The sketch below of Lairds 1860s,in the background I'm assuming the church is St Mary's, what is the building with 2 chimneys and arches?. Lairds added an Engine works in 1858, is it possibly that., and the building to the right, would that be a hotel?, something to do with Monks Ferry.. On the plan below, the red striped building, possibly the building with the arches, plan date 1858.
God help us, Come yourself, Don't send Jesus, This is no place for children.
the red striped building in the plan date 1858 is the building that incorporated the engine shop and later quite a few other shops at the end nearest to Abbey Street.
Ships that pass in the night, seldom seen and soon forgoten
The plan below of what was then called Birkenhead Iron Works may help with identifying the various buildings shown in the picture, as long as you bear in mind that the lithograph only shows the yard from Monk's Ferry at right to No. 4 Graving Dock at left - the south end of the yard is off the picture to the left.
The building on the right is indeed the Monk's Ferry Hotel, as shown in the other plan below, which dates from 1844. The Hotel was built by James Bryans in 1837 in anticipation that the Chester to Birkenhead Railway, whose construction had just been given the go-ahead by Parliament, would require a riverside terminus to link up with the ferry to Liverpool. In the event, the railway initially only ran as far as Birkenhead Town Station (at the end of Grange Lane) and was not extended to Monk's Ferry until 1844. Monk's Ferry remained the main rail-ferry interchange until the opening of Woodside Station in 1878.
