Arrowe Park in the Autumn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visit Wirral

I’ve lived on The Wirral for 5 years now and only just discovered a brilliant website – Visit Wirral. It has the latest news, places to go and a comprehensive ‘What’s On’ page which if you search (leaving the dates untouched) it brings up a remarkable variety of events taking place in the area. Well done Wirral Council for a super website.

Arrowe Hall - Wirral

In 1807, Liverpool shipowner and slave trader John Shaw bought Arrowe House Farm and the surrounding land. On his death in 1829 it came into the ownership of his nephew, John Ralph Nicholson Shaw, who built Arrowe Hall, a Grade II listed mansion built in the Elizabethan style, in 1835 and had the grounds landscaped to form a country estate, with parkland, a lake and workers' cottages.



The Hall was extended on several occasions in the later 19th century. The property was handed down to Captain Otho Shaw, a world traveller and collector, who housed numerous items there. Arrowe Hall and Park were acquired by Lord Leverhulme in 1908, who subsequently sold the estate to Birkenhead Corporation in 1926. The building was sold by the local council in 1997 and now houses a private care centre.

Bidston Mill - Wirral

Another photo of Bidston Mill - this time it is from the later 1960s.

House Clearances - Oxton, Wirral

This chap is going up in the world...

Honey Pot Cottage, Heswall - Wirral

This lovely house with its equally delightful name is on Telegraph Road, Heswall. I don't know how old this row of cottages is but the present owners of Honey Pot Cottage obviously look after it.

Bidston Mill - Wirral

This is a black and white photo I took of the Mill on Bidston Hill in the early 1960s.

This brick built tower mill replaced a wooden 'peg' mill that was destroyed by fire in 1793, and was used to grind corn into flour for 75 years up until 1875. Although access was difficult for a horse and cart laden with sacks of grain or flour the top of the hill was the ideal place to catch the wind. In fact, it is believed that there has been a windmill on this site since 1596.

In this style of windmill the top or 'cap' could be turned so that the sails would face the wind, from whichever direction it was blowing. You can still see the large wooden chain-wheel which was used to slowly turn the roof around by a rack and gear system. The last miller to work in the mill was a Mr. Youds. Fortunately he did not meet the same fate as one of his predecessors. In those days there were two doors on opposite sides of the mill. As the sails could face any direction, and came close to the ground there were times when one door could not be used. The miller must have forgotten the position of the sails and he used the wrong door, was struck by the heavy wooden sail and killed.

With the introduction of steam powered mills, windmills felt into disuse. During the 1890's Bidston Hill was purchased from Lord Vyner for public use and in 1894 a Mr. R.S. Hudson paid for Bidston Windmill to be restored. Further work has been carried out over the years, most recently by the present custodians Wirral Council.