Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History River Mersey - Frozen - 1895?

Received a call from my cousin in America today.

He would like me to locate photos of the river mersey frozen over about 1895

He is sure there is one with a horse and cart on it!!!!

Can anyone help?

Thanks

Buddy

Would be interesting to see, can't help you am afraid though!!

thats impossible, the tide nis to fast moving for that to happen, well the ambient temperature would of had to of reached at least -30, but then it would still be really hard

Bloody ell Andy you dark horse! You impress me very much with your geographical knowledge sometimes.

Don't know about horses, but from 'Bygone Birkenhead', J R Kaighin, 1925:

"The Mersey is a noble river, and often presents aspects beautiful and magnificent in the changing moods of the seasons. Because of its ceaseless flow, the continual passage of ships up and down its stream, and the briny character of its water, one concluded it was impossible for the Mersey ever to become frozen over. But one winter, to the writer's personal knowledge, this actually happened. The volume of fresh water poured down from its source formed into blocks of ice; they increased and became adherent to one another. Soon the passageway across became impeded, gradually the ice formed in a solid sheet from Cheshire to the Liverpool side, and a way had to be made and maintained for the ferry boats to ply to Liverpool."

wow, i'll be dammed, that must of been a cold winter lol

Thier illustrations, but great find man!!

Thanks to all for your prompt replies
I remember seeing photos of the frozen mersey near seacombe ferry many years ago (not in 1895!!!!!)
So they did exist - probably saw them in a local paper

yeah. hard one this

chriskay might have more luck with this

And Mark will remember it like it was only yesterday.

lol

Just PM'd Chriskay about this

In the bitterly cold winter of 1962-1963, Ice floes formed on the Wirral banks of the Mersey, but the river was not frozen over. That was one heck of a winter, when the temperature never went above freezing for about three months. I remember it well and I'm still shivering.

I remember 1963 as well - I used to travel to Carlett Park each day on the back of a motorbike. I also remember the local ponds (Triangle, Captains Pit etc) being frozen solid and all the dead fish when they thawed.

Snod

Can't find the main pictures of the 1895 Big Freeze but here are a couple of bits.