Hi Has anybody out ther got any photos of the old Woodchurch Village it would be much appreciated

Couple of pictures from the early 1900s

I can't remember seeing either of pictures before Upton - well dug.

A few photos recently you can see the telegraph poles overladen with cables. In reality hardly anyone had a telephone apart from businesses and the odd toff, but all the cables went on poles, very few went underground and this is why it looks like so many.

The telephone poles then carried bare copper wires on porcelain insulators. One pair of wires for each subscriber, so not that many phones down this route although it looks "busy".

No party lines either in those days. Manual calling with a magneto bell from the exchange.

The exchange for Woodchurch may have been Upton. Then just a tin hut affair near the station. Excuse to dig out my book on the old exchanges of the L'pool telephone area !

I thought Woodchurch was the name of the estate. I didn't realise there was an old village. Was it built over to become the new estate?

Woodchurch is both a Parish and a Township.

The Parish of Woodchurch was a large parish stretching over nearly 5,000 acres. It included 9 townships (Woodchurch, Arrowe, Barnston, Noctorum, Landican, Oxton, Pensby, Prenton and Thingwall) it also included parts of Claughton and Irby.

The village of Woodchurch was almost completly destroyed by the building of the Woodchurch Estate in 1946, all that remains are the church, rectory and school.

The village of Woodchurch became virtually surrounded by the Woodchurch Estate and some private houses. Some of the older cottages were demolished in the late '50's (?).

I was Christened in the Parish Church of Woodchurch.

Sorry, I didn't mead that the village was demolished and built over by the estate, but the life of the village was destroyed - the farms lost their fields, the farm labourers their livelihood, people moved out, houses became derelict and the village died.

Here's a couple of maps, one from 1955, one from 1966 showing how the village was "absorbed" & the farm land lost.
The parish church is the oldest religious establishment in the area, with the exception of the Priory.
The Holy Cross item comes from the 1947 Outline Plan.

Thanks Guys

The Second picture of the cottages is just in front of the four cottages where i used to live just out of shot on the left is Mutches shop and the last cottage on the right was where Jim Gateland the postman lived

Thanks, Henry; that's just the sort of info. which brings a picture alive.

Mutch's shop in 1928.