You are here: Shopping >
Books > Liverpool and Merseyside Photographic Memories
Halton, Castle 1900 (ref. 45439) | Here we have a general view of Halton and its castle from the west. The castle was built by the new Norman lord of the manor of Halton, Nigel Fitzwilliam, in around 1071. The baronies of Halton and Widnes were combined in about 1200, and were later taken under the Duchy of Lancaster, where they remain today. The castle is owned by the Queen; there are plans to restore much of it and open it to the public. The views from up there are really breath-taking. The main castle gateway was used as a court and prison in 1274; the castle last saw action in 1643 in the Civil War. The Court House was restored and became the Castle Hotel. The large church on the right is St Mary's, erected in 1847. |  Add your own Memory
 Add to your Album |
Runcorn, the Railway Viaduct 1900 (ref. 45433) | The Widnes-Runcorn railway bridge is seen from the West Bank Docks, Widnes. The town of Runcorn is behind the bridge; the retaining wall of the Manchester Ship Canal can be seen along the edge of the River Mersey. The bridge was constructed from 1863-67; it opened on 21 May 1868, and was named the Ethelfleda Bridge, after a Celtic princess who ordered the very first ferry here. The three iron spans of this bridge (which is still in use today) weigh around 700 tons each, and the piers are sunk to a depth of 45ft into the solid rock of the river bed. The church spire is All Saints, Runcorn's parish church. | Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Runcorn, Transporter Bridge c1906 (ref. 43432A) | The Transport Bridge Company was formed in 1899, and parliamentary approval was given in July 1900. Widnes Corporation gave £25,000 towards the scheme, and Runcorn gave £10,000. The transporter opened on 29 May 1905, but in 1911 the Widnes Runcorn Bridge Company transferred the transporter to Widnes Corporation; they strengthened it and added new electric motor. It was as the Widnes/Runcorn transporter when it re-opened on 21 May 1913. The ceremony was performed by Sir John Brunner, who had officiated at the original opening eight years previously. Widnes Corporation maintained and paid for the bridge until it closed in 1961. Here we see the bridge with its carrying platform near the Widnes side. | Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Runcorn, Runcorn Bridge and the Transporter Bridge c1961 (ref. R67043) | Two of the three bridges which have spanned Runcorn Gap over the River Mersey are seen from Runcorn. To the right is the transporter bridge, which was dismantled in 1961 -2 months after the new single-span road bridge opened on Saturday, 22 July 1961 by HRH Princess Alexandra. The road bridge had taken four years to build, and was very much needed by the time it opened. Sunday and holiday traffic heading to and from North Wales could take up to two hours to cross. If only they had left the transporter standing; it would have made a great attraction today, forty years later. | Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Runcorn, Weston Point c1955 (ref. R67019) | We are looking from the Beacon Hill area. Down below, on what was once marsh land, and an area known as Duke's Fields, is not only the Manchester Ship Canal but the Waver Navigation Canal and the Runcorn Docks. Bridgewater House is to the right, and some of the ICI works to the left. The River Mersey has a large sweeping bend here. We can make out the Hale shoreline over on the far bank. | Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Runcorn, the Docks c1900 (ref. R67301) | A real mixture of shipping make up this photograph of Weston Point Docks. The main waterway we see here is the Weaver Navigation, built so that the salt boats which floated down the River Weaver from Northwich and Nantwich could get back into those Cheshire towns without fighting the flow of the river. The lock in the foreground leads to the Manchester Ship Canal and the larger docks to the right. Guano and animal bones from South America were among the more unusual imports here, as well as the more usual cargoes of hides, soap, salt and leather. | Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Runcorn, Top Locks c1955 (ref. R67001) | Top Locks was the end of the Bridgewater Canal system - it had come all the way from Manchester and Worsley. Top Locks was named thus because if its location at the top of a large set of locks which opened in about 1780; they brought boats from the River Mersey and Liverpool up to the Bridgewater Canal. In 1800, canal and river was the easiest way of travelling from Manchester to Liverpool in the winter. By the time of our photograph, the locks had been closed and filled in, so the canal finished here at Waterloo Bridge. The Waterloo Hotel is on the left on High Street. In 1961, the area's first Chinese restaurant opened in the small white buildings on the left. It cost half-a-crown for chicken chow mein with curry sauce. | Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Runcorn, Devonshire Place 1961 (ref. R67044) | The top of the High Street was known officially as Devonshire Place, but the locals always called it Devonshire Square, even though it only had three sides. Our photographer is standing on Doctors Bridge over the Bridgewater Canal, and High Street runs left and right from the top of the square. Both the new high-level road bridge and the old transporter can be seen on our photograph. Today, Curiosities Bookshop can be found on the High Street to the right, opposite what was the La Scala Ballroom. | Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Widnes, West Bank 1923 (ref. 73918) | We are looking at West Bank and the Victoria Promenade. This area had been regarded as a holiday resort, and had been known as Wood-end 150 years before. The square tower, centre, is St Mary's Church, built in 1908. A Mersey schooner is heading for Spike Island and the St Helen's Canal just behind it. Our photograph was taken from the Transporter Bridge, which stood at the crossing point for over fifty years. The building on the right was the local cottage hospital for the very Welsh community who lived in West Bank. | Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Widnes, St Paul's Church and Free Library 1908 (ref. 59503) | Victoria Square is in the centre of Widnes. The building on the left is the library; the Technical College is at the side of it. The church is St Paul's, Widnes' parish church, which opened in 1884 on land given in 1878 in the will of the late J G Leigh. The building on the far side of the square is the Widnes & Runcorn Co-operative Society offices and shops. The square, with the town hall (out of sight on the right), was the centre of civic occasions. | Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Birkenhead, Hamilton Square and Town Hall 1967 (ref. B399041) | The well-laid-out Hamilton Square in the centre of Birkenhead is named after the town's founder, John Laird, in honour of his Scottish mother. In 1845, when the houses were being completed, the square was their private garden, and as the people moved in they got a key. Space was left for a town hall to be built, but it was 1883 before the foundation stone was laid. It opened in February 1887 at a cost of £43,067. The Town Hall, which incorporates the magistrates' court and the council offices, is built of Scottish granite and Storeton stone. In July 1901 it caught fire; the tower collapsed, but it was quickly rebuilt. It caught fire again in November 1935, but the 200ft clock tower was again rebuilt. The monument in the square is the town's memorial to Queen Victoria. The council bought the gardens and opened them up to the people; they made plans for the cross, modelled on those erected to honour Queen Eleanor, when Victoria died. | Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Birkenhead, Charing Cross 1967 (ref. B399044) | The junction off Grange Road and Whetstone Lane (to the right) is known as Charing Cross. Grange Road was one of the main shopping streets in Birkenhead, and was very popular. The street is now pedestrianised, and with St John's Pavement in its centre is still a popular shopping area. The ornate building on the right was built as the North & South Wales Bank. On the left is the Grange Hotel, a large and well-known pub. It was a Birkenhead Brewery Hotel, a local firm founded in 1865 with a plant in Cleveland Street. 'BB' (Birkenhead Brewer) Stout was one of their successful products; we can see it advertised to the left of the entrance. | Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Birkenhead, Arrowe Park 1967 (ref. B399048) | Arrowe Park is quite a few miles from the centre of Birkenhead. The estate was bought by Birkenhead Corporation in 1927 from the Leverhulme (Port Sunlight) family. The house seen here was built in c1840 by the Shaw family, who first owned the estate. In July 1929 the 423 acre park was turned over to the Boy Scouts for the world's first Scout Jamboree. Over 30,000 boys from all over the world gathered here, and the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Connaught, and Lord Baden-Powell himself visited them. Arrowe Park Hospital and an 18-hole golf course have since been created inside the park. | Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Birkenhead, Hamilton Square 1967 (ref. B399039) | Birkenhead, the largest town on the Wirral, was the dream of one man, John Laird. In about 1824 he came to a small hamlet of a few hundred people, started his ship-building firm, and set about planning a town. Because it was all laid out at the same time, Birkenhead was very neat and orderly. It did have areas of back-to-back houses for the newly-imported workers, but there were never the slums of the older towns and cities. Soon Birkenhead became a town. It was granted a Charter of Incorporation in 1877, and plans for further growth were hatched. Hamilton Square was always going to be where the town hall would be built, but it took forty years before it was completed. | Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Birkenhead, Woodchurch Road, Prenton 1954 (ref. B399002) | Birkenhead is a surprisingly large and sprawling town, and has taken in its outlying villages to become suburbs. In 1927, under the Birkenhead Extension Act, to celebrate its 50 years the town took in more outlying areas, thus doubling its original size of 1872. Woodchurch was one of those areas taken in. Here we see the shopping area. Many old favourites on the row include Waterworths the greengrocers and Dewhursts the butchers. | Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Birkenhead, Storeton Road 1954 (ref. B399007) | The Half Way House Hotel is on the corner of Storeton Road and Woodchurch Road out towards Prenton. A large, solid half-timbered hotel, it was popular for functions and gatherings among the local population. Prenton Park, the home of Tranmere Rovers, is not far away, so the pub would be busy on home match days. The arrangement of the traffic light poles looks rather unusual. | Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Birkenhead, Crossroads 1954 (ref. B399006) | This is the cross roads of Storeton Road (out towards Storeton where the famous quarries are) and Woodchurch Road. The Half Way Hotel on the right is still there today. Our photograph seems to have a good selection of transport on it, with cars, waggons and delivery lorries, scooters, motor bikes and cycles - and shanks's pony. | Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Birkenhead, Docks c1965 (ref. B399036) | Birkenhead Docks were started on 23 October 1844 when the foundation stone was laid. Before that, ships sheltered or tied up in Bidston Pool, which lay between Birkenhead and Seacombe. John Laird started his ship-building in Bidston Pool; he moved to the Mersey when the dock building began here. The Docks were once an independent company, but money troubles forced them to join the Mersey Docks & Harbour Board and to be controlled from Liverpool. The arrival of the railway in the 1840s made the need for deep water docks even more essential. It was the Great Western Railway which ran into Birkenhead and the docks; it was the London Midland, Scottish which ran into Liverpool. | Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Birkenhead, Queensway Tunnel c1965 (ref. B399027) | This is the Birkenhead entrance to the Queensway Tunnel. This was the first road tunnel under the River Mersey, and was opened by King George V and Queen Mary in July 1934. To create the large tunnel entrance and the lead-up area, many back-to-back houses had to be pulled down; the town's library also had to be demolished. But the biggest job was moving the gas mains and sewers. The town hall tower shows above the entrance. The houses and shops on the right were pulled down shortly after our photograph was taken. | Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
Eastham, Stanley Lane c1965 (ref. E9031) | This is the old village centre. The unusual war memorial and cross are on the left, and the massively-buttressed tower of the parish church dominates the skyline. There was a church here in Norman times, and stones from that building were incorporated into this church. Its list of vicars goes back to 1316, and it records bishops back to the 7th century. The Eastham Gardens, down by the ferry, were very popular, and over the years attracted thousands of visitors. They lost some of their glamour at the start of the 20th century and became a bawdy place. When the visitor numbers declined, the ferry stopped running here and the pier was dismantled. The gardens closed soon after; today they are a country park. | Add your own Memory
Add to your Album |
