Friends of Bidston Hill Newsletters

Kenneth Burnley, in his book Portrait Of Wirral describes Bidston Hill thus: Mention of Bidston Hill conjures up, for me, fond memories of long childhood hours spent playing in its woods, picnicking on its springy turf, and hiding in its secret places. And always, the feeling that this was no ordinary place. And indeed few other parts of Wirral can offer so much of interest in such a small area. Where else in a few hundred acres can you find open, gorse-covered heathland with fine land and sea views, pine woods and rhododendrons, a lighthouse, an observatory, a windmill, rock carvings, and a fascinating seventeenth century village?

And Harry Neilson wrote: I distinctly remember a walk over Bidston Hill when a child with an elder sister, about the year 1868. A fresh breeze was blowing and the sails of the mill were turning round in full swing, grinding corn. A cart, laden with sacks of flour, stood just ready to leave by the stony cart track to the road below while the miller stood by chatting to the carter. As we stood watching, the loaded cart moved off and the miller asked us if we would care to look inside the mill. His invitation was gladly accepted and in we went. My first and lasting impression was of the loud buzzing noise of the machinery, very like the sound of a swarm of angry bees but much louder, and my next, the whiteness of everything inside the mill, caused by the coating of fine white flour dust which nothing could escape, not even the miller himself.

Portrait of Wirral. Kenneth Burnley. Hale Publications

Bidston Hill 1904, from a copy at Tam O'Shanter's Cottage; as is the image of the Mill below (1904)

As you can see from this Proudman map, the village is now "cut off" from the mainstream of traffic. In July 2003
I visited Bidston to take some photo's. It is now a through road into the local estate.

Probably the oldest feature on the Hill is a four and a half foot long carving of a 'Sun Goddess', carved into the flat rock north-east of the Observatory - it is supposed to face the direction of the rising sun on midsummer's day and was thought to have been carved by the Norse-Irish around 1000 A.D. (See images below) Another ancient carving of a horse can be found on the bare rock north of the Observatory, just before the path turns down to Bidston Village. Other, more recent rock carvings can be seen on the vertical rock face just south of the Observatory. In 1407 part of the Hill was enclosed by a wall known as Penny-a-day Dyke to create a deer park for private deer hunting. The remains can be seen along the edge of the wood (Park Wood) just below the ridge from the Mill to the Observatory. The 'Cock-Pit' is another strange feature on the Hill to be found at the very northern end near to Bidston Hall. Consisting of a narrow circular trench, approximately 10 inches deep and 20 feet in diameter cut into the bare sandstone surrounded by tall gorse bushes. Thought to be the site where cock-fighting took place, it could also be the remains of a small gorse mill where gorse was crushed for animal feed. An old, disused mill would have been an ideal location for this illegal sport. From 1763 a Signal Station was located on the Hill eventually consisting of over 100 flagpoles sited all along the ridge of the Hill. Mostly used to send messages to the merchants of Liverpool of incoming ships, some were also used to warn of enemy warships and ships in distress. The most visible hole that remains is approximately 30 yards north of the Windmill. In 1771 the first lighthouse was built, it replaced Lower Mockbeggar light, which collapsed on Moreton foreshore. An octagonal building, it formed part of the chain of semaphore signals along the N. Wales coast. A message could be sent from Holyhead to Liverpool in 8 minutes!

For a great many years, there were three direction finder plates on various places on Bidston Hill. They looked very similar to sundials and had marked the direction of numerous points of interest with the distance to them, a true piece of Victorian sensibility in an era before cars, high speed trains and the information superhighway. The Direction Finders were removed from the hill during the second world war in case of invasion and only one was replaced afterwards, this remaining plate then disappeared in the sixties.

We felt it would be proper to replace this last direction finder and set Glyn, our Historian to work collecting all the information he could. In November last year we finally resorted to asking the local press for help in locating information about what was on the original plates and their size, on the 30^th our appeal went to the public on page three of the Wirral News and by 10.30am that morning we couldn’t believe our luck! A very kind gentleman called the rangers office to say “I think I have your direction finder dial” not only did he have a direction finder, he had the first one made, which was never finished due to the size of the writing, this meant we had a visible, intact dial to create a new one with. Anyone who remembers the old direction finder on the hill will remember that the writing had nearly been worn away with years of polishing.

At this present moment in time, thanks to ranger Nic’s drawing skills the new direction finder is in production and will be replaced on the hill by the end of February. We invite you all to come and view the places for yourselves but we can’t guarantee the weather.

Any one wishing to join the friends of Bidston hill can drop into Tam O’Shanter's urban farm any day of the week between 9.30 am and 4.30 pm where you can pick up an application form, find out about how you can volunteer with us to help manage the hill or even just find out a little more about this wonderful area of countryside preserved in the middle of modern day Wirral.

Genevieve Wilkinson - Press Officer

The Friends of Bidston Hill Feb 5th 2006

An article in the Wirral News dated 8th February 2006 (click on image for full size). My sister Michelle sent me this

The welcome sign as you enter from the car park. http://www.tamoshanterfarm.org.uk/		1
2	1200 hrs And I arrive at Tam O'Shanters Urban Farm
My first impressions were good, its come on a long way since the last time I saw this place, from the road admittedly, which was admittedly some time ago.		3
4	Its quite obvious that a lot of very hard work has gone into the site
The enclosures for the animals and birds are rotated yearly and are very spacious		5
6	And the housing for the animals is of the highest quality, nothing has been spared for their comfort
The actual cottage has been thatched to perfection.		7
8	And, from the other side
This young feller is one of three piglets born in December 2005		9
10	Inside the eco built workshops, the walls are actually made from straw
Genevieve Wilkinson, Scourge of the Council Committee's, helps me to plant two Rowan trees near to the Farm		11
12	One of the two Rowan Trees I planted, a very pleasing moment for me.
Nearby, the remains of a tree that had been hit by lightening		13
14	The Sheep
One of the beautiful things about woodland walks is - look down - many beautiful things pass by your feet		15
16	Lichen and fungi adorn the remains of tree stumps, making life grow from death, the entire recycling process
On the fun side, a nearby allotment had this miniature model of Bidston Hill		17
18	Who remembers Bill & Ben - come on - admit it?
Donkeys on the farm		19
20	The end of the cottage, showing the Tam O'Shanter mural
Bidston Hill
21	And then Genevieve & myself went up onto the hill. Here we see the windmill, soon to have a renovated roof.
Conservationists rest on a lunch time break after being busy on Gorse clearance		22
23	Carved into the doorway on the Mill. Restored 1894
The roof as seen before the renovation work, due to commence on February 19th with the lifting to the top of the Hill of scaffolding etc.		24
25	Genevieve by the plinth where the direction finder will soon be reinstalled after many years. The original disc, which is gunmetal, and was first rejected, will replace the missing brass disc long since vanished. Its hoped to renovate the plinth also and remove the distasteful graffiti.
Stone carving of a man's face, probably put there by the workmen installing some wooden postholes which can be seen close by.		26
27	Beech clearance on the top of the Hill between The Mill and the Observatory
Below the observatory, the giant Beech had to be felled as it had grown so large it was a danger to the public, the weight of the boughs was quite formidable.		28
29	Oh, how many times did I drink out of this fountain in my young days after climbing all the way up from the Village below? It would be very nice if they could restore this, a fountain of refreshment on a hill of pleasure.
On the side of the fountain reads "Glenfield & Kennedy Kilmarnock" see base of page.		30
31	First of the rock carvings, a mans head and torso possibly 15th - 16th C
Second Carving, also of a man and torso, arm raised pointing towards the sea (west)		32
33	The inscription reads J Leay and is the daughter of Richard Leay
Horsehead carving		34
35	The carving of the Sun Goddess with gorse in her belly and womb.
And nearby, the Moon God which is almost obliterated. It will have to be recarved to ensure its survival.		36
37	This is most intriguing, it stretches from probably the base of the Hill near the farm to the top of the Hill above Bidston Hall and is carved with horizontal lines at regular intervals. My theory is that it was "rutted" to provide grip for wagon wheels taking corn/grain up the Hill at the shallowest climb in order for it to be transported along the top to the windmill.
Next to the highest section of the "road" is this carving of a horses head. I can recall this area vividly and recall that this stone must have been covered over in my youth (60s) as the head when shown to me by Genevieve is new to my mind, never having seen it before.		38
39	This is a view of both the "roadway" and the horse carved large stone.
Located not too far from the Bidston Lighthouse as you can see from this image.		40
41	The cock fighting pit. Personages who won certain numbers of fights were allowed to carve their names in the stone. "Evil" is one such carving and
this was another but I cannot make it out on the image		42
43	Bidston Hall from the top of the Hill, beyond is the Village.
This tree is a one off, the only one of its kind on the Hill. Its a Maritime Pine.		44
45	Symbiotic growth. A Horse Chestnut grows out of the limb of a dead tree. The dead tree is a Cherry Lime.
As we went around full circle, another view of the conservationists hard at work.		46
47	Heading back towards the Urban Farm, the area where my two Rowan trees will hopefully flourish and provide please for generations to come, long after my passing!

I returned to the Hill on 14th June 2006 and took a few images; some can be seen on bidston2.html and on the Friends of Bidston Hill page, the rest are below:

1. Boundary Road looking west. 2. Boundary Road looking east towards Village 3. Tam O'Shanters 4. Gothic architecture in nature 5. Woodland

6. Towards North Wales 6a. Close up 7. Towards Moreton and the sea 8. Close up

25th February 2007. I paid another visit to Bidston today. Here are my images taken today

I also thoroughly recommend the books of Kenneth Burnley, local Historian and lover of The Wirral

The following images were all captured on 12th February 2004 on a subsequent visit
	Looking from Bidston Hill towards the Mersey and the Pier Head in the distance. Taken from the north end of the Hill before the lighthouse. These images will follow in sequence a circular walk from Bidston Village and back along the "lower" western side of the Hill.
	Approaching the Bidston Lighthouse from the north
	Bidston Lighthouse
	I had to climb a tree for this image of the Lighthouse entrance, at my age - phew!!
	Ah the memories of youth! A collapsed stone wall showing downwards to the western side of the Hill where I would spend many an hour just wandering along the paths and gullies, clearings and ferns.
	Then we arrive nearly at the apex of the hill, at the Bidston Observatory, well documented above.
	Heading on past the Observatory, we are now walking towards the Windmill, not yet in view. Note the large rock structures, dominant on the Hill.
	Crossing the rocks, looking left towards Rock Ferry and Cammell Laird Shipyard
	Looking down on Birkenhead, the Church of St Jimmy's dominates the foreground
	The apex of Bidston Hill. I recall, in my youth, this had a glorious brass dial upon the top, giving directions and distance to various landmarks in the north west. Presumably vandalised like everything else these sad days.
	the said bridge over the road about 50 - 60 feet below, at a guess. Plans are also in hand to paint this bridge - in rainbow colours!! I am not convinced that's a good move though, too bright maybe?