Had a great Heritage day with the Wirral Archeology people in Storeton yesterday.
The first place we went to was Grange Farm, which was part of a monastery (can't remember when). We went round to the back of the farm to see the base of an ancient cross. While we were there, a neighbour said that there were more bits in his garden "history in action".
Then we were shown the field (the one with the signposts) where a USAF Liberator crashed, killing 20+ airmen (it was used as a taxi between Northern Ireland and Norfolk). A chap with us heard the massive explosion while he was at school. Of course, they tried to get near, for souvenirs, but it was cordoned off. The plane was heading for a densely populated area but managed to veer off. Unfortunately, it never made it to the ground.
There's a pic of the old school house, which was later a masonic lodge (I think it's a private res now).
There was a discussion of the church (not shown) which was converted into a house and subsequently set on fire by its owner (who had previously been praised for his business skills by New Labour). It was rebuilt and doesn't look much like a church now.
One of the highlights for me was being shown round Storeton Hall, which dates from about 1350 AD. It's a bit confusing, because the courtyard shown used to be the interior, and the building (which is unsafe by the way) has been altered a lot. We weren't allowed to go in because of its condition, but I do have a couple of photos - they look like old stables inside.
We were shown two wells on Rest Hill Road, which clearly worked, as one was flooding the road!
There was an extensive discussion on the Battle of Brunanburh (one of the most important battles in British history). There are a possible 39 sites in Britain, but the evidence is converging on Storeton, which was originally in the parish of Bromborough. The photo of the boring field is just below Storeton Woods and are locally known as the "Battlefields". In those days the area would have looked totally different as it had been deforested since neolithic times. There is evidence of bronze age settlements/ mounds.
Wirral Archeology have purchased a GeoPhys thing (al a Timeteam) and hope to scan the whole of Storeton. They think there is a wealth of history to be found.
They mentioned loads of other stuff, and I've never encountered so much history in one spot!
With regards to mention of the monastery at the beginning - I'm not sure about that bit, I may have got confused with the fact that monks owned much of the land at one point.
