This Christmas I have received a lovely, second hand, original painting depicting various historical places and facts of Parkgate.

One which takes my interest is the name NELSON which laid in black pebbles on the pavement outside a building on Station Road. It was contributed by Albin Burt ,the father of Nelson Burt who died in a shipwreck off the Wirral coast in 1822.
Looking up Albin Burt, there is an artist named Albin Roberts Burt 1783 - 1842, who has some miniature portraits displayed in the National Portrait Gallery. Also another painting was sold by Bonhams . Description given as follows:

Albin Roberts Burt (British, 1783-1842)

The artist's wife, Sarah Burt (née Jones), wearing white dress, matching turban and red cloak, holding her son Nelson Burt, wearing white dress and bonnet, her daughter Emma Hamilton Burt to her left, wearing brown dress.
Signed on the reverse, inscribed and dated Mrs Burt - and her/ two children - Emma 2 years/ and Nelson - 6 month old/ Painted by AR Burt/ Birmingham May 1814, gilt-mounted papier-mâché frame, the hanger depicting a palette surrounded by flowers and bearing the legend A.R./ BURT/ MINIATURE/ PAINTER, the reverse with incomplete trade label.
Rectangular, 63mm (2 1/2in) high

Footnotes
Albin Roberts Burt's brother Henry Frederick was, according to family legend, Secretary to Admiral Lord Nelson. Albin was certainly acquainted with Nelson through Sir William Hamilton and his mother had known Emma, Lady Hamilton as a girl in Wales. Burt married Sarah Jones in 1810 and two of their eight children, as depicted here, were named in honour of the famous lovers. Nelson Burt died in a shipwreck off the Wirral coast in 1822, a memorial to him in the form of his name spelt out in black pebbles on the footpath to the house can be found at 15 Station Road, Parkgate, Merseyside. Emma Hamilton Burt was born 15 March 1812 in Birmingham, Warwickshire, she married John William White on 25 May 1836

[img]https://images1.bonhams.com/image?s...dth=640&height=480&autosizefit=1[/img]

Just thought it might be of interest to some. Wirral connections and all that

After doing a little more hunting, I have found this information from someone doing their family history.

So we have a link as to why Albin Roberts Burt was in Parkgate.


Albin married Sarah Jones (1785- 1854) on 31 December 1810 in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, England. They settled in Chester, where Albin Burt travelled about the country, working in Bath and Worcester (1812), Birmingham and Warwick (1814), Southampton (1814). Oxford (1817), and at intervals, London, (1805, 1814, 1820, 1830). Chester (ca. 1810-1830), Reading (1832). Painting people of all classes from a Lord down to a “boots”, apparently equally at home with all (Unwins, 16) from 1830 he lived at Reading, though he moved briefly to Southampton in 1834.
A Versatile artist with an eye for detail, Burt executed shell and stone cameos, cabinet portraits in oil, silhouettes, and miniatures on card, ivory, and copper in oil or watercolour; and engravings.

He exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1807 and 1830. Distinguished sitters included Mary Mitford and the poet and hymn writer Edward Caswell. An engraving after John Jackson of Lord Nelson, with whom he was acquainted through Sir William Hamilton, is held in the National Maritime Museum, London.

Albin used the small cottage 15 Station Road, Parkgate, Merseyside as a holiday home or weekend home often visiting with his family where they would spend time seabathing in the fashionable resort. In 1822 Albin and his son Nelson were returning home from a job in Liverpool on board the paddle steamer “The Prince Regent”. Before they could reach the docks at Ellesemere Port the vessel was caught in a terrible storm, during which nine people were swept overboard; sadly Nelson was one of them. His body was never recovered and the family mourned for many years. After returning to Parkgate, Albin collected some black pebbles from the beach and placed them outside the front door of his cottage as a memorial. In 1923 they were set in concrete to preserve them, where they still sit today

Albin Roberts Burt had 2 sons named Hamilton,
Hamilton Burt, 1813-1822 and 1825-1843.

The Morning Post, December 14, 1822

Sorry, above should read, sons, Nelson Burt

What a harrowing report of a tragedy.

So, little Nelson Burt will continue to be remembered along with the shipwreck, due to the stones his father placed outside a little cottage almost 200 yrs ago. How touching.

Thanks Bert.

In 1800 it has been described as : Busy, Fashionable, Coach Centre, Theatre, 15 Hotels , Brilliance, Gaiety, Dancing and Bathing. A Great Port.

I wonder which or where the 15 Hotels might have been ?


Another piece of information, which is new to me but might not be to others, if so, please be patient with the old dear.

Ryley is mentioned. The death of Ryley in 1837. Wondering who this person could be, it turns out that he was an actor and author. William Samuel Ryley 1759 to 1837. He seemed to have led a bit of a chequered life, and at one point ended up in Chester Castle ,which can be read about on the link. His home stood on the site until 1925, that White Cottage occupied/occupies.



WILLIAM RYLEY - AUTOGRAPH NOTE SIGNED 06/18/1830 - DOCUMENT 73187


SAMUEL WILLIAM RYLEY
The English actor and author signs page from his book The Itinerant in black ink
Autograph note signed: "Sam - Will - Ryley" in black ink. 4x3½ clipped (from book) paper affixed to 4x6¼ etching of Ryley. Parkgate, Cheshire, England. June 18, 1830. In full: "Mr. Roughsedge, with the best wishes, and most grateful acknowledgments from the author". Samuel William Ryley (1759-1837) was a British actor and author, best known for his series The Itinerant, or Memoirs of an Actor which was first published in 1808. Ryley led the melancholy life of a struggling actor, appearing successfully all over England yet never able to catch up on his mountainous debts. His books were popular yet not enough, and his plays "The Old Soldier" and "The Irish Girl" were unsuccessful. Irregularly cut. Toned. Slightly soiled. Creased throughout. Ink stains throughout. Adhesive residue in top margin. Otherwise, fine condition.

More on his life...

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ryley,_Samuel_William_(DNB00)

I slightly suspect the "15" hotels included Neston Town centre area as Parkgate was renowned for not having many hotels and the passengers were coached in from as far away as Chester.

On the other hand including Neston Town centre might bring the figure above 15.

Yes, it's hard to think there may have been 15, but......

In 1859, The Ship Inn belonged to the Parkgate Hotel Company, which rebuilt and enlarged it making all three houses into one.



So maybe there were more lodging houses or inns, as opposed to Hotels as we know them.

Boathouse (also know as the Beer House/ Ferry House and later Pengwern Arms), Chester Arms Hotel(and hostelry), Old Post Office Hotel, Red Lion, The Ship, (which could have been 3 separate lodgings.) The George Inn (which became Mostyn Arms Hotel in 1819)

That could be 8 and there may have been some on Leighton Road . What was the Hotel called at the bottom of Boathouse Lane , it closed a few years ago ? Maybe there was something there in the 1800's.

Looking at the parade from this photo, there could well have been 15 hotels or places to stay.

You are correct, the 1857 Post Ofice Directory says



and has the following listed



Which is exactly 15!

1826, Directory

1789, Directory,

One thing I'm trying to understand is why there were so many hotels and lodgings in 1857.

By 1857 the ships had stopped arriving at Parkgate and even the previous exemplary sands and bathing had been badly effected by the silting.

The coal mines had all but closed (although they started up again ten years later).

There must have been another attraction?

Neston Colliery was still operating until 1928.

I wonder if Parkgate could have still been a leisure resort, as the railway linked between Hooton and West Kirby. People used to come from Liverpool to stay for holidays on Wirral. 'Taking the Air' as it used to be called. Maybe Parkgate was a favourite of Liverpool and Chester .

"
ferry service operated from the inn to Bagilt and Flint from about 1740, a steamer, the Ancient Britain was introduced in 1817 and this operated until 1864. The owner of the inn also ran a Stage Coach service to Rock Ferry pier, so passengers could travel from Wales to Liverpool, using the two ferries and the stage coach."



The donkey stand must have been an attraction where the children could ride them, and up until 1862 was run by my gt.gt. grandfather who was also proprietor of the Chester Arms which opened in the early 1850's. He died in 1862.

I think Balcony House or The Assembly Rooms used to have entertainment and a billiards room for the gents, but not sure on dates.

There must have been a large venue in 1742 for Handel's first performance of Messiah. Maybe that was in the Assembly Rooms. There was also mention a theatre somewhere , maybe that was within a building for multiple uses.

The silting of the Dee has been accelerated by the deliberate introduction of the invasive colonising grass Spartina anglica in Connah's Quay in 1928, resulting in the growth of extensive marshlands.....look what happened. Unfortunately the grasses are hindrance to wading birds as they cannot feed through it.

We are so lucky having somewhere so close to us that has so much history.

Charles Kingsley stayed with Mr Grenfell in Parkgate and I assume that is when he wrote

'The Sands of Dee'

"O Mary, go and call the cattle home,
And call the cattle home,
And call the cattle home
Across the sands of Dee";
The western wind was wild and dank with foam,
And all alone went she.

The western tide crept up along the sand,
And o'er and o'er the sand,
And round and round the sand,
As far as eye could see.
The rolling mist came down and hid the land:
And never home came she.

"Oh! is it weed, or fish, or floating hair--
A tress of golden hair,
A drowned maiden's hair
Above the nets at sea?
Was never salmon yet that shone so fair
Among the stakes on Dee."

They rowed her in across the rolling foam,
The cruel crawling foam,
The cruel hungry foam,
To her grave beside the sea:
But still the boatmen hear her call the cattle home
Across the sands of Dee.

The colliery had a lull period in the mid-1800's and restarted in 1870.

I'm a little confused how the steam ferry could operate until 1864, I think most ships stopped around 1800, I can only guess they were using the colliery quay which presumably was dredged, the parade quayside at Parkgate would only be usable at the highest tides or low draft boats.

The silting was also aggravated by the dredgings from the Mersey being dumped at the mouth of the Dee.

Maybe it was a smugglers boat. A bit like the passage from Asia to Europe atm. If the Dee had silted up firstly stopping the boats going to Ireland, there may have been a crossing still running for a period.

Not much good on silting up of rivers, so will have to hand that one over.

I enjoyed the great little read of Bert's 1789 Directory.

a correction to my previous post. Not that it matters, but it was my 3 x grt. grandfather. Just didn't want anyone thinking I'm older than needs be. Thank you

A description of Parkgate from White's Directory, 1860, may give reason for Lodging houses, etc.

The 1861 census returns names the stretch facing the Dee as, The Hamlet of Moorside, still residing are Customs Officers, Fishermen, occupations relying on passage to the sea, there was a ferryboat man.

The bit that's confused me is that it seemed to build up after 1820 when the facilities were in decline (less bathing, less ships, less coal). Perhaps it just got cheaper or the build-up of Birkenhead gave it more local patrons wanting to use its facilities? Although Birkenhead people wouldn't need hotels/lodgings, the added hustle and bustle might have made it a place to be?

What is a 'Buggen' ?

You can find out here. Could be a good tour with Gavin Chappell and Tony Franks Buckley.


https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.484828111688095.1073741885.263920753778833&type=3

BWGAN (welsh) = ghost etc but can also mean a scarecrow.

Excellent,

http://monologues.co.uk/Neston/Parkgate-Route.htm

Marvellous collection, Bert.

Really interesting Bert.


Another is this: Parkgate Port is on page 9.

http://www.cheshirearchaeology.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/HTS_Arch_Assess_Neston-Parkgate.pdf

...and some more pictures on here, 198 of them! From which we can see there were still boats on the water in the 1930's.

https://www.facebook.com/neston.par...1907/522448994473705/?type=1&theater

.Parkgate Theatre 1811. In Drury Lane .

Taken from the FB page.

Printed in Holywell, that's quite a trek in those days.

Which brings me to the play his most famous 'The School for Scandal' written by Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan. Born in Dublin in 1751.

He was the owner of the London Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, London and entered Parliament in1777.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Brinsley_Sheridan

His father Thomas Sheridan, from Dublin was for a while an actor-manager at the Smock Alley Theatre (the first Theatre Royal built in Dublin in 1662) but, following his move to England in 1758, he gave up acting and wrote several books on the subject of education and, especially the standardisation of the English language in education.

The reason I mention this is because the Sheridan's Theatre Company drowned in 1758. Obviously sailing to or from Parkgate/Dublin, but I can't find anything else on that and wondering what the connection could be. (if any)

Strange how one thing leads to another.

They had a boat.

Interesting to see on the playbill, "Favorite" spelled in what we would now consider the American way. This is not the first example I've seen of the "u" being omitted from words like this in writings of that era.

The Dublin Trader was wrecked in 1758

27 October - The ship Dublin Trader (Captain White) leaves Parkgate, Cheshire, for Dublin, and founders in the Irish Sea; she carries 70,000 Irish pounds in money and £80,000 in goods, while among the 60 passengers lost are Edward, fifth Earl of Drogheda, Theophilus Cibber (the English actor, bound for a season at the Smock Alley Theatre), and (probably) the mezzotint engraver Michael Ford.

Thomas Sheridan offered him work at the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin. On the trip to Ireland, his ship, the Dublin Trader with about 60 passengers on board, foundered in a storm, and was wrecked on the Scottish coast. He was lost at sea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophilus_Cibber

Anthony Maddox, the successful slack-wire and theatre performer who drowned on a sea voyage to Dublin in 1758 along with Theophilus Cibber.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Maddox

Although only 2 suggested theatre company members, I would imagine there could well have been more amongst the passengers of 60.
Maybe it was Sheridan who started the theatre in Parkgate . Thos. Sheridan, Theophilus Cibber and his second wife Susannah, all had connections with Handel. Both Cibber and Susannah were at the Drury Lane Theatre in London, where Handel had performed. Susannah had become someone else's mistress and to escape the scandal ,she went to Ireland with Handel for the concert season.

Anyway, I doubt anyone is interested in all that, but in my mind it seems to unravel the 'how's and why's' , to a degree. There does seem to be a connection between them all and little old Parkgate.

Does anyone agree.... or not ?

We can take that as a 'NOT' .

Thanks for the thread granny. Was at a new years eve bash with some indian friends and a couple of their indian guests had moved into buggens lane.so i thought icould be the smart rrrrs laden with facts and the meaning of buggens. But they had already done their homework .... Did point them in the direction of the harp and old colliery.

Did your Indian friends y any chance knock down an existing bungalow in Buggen Lane fish, to replace with one a different shape?

Doubt it as only been there few months and renting.

Just wondered , as my father and his uncle built one of them and its recently been pulled down and rebuilt. It was a horrible design originally ,and decorated internally by the uncles wife who had the most horrendous taste.