Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Magazine Village - Bromborough

I’ve been meaning to correct this for some time now, as I don’t want to mislead anyone – what we write now may be taken as ‘gospel’ in future years.

At post #333622 - 3rd Jul 2009, I posted a picture Pic 2 Description: The 'Magazines' Men, which stated which I now know to be an incorrect statement, and if I’d have looked more closely, I would have realised my Grandad looks far too old in the picture for that to be correct (was the dock wall built c1925?)

The picture actually shows the dock wall in wartime (1942 or 1943 I think) and the steel pilings round the dock wall in the background actually form the coffer dam for constructing the concrete cruciform bases for the Maunsell Sea-Forts (later positioned in Liverpool Bay). I realised when looking at photographs in a book that my Father had on the Maunsell Sea Forts, which I have recently acquired, and the photograph details in that volume matched this one. Therefore I’m pleased to set the record straight - it's been niggling me.

Here’s the photograph again:

Thanks, Billy; note added to your earlier post.

* Topic Merged into this Topic.

My dad and his family lived in the now lost Magazine Village, Bromborough. His father, George Wright, worked on-board The Swallow, which was a gunpowder boat/ship. This meant carrying gunpowder from anchored ships down the Mersey for storage. I believe that there was 2 other boats/ships.

I was wondering if anyone had any more information/pictures regarding these boats.

This is the only image that my father had of The Swallow in it's entirety, and below this, an image of the Crew members. (see attachment).

Somewhere on Wiki, there is a topic on the gunpowder boats with some pictures,

Try here,

https://www.wikiwirral.co.uk/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/333138/Magazine_Village_Bromborough.html

* Thanks Bert Topic now merged into this one above this post.

Access to the area where Magazine Village was has recently been blocked. Until a couple of months ago, it was possible to walk down to the riverbank along to Bromborough Pool via the old quayside near McTays yard, but this has recently been fenced off. I asked the security man there and was told that the quay was being worked on so public access has been stopped.There is now no public access to the riverbank from New Ferry all the way to Eastham as the Bromborough Pool access was blocked a couple of years ago!

I must admit I never knew about this village despite living only half a mile or so away for almost 30 years! To put into perspective exactly where it was, it's the group of buildings in the top RH corner, with Stadium Road and it's junction with Magazine Lane on the left - http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw025162?search=brotherton%20bromborough&ref=16

Thanks Steve for the update - It’s an eyesore down there nowadays. I find it quite appalling the way that this area has been mutilated and denied to public access since the village was demolished – I could roam anywhere on it as a boy, and it was my father’s playground as a boy all the way to Eastham Woods. I can ‘sort of’ understand the dock wall being closed off, as it’s reclaimed land – but the whole of the shore to Eastham? Surely that’s been a public right of way for centuries? But who am I to say – all I know that my Father was quite, quite saddened by what had happened to his home surroundings by the time he passed away a few years ago.

Thanks for that link Cobby. Coincidentally enough, I had just stumbled over those pictures too, only last week! There's quite a lot of Brotherton's and Port Rainbow dating between 1928 and 1947. They’re really clear when you're registered and zoom in, and some show the gunpowder magazine ‘Swallow’ quite clearly moored in the river – like this one: Britain from Above

In response to a request in another thread, here are some additional pictures of the Swallow which have previously only had a limited audience.

Steve – thanks for the pictures, the one of the crew matches (regarding dress – probably the same day) the one I posted in the thread that Bert links to above. I think we’ve got a copy of that one somewhere in our family. I’ve seen that side view of the Swallow before, but that’s the clearest one I’ve seen – thank you for posting.

Your Grandfather worked with my Grandfather on the Swallow, and your Dad was mates with my Dad.

Just a thought, but to try to stop the thread creeping into two separate ones, it might be worth asking the mods/admin to merge this one with the older one?
Anyway, I’ve put some additional pictures of the Swallow on the other one here - Wiki Magazine Village if you want to take a look – it shows some of the deck (that look a bit grim) - I don’t think they have been published anywhere before.

It sure is, but have a look at this link:
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/eaw004093
by 1947 the wall to the left has become just a retainer for reclaimed land, with the only water in there, where the forts/Mulberrys were being built a few years previously.
If you look further up this view - you can see the developed Bromborough Dock, which was very heavily utilised by the USATC in WW2 - to unload ammunition and supplies - Liverpool and Birkenhead Docks were deemed too vulnerable for such traffic.

A way back in this thread, I was trying to get an impression of the history for the Swallow gunpowder hulk, specifically, what it was originally. After looking at many, many pictures of Victorian ships, I’ve finally managed to find a photograph of the 1868-built ‘HMS Swallow’ as it was in its heyday.
Sorry, I can’t post the original here due to copyright - suffice to say though, I now believe that this is the final evidence that the 1868 ‘HMS Swallow’ indeed became the ‘Swallow’ gunpowder hulk.

I have been manipulating the image, and I reckon I’ve mangled it enough from the original so that comparison views can be posted here for all to form their own opinion.

The first picture here shows two views side-by-side – the top one is of HMS Swallow, and the bottom one is of the hulk Swallow. Unfortunately the two pictures are not plumb side views – the top one is slightly tending to be ‘stern on’ and the lower one is definitely tending to be ‘bow on’ (and is sitting slightly higher in the water), so absolute comparisons can’t be made without skewing and stretching the pictures (and I haven’t got photoshop), but I’ve tried to show the matches as best I can. I suppose I should be grateful that they are both starboard photographs!

The arrows attempt to align features with each other – all portholes are accounted for, as well as the bow and aft gun ports, the steps mid-ships, and the hatch/window aft. There is even some ‘witness’ evidence remaining on the hulk view of the ornate gallery work at the stern that was once there (as seen on the upper view).

The second picture shows the hulk Swallow with selected pieces from the HMS Swallow picture ghosted on to it in an attempt to give an idea of how she was modified for her new role. De-masted, all machinery (including funnel) removed, the curved bowsprit plank cut off giving a straight stem, and painted yellow overall with a red warning band.

The third picture tries to show the detail of where the bowsprit plank was cut off, the ‘U’-shaped piece sticking up being where the bowsprit was supported and secured. It would seem that this bowsprit plank was not cut off immediately, as the snippit dated June 4th 1890 from uptoncx in post #335717 states:
I’m not sure how these pictures will look once uploaded (they always tend to resize on me), but <ctrl>+ and <ctrl>- (zoom in and out) and <ctrl+shift>0 (return to normal size) should help to see the etail.

Anyway, I hope all this has been of interest, and as always, all opinions or comments are welcomed.

A fine bit of work there Billy. Most interesting !

Thanks Pinz - appreciated!

After viewing this forum many times and enjoying, I finally decided to register so I could see photos. So thrilled to see the 3 pics of Magazine Village that I'd not seen before. I lived in Terminus Road for most of my life and going 'down the shore' was a huge part of mine and my sisters' lives. What joy! And thanks to you Billy for your research..