👻 Manor Lane is Haunted by the Ghost of Lady Maddocks whom roams the Lane in search of her Lost Manor House. Several people have reported sightings of an old lady vanishing through a brick wall near the bottom of the lane. 👻
Join me for the New Brighton Ghost Walks - Tickets now on sale Click Here
THE LEGENDS OF WALLASEY'S UNDERWORLD
If half the legends of smugglers' tunnels under Wallasey are true. then parts of the borough must be riddled with them. Bulldozers and builders have lost to us forever the chance of finding out the truth about some of them In 1932, workmen demolishing houses in Mersey Street area, found a subterranean passage leading from the river. Adjoining it was a four feet wide shaft 130 feet deep The light of a torch shooed the existence of a passage at the end. Before Corporation officials could be told, workmen filled in the shafts. ' A similar thing happened at Wallasey's old rectory of St. Hilary. In 1938, the then rector found an irregularity in his cellar wall. Closer inspection revealed a doorway blocked with masonry. When this was partly cleared, it uncovered a steep stone stairway descending Into the earth. The outbreak of war prevented the tunnel ever being fully explored. It was bricked up in preparation for the building of a new rectory.
Join me on the Maritime History History Tours and find out more Click Here
Remember The Grand that was destroyed by fire way back in 1998? Well the site remains empty some 23 Years Later…..
This must be a perfect location for a new Hotel or Entertainment Building of some sort.
What would you do with this open space?
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Have they finally decided to make some Progress on the old Travellers Rest site on Union Terrace?
What a catastrophe this has been, should have been opened as part of the New Weatherspoons last August. The site has been closed for at least nearly a year now.
What will happen next?
To be continued……..
It’s Great to see our Fabulous Fort Perch Rock back in full use.
Catching up with Doug last week we had a good chat about things coming up at the Fort.
Currently there is a Mess Quarters Cafe open daily and WW2 Themed Escape Rooms for Entertainment. In the Summer we will have Live Music playing with various big names and cover bands coming to New Brighton.
I’m made up to be running the Back in Time Tours and Ghost Walks from this Historic building.
The Fort is finally back in full use 🤟
Wallasey Wartime Childhood Memories
Written J.D Howard
I was 10 years when war broke out and took a great interest in the fortunes (or otherwise) of the Allies in their various theatres of war. I attended St. George's Road Council School during the first year of the war and then passed the scholarship to the Grammar School.
When the air raid warnings started, my mother would not let me be evacuated and I stayed in Wallasey. Even during the many initial air raid warnings, during the early days, I was allowed to stay in bed as it was hard to believe that there could be more than minimal action. Of course the night came when gunfire from our Green Lane Guns heralded the arrival of the German bombers and I was then required to go to a place of safety always reckoned to be 'under the stairs'. Of course, in the event of a direct hit this would have been no protection.
One morning, after an air raid, my father advised me that bombs had been dropped. This created great interest and we both decided to have a look at this phenomenon. So we walked from Green Lane to Cliff Road and sure enough a house was roped off and there was a hole in the side of the house at path level about 5 feet in diameter, caused by the bomb.
The same night, I recall that bombs were dropped at Strouds Corner, at the end of Rake Lane where it joins Mount Pleasant Road and other places now forgotten.
After that, many bombs were dropped with the worst incidents being at Lancaster Avenue and Church Street. But every year, I remember particularly, the morning of Wednesday, 13th March 1941 which dawned bitterly cold and grey. The 'all clear' had just gone and we emerged from the
communal air raid shelter in Granville Terrace to see rubble everywhere and all the houses in the street and round about without windows, slates and mostly uninhabitable. Some houses had mattresses hanging out of a bedroom window and there was a stench of cordite and burning.
I recalled the moment the bomb dropped which was around at about Midnight, the bang was unbelievably loud and the accompanying sound of breaking glass and falling slates was like an earthquake. As a young boy of 12, I remained personally calm but most of the womenfolk in the shelter were crying and wailing with shock. In my own small way I tried to pacify those who were particularly distressed by saying "it's alright". It didn't really help. Strangely enough and fortunately, this was the first night that we had taken to the shelters on the advice of the wardens.
Anyway, once out of the shelter we crunched our way amongst the slates and glass and made our way back to our own house in Marshland Road. What we found and the record of that night can be best described by the following extract from my diary as follows "Bombed Out".
Nearly every window in the house was out. All the frames were in, every slate was off the roof. The sitting room door was on the piano and the baking bowl that had been on the table in the scullery was found by the front door smashed to pieces.
My bed was burned by an incendiary that came through the roof. One man threw a bucket of water on it ('the mad ass'). Incendiaries were dropping by the thousand. Bombs dropped at Green Lane, Asbury Road, Sandy Lane, Studley Road, Paignton Road, Mayfield Road, Grove Road, Halton Road, Church Street and many other places.
When dad was going into our entry he had to thrown himself on the ground for a bomb which dropped 50 yards away in Green Lane. (This was the heaviest raid in all England). Also the same night, the Coliseum Cinema in Wallasey Village was burnt down by incendiaries and eventually arose as the Phoenix. One of the many strange, even comical, instances that happened at that time was one morning after a raid, a door was found sticking upright in the newly laid concrete roof of the shelter, erected that day in Marshlands Road.
After this many people left Wallasey for safer places and we were able to rent a house in Prospect Vale the same day. When picking up my belongings from amongst the rubble, within our badly damaged house, I was able to rescue my Meccano set and bike as a priority, as well as my collection of shrapnel and nosecaps. My parents of course had other priorities.
At this time, school was optional but my parents made the effort to see that I attended as much as possible. Even after, we had many nights sleeping in the air raid shelter in the back garden of our new house until eventually, in May 1942, the raids stopped and the people of Merseyside could again sleep in peace.
The Whistling Soldier of Liscard Battery
In 1858, Liscard Battery was built to protect the Port of Liverpool from a possible French Invasion
This Victorian Fort was built on top of an old Gunpowder Magazines site and was armed with Cannons.
The Redcoats patrolled the Fort Day & Night in anticipation of Attack.
The Huge Stone Structure was located on the Banks of the River Mersey and was later modified during the 1st World War until it was eventually decommissioned.
The Battery also contains its Ghost Legends, there has been reports from residents of a Whistling Soldier heard late at night Marching up and down patrolling the Front Gates.
Today, only the Battery walls and Front gates remain of this once secure Structure. However, it’s eerie presence is still felt by many after dark.
👻 Hear more local legends and Ghost Stories on our Evening Walks in New Brighton 👻
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Up close and getting a good view of the New Brighton Lighthouse.
It was made out of Marble stone from Anglesey.
There was a Bell to notify ships during foggy nights, this thrilled the locals who thought a Ghost Ship was passing by.
Find out more on our Ghost Walks Click Here
Our Sunday Tours are Back 😊
Join us on Sunday 26th Feb in New Brighton for the Maritime History Tour
Journey through the old Streets and Smugglers Cove of Ye Black Rock to discover the origins of this Seaside Resort.
You will hear of authentic truths, Smugglers Tunnels, Local Myths, Ghost Stories, Life during Wars, the Napoleonic Fort, Perch Rock Lighthouse and all the Legendary Tales about the old towns dark past. Hear about life in Victorian Times and how changes occurred in the following centuries.
Book Now and secure your places Click Here
Our Ghost Walks are Back 👻
Join us on Thursday 23rd February in New Brighton for The Ghosts, Fables and Folklore Tour
Before New Brighton was even born, the area was known as Ye Black Rock and was plagued by Pirates, Smugglers and Mermaids. Join us for 90 minutes of history and mystery in the Old Town. Our Historian takes you on a walk steeped in history and brings to life stories of legends, smugglers, murders and of course, ghosts. Explore the dark streets, Promenade and Victorian Quarter that make up the oldest parts of New Brighton Seaside Resort
Click the link to Book Now and Join us Click Here
Following today’s tour around New Brighton, I was pleasantly surprised when I visited Rockpoint Records.
The Liscard Vale Witches The area of old Liscard Vale has long been associated to Witchcraft and was known locally as “Hells Brow”, and ...
