Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Ilchester Square - The Dock Cottages

OMG that basketball court reminds me of the one in Mersey Park

can someone help me with regards to these photos Mark (nice one) has posted here. As most are aware I am not in this area and have several questions as google sat is not up to date. i see houses in the picture next to sj roundabout, are these new?? there was a garage on the roundabout, is this new flats i see where this was?? looking the other way now in the picture where Mark is being hounded by a big shadow monster i see houses being pulled down, are these the houses that are one row behind the street that bh north station is on. Out of all wirral it is this area and biddy hill bidston and hoylake road that are most important as this is where some of my family and links to the area are

Yes the garage has gone to be replaced by apartments and a small housing estate.the house's by Birkenhead North Station are being pulled down bit by bit(seems to be lasting forever)also the River Streets are due to be pulled down in the next couple of years as well.

Picture of St James Round about Click Me

nice one for that jonno, well appreciate the info, was there also a little coach depot behind the garage and a little travelshop, this was the start of great auntie dots road (hoylake road) who probably still lives there and has done for 15 million years, and lived in then top ave before then, cant remember the name as they gave them street names, hold on, light bulb moment!! one was called goodwin, one was mason and the other began with a 'h' i think (the top one)

Illchester Square

Was Built to replace the Dock Cottages.
The Dock cottages were demolished and illchester square was built.
Illchester square flats only lasted a few years as subsidence
was found at the courner of illchester road and Tyrer Street.

The Brewery that owned the "Blood Tub" Found that there was no
subsidence to be found with there building, so there was no
reason to pull it down, nor any law to say it had to come down.

The New Blood Tub is the only part left of Illchester Square.

Illchester Square,
wasn't "Square" it was almost triangle, but follows the
field we see today as its boundary's. The Entrance was
at the top near St james Church and it had an Arch to its
entrance, and inside the Square wasnt a nice place when the
flats were in place, as it wasnt grassy nor was it tarmaced
i'm lead to believe..

I remember layouts like that in 1950's Liverpool. I worked for a while at a laboratory supply firm near the top of Brownlow Hill & use to pass flats like that. I never saw Ilchester Square myself, 'cos people with any sense kept away.

it was a beautiful place whrere the birds flew upside down as there was nothing worth poohing on,nah jokes aside it was known to be an ok area with some nice people for the short time it was there but yes it became rough as hell and a no go area. My great aunt told me a cool story about how my nan in her youth had snook up behind an old police van and put chains through the doors (no windows then)and round a lampost then snook round to the front (about 30 metres) and flashed her knickers just so her and the family could watch as the policeman started the van and ripped the doors off, and they go an about kids today

The flats at the top of Brownlow Hill were the infamous Liverpool Bullring

Oh, right; never knew that.

I read in a book that the dock cottages were built to house the influx of Irish navies that came over to dig the docks.See if you can find any ref to Birkenhead riots when they ripped out park railings to fight police.Garaboldy riots spring to mind.Ilchester square always had a big bommy right in the middle of the square windows used to blow out and you got your paintwork stripped for nothing.Fire engines had to call about ten times .still managed to reduce all to ash.

I was having a think the other day about what it would of been like to live in those cottages.. Be intresting to hunt around to see pictures of the actual area and inside the building's to see if it was rough as people make out it was ? Just an idea hehe...

I showed the photo at the top to my mum yesterday. She's in her 80s. Like SoundLad, my grandad grew up there. He worked in the Homepride flour mill on the dock road which is now posh flats. It was a downright dangerous place to work. Explosions and fires were common and he lost several friends.

My mum said that when she was a child, she considered it to be a real treat to cross the Penny Bridge and visit her dad's family in the Dock Cottages. In those days, the North Enders were looked upon as proud hard-working people. We're talking about the late 1920s to early 1930s here.

She said her dad told her that when he was a lad, he and his mates used to get onto the flat roofs and take a running jump onto the roof next door. One of his mates fell to his death this way.

fantastic stuff

one of his mates fell to his death.Let me know if there is a change in his condidtion!! he may have known my family then, cool, I love these little additions and yes the North Enders at one time were known for the super hard graft. my great nan was one of them

flour mills now posh flats, any pics??