Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Borough Road.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I can see exactly where the piccy was taken now. I would say though, if i was whisked away from that very spot in the 50s and deposited in the same spot today you would never know you were even in the same town let alone being on the same spot. Great detective work guys. I knew about the church, just didn't know it had a spire.

I think you may find that the road on the left is Vincent Street as Chriskay said, one road further down than Whetstone Lane.

I can vaguely remember Borough Road before it was demolished. Are we not looking down Borough Road towards the tunnel and the fire station (Whetstone Lane) would be on the left.

Hi Guys.
It's definitely Borough Road by Vincent St.
I think the advert on the barbers shop was for Pykes the jewelers, who were at the top of Vincent St, on Grange Rd. I think they moved down Grange Rd by one block, to the next corner, sometime in the 60's.
There are two Corporation bus stop shelters on the right, and I think the one nearest the camera is also the one nearest the traffic lights. (Was the fishing tackle shop called Hitchells or Mitchells?) There were always two Corporation bus stops together from Woodside up to the Library, usually followed by the Crosville one.
The first stop was for the No's 6, 28, 64 & 86, while the second stop served the Woodchurch Rd routes such as the 70, 71, 77 etc.
Borough Rd & Victoria Rd was the first single stop, and it was also the first drop off point for the lomited stop services, sometimes used at peak-times. These were identified by red letters on a white background in the destination blinds.
Back to the picture, the houses on the left at the bottom of the bend were very flat fronted, and I think they were prone to flooding. The front door steps were almost level with the pavement. They were amongst the first to be demolished when the tunnel flyover was being built.
On the right, you can just make out a gap where the sunlight crosses the pavement. This is probably the end of Fearnley Rd, leading into the Woodlands, past the end of the school yard.
The road widening of Borough Rd. to Whetstone La. was done in several phases, and I think for a short period that there was a pet shop (Wirral Pets?)next to Mitchells fishing tackle shop, which had to re-locate due to the next phase of widening. If I'm right in thinking, then the pet shop moved to Oxton Rd Tetbury St.
The memorial that was mentioned is for Diane Sidall.

Thanks for posting that photo. My nan's house was right where the bus stops were. House was demolished beginning of the 70's. Great memories of a happy childhood. We were at my nan and Grandads almost every day.

Hi, Norton; I think you're right about the advert being for Pykes. I don't think Pyke's ever moved from the top of Vincent St., in fact I think it's still there to this day. Here's a pic I took in 2008. You can just see Pyke's sign; it's next to what used to be W.H.Smith's, where I worked in 1952.

Excellent photo of Borough Road! To me, the only thing on it that looks familiar is the old style bus stop. That type were still around in places, even during my childhood. At least there were two of them like that outside the plaza IIRC. This was before the demolition of buildings further up Borough Road at the bottom of Woodville/Briardale etc.. That occured sometime in the early 1980s I think.

I do wonder if during the widening scheme, the section of Borough Road road near Whetstone Lane/Vincent Street was realigned slightly? I say this because on looking at the photo, there's quite a bend on the road at that point. The exact same spot on the modern-day google maps satellite images doesn't appear to have a bend in the road quite to that extent. i.e. the bend is there, but not that sharp. (assuming that road on the left is Vincent Street, which still exists but only as a pedestrian walkthrough)

Slightly off topic but is part of Borough road. DIANE SIDALL. am I right in thinking that it is still an unsolved murder case.

No i think someone was convicted for it shortly after.

The sad story is HERE

Always remember that, so sad.

me and TC stumbled across her grave the other week

I think that may be because the picture was taken with a telephoto lens, possibly from roughly the bottom of Cook St. That would exaggerate the bend.

Ah yes that would explain it, thanks for the reply.

The other thing I thought of was that, generally when a primary route is upgraded to dual carriageway standards, the aim is to make the road faster.

I am reminded of the upgrade of Edge Lane in Liverpool. I'd previously taken a few photos before and after the demoltion of adjacent properies. The new alignment of the road has some of the bends (or rather kinks) smoothed out a bit, no doubt allowing for a smoother flow of traffic.

I doubt very much if a photographer at that time would have been using a telephoto lens to take this sort of shot; what you can see is just the normal compression of perspective you would get shooting with a standard lens. If you look at old maps of Borough Road there was a distinct bend just as you approached Whetstone Lane (it's more evident if you look at the building line of the old houses that used to face the Fire Station). The lack of any 'bend' now is simply because the widening of the road and the demolition of the properties on the right-hand side has made it less apparent.