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Posted By: hoseman OLD HOUSE, MORETON - 31st Oct 2010 9:08am
Has anyone any pics or info on the old house , used to be at the top of Borrowdale Rd, moreton. Was demolished late 70`s.
Used to play in there and in the field behind. Still remember the lath and plaster walls / ceilings inside, and the old range stove.
Have heared it refered to as the `Clocktower House` or `Clockface House`.
It stood on the land that is now the Iceland carpark.
It just seemed out of place considering the buildings in the area and wondered if it had any special purpose?
Posted By: hoseman Re: OLD HOUSE, MORETON - 1st Nov 2010 6:14am
No Takers???
I know i have asked this before, but didnt get much info back. Someone must have access to street maps and sensus for the area.
And yes, i am post bumping to get noticed!lol
Posted By: Anonymous Re: OLD HOUSE, MORETON - 1st Nov 2010 11:59am
Are you referring to the building from this 1970s aerial view? I have marked it with a square(ish) shape. The building and trees were cleared for the car park. I have included a modern aerial view which does show that the building was the only one demolished.

[Linked Image]

What I can say is the building (and surrounding buildings) did not existe before 1910 (does not show on any maps)

Modern pic today.

[Linked Image]
Posted By: diggingdeeper Re: OLD HOUSE, MORETON - 1st Nov 2010 2:50pm
Previous thread is HERE
Posted By: Anonymous Re: OLD HOUSE, MORETON - 1st Nov 2010 4:21pm
Cheers dd. Hadn't realised hosey had asked the question before !! Cheeky monkey 1
Posted By: uptoncx Re: OLD HOUSE, MORETON - 1st Nov 2010 5:51pm

Just to re-iterate what I said before:

303 Hoylake Road was a bungalow and was lived in by a friend of mine. They were offered a large (in those days) amount of money by Tesco to move out. This they did in 1964/65 and Tesco demolished the bungalow and built a new store, which is now occupied by Iceland.

Next to the bungalow was an old shop, this was brick built and from what I remember of it, I would have dated it to about the 1920s. The shop was closed in the time I visited the bungalow next door (from about 1959 to 1965). The shop windows were covered in brown paper, but there was an old fashioned clock hanging in the window, in front of the brown paper. This clock always showed the right time. Locally the shop was known as "Clock House". The shop was apparently occupied by an elderly gentleman, who was also offered money by Tesco, but would not leave.

When the old man died, there was an article about it in, I think, the Birkenhead News (could have been the Daily Post), which showed a picture of hundreds of photographs being burnt in the back garden. The shop was demolished and the site became the car park it is today.

The advertising hoardings were next to the shop, not in front of it, the shop (and hoardings) were set back from the road further than the front wall of 303 and the building on the other side.

The shop was occupied in 1938 by a florist, Mr Ernest Byrom. I do not know if the elderly gentleman in the late 1960s was Mr Byrom, but I suspect it was.


Posted By: Anonymous Re: OLD HOUSE, MORETON - 1st Nov 2010 6:21pm
Cheers mate for reposting the info.
Posted By: hoseman Re: OLD HOUSE, MORETON - 1st Nov 2010 7:41pm
Thank you for this, didnt see the replies in first posts, thurt i was being ignored! This brings back many memories for me, spent most of my spare time in there or the back fields. Our house backed onto fields and we had a gate access into it. Our house also backed onto Warings Builders yard, whos family lived just a few houses up the road from ours. Used to sneak into Warings Yard, and play in the sand pits. They also had Lime pits there, nasty stuff! It was a mission to do this out of sight of Mr Hughes, who lived in a bungalow onsite!
The field also had woods and a flat area that was `our` footy pitch.
When the developers moved it, we would go out at night and `sabotage` the site, pulling out or moving plot markers, robbing (borrowing!) bricks and wood, damaging soil pipes etc!!!! Oh how we played back then!!! LOL
Paul, your first pic shows all. `Our` field in the middle, our house which is second up from bottom. At the rear, the white areaat the bottom is Warings Yard. Warings house is in the middle, the detached dark house!
Warings are still going in Bromborough, keep meaning to call in and see who runs it now. Only remember 1 son, Paul.
Posted By: hoseman Re: OLD HOUSE, MORETON - 1st Nov 2010 7:53pm
Paul, where did you find that 70`s pic? We lived at 23 Borrowdale then. Recognise the whole area in that pic. Thanks mate.
Posted By: Anonymous Re: OLD HOUSE, MORETON - 1st Nov 2010 10:54pm
I used emapping : tithe maps online.

Tithe Maps

Use the drop down menu for Moreton and you have two panels. One for old maps, other side has 1970s aerial views.
Posted By: hoseman Re: OLD HOUSE, MORETON - 2nd Nov 2010 8:09pm
Good link, thanks mate
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