsbury yet his HQ was Birkenhead?

Because the Catholic diocese of Shrewsbury included Birkenhead. There's a "Bishop's House" in Shrewsbury, but not many catholics; the bulk were in Birkenhead so one of the bishops in the past decided that would be the best place to be. (But he insisted on a decent address).

He was only Bishop of Birkenhead - the Archbishop for the diocese was in Shrewsbury.....

Sorry, bigpete, that's plain wrong.
The Catholic diocese of Shrewsbury includes all of Wirral. The cathedral is in Shrewsbury, but the bishop lives in Birkenhead.
The diocese of Shrewsbury, together with the diocese of Clifton (Bristol) and the Archdiocese of Birmingham form the Ecclesiastical Province of Birmingham. Only the Archdiocese of Birmingham has an Archbishop.

That's right - there is a Bishop of Birkenhead, but he's an Anglican bishop, not a Roman Catholic one. He's a suffragan bishop in the Church of England diocese of Chester.

Ah that expains it then Chris..

I am a heathen and more interested in ecclesiastical architecture than the 'good book' and it's diverse followers....

That's weird though - so Birkenhead has no Catholic Bishop - they are actually the Bishop of Shrewsbury - but choose to live in Birkenhead...?, just curious as Shrewsbury is lovely and presumably more historical religous connections....

Thanks Cobby, did not know that....

BTW - did you know that Welshpool actually falls under the diocese of St Asaph....