looking for infomation on the club house on bidston hill if anyone can help thanks :)no pix could not find one!

Other than the history behind the name I dont know much more.

tell me?

This is the one with the CLUB ( Card shape Club ) in the drive way?

If i remember correctly.
The house ownership was won on the Turn of a Card,
and that card was a "Club" and in celebration the new
owner built the "Club" in the driver way,
i have a picture some where. As i went knocking on the door
to ask about the exit to the Bidston tunnels with my uncle,
a really nice lady there but couldn't help.

will see if i can find my picture now.
Give me an hour lol

thanks boss!

I cant find it for now,
So i done google earth and put the club overlay on it lol

I'm not sure if its the right way around, but you get the
idea, the Club on the driveway is more rounded than love hearty
looking.

Mark your info is correct but we don`t have a date or year as to when this property was won on a card game,however I did look at the 1926 map of bidston and it was named the club house then.

It was won and lost during the time Lord Vyner owned Bidston hall so it was definitely the 1800s, before Birkenhead corporation bought the hill.

Source The Friends of Bidston Hill

Movements in favour of public acquisition of Bidston Hill were made in 1883 and 1897 – the latter being in connection with Queen Victoria's jubilee; however, it was not until 1893 that the project was taken in hand. The Hill formed part of the estate of Mr Robert Charles de Grey Vyner who conducted negotiations in a handsome manner by taking the lowest of three valuations, making his own contribution to the fund.

In 1907 steps were made to secure another portion of the Hill, which was “on the market”. It was feared that the land might be used for building purposes. The area in question was an area of 22 acres on the south-eastern slope of the Hill, known as the “Pine Woods”. It was acquired as a memorial to the late Mr Edmund Taylor whose hard work and influence made it all possible. The cost was £10,500 in 1907.

Other acquisitions were:

1893-94: the summit of the Hill – 24 acres £5,800
1897: A further portion of 38 acres £11,750
1900 Several smaller pieces, amounting to about about 4 ½ acres £2,260
In all 88½ acres were acquired at a cost of £30,310 (1914). The corporation contributed £14,625 and the rest was raised by public subscription,

On 8 th December 1933, Mr Royden (Chairman of the Bidston Hill Committee) considered the Rhododendron Gardens would be ‘a grand addition' to the Hill.

cool mate.

nice one!

mark did you find the pic mate?

on your next day off i will take you the club house for a wander around the place, inside/outside/underneath ,even have a stroll round the garden if ye want dude..

and a cup of tea/biscuits while getting your info .

some aswell.

any chance me coming
Cupboard getting short on tea and biscuits

you do know that is a spade mark ??? the club is the other black card

only two at a time 3 different people own the gaff,
might get funny about it, so ive got to watch my foot a bit,
you know the score guys.

The current Club House was built some time between 1874 and 1898, as is evident if you look at the two OS maps below which were surveyed in those two years (I've added a third 1975 map for added comparison).

It was, however, built on the site of a much earlier structure, an old summer house built in the 17th century, that, as you rightly say, was supposed to commemorate the fact that the Hall did once change hands during a game of cards. The summer house is clearly shown on the Kingston estate survey of 1665 (now in the hands of the Vyner family) - I'll try and get a decent copy of that to post.

off all next week joe yerr club house mate!
and a list of other places dude!

i might take ya on a "wikiwackywonderfullwirral"whatandwho i know one off special tour? but I'm not sure that you will be able to handle it tho

Is that some sort of foot-bridge going acrros Boundary Road to the clubhouse?? Interesting.

wait it's a clubhouse? i always thought it was some private mansion house or villa.
i wonder why vyner on the last map shows "vyner combined school"

noticed on your 1975 map that the old road through the village was still Hoylake Rd [now Bidston Village Rd]
Anybody know when the bypass was built

my told me about a bridge up there, and said there used to be ale house by bridge too ? something rose /rose something, i said to him no way dad ild know about it if there was, ooops.
well there was said my i remember taking coal to it.

yerr bring it on mate!

If the foot-bridge is where - think it was, it explains the brickwork and foundations at the top of the wall in the rods.

If the foot-bridge is where - think it was, it explains the brickwork and foundations at the top of the wall in the rods.

It is a private house - or rather it's divided into three houses now, as Kimpri1 mentioned earlier & as is shown on the 1975 map. Club House is just its name not its purpose...

Anyway, as I promised, here are some pics of the 1665 Bidston Hall Estate Survey: these clearly show the original club-shaped building (labelled 'the Club') to the rear of the Hall, adjoining an area marked as a 'Bowleing greene'. The Club was probably built as a belvedere or gazebo giving panoramic views over Wirral from the top of the hill.

I've also included a couple of close-ups of the pictures at the top of the survey, which show what the Hall and Club House looked like in the 17th century.

nice work mate top job!

good find mate
were did you find them
anymore pictures from the area

never seen then before, cheers mate.

The pics comes from a large tome currently in the possession of the Vyner Estate Office in Chester, which contains a survey of lands belonging to the Manor of Bidston drawn up by Thomas Taylor in 1656 & 1665. The maps cover manorial lands in Bidston, Moreton, Saughall Massie, Poulton-cum-Seacombe, Wallasey, Thingwall, Poulton Lancelyn & Childer Thornton.

Some of the maps do have drawings of buildings such as churches & windmills on them, but they are only tiny stylised representations. The one of Bidston Hall is the only one that shows any great detail.

Wirral Archives have a set of large colour photocopies of the maps @ Ref YPX/90, but they are a bit fuzzy in places, presumably because it was difficult to get the original maps completely flat against the glass of the copier

will have a look next time we go there,