Excellent work, Derek.Interesting to see that the population actually fell between 1931 and 1948.Maybe the war could have accounted for this or any change in town/district boundaries.
Much earlier, derek. Article from an old Wirral Journal by Roger Jermy which is interesting also for its references to old farms and owners:
"At various times both the Birkenhead & Chester Railway and the Storeton Tramway have been suggested as the first lines of rail in the Wirral peninsula. Documentary evidence shows however that these lines, opened in 1840 and 1838 respectively, were laid at least twenty years after the construction of a small line linking quarries on the side of Flaybrick Hill, Birkenhead, with the south-west side of Wallasey Pool.
The exact date of opening of the line appears not to have been recorded. Clues are provided by inspection of early nineteenth century maps of Wirral. Farey's 1808 map ( included in Holland's treatise 'A General View of the Agriculture of Cheshire') does not indicate the line but it is identified by the single word 'Railway' on Greenwood's Map of the County Palatine of Chester dated 1819. It is first shown in greater detail on Lawton's Map of Birkenhead dated 1824. This was surveyed by William Lawton in May 1823. Lawton was the Land Agent for the owner of the Birkenhead Estate, Mr Francis Richard Price, who lived in Overton-on-Dee. It was this same Lawton who was to promote the career of Thomas Brassey by placing him in charge of his Birkenhead office around this time.
Lawton's map indicates that the Tramway commenced in a quarry on the 23 acre Flaybrick Hill Common. This was rented from Price by one Joseph Nichols of Bridge End Farm. This farm consisted of low-lying marshy land close to where the Wallasey Pool joined the River Mersey and included fields known as 'Seven acres marsh' and Slutchy field'! The Flaybrick Quarry was thus over a mile away from most of Nichols' land. From the Quarry the line is shown as heading in a north-easterly direction for some 1250 yards and terminating at Wallasey Pool. Close to the Quarry the line ran adjacent to the small 2 acre croft of Daniel Smith and then descended through the quaintly named fields of another of Price's tenants, Thomas Davies: 'Rye grass field', 'Moss Hay', 'Moss meadow', 'Gill field meadow', 'Moss' and `Between Cop and River'. The lower sections of the line were clearly low-lying and wet! Indeed Greenwood's map marks the area im¬mediately to the north-west of the line as being a saltmarsh! These details allow the inference that the line must have been of relatively lightweight construction; it is a shame that details of gauge and track type have not been recorded. Presumably the word 'Cop' appearing in the final field name is a reference to a flood bank, being derived from the old-English word 'Copp' or 'Cop' meaning a hillock or mound.
At the lower terminus of the line there would appear to have been some sort of small yard with a fan of trackways, possibly indicating the location of a storage area. This yard reached some way below the point reached by spring tides and close to the point at which there was 'permanent water'.
As J E Allison suggests in his book 'Sidelights on Tranmere' the line's owner, Nichols, presumably operated the Quarries to supplement the income from his poor farming land. Bearing in mind the state of the local roads at the time the combination of tramway plus river barge must have been a reasonable solution to the problem of stone transport. The Quarries were located about 100 feet higher than the edge of Wallasey Pool which would have produced an average gradient on the line of about 1 in 35. Thus gravity could have been used for the movement of loaded vehicles but horses would presumably have been necessary to return the ‘empties' back to the Quarry.
The stone from the Quarries was a comparatively soft Upper Bunter sandstone, though lying close to the harder Keuper beds which were quarried at Storeton and elsewhere. It did not make top class building stone and Hewitt(in his 'Rise of Industry in Wirra'l) refers to It being used '... for the construction of the walls of Birkenhead Docks behind the granite facing...' i.e. as infill material. In view of the land drainage, raising of land levels and rapid development of both Birkenhead and Liverpool at this time it no doubt found uses on both sides of the Mersey.
The line appears, once again marked 'Railway', on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey Maps of 1840 but is marked 'Old Railway' on J M Rendel's Plan of the Floating Dock and other works connected therewith proposed to be made at Wallasey Pool, Birkenhead. This plan, dated 1843, indicates the projected lines of roads and other works associated with the development of the south side of what is now the West Float and involves the Tramway land. It is tempting to assume that the line ceased operations around this time; it is not identified on later maps. Certainly the cessation of dock construction in Birkenhead between 1847 and 1857 would have reduced the local demand for low quality 'infill' stone, and the quarries at Storeton, with ready access to both the River Mersey and (from 1847) the developing national rail network, were able to satisfy building needs at the time. The fate of its rails and wagons is not recorded.
Today few traces of the enterprise exist. The Quarries remain of course, but in a new guise, having been opened as Flaybrick Cemetery in 1864. The route of the tramway may well have established the line of the lower part of Tollemache Road but it then disappears beneath St James' Church (opened in 1858). Its continuation crossed the line of the present day electrified railway close to Birkenhead North Station before heading for the waterside on an alignment close to the present Wharf Road. No remains are visible along this length."
From another source it appears that he quarry was closed in 1831 when siltation had made access to the head of the Pool impossible, but it was reopened by the then owner James Tomkinson in 1844 when he was selected as the contractor for the construction of the Birkenhead Docks. Jermyn is wrong when he indicates that the Quarry is now the cemetery - only as small part was used. There is an excellent wiki topic by diggingdeeper which shows progressive maps of the area at: https://www.wikiwirral.co.uk/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/333128/Flaybrick_Hill_1815_2008.html
You might be interested to know that a few months after Roger Jermy's original article in 'The Wirral Journal' of Spring 1984, there was a letter submitted to the journal by Cliff Thornton (the then curator of the Williamson Art Gallery & Museum) stating that evidence from the minutes of Birkenhead's Road & Improvement Committee indicated that the tramway was still in use until at least 1866.
If you've got the full set of Wirral Journals, see the Autumn edition for 1984.
...recommend derek should go look through those minute books. The Birkenhead Improvement Commissioners will have everything written down about why & when the various roads were built, etc.
...recommend derek should go look through those minute books. The Birkenhead Improvement Commissioners will have everything written down about why & when the various roads were built, etc.
Hoping to go to the Archives next week - will the above docs be there?
Another query I'm asking is Where did folks 1821 to later get their water to drink from until they built a proper means of supply Streams, rivers or lots of wells sunk all over?
SOME 1843 Streets - noticed no roads Abbey street Adelphi street Albion street Argyle street Back Chester street Brandon terrace Bridge street Brook street Camden street Canning street Cathcart street Chapel street Chester street Chester street South Church street Claughton firs Claughton road Cleveland street Clifton Park Conduit street. Duncan street George street German terrace Grange lane Grange lane Grange street Hamilton square Hamilton street Hemlingford terrace Holt Hill Ivy street Leicester terrace Limekiln lane, Rock lane Lord street Lower Ivy street Market street Mersey terrace, Moore terrace, Grange lane
Neptune street Old Grange lane Oliver street Parkfield Park street Park view, Park street Portland place, Bridgestreet Price street Priory street Queen street REDCROSS STREET, Rosebrae Russell street Sandford street Somerville street Sydney street Tarleton street. Thomas street Waterloo place Watson street Wellington terrace Westminster buildings Wood street
And in response to derek's earlier question, yes, the minute books for the Birkenhead Improvements Committee should be at the Wirral Archives. Don't expect to be able to read it all in just one visit though!
some street maps 1824, 1835,1844 and present day goolemap Hopefully someone can supply a more legible 1844 as I can't work out which way it should be, looks a bit like cleveland st running towards Birkenhead Pool? Anyone got a 1934 BENNETON map covering a larger area I could have copy of please ( if yea pm me}
Tranmere's rocky foundation is made from Triassic sandstone, which in the township is relatively free from pebbles. It has been extensively quarried although now all of them are completely sealed and built over.
There were once seven quarries in the township, two in the village, one in Quarry Bank just off Whetstone Lane, and four abutting the northern half of Old Chester Road. There main advantage, and one which persisted for many centuries, was the fact that the sandstone is both sponge and filter, holding an abundant supply of pure water readily accessible by the sinking of shallow wells.
As a quarrying centre Hinderton or Lower Tranmere, had real advantages. In the 1840's there were four quarries nearby, and at least one had by that time been worked to a depth of over 50 feet and a vast amount of stone removed. The Bunter sandstone here is hard and almost free from pebbles andthe location of the quarries on a slope must have reduced the chance of flooded workings. Stone had always been costly to move about, especially by road and rail so that Hinderton quarries, conveniently close to a ferry had a great advantage over quarries situated further inland, Given reasonably good river transport they could have supplied better than any other workings on Merseyside, facing or interior rubble for early dock walls, the stone for ferry slipways and house building. Thomas Brassey, the constructor of New Chester Road, paid rates for Tranmere quarries in the 1830's. The quarries were sealed up in the 20th century and now lie buried beneath urban developments.
Just re-read berts' post 507712 - first couple paragraphs and wondered whether the stream/river we think of as being 'The Happy Valley' or 'Rubicon' may have originally been called 'Birken' or 'Birket' running into Berken Pool (Birkenhead Pool/Tranmere Pool)
Just re-read berts' post 507712 - first couple paragraphs and wondered whether the stream/river we think of as being 'The Happy Valley' or 'Rubicon' may have originally been called 'Birken' or 'Birket' running into Berken Pool (Birkenhead Pool/Tranmere Pool)
I have always thought the Birket started at Tranmere Pool (Lairds basin) and headed up towards Wallasey pool and beyond, reading recently it passed the Castle Hotel and on towards Central Station, The map below perhaps shows some of it.
God help us, Come yourself, Don't send Jesus, This is no place for children.
If 'red' marks the spot, isn't that a bit too far away from either Tranmere Pool or Birkenhead Central? This bit of Thomas Taylor's map shows Bidston Marsh and is near to Wallasey Village.
Great map though! Just a shame the original survey didn't include more of the Birkenhead area.
