Moreton Shore
 VERY prone to floods. Here there were the shanty town style stalls and the cafe's. On the right hand side of Pasture Road, as it sweeps round to the right to become Leasowe Road, were the seasonal visitors, in my teens, of the Wallis' Fun Fair. The main attraction being the Speedway. It was built just like a Waltzer but had fixed wooden motorbikes instead, and it went round at one heck of a speed sometimes! I actually fell off once, very luckily not breaking anything! We were the bravado's who, instead of sitting normally on the bikes, would "ride the bars" - sitting or standing against the safety bars, leaning heavily inwards against the centrifugal force generated by the circular speeds. Idiots! That's how I see it nowadays, but then - sheer bravado. Wallis' home base was Towyn, North Wales, just past Rhyl. The Apollo dance club sat on Pasture Road - and still does (2009). Life was hard in the shanty town. See Jim Schultz's account on page 3 in the emails - May 2010. |
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 1920s |
 This building stood opposite the Childrens Hospital across a wide common |
 Petrified Forest off Moreton Shore. I saw this as a kid, but changes in tidal variations have washed it all away now |
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The massive seawall beckoned. A few short steps to
the rim and there lay the Irish Sea. Superb descriptions of the area can be found in Kenneth Burnley's books on the Wirral. Here lies yet another childhood memory. That of cockles! My father would, on occasion, bring me down and I would help him dig up cockles from the wide flat sand beds at low tide. There were others too there attending to the same harvest. In those days, I do not know if they were safe to eat even then. I do know my dad would cook them for a long time. Locally there were pipes, going out to sea, which carried effluence from the town, semi treated I believe, according to Ken Burnley's books. Nevertheless, I appear to have suffered no long term effects! Me too, digging up cockles!! |
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Dragons Teeth Anti Tank Obstacles Moreton Shore. They were still there well into the 60s and I used to climb them. I never knew they were left overs from seas defences in WW2. Tank Traps in fact. There were also dragons teeth at New Brighton. |
 Moreton Common with Leasowe Castle to rear. These two images were taken by me back in the 1960s, to the right, off camera, was the Children's Hospital. To the left, the Sea Wall. The tower was a radio beacon for Speke Airport |
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 Looking like one of those CND Badges |
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 I did not take this but forget where it came from |
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Progressing along the seawall in the direction of Leasowe I distinctly recall an old black and white cottage, nestling beneath the wall on the landward side. This was directly opposite the Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital, now also a thing of the past. Its now "luxury apartments" and housing. Leasowe Castle, (mentioned in detail on a Wallasey page of mine) was now becoming the dominant landside feature as I carry on walking towards another Utopian haven of my youth, the Leasowe Sand Hills. The sand was soft, warmed by the sun. It was built up in huge drifts, protected by large areas of high tufted grassy banks. Here my dominant memory of the Sand Hills is as a teenager, listening, in the mid 60s, to Radio Caroline North on our plastic "trannies" (transistor radios). Groups of us would go down on bright blue summers days. This particular day, I was lying in the sand next to Gina Johnson. Now Gina was the most beautiful girl in Moreton (she actually lived in Royden Road, Overchurch) and was "unattached" at the time of this. We chatted most of the afternoon and I got up the nerve to ask her out, to which she agreed!! I left early to get changed and meet her at her house, misfortune intervened, she slashed her foot on some glass, and we never did date! In Aug 2005 there was a television programme on about the UK coastline, "Coast", inch by inch, mile by mile. When the presenter got to North Wales he skipped the Wirral in its entirety and went on past Liverpool. Well, my scottish friend, you missed a hell of a lot out. Parkgate, Hilbre, Thurstaston, the long long sea wall, a masterpiece of civil engineering. |
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Past the hospital we reached the junction of Reeds Lane and Leasowe Road where, if you turn right, leads up to Birket Avenue, the river Birket passing underneath a few yards further on, then we pass the rear entrance to Cadbury's and on to the Leasowe hotel, a pub on the right hand side. Rounding a bend we can see Leasowe Station in the background as you pass the Leasowe Tennis Club and Social Club. The club was really a large shed but it was "cosy". Over the railway lines and past Saxon road, Kingsmead Road, Daneswell Drive to the corner shop, Sydies on Avondale Avenue, a cul de sac leading to Sacred Heart School. The roundabout, now lights, was next and back onto Hoylake Road by my house. But, back to Moreton Shore, if we walked onwards in the direction of Meols, the landward scenery turns distinctly bleaker and more "wild" as I pass the Leasowe Lighthouse, at that time derelict, and the occasional farm building and cottages. The lighthouse has now been restored and can be visited. I can just recall the remains of the shanty town which sprang up in the early 20th Century here, the wooden chalet type "hovels" which have mostly long since gone. I recall also seeing the submerged forest in my younger days, but sadly, at that time, meant little to me. There was a petrified forest here, showing above the sands, I can remember seeing it, but it has vanished now. |
 Lingham cottages |
 Lingham Cottages 2012 |
 Lingham Bridge |
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This is a picture of Jane Hughes' grandparents and father taken on Moreton Shore in 1952. The wartime obstacles are still in place at this time. I have a recollection of seeing these, I was born in 1949. I thought they were breakwaters - they are known as called 'dragons teeth' |
 
Pasture Road from the embankment 1978. the distance is 'shrunk' by the camera!
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