Hi everyone I've just acquired two books with an array of pictures, all of which taken on the Wirral, of course...

The two books are vaguely split into west and east Wirral - east being areas including Birkenhead, Upton, Bidston, Wallasey... and west being places like Greasby, Caldy, Hoylake and Meols. I was going to take some pictures out of the book and just upload the best ones, but I couldn't leave which are 'best' to my own opinion! Myself I live by Bidston, so the ones of the village around here interest me most. But right through from 1860 to 1960, there's basically a timeline with accounts of things that are deemed vastly to be 'changing' to the Wirral (say, housing developments being demolished/built, with accompanying photos). I was thinking it'd be easier (if people are interested), for anyone to post their area of interest onto this thread, and I could use the index to post photo's for people individually, or just write them the accounts in the book given that there are no photo's. (This is unlikely though, as there are literally hundreds of photos from most areas of the Wirral!)

Although, I will have you know, that they don't include many (if any at all) photos from places in 'south' Wirral, such as Heswall and Gayton, so don't post if you live in those areas as these books would be useless, sorry!

Also, if anyone has any ideas of a better way to share these photos let me know! Also thanks for any contributions in advance, and hope you like the photos. Some of them are extraordinary - J

I wouldn't mind looking at some of the areas around the woodchurch if thats possible.

I'll post those shortly! There's definitely some in there

@stevehurst -

Hope you enjoy these! I also have one of Upton Village if you're interested

Anymore? The more the merrier. Thanks for taking the trouble to show these pics.

I have literally hundreds more but those are the only ones from the Woodchurch area. Are there any areas specifically you'd like me to upload? - and it's no trouble at all! Glad you like them - J

Just keep putting them on, it doesn't matter where and thanks.


I think I'm losing the plot, I went to Fender school between 1957/62 and can't remember the football pitches, which is worrying as I played for the football team and I've even got a team photo to prove it.
More pills me thinks.

Great photos Johnson. Nice one

I went to Fender from 73 - 80 and I remember playing on the left hand pitch, i.e. the one nearest the primary side. Don't remember the other one though.

Hi, Do you have any of Bidston, would be interested to see them.

@castle62 - Yeah I have plenty from up the hill and the village. Some prior to when the bridge was built over Vyner rd! Quite remarkable.. Will post soon.

@bert - I would do that but there's way too many to post! I'll get through as many as I can

Would love to see some pics of Mount Road in Wallasey, I havent been able to find any to date.

Thanks

K

Hi, do you have any of the Noctorum/Ford area - possibly the farms that were near Upton Station ?
Great photos by the way.

@castle62 (and anyone else interested of course...) These are the Bidston photographs.

kamikaze & atw1960, I'll have a route through them now for the ford, noctorum, and mount rd. If there is any I'll probably upload them later tonight. Watch this space lol Thanks for the feedback guys, glad you enjoy them.

As for the fender school photo, does anyone think it might be a different school? My dad said it didn't look like fender either... Ideas?

Definitely the Fender, no doubt about it.

I remember everything about it apart from the pitches, the dark patch on the playground was for rounders, the end of that playground had a netball court marked out for the girls, we used to use it as a football pitch during dinner time.

Hi J, thanks for asking if I have any areas of interest. Any of Price Street and Cleveland Street districts? Cheers.

Brilliant thanks.

Hi JohnsonjI
Great pictures,any of Exmouth st or the Lord Exmouth Hotel.

@alonso, here a few from the Cleveland and Price St area. There is no photographs from Cleveland and Price street specifically but I think you should enjoy these ones. Let me know if this isn't what you were looking for.

@atw1960 After a bit of a mission finding it, I found one! A picture of the Ford farms! Only problem is, can't pinpoint the location. It says there is now a few shops on the site, but, it says this farm was on the ford side (as opposed to the upton station side.) Any thoughts?

@kamikazi & @joney - There wasn't one photo of Mount Rd or Exmouth Street. (Surprising about that really!) Sorry I couldn't help. Any other places?

Here's the photo's, hope you like 'em:

great pictures,wonder have you any of marion street,cathcart street,camden street,anywhere round there please.

Great photos Johnsonjl thanks for sharing.Is that a face I see on the gable end of Tam O'Shanters farm?

Fantastic photos johnsonjl its good of you to share these.I am sure it is greatly appreciated by all wikiwirral members,I think you are going to be very busy on here for a while.

@cathcart - I've found some around Argyle Street, posted below! Couldn't find any on the exact streets you stated I'm afraid. Hope you like these.

@surykata - I'm sure I will be quite busy for a while, there's hundreds of 'em! Nah, it's brilliant I enjoy sharing them, I'm glad everyone likes them.

Argyle St photo's:

your photo of victoria street 1954 and your ? regarding the horse and cart. Quite a few delivery trades where still using the horse and cart in the first half of the 50s. coal men arround the town where one and various ones fetching and carrying stuff in and out of the docks

@jimbob - I didn't know that! Thanks for the information. I guess I was naive in believing the transition between horse and motor was instant...

Great photo's - I reckon you have made a lot of work for yourself there! I've got a location to ask about, but it will wait.

The thing is, the photo of the police station (above) is Slatey Road Police Station, which was repaired, and stood next to the Williamson Art Gallery.

We had a new picture of it posted on here a few months ago, but it's the first time I've seen it in its bombed state.

Thanks.

@norton, you're 100% correct, and I have no idea why I posted it as that! The caption doesn't even appear on the same page. How do you re-caption photos? On that note, I'm thinking about making another thread for war photo's or posting those in an already existing one. What's the location you wanted to ask about? - J

thanks johnson bit before my time but good pictures,thanks.

Thanks J.
I don't think you can re-edit a caption, even in the few minutes after posting that the system allows you to edit the text.
Most people seem to post it again, with the correct text, or add it to a more appropriate existing thread, or start a new post altogether.

As to a picture request, well, there are lots of pubs that I am sure people would like to see, so perhaps you should compile a list first, and put it on the Wirral Pubs list.

The area that I was thinking of was along Borough Road, Birkenhead. There are some pictures on this site of Central Station, the old Fire Station and Central Library with a few others inbetween.

Basically, have you got anything along Borough Rd that has since been demolished as a result of the flyovers and road widening in the area from Central Station to say Brattan Road (Christ Church / Claughton Higher Grange School)? This could be anything from the shops opposite the school, Balls Rd East junction and the shops down past The Happy Valley, the printers, Lee Fong Chinese Laundry, Taylors Villas, Simisters and Turners car and bike shops, Quarry Bank and down to Whetstone Lane. Then working our way back down, there were all the little shops and houses on the corners of the likes of Vincent St, Nelson St etc.and the Woodlands School on the opposite side.

It's probably only two thirds of a mile of road, but it's not there now. With so many people passing each day, any new photo's should bring back a lot of memories for people like myself.

Thanks again. Now you know why I said I would wait!!.

Hi johnsonjl...don't suppose you've got any of Sun Street, Craven Street end and Hilton Street have you ??

Would love to see another picture of the old Claughton Music Hall/ Astor Tombola in Birkenhead if there is one; also Westbourne Road Birkenhead and any pictures of Mill Lane/ Central Park/ Liscard Road in Wallasey. Many thanks for what's already on!

my mum lived in priory buildings ive looked everywhere can you help me plese thank you

There aren't many photos of Priory buildings around, but I posted a few here a while ago. I have a large number of aerial photos of the area, so I'll see if I can find any that are decent enough to enlarge and post them for you.

@Norton - I found a picture of the train and fire station. I know you said there are already photos of those on here, so if this is a re-post, I'm sorry, but I'll upload them anyway to compile them with all the other photos. I also have a few others from Borough Rd but couldn't find any of the specific companies you were looking for. There is one of a Johnston's taxi company though. I searched for all the other roads you'd mentioned too but only Borough Rd was indexed. Here's the photos! Any more you want to have a look at, you let me know. Hope these are along the right lines of what you're looking for

@sneezy -None of those streets exactly, closest road indexed was Park Rd South. I was looking for one of Patterson St yesterday because my friend lives there, but there's none of there either. Sorry about that! Here's the one of the church around the corner.

@Roslynmuse - What road were the music hall and Astor Tombola located? Only roads are indexed not specific locations! As for the other roads, there's nothing! Sorry about that!

@msinno1969 - Where were the priory buildings?

Excellent, J. Thank you.

I've not seen these before. The one of the fire station would not be any later than ealy 60's as they changed the lamp fittings to sodium ones shortly afterwards.

No worries pal, glad you like 'em, and cheers for the info. I think that's why I enjoy uploading these, I'm only a young lad so all I have is the photo's, along with little information about 'em. So in exchange for giving you the photos I get the information, everyone's a winner lol.

You have some interesting photos in those books, most of which I haven't seen before. Would you mind letting me know the titles of the books please?
Thanks, Chris.

These are really great photos , johnson j ! In answer to your question , I know that there was a farm on the Ford Estate side of Upton Road - roughly where The Fender (formerly Seven Stiles) pub is now . We moved up to the Noctorum in early 1968 and some of the farm buildings were there then . I have seen a photo taken of the farm and in the far background you can just about see the domes of the observatory.
As a matter of interest , if you go to www.maps.cheshire.gov.uk , you can bring up a modern map of your area and compare it with tithe maps and old ordnance survey maps plus aerial photos of Chehire from the early '70s .

The Astor was on Claughton Road roughly on the car park opposite the new Asda. The Music Hall pub was in Atherton Street (I think) round about where Yatesey's is now.

The picture on the gable end of the cottage shows a scene from Robert Burns' poem Tam O' Shanter , which gave the farm its name.

johnsonjl.....thanks for trying, keep putting the photos up, love seeing them

Do you have any of hind st and st pauls church that was in argyle st?

@chriskay - The titles of the books are "Yesterdays Birkenhead" & "Yesterdays West Wirral Part 2". I also have one called "Birkenhead at War". Don't have part 1 to go to the West Wirral one! They're brilliant books though.

@atw1960 - That first link didn't work to the maps? Don't know why. (Does the website still exist?).. Regarding the location of The Astor and the Music Hall, I might have a photo which could be of help... Posted below

@chris7777 - I think all the photos indexed "Argyle Street" have been posted up, but I'll have a more detailed look for the church.

Thanks.

There were two farms at Ford by Upton Station, one on each side of the road.

Ford Farm was located on the Station side of the road. The farm was demolished in the 1930s and shops were built on the site.

Bridge Farm was opposite Ford Farm. The extension had a date stone which read 1790 (this was removed before the building was demolished), the rest of the building was much older. The farmland was used for building the Ford Estate, and the farm house was demolished during the building of the M53.

Wow!! thank you ever so much for the photos/info uptoncx. I live right by upton station, so looking at those is brilliant! it's mad how much it's changed round here. Kind of sad in a way, too. Do you happen to know what that house is on top of the hill in the first photo? it isn't the original site of the Hillbark, is it?

I'm pretty sure it is Fender primary, it hasn't changed that much in 55 years it still looks pretty much the same except the school has been extended and the school field at the back is now smaller, great pics thanks for sharing

Many thanks for the Atherton St photo, Astor Tombola off camera unfortunately, but a nice picture! Great collection of photos.

@Roslynmuse - Ah, sorry about that. Was it off to the left where the car park is now, I assume?

Thanks Uptoncx - that cleared a bit of confusion I was suffering from !

Hi Johnsonj , I think I missed a bit of the URL out (put it down to my computer illiteracy !).Try this

www.maps.cheshire.gov.uk/tithemaps

There is a topic on here about the Claughton Music Hall / Astor, Clicky

And I'm prety certain that I have seen some of Mill Lane on here too, particularly around the water tower, from a long time ago. You'll need to search a bit for them..

Thanks for the link and info. I'd seen the Claughton/Astor thread before but I'll have a search for Mill Lane posts. I remember posting a question a while back about a pool near to St Alban's Church that was on an old picture and getting some helpful replies.

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days everybody, been away. Don't forget to keep naming places!

@atw1960 I'm afraid the link still doesn't work?? Possibly a problem on my end? Is this the link? http://maps.cheshire.gov.uk/tithemaps/TwinMaps.aspx

- J

That's the one !

Yeah got it working now! It's interesting enough looking at the 1970s aerial view...

great pics , its facinating to see a snapshot of life on the wirral before i was born thanks for sharing

Now I've looked at them myself, they're some quality pictures.

I live by Upton Station and it's fascinatng to see how much has changed over the years .

@atw1960 - Likewise

hi, brilliant pictures i have really enjoyed looking, have you any pictures of tranmere area (around devonshire park estate) or moreton? thanks x

There aren't any of Moreton (something tells me that the area has a seperate book because there isn't one picture taken in Moreton, and these books span from West Kirby right over to Birkenhead docks)

As for the Devonshire Park Estate there's only one picture from Willowbank Road when it was bombed in the war. But I'll post that in a more suited thread and send you a link.

thankyou i would love to see it

https://www.wikiwirral.co.uk/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/723576.html#Post723576 posted it in there, it's definitely on Willowbank Rd but I can't tell the whereabouts from the picture - any more areas of interest, let me know

I have just found your pictures, I remember Bridge farm, very well, I was friends with the farmers daughter in the early 60s, and have lovely memories of riding around the fields that became the Ford estate. We used to ride up Beryl road to the Flat lanes, I would love to see pictures of these if you had any. My friends surname was Johnson, any connection with yourself ? Thanks for the great pictures.

My Grandfather was the last tenant farmer of Bridge Farm prior to its demolition. How can I see this picture ?

Jackie Johnson or Mo Johnson ? My mother is Jackie, you must have also known Peter & Bob - All are still living on the wirral except Peter who lives in North Wales

Hi J, just joined this site & i would really be interested in any photos or information on the Lunts Cake Factory that was on Hoylake Rd nr St James Church in the 1950's, i beleive this area was in Bidston then?
I live in N/East of England so anything you have on Lunts? i would like to see please.Jeff

do you have any of gorsedale school 52 to 62