East Wirral (Mersey Estuary) - Visit Wirral - Official ... - East Wirral (Mersey... · The East Wirral route takes you from the start of ... The River Mersey was once renowned as

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The East Wirral route takes you from the start ofthe Manchester Ship Canal on the banks of theRiver Mersey, into the woodlands of EasthamCountry Park and through the area of industrialheritage of the east coast to Seacombe.

Along the route you will pass near to the historicvillage of Port Sunlight, through the Victoriansuburb of Rock Park, past Cammell LairdsShipyard, and along to Woodside where you cansee the world’s first rail tram system.

East Wirral (Mersey Estuary)

River Mersey near to Eastham Country Park.

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From Woodside Ferry Terminal and the U-boatStory you will pass the docks, the Twelve QuaysIrish Ferry Terminal and on towards Seacombe,where you will find Spaceport and the best views of the Liverpool Waterfront World Heritage Site.

The River Mersey was once renowned as a pollutedriver but now it’s not unusual to see seals, porpoiseand dolphin in the Mersey. Charter fishing boatsregularly pass from the Mersey to Liverpool Baywhich has become one of the best inshore codfishing grounds in north west Europe.

Eastham Country Park

Eastham Country Park holdsimmense value and is a long-standing, major leisure andnature conservation area. Itcovers some 43 hectares and it is the last remaining substantialarea of undeveloped land with

public access on the Wirral bank of the River Merseybetween Birkenhead and Ellesmere Port. Its location gives it particular importance as a local amenity, wildlife andeducational resource. The site includes approximately 26 hectares of maturemixed deciduous woodland, 8 hectares of amenity grassland,3 hectares of new plantation woodland and 3 hectares ofnatural grassland and scrub. The park also has over 1km ofaccessible riverside cliff top and commands superb viewsacross the River Mersey. There are many features of important historical interestwithin the park. The owners of the Eastham Ferry Hotelbuilt a Pleasure Gardens and zoo in 1847 as a touristattraction. Remnants of numerous features still exist,including a bear pit, boating lake, fountains, walls and paths. The buildings surrounding the courtyard, which nowhouse the Visitor Centre, ranger’s office and toilets, aremostly constructed from local sandstone and date from theearly 1900s. They were once the stables linked to the ferryservice, where coach horses were kept.

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View of Liverpool from Eastham Country Park.

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Job’s Ferry

Job’s Ferry at the northern endof Eastham Country Park is theremains of a jetty made fromsandstone blocks cut from theadjacent cliffs. The originalsteps cut into the cliff stone, stilllead down to the jetty. The exact

date of Job’s Ferry is uncertain, but a ferry service acrossthe River Mersey is believed to have operated from the siteas early as the 12th century.

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Manchester Ship Canal

Opened in 1894, the ManchesterShip Canal was one of the lastmajor canals to be constructed in Britain. It stretches for 36 miles from Eastham, on thesouthern shore of the Merseyestuary 6 miles from Liverpool,

almost to the centre of Manchester. The Ship Canal has the Barton swing aqueduct, sevenswing road bridges, four high level road bridges, five highlevel railway viaducts and five sets of huge locks at Eastham, Latchford, Irlam, Barton and Mode Wheel.

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J5

new chester rd

M53

VILLAG

E RO

AD

new chester road

A41

A41

new chester road

RiverMersey

Bromborough CroftRetail & Leisure Park

EasthamGolf Course

EasthamCountry

Park

EasthamFerry

stanleylane

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rivacre road

QueenElizabeth II

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Job’sFerry

PLANTATION RD

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RIVERWOOD

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OLD HALL RD

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ferry road

ferry road

EasthamLocks

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Eastham

Eastham

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© Crown copyright and database rights 2011. Ordnance Survey 100019803.

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Anti-clockwise:Eastham Village - Eastham Country Park

Having left Eastham Village behind, continue alongFerry Rd following the signs for Eastham Country Park.

Follow Ferry Rd for some distance until the junctionwith Torr Drive, where immediately after Torr Drive youare able to join the off-road cycle track on the left inEastham Country Park (please note that the start of theManchester Ship Canal is across the field from this point).

Follow the route to the Visitor Centre which you willfind on your right. From the Visitor Centre turn left on themarked cycle track between the car park and the playingfields and the River Mersey to your right beyond that.Continue along this track exiting from Eastham CountryPark past the small car park on your right and straight onalong this riverside route. When this track comes to the roadturn right into Riverview Rd and follow this along its length.At the end of Riverview Rd turn right into the end ofCommercial Rd and then immediately left into Riverbank Rd.

Clockwise:Eastham Country Park - Eastham Village

From the end of Riverbank Rd, turn right into the end ofCommercial Rd and then immediately left into Riverview Rd. At the roundabout junction with Plantation Rd, turn leftonto the riverside cycle track and follow the track passingthe car park on your left and into Eastham Country Park.Continue straight along the riverside path to the VisitorCentre and all the facilities in that immediate area.

Leaving the Eastham Country Park Visitor Centreon your left, enter the woods and turn left. Continue alongthe track, through the woods past the bear pit fountain onyour right across the open grass area and then keeping theroad and houses to your left until the track joins the road.

Eastham Locks and the start of the Manchester ShipCanal are across the grassed area opposite.

Exit Eastham Country Park, turn right into Ferry Rd andcontinue along to Eastham Village.

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Bromborough Pool

The Old Power Station

In 1918 Lever Brothers builtCentral Power Station on thebanks of the Mersey to servicetheir growing industry. By the1950s the station was producingpower for the various Lever’sfactories around Port Sunlight

and Bromborough, both for the villages and for othercompanies operating in the Bromborough Pool area. The station, named Merseyside Power Station, wascommissioned in 1958 but was demolished in 1998.Pictured are the original pair of Art Deco gates for theentrance. The site is currently under development.

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Bromborough Pool Village

Bromborough Pool facesLiverpool from the south bank ofthe Mersey. In the 19th century,two important companies movedto the area on either side ofBromborough Pool and in the20th century Bromborough

Dock, which was the world’s biggest private dock at thetime, was built there. Price’s Patent Candle Company built a factory and village for its workers next to the dock in 1854because it did not have room to expand in London.

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Bromborough Pool.

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Port Sunlight Village

Port Sunlight Village is a truedelight. Built at the end of the19th century, this garden villagewas originally built as a home for workers at the nearby Leverfactory. The village is the work of over 30 architects, and the

variety of architecture and the beauty of the buildings areunique in the area. In 1922 the Lady Lever Art Gallery wasopened, housing the magnificent personal collection of thefirst Lord Leverhulme. It was named in memory of his wife.

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Bromborough landfill site

Tipping operations began here in1991 and ceased in August 2006.During that time, the site and itsoperations had been acquired byBIFFA. Only the northern end of the site was not tipped on, this being allowed to develop

as a pond which is now home to a variety of wildlife. The tip is currently being landscaped and capped withtopsoil. When completed it is hoped that it will be openedfor public access and the route of the circular trail willhopefully go across the site, allowing views over the Merseyestuary to be enjoyed by all.

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Bromborough Pool

new chester road

A41

TheAnzacs

Hotel

RiverMersey

NEW FERRY BYPASS

Bromborough CroftRetail & Leisure Park

Red Funnel

Dibbinsdale

brook

PLANTATION RD

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Port Sunlightcycle route

Port Sunlightcycle route

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Anti-clockwise: Eastham Country Park - Bromborough Pool

Continue to the end of Riverbank Rd. Opposite the redfunnel is the start of the Port Sunlight cycle route. Turn rightinto Thermal Rd, go along to the traffic lights, turn right intoDock Rd South, and turn left along South View in front of thehistoric village of Bromborough Pool. Turn left into Pool Laneand continue up to the main junction with the A41 with thehotel on the left and the car dealership on the right.

Turn right, all users to use the wide pavement, please takenote of shared use signs. Cross over the River Dibbin, take thefirst available right turn into Shore Drive, left into The Anzacs,left into Bolton Rd East and immediate right into Corona Rd.

Continue to the end of Corona Rd to the playingfield car park, turn right to go on the right edge of the playingfield following the fence line along until you get to the track onthe right. Turn right along this track and follow it along to thecliff top path onto Shorefields.

Clockwise:Bromborough Pool - Eastham Country Park

Follow the cliff top path into the woodland, keeping thecliff above the beach and River Mersey on your left. TheBromborough landfill site is ahead. Follow the path throughthe woods to the playing fields - turn left and follow the fencearound to the car park across the fields, keeping the greyrailing fence and the houses on your left.

Enter the small car park, turn left into Corona Rd, thenleft into Bolton Rd East and immediately right into TheAnzacs, then right into Shore Drive. At the end, turn left ontothe shared use pavement of the A41 over the River Dibbin,please take note of shared use signs.

Turn left into Pool Lane at the car dealership, turn leftafter the Travelodge hotel into Pool Lane, then turn right intoSouth View between the playing fields and the houses ofhistoric Bromborough Pool. Turn right into Dock Rd South,then left into Thermal Rd past the site of the MerseysidePower Station. Turn left into Riverbank Rd, opposite the redfunnel is the link to the Port Sunlight cycle route.

At the end of Riverbank Rd, turn right into CommercialRd and then immediately left into Riverview Rd.

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Shorefields - Rock Park

Royal Mersey Yacht Club

Founded in 1844 in the reign ofQueen Victoria, who was its firstpatron. For almost 160 years theClub has promoted yacht racingon the River Mersey andadjoining waters. The Clubfocuses on one design keel-boat

racing and enjoys what is virtually the only stretch ofsheltered deep water between Scotland and North Wales.

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Shorefields

Originally, in the late 19thcentury, all the Shorefields areawas turned into a ‘pleasure park’for rich merchants who hadcome to live in their expensiveRock Ferry villas. Today, themudflats are a nationally

important feeding site for wading birds. In 2002, the beachwas designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI),giving it protected status. It is also part of the MerseyEstuary Special Protection Area for birds. Throughout thewinter, New Ferry shore supports numerous waders andwildfowl, feeding at low tide on the many invertebrates inthe mud.

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The Esplanade, Rock Park.

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Rock Park

Rock Park is in every way aremarkable example of earlyVictorian suburban planning.Its beginning aptly enoughcoinciding with the accession of Victoria in 1837. The mostfamous resident of Rock Park

was Nathanial Hawthorne, the American author who livedthere between 1853 and 1857, while serving as his country'sConsul in Liverpool. Hawthorne, with his interest in thepast, would have appreciated the fact that the aestheticorigins of Rock Park can be found in the naturalistic andinformal landscape parks created by Capability Brown andWilliam Kent in the 18th century.

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Cammell Lairds

Cammell Laird was started in1824 by William Laird, a Scottishentrepreneur, who moved to theRiver Mersey to seek his fortune.He set up a boiler making workson the south bank of the WallaseyPool. In 1828 he was joined by his

son, John Laird, who realised the possibility of expandinginto iron shipbuilding. The Cammell Laird of today stillboasts one of the world’s largest covered shipbuilding halls.

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Shorefields - Rock Park

new chester road

A41

TheAnzacs

TheEsplanadeRock

Park

The Royal MerseyYacht Club

LairdsShipyard

A41

ROCK FER

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The Rock Retail Park

NEW FERRY BYPASS

Shore!elds

THE DELL

rock park rd

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To Prenton &Storeton

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Anti-clockwise:Shorefields - Rock Park

From the path in the woods, with the Mersey coastalbeach on your right, enter onto the grassed Shorefields openspace. Beware of the grassed cliff top. Continue across thisgrassed area to Shore Bank. Turn left in front of the housesahead on the left and then at the top of Shore Bank turn rightinto Shorefields and then right into New Ferry Rd.

Continue along New Ferry Rd past the slipway and carpark on the right at The Dell and turn right across thegrassed area to Rock Park. Enter this historical estate throughthe pinch gate to the end of Rock Park (by turning right youwill see the historic Esplanade, jetty and The Royal MerseyYacht Club). Turn left and go over the Rock Ferry Bypass.

Having passed over the bypass turn right intoMersey Lane South and then soon after, turn left into BedfordRd. At the main junction turn right into New Chester Rd andcontinue along past the large roundabout to the traffic lights.Turn right through to Campbeltown Rd. Turn left to go pastLairds Shipyard on your right then continue to the end of theroad opposite The Rock Retail Park.

Clockwise: Rock Park - Shorefields

Continue past Lairds Shipyard on the left to the end ofCampbeltown Rd. Keep to the left of the roundabout and followthe path behind KFC into New Chester Rd. Take care crossingthe Rock Ferry Bypass. At the park and children’s playgroundon the left, turn left into Bedford Rd, then right into MerseyLane South and take the first available left over the road bridgeof the Rock Ferry Bypass. Turn right into Rock Park (the oldesplanade, jetty and The Royal Mersey Yacht Club are ahead).Pass through this historical estate of houses, through the gatedbarrier, to the slipway and car park at the Dell.

Continue along New Ferry Rd, forking left intoShorefields, and then shortly after left into Shore Bank. This goes down to the grassed cliff top where you turn right.Follow the cliff top of Shorefields to the woodland, keeping the cliff above the beach and River Mersey on your left. The Bromborough landfill site is ahead and may becomeaccessible in due course. In the meantime, continue on the path to the playing field.

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Rock Park - Seacombe viaWoodside & Birkenhead Priory

Birkenhead Priory

The oldest standing building onMerseyside, Birkenhead Prioryencapsulates so much of thetown's history within a small,enclosed site. Founded in 1150,the monks of this Benedictinemonastery looked after

travellers for nearly 400 years and supervised the firstregulated 'Ferry 'cross the Mersey'. The tower of StMary's, the first parish church of the town, shares the sitewhich is now dedicated as a memorial to those lost in the1939 disaster aboard the Laird's built submarine, Thetis.

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Hamilton Square

A town square surrounded byGeorgian terraces, no two sidesof the square are identical.Building work started in 1826 to the design of Edinburgharchitect James GillespieGraham. It is second only to

Trafalgar Square in London for having the most Grade Ilisted buildings in one place in England.

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Ferry on the Mersey.

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Woodside Ferry terminal& U-boat Story

There is no better way toexperience Wirral than fromthe deck of the famous MerseyFerry. Woodside is one of twosites within Wirral from whichyou can sail, the other being

Seacombe. Also at Woodside, is the very popular U-boatStory, a £5m attraction telling the story of World War IIGerman submarine U-534.

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The One O’Clock Gun

From 1867 up to 18 July 1969,at exactly 1.00pm each day, the'One O'Clock Gun' overlookingthe River Mersey near MorpethDock, Birkenhead, would befired electrically from theObservatory at Bidston Hill.

It was decided to discontinue the tradition of firing theOne O'Clock Gun on the grounds of efficiency. The clockused for the firing of the One O'Clock Gun went to theObservatory (now known as the Proudman OceanographicLaboratory).

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Rock Park - Seacombe viaWoodside & Birkenhead Priory

rddock road

church

birkenhead roa

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canning st

LairdsShipyard

The Rock Retail Park

SeacombeFerry Terminal

Tunnel vent

KINGSWAY

QUEENSWAY

NC

NR

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Monk’sFerry

ivy st

chester st

chester st

Twelve QuaysFerry Terminal

AlfredDock

MorpethDock

EgertonDock

East Float

morpeth wharf

tower rd

OuterBasin

ViewingArea

Spaceport

U-boatStory

Tunnelentrance

WirralWaters

campbeltow

n rdnew

chester road

Tunnel vent

WoodsideFerry Terminal

Birkenhead

Conway ParkStation

HamiltonSquare Station

BirkenheadCentral Station

Green LaneStation

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Anti-clockwise:Rock Park - Seacombe

At the end of Campbeltown Rd turn right onto theshared use footway of the A41, please take note of shared usesigns. The Mersey Tunnel entrance is over on your left. Turnright into St Mary’s Gate to Birkenhead Priory. Turn left intoPriory Street right into Ivy Street, Alabama Way down to theslipway at Monks Ferry. Turn left onto the promenade. TheRiver Mersey is on your right, continue along to WoodsideFerry Terminal and the U-boat Story.

Leave the Woodside Ferry Terminal and the U-boat Story behind, keeping the River Mersey on your right.Continue along the promenade, past the Mersey Tunnelbrick vent on your left. You are now over the MerseyTunnel. Continue around the old entrance of MorpethDock, past The One O’Clock Gun onto the new publicfootpath towards Twelve Quays. Turn left and keep theferry terminal on your right.

From Morpeth Wharf, go straight over into TowerWharf, up to the traffic lights with Tower Rd and turnright and go over the bridge.

At the roundabout for the ferry terminal entrance, there isan additional footpath to the new viewing area that can beaccessed along the footpath starting on the left of the mainferry terminal entrance.

From the ferry terminal entrance roundabout, continue overthe bascule bridge to the Alfred Dock and its entrance toyour right.

Cyclists to take great care on this section. It is recommended that cyclists dismount. Cyclists to fork right at the roundabout and follow theA554 to Seacombe Ferry terminal.

Walkers: Enter the marked public footpath with AlfredDock on right. Pass the end of East Street and keep leftof Dockmaster’s gated entrance and past his office on yourright. Views of Liverpool re-emerge.

Continue onto the promenade towards the SeacombeFerry Terminal.

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Clockwise:Seacombe - Rock Park

Initially, walkers and cyclists will have to take aseparate route.

Walkers: Exit from the Seacombe Ferry Terminal and turnleft out onto the promenade keeping the river Mersey onyour left. Follow the promenade along until it turns right togo alongside Alfred Dock. Please keep to the designatedfootpath at this location. Exit from the dockside at theroundabout and turn left to go over the bascule bridge.

Cyclists: Exit from the Seacombe Ferry Terminal and followthe walkway passing Spaceport on the left. At BirkenheadRd turn left and follow this road to the roundabout and forkleft to go over the bascule bridge.Cyclists must take great care on this section. It is recommended that cyclists dismount.

At the roundabout for the ferry terminal there is anadditional public footpath to the new viewing area. It can be accessed along the footpath to the left of the mainvehicle entrance. If you go to the viewing area, stay on themarked path keeping Alfred Dock on your left, past theRiver Mersey entrance to Alfred Dock to the viewpoint.Please return the same way to the ferry terminal entranceroundabout. Opposite is the Birkenhead Docks, as pictured,the location of the proposed Wirral Waters scheme.

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Birkenhead Docks with the River Mersey and Liverpool in the background.

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From the ferry terminal entrance roundabout, goover the next bridge and then turn left at the traffic lightsinto Tower Wharf. Then go straight over the nextroundabout into Morpeth Wharf keeping the ferry terminalon your left. Continue to the sea wall promenade and turnright. Continue along the new public footpath past the One O’Clock Gun. This path leads around the old entranceto Morpeth Dock, past the end of Pacific Rd and up toWoodside Ferry Terminal and the U-boat Story.

From Woodside Ferry Terminal and the U-boatStory, continue along the promenade keeping the RiverMersey on your left. Follow the route to the slipway atMonks Ferry. Turn right into Alabama Way towardsBirkenhead Priory. Continue straight over the crossroadsinto Ivy Street. Turn left into Priory Street and the historicBirkenhead Priory is along on the left. Turn right into St Mary’s Gate opposite Birkenhead Priory and to then leftat the end - the Mersey Tunnel entrance area is ahead -onto the shared use footway of the A41. Please take note ofthe shared use signs. Turn left into Campbeltown Rd andpast the Lairds Shipyard on your left.

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East Wirral (Mersey Estuary) - Visit Wirral - Official ... - East Wirral (Mersey... · The East Wirral route takes you from the start of ... The River Mersey was once renowned as

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