Visited a friend there and would like to know its history if possible. Lovely place with a nice garden and lots of old and unusual trees. The wooden panels are all scenes from "Canterbury Tales"
No A friend lives there in an annexe, but he is very persuasive and if I ask him I'm sure if he asks the warden he could arrange a visit for a group. Earlier this morning I asked him about whether it had cellars and he said yes (asked him to try to get me down there) - he had to go into them when a heating engineer came to fix something and wouldn't go down by himself because he'd seen a ghost so my friend went with him My friend is a reverend,very down to earth chap The place is a sort of retirement home
Once described as having 22 rooms, Lodge and Back lodge, the lodge being for the coachman, the back lodge occupied by the gardener. In recent history its been owned by some interesting and perhaps colourful character's. Early 19th century it was owned by the Tobin family, around 1840/50 the former Lord Mayor of Liverpool, 1854, James Aspinall Tobin who describes himself as a Magistrate and African Merchant, more
following his departure, 1890s, Eastham House was bought by Sir John Herbert Vernon, 2nd Baronet Vernon of Shotwick Park, Chester. Flour and Corn Merchant. One of his sons, Herbert Douglas Vernon was killed in action 1916, Grenadier Guards, another, Humphrey Bagnell Vernon, Grenadier Guards awarded the Military Cross.
Last edited by bert1; 31st Jul 20141:59pm.
God help us, Come yourself, Don't send Jesus, This is no place for children.
As a slight aside... interesting to see Scotland referred to as "North Britain" in the Will. Always good to see the reaction up here when you use that term these days. England, Wales and North Britain in the conversation usually get 'em going! Always make sure you've a clear run to the pub door when you mention it ! Apologies for veering OT.
Going to be fun in England if the North Britain's say NO next month, after all those years of shouting freedom from the English , the guys I know will get some windups.
I have a photo the was passed over to me as we thought it was taken out by the front door of Eastham house, we went up to the house and everybody were helpful and lovely and tried to find out if the picture was taken outside, still not sure, it was a photo of my grandad about 10 other guys on chairs some with slippers on but all had little badges, too small to see what was on them
With regards to Eastham House I can hopefully shed some light on this.
in 1966 my father became the manager of the Eastham House on behalf of Birkenhead Corporation, as this was one of the residential care home the corporation owned.
This appointment provided live-in accommodation for my father and mother. This provided a fantastic playground for myself and my sister.
The main entrance was via the large green gates (now black) on Village Road, just after the junction with Rivacre Road. This was a long stone driveway which now appears very overgrown. There was a foot entrance further along Village Road, just after St Mary's church opposite Church Lane. This was a black wooden gate resembling a barn door. This has now long gone and the entrance has been stoned up, however this can clearly still be seen. The current road entrance to Eastham house was created in the mid 1970's after the property was sold by Birkenhead Corporation, as was originally part of the grounds' perimeter wall.
Also at the entrance to the drive is a large gate lodge. This was also part of Eastham House and was divided into two separate accommodations, occupied by the deputy manager, Mrs Scott and the head gardener, "Jack"
The care home consisted of the main house which had 44 residential bedrooms, separate large day lounges for men (included a full size snooker table) & women and a smaller shared lounge. There was a large dining room (originally a ballroom) with a stage and piano. Internal kitchens (under head cook Winnie Stewart), with a large seller. The main house also had a single lift to the upper floors. To the rear of the lift was a boiler room.
Beyond the boiler room was a large courtyard arrangements with some old stable buildings to the right (backing on to Village Road), some of these converted to a laundry and gardener's office/room. Above these was a series of rooms, all inter connected (not corridors) These appeared to be in a state of disrepair and also doubled up as a mortuary for keeping the body if a resident passed away in the night.
On the opposite side of this courtyard was a newer building, which was connected to the main house by a interconnecting corridor. This was a two story annex and provided dormitory accommodation for some male residents.
Beyond the courtyard & on the old stables side was a separate house, visible from Village road. This was occupied by one of the members of staff, Mary Mansfield with her husband Johnnie and there two children Tina & David, both similar ages to myself and sister.
If at the end of the courtyard you were to turn left there would be more old stable building and a further boiler house containing two boilers. Opposite these was a larges enclosed walled yard for the storage of coal. At the time of the power cuts in the early 1970's there was a mass of coal stored in this yard which almost appeared to be mountains. We managed to find an old Morris Minor roof (god knows where from) and decided that this would make a good sledge to use on the coal mountains. This was a great idea until our parent realised what we had been doing and how dirty were were. Coal dust is very fine and by the end of the night we were well and truly sick of being repeatedly bathed.
As I recall the grounds considered of 3 sets of lawns, 2 wooded area, a large greenhouse(s) arrangements and vegetable area. There were two full time gardeners employed, Jack (head gardener) & Alex (who's father had been a coachman for the original owner of Eastham House.
On the opposite side of the lawns, from the house, there was a large field, access from the entrance at the top end of Village Road (near A41). I believe this was also owned by Birkenhead Corporation and rented out to a local farmer, Albert Rosco. Every November a section of the fencing, between the lawns and the field was removed and a large bonfire was erected, with many residents of the village attending on bonfire night.
Outside the entrance of the main building was the car park, originally accessed via the long driveway, there was also a footpath to the gate, opposite Church Lane. Just beyond the gate on the opposite side of the footpath was a square grassed plateau area and in the bottom right hand corner was 3 x dog grave, believed to belong to the original owner of Eastham House.
In the very early 1970's the annex build was deemed not to meet fire regulations and was eventually closed down, when the corporation opened a newly built Birkett House residential home in Birkenhead, with the remainder of Eastham House closing in February 1972 and the residents moving to the newly built Feltree House residential home, on the Ford Estate (now called Beechwood Estate).
Some time after the closure in 1972, Birkenhead Corporation sold Eastham house, surrounding properties and grounds for £36,000 for redevelopment into sheltered accommodation.
Now this is the bit that I am not too sure about :-
I believe the original owner of Eastham House owned the flour mills/storage on Wallsey Dock Road and Corporation Road, Birkenhead - Later to be come part of Spillers. The gardener, Alex's father had to prepare the houses for the carriage every morning for the journey to the offices in Birkenhead.
At some stage the property was supposedly sold to Judge Turvin, who added the ballroom which became the dinning room for the residential. In 1910 Judge Turvin was reportedly the judge handed down the death sentence to Dr Crippen - who was found guilty of murdering his wife and was arrested in Canadian waters after a wireless telegram to the SS Montrose.
I am not sure when or how Eastham House came under the ownership of Birkenhead Corporation, but it was certainly before 1966. as when my father took over the management of the residential home, it had already become an established residential care home.
Apologies for veering OT.
