Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Eastham Ferry...Ferry setting off point Wirral and Liverpool Sid

Hi all wonder if anybody can solve a puzzle.....over on the Liverpool side of the river is an area named Grassendale.....next to Garston Docks.

At the river end of North road in the very smart Grassendale area is what to me was a slip way.....very old....and well built.....sandstone

blocks.....has a road attached to it now not passible but still there leading back toward the main road in Garston....visible on Google Earth

I am wondering if the slipway or what ever it was was the dropping off point on the Liverpool side of the River for the ferry that crossed the river.

I seem to think it was Monks who ran the ferry.....so where on the Wirral side would it set off....Eastham??? maybe Jobs ferry.

And could this spot in Liverpool indeed be the ferry's destination.

Nick.

A little bit of info here, https://www.wirralhistory.uk/monksferry.html

Oddly there's a house in Rock Ferry called Grassendale and a house in Grassendale call Monksferry.

Yes it is an old slipway an the steps immediately to the south and the other steps just north are very old as well. However it has been a shallow water area for a long time (almost a marsh) but this might have been a place where boats (especially fishing boats) were laid up. The water would never have been deep enough to run a reliable ferry service.

I think it is to far up river to be directly linked to shellfish (wild guess!) which much of Liverpool ate in the 19th century.

I was doing some notes the other day about mersey ferries but I've forgotten where the south Liverpool ferries were, I think it was Garston but I will check later when my stomach stops reminding me it has been abandoned.

According to the 1861 directory, all ferries sailing from Wirral went to the Liverpool South Landing Stage, this appears to be the Georges Landing Stage, Georges Pier Head, erected in 1847.

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Landing_Stage,_Liverpool

The "South Ferry Basin" by Coburg dock was in use as well https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Ferry_Basin

This miraculously still exists https://maps.app.goo.gl/7h3baa8j5HQnQwx58

In 1950 Lieutenant Commander L D Price, manager of Wallasey Ferries carried out considerable research on the subject of additional ferry services running between Eastham and Garston and New Brighton and Bootle. No evidence it took off or a ferry leaving Wirral for Grassendale.

When I said ferry from Eastham.......I was not talking Mersey Ferry as in powered like we have today........but more of a big rowing boat type ferry.....well before powered ferries.

So Eastham Ferry......did any sort of ferry ever set out from Eastham Ferry.....powered or unpowered.....could be talking may 200 or 300 years ago....to any destination on the liverpool side.

Yes, Ferries did take off from Eastham to Liverpool propelled by oar, sail and steam etc . Any evidence I've seen just gives the destination as Liverpool.

Much older than the present Eastham pier position is Job's Ferry, just a few yards further North. Steps exist in the sandstone down to the site which is said to be 13th century.

Photos, unknown origin:

Yes I did consider Jobs Ferry but have zero evidence.

There couldn't be any regular cross river ferries lower down because of the sandbanks between the two channels either side of the Mersey.