any suggestions for
Oldest house in Wirral still lived in
Oldest church in Wirral still used as a church
Oldest hospital in Wirral still used as a hospital
Oldest school in Wirral still used as a school
Oldest Pub in Wirral still used as a Pub [Wheatsheaf Raby?]
Oldest cinema in Wirral still used as a cinema

any other oldest you can think of

Oldest Person in Wirral still alive.
Oldest car still being driven

oldest business, oldest post box, oldest lamp post, oldest telephone box.

I think the oldest Yew tree is in the graveyard in the church in Eastham Village
A notice says it was there in the Domesday Book

St Albans Church, Liscard was built in 1841 so it may be the oldest.

The oldest continous "site" for a church is St Hilary's, Wallasey as it goes back as far as 445 AD. The current church was built in 1859 when the one before was burnt down. All that is left of the original is the tower which was built in 1530.

The oldest standing building on the Wirral is of course - Birkehead Priory (1150)

Don't know whether its the oldest post box but the one in Balls Rd by the Art gallery is one of a few in GB that has a vertical slot.

Oldest church must be Birkenhead Priory - I think services are still held there

Cottage hospital or st catherines or clatterbridge (well that nearlly about covers all them ) could be contenders for oldest hospitals still used????

Birkenhead Priory is the oldest church on wirral 1150 It is also the oldest standing building..

Your getting mixed up when talking about the priory being the oldes church. The priory was not a church. The oldest church is St Mary's which was built along side the priory. The church was built in 1819. Long before th Parish church of Birkenhead {St Mary's} was built there where already older churches on the wirral. to name but 2, there is the Bidston church in the township of Bidston and Woodchurch church in the township of woodchurch. I could go on and on naming very old churches in various townships on the wirral but would be here all night. The book THE WIRRAL HUNDRED PUBLISHED IN 1889 lists them all. Must warn you it is HEAVY READING.

Aye jimbob thanks for that

Here's a list from the 1947 plan book, which covers the town & out as far as Woodchurch. Jimbob is right about Bidston & Woodchurch.

While on this sub-topic, just a quick mention that some church plans are available online

http://www.churchplansonline.org/

2nd Birkenhead Scout Group oldest in the world

1885 Mersey Railway tunnel, first successful underwater tunnel in the world

On Leasowe Road is the first building in the world to be heated entirely by solar energy. St George’s School was built in 1961 to the designs of Emslie Morgan, a “genius” who spent a lifetime looking into ways of harnessing the sun’s rays. His research resulted in the “Solar School”, a matchbox like building with, on one side a drab, windowless façade and on the other I0,000 square feet of glass, a giant solar wall. The wall is built of glass leaves two feet apart. These draw the ultra violet rays from sunshine and bounce them around the walls of the classrooms. The walls become warm and heat the air. Hardly any warmth escapes through the school’s massively thick roof and walls covered with slabs of plastic foam. On the coldest days it is always 6o degrees Fahrenheit inside, and in summer the school is cooler than its more conventional neighbours, for panels inside the glass wall can be turned to deflect heat or absorb it. It need hardly be said that, despite the uniqueness of the building at the time of its erection, it was left to foreign designers to take up the invention and use it on a world wide scale.

Woodside Ferry is the oldest ferry terminal in the country


Few more in the Interesting Facts topic

Oldest OFF LICENCE on Birkenhead:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=53.383757,-3.027476&spn=0.001253,0.003487&t=h&z=19

It's vacant at the moment, and no doubt will be converted into luxury apartments.

Oldest Birkenhead off licence

some yobs tried to burn it down once

Yew trees were grown in churchyards because it was law once for all men to practice their archery after going to church and the bows and arrows were made from yew trees

Just a note of interest, I used to be a boy scout in the 2Birkenhead Scout group. I was not much good at knots but boy could I play British Bulldog.

oldest Pub? the weatsheaf in raby?

Nice find, Bert.
Last time I came up I took a pic. of this unusual box. Bert is right; it is a very unusual design. The first pillar box appears to have been installed in 1853 (more recent than I thought), in Carlisle. The Balls Rd. one seems to be of the 1856 design, which didn't last long. By 1866 the hexagonal Penfold design had been adopted. Here's a pic. of the Penfold in Ashville Rd. but it's quite likely that this is a later replica.
Thanks to Wikipedia.

Oldest (Wiki member) mum?

My mum was 91 last week - and she has one heck of a memory for "things" to do with Wallasey Village and people. Trying to capture it is a nighmare.

Snod

Is she registered on wiki?

That will be cool if she is registured on wiki hun

I show her the site when she visits and she is fascinated - but far too scared of computers to even touch the mouse herself.

I keep trying

Snod

Awww i feel sorry for her mate it be hard for you to get her by the computer

For heaven's sake, record your talks with her. I will always regret not having any record of my gran's stories (born 1888), otherwise when she's gone, her memories are gone with her.

i agree with you there chris cuz my nan used to tell me storys aswell about the old days and that even i wish i has recoreded me nan telling me

My Mum will be 90 this year and she was born in the Mersey Cottages in Wallasey 1919. She also has a remarkable memory and has spoken often of the May blitz 1940 of Wallasey, B'Head and Liverpool and other amazing recollections too.

Where were/ are Mersey Cottages?

No hits on Google

Snod

Chris

I have tried recording. Not a lot of success.

First, if she knows she is being recorded she sort of "dries up". If I do the recording sneaky (I have small recoders that run for an hour per tape side) then her conversations are SO difficult to keep on track. Side tracks to the TV, shopping, birds/ cats in the garden - arrrgh - does my head in. The expression - "like a flea on a hotplate" jumps to mind. Then I have to go through the tape and write down the bits that seem useful AT THAT POINT IN TIME. The problem then is that some months later I will realise there was another "fact" hidden in a bit of conversation I discarded.

The very best sessions have been when I have made up a CD / DVD of a load of old Wallasey photos and then have had mum and a friend or two of the same vintage view those photos on the TV via the disk player.

Given that visual stimulus from the pictures there can be all sorts of really useful "information flow" between mum and friends.

Maybe Whitewych and I should arrange a "mothers meeting" and we can listen at the keyhole

Snod

Yes, it's not easy. probably best with the recorder in a pocket & a lapel mike. I recently bought a little Olympus hard drive recorder on e-bay for £16 which is very inconspicuous.

My nan in law has loads of interesting stuff to say about the war-blitz, blackouts etc and she talks of a house in heswall for the 'girls in trouble'. She can remember loads but what does my head in is that if you ask a question, she ALWAYs replies 'oh i cant remember THAT!' Grrr lol

Try offering her some Quality Street
As she sucks on them toffee's i'm sure the stories will come

I have a series called "Forgotten voices" the blitz and the battle of britian.That is the title.

It is an audio book of people giving thier personal accounts during the blitz.

They are available from waterstones.

Chris

I have a couple of similar machines that use C120 mini cassettes of 60 mins recording per side. However, as I say mum's normal conversations jump about so much that recovering meaningful information from covert use is a tedious job.

I even gave mum one of the recorders and a load of photo prints in an album so that she could visit her friends in their homes, show them the pics and record the conversation. Never happened. She took the photos/ had the conversations - but never remembered to switch on the recorder

Snod

There is a row of cottages next to The Saughall Pub in Saughall Massie dated 1589, is this correct?

Whats the oldest house in wirral?

No one is really sure because a lot of the date stones of that age are hard to read. Its probably one of the Wallasey buildings. Possibly this one, click me: Birds House

William Bird's House

This rather oddly shaped old house still stands on the corner of Limekiln Lane and Poulton Bridge Road and is reputed to be the oldest left standing in Wallasey. The date stone is somewhat controversial as the text is not clear and a variety of styles of writings were used over the century's. There have been many suggestions of the year on the date stone including 1697, 1627, 1691; however i believe it to be 1621. The stone also bears the initials W.B.M which i would suggest stands for William "middle name (unknown) " Bird.

The house is made from well fashioned sandstone blocks and is typical for architecture for the 17th century farmers dwelling. At that time there would have been open pastures around there area with small houses and outbuildings dotted around the area. It is impress to think that the occupiers of this house lived during the reign of King James 1st of England.

The oldest Farm in Wirral is this one, click me Old Hall Farm

The oldest farm building in Wirral is said to be Old Hall Farm, more recently known as Puvells pig farm situated at 19 Barnston Lane. The building dates back to 1719 which the date stone above the door clearly shows. Also on the date stone are the initial D.W.M standing for Daniel and Mary Wilson. Daniel Wilson was the son of Robert Wilson who lived at Bidston Hall. Upon the death of his father many property's were left to Daniel including a share of Bidston Mill. Over the years Old Hall changed hands many times and like many other farms around Moreton it eventually ceased trading and became used as a commercial premises.

For some reason lots of the text has dissapeared off the site. For furthe photos of the farm click this link.

Oldest Lighthouse in Wirral is Leasowe Lighthouse. Click here for further info.

Leasowe Lighthouse is one of two old lighthouses which stood overlooking Mockbeggar bay. The first lighthouse known as the lower light, was taken down centuries ago but is noted to have stood much further out into the sea, on land which is now no longer visible.

Mr Thomas Barclay in 1827 states the following:

"A lighthouse stood on the beach, to the northward of the present one, nearly half a mile distant, if not all together. That lighthouse was long ago rendered useless by the encroachment of the water, and it was pulled down. The present one was built in 1763, and i assisted in building it. At that time there was a high ridge of sand hills and grass to keep off the tide, at a considerable distance from the present lighthouse. The hills and grass are now all gone, and there is nothing left to stop the water which is
making rapid approaches inland".

It is recorded that out near the old lighthouse there used to be an old well which was enclosed all around by masonry. In 1889 Philip Sulley states that the well is still visible at low tide. Unfortunately today, the well and all evidence of the old lighthouse is now under the heavy waters of the River Mersey.

Leasowe Lighthouse stands on Leasowe Common and is a well known landmark on Wirral. It is
built of brick, several feet thick and is solid at the base, tapering as it goes up to a height of one hundred and one feet. There are seven floors which can be reached by a cast iron staircase of one hundred and thirty steps.

Over the entrance there is a tablet bearing the inscription M.W.G. 1763, standing for and
commemorating the then mayor of Liverpool, William Gregson. Two lighthouses were originally erected on the coast of Leasowe in 1763 a 'lower light' on the shore and an 'upper light' on the site of the present building. The theory was, that the approaching ships master had only to line up the two lights to achieve a safe entrance to the Rock Channel and the port of Liverpool. The 'lower light' was troubled by erosion and the building collapsed into the sea during a storm. The present lighthouse at Leasowe was used as the lower light when the previous lower lighthouse collapsed and the upper light was built on Bidston Hill in 1771, three miles away. The light at Leasowe were lit for the last time on July 14th 1908, and the light at Bidston ceased to function in 1913.

The last keeper of the lighthouse was a woman. Mr. and Mrs. Williams were formerly keepers of the Great Orme Lighthouse in Llandudno and they transferred to Leasowe. Shortly after moving Mr. Williams was taken ill and it was during his illness that his wife took over the duties. She performed them so well that on his death, which was twelve months later, the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board made her keeper. They also allowed her to employ one of her thirteen children, a daughter, as an assistant. When the building ceased to function as a lighthouse Mrs. Williams was moved into a cottage but she kept the lighthouse as a teahouse for summer visitors and it became extremely popular. In 1929 it was offered for Sale but no one wanted to buy it until March
1930 when the Wallasey Corporation bought it for a sum of £900. After the death of Mrs. Williams in 1935 the lighthouse was closed to the public and put to no further use. In 1973 it was painted white but nothing more was done until 1989 when the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral carried out refurbishment work to stop the building deteriorating any further.

Come on people get your mums and grans onto Wiki,it's the only way to have real people memories telling us how things were.

Yes your talking about Prospect Farm .... they are relations of mine who live there.

The elongated farm below is known in the village as prospect farm and bears the date stone of 1539 making it easily the oldest building which survives within Saughall Massey. As can be seen in the pictures above the original farm building on the left had its roof raised meet the roof on the right hand side. The house is home to the Broster family who are distant relations of mine from Ivy Farm. They are the 6th generation of the Brosters to live in this building and an integral part of the History of Saughall Massey. At the back of prospect farm was a large old dwelling which upon demolition was found to contain a large Vat. This gives credit to the rumour that the old building was once the village inn. In front of Prospect Farm stood another of building called "Salisbury Cottage".

Just reading in "The Wirral" Book by Alan Brack that probably the oldest thing in or on the Wirral are the granite boulders that are littered in Bebington and Bromborough that where carried down from the Lakes District in Glaciers during the last Ice Age.

I reckon that the oldest creature known to have lived in Wirral was the Chirotherium whose fossilised tracks were found in Storeton Woods:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storeton
(see final paragraph of Storeton Quarries And Tramway).

They were found in the quarry not the woods
The quarry was also the site of the discovery of dinosaur footprints, the species was named Chirotherium Storetonese after the site of discovery. Examples of these footprints can be seen in World Museum Liverpool in Liverpool and the Williamson Art Gallery in Birkenhead, and also in Christ church, Kings Road, Bebington.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storeton

As a kid in the late sixties I played in the only 2 quarries that had not been filled in they were oppesite the woods one was very big and deep the other was small but deep i fell in to the small one trying to climb up the face of it luckerly they had started to dump waste in there and I landed on a load of plastic of cuts from stork margarine tubes

Oldest Hospital is Saint Caths but it is part day hospital and part nursing home. There are no old cinemas still in use as cinemas, the ABC on Argyle st. is now a snooker hall and fitness centre, the old Cannon on Conway St s now Slices night club and the old cinema on Park road east (don't know what it was called) is now a furniture shop

Welcome to Wiki, tombro. Cinema on Park Rd. East was the Gaumont.
More info & pics in the "Cinemas" thread, further down the History page.

the one in Park Road East was The Gaumont
Never heard of the Cannon, I think you meant The Empire

As a matter of interest what cinemas are there now on the Wirral that are cinemas and which is the oldest now

Vue Cinemas Ltd Europa Boulevard, BIRKENHEAD
or
Odeon Cinemas Ltd Wirral Leisure Park, Welton Road, Bromborough
or
Vue Cheshire Oaks The Coliseum, Cheshire Oaks Outlet Village, Little Stanney, Ellesmere Port

Yes, the Empire was later the Cannon, then the Classic (or vice versa; can't remember). Oh, & the ABC was originally the Savoy.

If by oldest Church do you mean oldest still existing fabric? many chirch sites in Wirral are of Romano-British origin (likely late fourth early fifth century) with at least one of those Woodchurch likely to be built upon a Druid site with the continuity of religious practioce at the site going back well before the common era.

When topic first started I meant it to be a building still standing and in use for the purpose it was built for and being the oldest in Wirral

Then possibly Storeton Hall Farm (medieval)

I'm not sure whether it's within the Wirral boundaries but there is a church in Shotwick (just off the A550) which I think dates back to the 15th century.

Oldest postbox is the one in Asville road. I thin k there are o nly a few of this design in the country.

Oldest occupied house is Bird's house in Wallasey.

Bert's House?

I remember when I was at St Georges we would often get scientists engineers etc visiting the building and wandering around

Oldest house? Can anyone tell me how old Plymyard Manor in Eastham is(its called that on old OS maps - but we knew it as Abbey Grange)? Used to play round that way as a kid, and was told it was 13th Century or something. Cetainly looked very old - mullioned windows, etc.

Not to be confused with Plymyard Towers or Plymyard House - they went in the 60's/ 70's.

Its still there, but tucked away out of sight - can't find anything on Google tho...

earliest ancestor that was living in Wirral ( in your family tree )
mine was in 1850s(still researching though) - we're still classed as strangers

1880's from Ireland to Birkenhead then Seacombe.

If possible where from to where settled as well
1850s Reading Berks to Bromborough Pool then Rock Ferry then Birkenhead

I used to live in an old house in Park street, Neston. That was built in 1724, it has a plaque at high level & used to be the plough inn. I have a very old photo of it & will Upload it in the next week so you can see it. I believe it was closed in 1926 then converted into houses. It had a large cellar carved out of the sandstone. The brewers arms a little further towards Neston was built earlier. There was a Pub on Neston Cross called The White Horse that was even older still. There is also a book called Cheshire Churches & that can be really interesting as it refers to a lot of Wirral churches & gives a brief History of individual churches. My hobby is making local landmarks & I have started sculpting local churches which can be seen through the photo gallery. Some pubs to go on there too soon.

Very interesting,looking forward to the photo.

I've found an older house than Birds, Saughall Massie Village 1539. This was mentioned prviously but was thought to be 1589.

Well Done DD.

Thats for the Wirral mate.. Birds house is Wallasey only..

If you read back on the thread, a few people thought Birds House was the oldest inhabited house on the Wirral.

Of course it is temporarily uninhabited at the moment.

Have you any idea of the oldest currently inhabited house in Wallasey and/or the Wirral???

Ahh,that makes sense

Since 1st April 1928, Saughall Massie has been part of Wallasey.

How about 'Stone Bark' in Warren Drive, as being one of the oldest in Wallasey? Nobody really seems to know how old it is exactly but it's at least 300 years old. The Old Rectory in Wallasey Village is also pretty ancient.

Brimstage Hall must be one of the oldest in Wirral as it dates back to the 14th century. I know that Brimstage is mainly used for shop units now, but it also has living accommodation upstairs.

The oldest part of the present St Michael's Church in Shotwick is the Norman Arch of the South Doorway, this dates back to the 12th Century. Much of the rest of the Church dates to the 14th Century.

If the Church building is not the oldest in Wirral, then the interior surely must be. The church escaped the 'restoration' of the 19th century which destroyed most early Churches.

The box pews were probably installed in 1706, while the Churchwardens' pew dates from 1673 with the canopy being added in 1709. The three decker pulpit was installed in 1812 and came from a Church in Chester.

Great pictures, especially of the interior. It's never very easy getting the light right inside these kind of places.

Some of the stonework in the south wall of St Andrews in Bebington predates the norman conquest.

It's the North Wall, and there may be remains of wall paint, making these the oldest church paintings in Wirral to boot!

It is also the oldest continually running in the world

Anyone who has been on Hong Kong's Star Ferry service (a baby at being started in 1888) will see a similarity between it and the old Mersey ferries that I remember from the 1960s (and probably earlier).

Yep, the old Wanchai ferry was very much like the Mersey ferry, made me feel quite homesick. Only joking, Honky Phid was great.

Ah! Aggie Westons!

Your mention of the Mersey Cottages made me wonder if they're anything to do with the Concertina Cottages which stood where St Joseph's School now stands, on Wheatland Lane. On this link(http://www.liberator31.co.uk/wallasey/seacombe/index.html) scroll down and you'll see a floor plan of one - very ingenious, hexagonal with central chimney.

My gr.gr.gr. grandfather Robert Grimes 1783-? born in Bromborough.
My gr.gr.gr.grandfather Samuel Moulton was born in Little Sutton (not sure of date yet). His son Joseph Moulton also from Little Sutton 1831-1894 married Alice Grimes born in Bromborough 1838-1922. Their daughter Elizabeth Moulton born Bromborough 1857-1913. Their daughter Ruth Moulton Williams 1890-1976 born Rock Ferry. Their daughter (my mother) born 1915 in Rock Ferry.
James Williams 1859-1908 born Higher Bebington married Elizabeth Moulton on 4th Jan. 1881 at St. Paul's Tranmere.
Mark Rose 1790-1841 born in Runcorn married Mary Thompson 1790-? married on 19th Feb 1811 at All Saints Church Runcorn. and so on ad infinitum...

Do I have the earliest ancestors to reside in Wirral?

You are definately in the running.
The earliest that I know of is the resident of Thurstatson Hall.
The house dates back to Norman Times and has always been lived in by the same family

Think I miss out then. What a bummer!!!!

But does it count if he/she is not a wiki member?

I didn't know that was the rule,that you had to be a Wiki member.
But there could be two titles. Member and non-member!

It's just the oldest - whatever in Wirral
Possibly the oldest visitor on wikiwirral is snodvan's mother who I think is in her 90's

Oldest Skeleton from Wirral. Taken from
www.wirralhistory.net ..........there's a reconstruction picture to go with it.

Roman Leasowe Man

In July 2005 the Museum of Liverpool Life welcomed the return to the North West of a long-absent resident. The oldest surviving skeleton from Merseyside, found on the Wirral shore in 1864, had finally returned to the region. As part of the Living with the Romans exhibition, which ran from 23 July 2005 to 4 June 2006, the skeleton was borrowed from the Natural History Museum in London as the centrepiece of a display on our Romano-British ancestors. The skeleton was found by workmen repairing the embankment at Leasowe on the north Wirral coast. They came across the body laid out under a bed of peat. The owner of nearby Leasowe Castle, Sir Edward Cust, donated the remains to the Royal College of Surgeons in 1864. Eventually the skeleton found its way to the Natural History Museum in London where it was recently rediscovered by Dr Silvia Gonzalez, a scientist from Liverpool John Moores University. For over a century the skeleton was thought to be prehistoric, perhaps as old as 4000 BC. However, radiocarbon dating has shown that the skeleton is actually Roman in date. As such it is the only Roman skeleton from Merseyside.



A 21st century reconstruction of the skull. A reconstruction of the skull was commissioned for the 'Living with the Romans' exhibition. The skull was first scanned in three dimensions with a laser scanner by National Museums Liverpool's Conservation Technologies team.

The plans for the building were never put down on paper Emslie Morgan kept the plans in his head and died with out passing on the system and scientists from all over the world came to St Georges to try and work out how he had done it .

i believe the oldest church building to be the one in wallasey village, St. Hillary's Church.

I'd love to know what evidence there is for the Druids on the Wirral!!!

The Tudor tower at St.Hilary's certainly makes it one of the oldest buildings on the Wirral, but it's not that dissimilar to the tower at St.Oswalds, Bidston.

There are a number of church sites (including Woodchurch, Overchurch, St.Hilary's, and Bromborough) which are certainly very ancient. Woodchurch is one of the most interesting, but any links to druidism are probably very speculative.

How is this possible when Leasowe didn`t even exist until around 1940?

It was all marshland and before then the sea went over it. (pity it still didn`t really).

I think Sea levels have changed quite substantially over the centuries.

Judging by the evidence of the submerged forrest at Meols/Dove Point, the north Wirral coastline once extended much further out than it does at present.

Cheshire Cheese is the oldest cheese being made in England (ref wikipedia)
Does anywhere on Wirral make it?

the Wirral's not in Cheshire !...(lights blue touch paper and retires)

Yes it is. it has always been in Cheshire although is was in Merseyside for a few years.

PB

The majority of Cheshire cheese is made in Shropshire, around Whitchurch.

I always thought the Wirral was Merseyside too!

Wirral used to be part of Cheshire until the government made boundary changes (1970s?) which lumped it with Liverpool(which was part of Lancashire) and called it Merseyside

I think you'll find it was also part of Mercia for quite a long time before it ever became Cheshire!

Indeed, The post codes were changed to L when we came under Merseyside, for example L41 would now be CH41, which I think actually denoted Chester and the L denoted Liverpool.

PB

But that was well before our time, the post code changes were quite recent on comparison.

PB

Interesting Thread.

The Wirral has CH Postcodes

The CH postcode area, also known as the Chester postcode area,is a group of postcode districts near the England/Wales border. Having previously roughly covered the former Chester district and present-day Flintshire county, postcodes for the Wirral Peninsula (CH41-CH66) were transferred to it in 1999 from the L postcode area. It includes Birkenhead, Chester, Ellesmere Port, Neston, Prenton and Wallasey in England and Bagillt, Buckley, Connah's Quay, Flint, Holywell and Mold in Wales. (From Wikipedia)

CH District Postcodes

L District Postcodes

Why we are changing postcodes - Royal Mail

Put's Flack Jacket On.....

The Royal Mail doesn't govern us and the post codes mean nothing .... eg Dock Road, Wallasey comes under Birkenhead postal town and post code.

I recall that when it changed from L to CH postcodes, that each household recieved an A4 sheet of 'sticker address labels'.
Wonder how much that cost the Post Office?

Thanks for posting the PC info, very interesting

PB

lol yeah I remember that!

This could be the oldest poem or style of poetry, mentioning Wirral. possibly the second half of 14th century.
Extract taken from translated text of 'Sir Gawain and the Green Night'

Verse (30)



So this rider rode through the realm of Britain,
Sir Gawain in God's service: and to him it was no game.
He would lie down alone with no one to lead,
nor find before him any food that he liked,
Nor any help but his horse over hill and wood,
Nor any man but his Maker to make conversation --
till he neared the neighborhood of North Wales,
held all the isles of Anglesey on his left
and reached the river where its headlands rose
high near Holyhead, and held on across
through the Forest of Wirral. Few or none lived there
whom God could love, or a good-hearted man.
And he asked often, of all whom he met
if they could give him news of a green knight
or how he could get to the Green Chapel.
And they all said no, never in their lives
had they seen someone who was such a shade
as green.
The paths he would take were strange,
with little cheer to glean,
and his hopes would often change
till that chapel could be seen.


The whole is very long but very interesting, so I have provided the link.
http://alliteration.net/Pearl.htm

American spelling and modern place names - a bit odd?

Yes Moonstar, although if you open the link and read all the 'bunff' about it, you will understand why that is so.

Here you are Moonstar, text translation was taken from...

691now ridez þis renk þur3 þe ryalme of logres
692sir gauan on godez halue þa3 hym no gomen þo3t
693oft leudlez alone he lengez on ny3tez
694þer he fonde no3t hym byfore þe fare þat he lyked
695hade he no fere bot his fole bi frythez and dounez
696ne no gome bot god bi gate wyth to karp
697til þat he ne3ed ful noghe into þe norþe walez
698alle þe iles of anglesay on lyft half he haldez
699and farez ouer þe fordez by þe forlondez
700ouer at þe holy hede til he hade eft bonk
701in þe wyldrenesse of wyrale wonde þer bot lyte
[fol. 100]
702þat auþer god oþer gome wyth goud hert louied
703and ay he frayned as he ferde at frekez þat he met
704if þay hade herde any karp of a kny3t grene
705in any grounde þeraboute of þe grene clapel
706and al nykked hym wyth nay þat neuer in her lyue
707þay se3e neuer no segge þat watz of suche hwez
[bob]
708of grene
[wheel]
709þe kny3t tok gates straunge
710in mony a bonk vnbene
711his cher ful oft con chaunge
712þat chapel er he my3t sene

The poet Simon Armitage published a very good modern English version of the poem in 2007 and is still available . Published by Faber & Faber , ISBN978-0-571-22327-5 . He gives a good introduction and it is very readable ( not too happy with the disparaging references to the Wirral , though !).
A couple of years ago , Armitage filmed a documentary following the same route as the Green Knight and it was shown on one of the BBC channels - can't remember which one though .

I remember seeing it on BBC4.

Still available to watch on ye olde Youtube...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74glI1lg1CQ

Not the oldest in Wirral, but obviously world class in Wirral.


"New Brighton Bathing Pool was opened on 13th June 1934 by Lord Leverhulme at a cost of £103,240 it was the largest aquatic stadium the world. 12,000 people attended the opening."

I wonder how many people attended the opening of Morrisons?