Had a visit yesterday showing my son some of my childhood haunts, one of which was the Thermopylae Pass. This is crossed by a bridge at Vyner Rd. South. I'd like to know how & when this bridge was damaged. As you can see in the picture, the original masonry wall (just visible at the left of the pic.) was re-built using brick with a thin artificial stone facing, which is falling off. Is this possibly wartime damage from a wayward bomb?
P.S. we also saw the Viking boat being rowed on the West Float but I carelessly deleted the pic. I took.
Not too sure about the damage in your pic Chris , but on the path beneath the bridge is what looks like one of the coping stones . This may have fallen (or been pushed!) off some time ago.I walk my dog through the Mops most days & it's been there as long as I remember.By the way , you may be interested to know that someone has put in an offer for the lodge at Bidston Court Gardens and they seem to be doing quite a bit of work on it .
Not too sure about the damage in your pic Chris , but on the path beneath the bridge is what looks like one of the coping stones . This may have fallen (or been pushed!) off some time ago.I walk my dog through the Mops most days & it's been there as long as I remember.By the way , you may be interested to know that someone has put in an offer for the lodge at Bidston Court Gardens and they seem to be doing quite a bit of work on it .
Glad to hear that the Lodge is being looked after. Interesting to hear about the coping stone. I don't often visit, but I seem to remember that it's about there that the path looks as if there's been some damage in the past. Remember that until the 1830's this was the road from Birkenhead to Upton, before Ford Hill was built, so although it's steep, I'd expect the surface to be reasonably level. Around there as well, there's some evidence of old road metalling; chippings in asphalt I think, which has been broken up. Maybe it's all connected; next time you're there, see what you think.
There is a lot of metalling still present on the path and I think it may be the remainder of the old road , as you say . I've been up and down the path for years and it strikes me that either the road was very narrow or there has been a lot of tree growth over the years that has reduced its width.I've seen an old map of the area (Bryant , c1831) that shows the road and refers to Noctorum as Knocktorum !
Here's the O.S. map of 1912. It shows the old road as about the same width as the surrounding roads; it even shows it had footpaths for most of its length. There has certainly been a lot of tree growth over the years, even within my memory; at the spot near the bridge where there's a set of steps, a seat and the old direction dial, I remember sitting on that seat and you could see all the way over to Woodchurch village and Arrowe Park (before Woodchurch Estate existed). I'm pretty sure there's been some land slippage too. Also, here's a postcard of a drawing of the site; don't know the date.
