Hi all

Wondering if you could help me. Do you know if there is somewhere which highlights on a map the bomb sites in Birkenhead. London has got something like this but not sure if we would have something ?

The reason I ask is that the field by my
House in bidston village has a large depression in the field, almost looks as though a pond was there which I know there wasn't . It's a circular depression and there's a trail away from it as well. When the grass it cut you notice it.

After looking at some old maps, in particular one from1874 at the spot of this point in the field there is a symbol which I can't upload because I am on my
Mobile but the way I can describe is circles in circles in circles .....

Iv checked the old symbols and there are gravel pits and sand pits but it's not the same symbol? Any ideas?

For information, I have metal detected this area and I found an old steel harrow in this hole so there was farming on the field. But the hole doesn't look natural.......

This is the symbol I referred to earlier in the week, if you could let me know what this means?

It is either a lake or a pond on topographic maps, bold outer border lighter inner rings.

On the Tithe maps it is clearly shown as a pond.

On another map it's just a circular outline.

After sort of 1940 it dissapears. I'll put a picture up of what's there now.

I agree with DD; definitely a pond, as shown on the tithe maps.

1950's colour maps show it as a pond as well.

At some time the height of that land seems to have been raised which is hardly surprising considering much of Bidston was bog land, the pit that is there now is possibly just sinkage into the soft pond mud underneath.

It depends on the purpose of the map as to what symbols are used and what items are recorded, depending what time of year and the weather would govern what the surveyor found.

The field I am talking about in question is opposite the observatory school,
And opposite Lennox lane (in between)

Looking at old maps, the outline of the forest areas etc. havent hardly changed at all. There is quite a bit of gorse on the field but it seems to have been agriculture as I have metal detected on this field and found parts of steel harrows on there.

The only thing which has now dissapeared in some sort of footpath which goes from Church going towards the tennis centre and is marked by a row of trees.
There seems to be no trace of that. All I would say is that when the roundabout has been built at tesco there has been quite a build up at the side.

After closer examination it looks like the existing depression and the pond marked on the maps aren't the same one.

The pond location is east of a line running north from Bidston hall and north of a line drawn as an extension of Hoylake Road, this would place it under the bit of Hoylake Road joining the roundabout.

Another pointer is that the pond was north of the line drawn from the west-east section of Lennox lane (1935 maps onward) whereas I think the existing depression is south of this line.

I'll have a look at the plan maps next time I'm in the library.

some of the ponds were marl pits which the farmers dug to extract marl for spreading on the land. The pond between Fender Way and the M53 not too far away was known as "The Crater" presumably due to Hitlers pilots

That's what I was thinking when seeing this for the first
Time because it seems so out of place

However there are a series of man holes on the field
Which seems to suggest the earlier theory.

Saying that I have metal detected the area in question and found steel Harrow remains