Bidston is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

Metropolitan Borough of Wirral The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, in North West England. It has a population of (), and encompasses of the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula. Major settlements include Birkenhead, Wallasey, Bebingt ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

, England. Administratively, it is a

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of the County Borough of Birkenhead, within the geographical county of

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

. At the 2001 Census, the population of Bidston was 10,446, consisting of 4,725 males and 5,721 females. By the time of the 2011 Census the

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

was called Bidston and St. James (St James is part of Bidston and not a separate locality). This ward includes Beechwood to the south of Bidston and extends into much of Birkenhead to the east, including all of the south side of the

Great Float The Great Float is a body of water on the Wirral Peninsula, England, formed from the natural tidal inlet, the Wallasey Pool. It is split into two large Dock (maritime), docks, East Float and West Float, both part of the Birkenhead Docks complex ...

. The total population of this ward at this Census was 15,216 of which 7,117 were males and 8,099 were female.

History

Sun Goddess on Bidston Hill-by-Peter-Craine

Bidston has been occupied since the

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic i ...

era, evidenced by

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

s excavated during the 1990s.

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

artefacts have also been discovered in the vicinity of the village. The circular nature of the St Oswald's Church grounds indicate an early origin to the site. Bidston Hill contains a number of ancient rock carvings, including that of a Sun Goddess, thought to have been carved by the Norse-Irish around 1000 AD. The original parish of Bidston comprised Bidston, Moreton, Saughall Massie, Claughton and Birkenhead. Bidston Hall was originally held by the heirs of Hamon de Massey. The hall eventually passed to the Stanley family, after being purchased by John Stanley of Lathom on 24 June 1397. The residential buildings in the village core date from between the 16th and 18th century. Typically, these are former farmhouses, farm buildings and cottages, constructed from local red

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

. Many are

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

buildings.

Early modern

The

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Holyhead Holyhead (; , "Cybi's fort") is a historic port town, and is the list of Anglesey towns by population, largest town and a Community (Wales), community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales. Holyhead is on Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island ...

semaphore telegraph Semaphore (; ) is the use of an apparatus to create a visual signal transmitted over distance. A semaphore can be performed with devices including: fire, lights, flags, sunlight, and moving arms. Semaphores can be used for telegraphy when arra ...

was set up in 1826, on which Bidston had a signals station. This replaced a flag signalling station dating to 1763, and which itself was replaced in 1861 by an

electrical telegraph Electrical telegraphy is point-to-point distance communicating via sending electric signals over wire, a system primarily used from the 1840s until the late 20th century. It was the first electrical telecommunications system and the most wid ...

. Along with the construction of Bidston Lighthouse in 1771, this facilitated shipping to the

Port of Liverpool The Port of Liverpool is the enclosed dock system that runs from Brunswick Dock in Liverpool to Seaforth Dock, Seaforth, on the east side of the River Mersey and the Birkenhead Docks between Birkenhead and Wallasey on the west side of ...

. Bidston Observatory was added in 1866, further enabling shipping movements on the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is a major river in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it h ...

. In the 19th century, Bidston underwent industrial expansion. The greatest effect was possibly the drainage of Bidston Moss, during the construction of Birkenhead Docks. By the end of the century, Bidston had also gained significant railway infrastructure with an engine shed and a

railway junction A junction, in the context of rail transport, is a place at which two or more rail routes converge or diverge. The physical connection between the tracks of the two routes (assuming they are of the same gauge) is provided by turnouts (US: switc ...

where the Birkenhead to

West Kirby West Kirby () is a coastal town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. In the north west of the Wirral Peninsula and at the mouth of the River Dee, the town is contiguous with Hoylake. It lies within the historic county bo ...

, New Brighton and

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

lines met.

20th century

A goods

marshalling yard A classification yard (American English, as well as the Canadian National Railway), marshalling yard (British, Hong Kong, Indian, and Australian English, and the former Canadian Pacific Railway) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway y ...

was added to the railway infrastructure by the early 20th century. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Bidston had an army training camp. Bidston Aerodrome opened temporarily in 1920, on the site of what is now the golf course. Bidston Dock was opened in 1933, remaining in use until the 1990s. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, a German

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as Prisoner of war, prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, inte ...

was temporarily established. Although never used for its original purpose, Bidston Hill's

air-raid shelter Air raid shelters are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack (but ...

was built from December 1941, having 2,213 bunks and 793 seats. The Gordon, a three-wheeled car, was produced in Bidston between 1954 and 1958. The Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory's Joseph Proudman building was opened in Bidston in 1975, surviving until 2013.

Geography

Bidston is in the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula, from the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

at Leasowe, approximately east-north-east of the

Dee Estuary The Dee Estuary () is a large estuary by means of which the River Dee flows into Liverpool Bay. The estuary starts near Shotton after a five-mile (8 km) 'canalised' section and the river soon swells to be several miles wide forming t ...

and west of the

at Seacombe. The village of Bidston is situated on the north-western side of Bidston Hill, with the centre of the village at an elevation of approximately above sea level.

The Birket The Birket is a tributary of the River Mersey, on the Wirral Peninsula, Wirral, Merseyside. The watercourse starts as lowland field drainage south of Hoylake and flows along to the south of Meols. Arrowe Brook joins at Moreton, Merseyside, More ...

passes between Bidston Village and Bidston Moss, before discharging into West Float and then into the River Mersey.

Government

Bidston is part of the

, in the

metropolitan county Metropolitan counties are a Subdivisions of England, subdivision of England which were originally used for Local government in England, local government. There are six metropolitan counties: Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyn ...

of Merseyside. The village is part of the parliamentary constituency of

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

. The current Member of Parliament is

Mick Whitley Michael Whitley (born 17 November 1951) is a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and trade unionist who served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Birkenhead (UK Parliament constituency), Birkenhe ...

, a Labour representative. He has been the MP since 2019 and currently holds a majority of 17,705. The area is also part of a

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, this being Bidston and St. James Ward. Bidston is represented on Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council by three councillors. These are Julie McManus, Ann McLachlan and Brian Kenny, who are all Labour councillors. Ann McLachlan is also the Deputy Leader of the council. The most recent

local elections Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

took place on 5 May 2016. The electorate numbered 9,985, there was a turnout of 24.6% and the majority is 1,373.

Economy

Retail

The major employers in Bidston are a 24-hour

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

superstore and B&Q. The Tesco superstore and petrol station, built in the 1990s, occupy the site of the former Bidston steelworks and a disused railway

. Meanwhile, B&Q operates within the Bidston Moss Retail Park, a development built in the 1980s, which includes branches of

Halfords Halfords Group PLC is a UK retailer of motoring and cycling products and services. Through Halfords Autocentre, they provide vehicle servicing, MOT, maintenance and repairs in the United Kingdom. Halfords Group is listed on the London Stock E ...

, Home Bargains, Carpetright and

Pets at Home Pets at Home Group PLC (sometimes shortened to Pets) is a British retailer selling pets (not limited to rabbits, rodents and fish), pet food, toys, bedding and medication. Founded in 1991, the company operates 453 stores across the UK, as wel ...

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

and

Aldi Aldi (German pronunciation: ), stylised as ALDI, is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 12,000 stores in 18 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and ...

each opened stores at the retail park in 2016. Other businesses, which formerly occupied the retail park, included MFI.

Industrial estate

The Valley Road Industrial Estate includes the premises of Park Group PLC, a Christmas hamper and pre-paid

gift card A gift card, also known as a gift certificate in North America, or gift voucher or gift token in the UK, is a prepaid stored-value card, stored-value money card, usually issued by a retailer or bank, to be used as an alternative to cash for pu ...

provider. Bidston Moss also has one of the main waste and recycling centres for Wirral, which is operated by

Veolia Veolia Environnement S.A., branded as Veolia, is a French transnational company with activities in three main service and utility areas traditionally managed by public authorities – water management, waste management and energy services. In ...

. Originally part of the same site, the former Bidston tip was in operation from the 1930s, closing around 1997, and then landscaped as part of the Bidston Moss Nature Reserve.

Community

Schools

Bidston Village

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

Primary School is located in Ballantyne Drive, close to the centre of the village, and accommodates around 300 pupils. Holy Cross

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Primary School is located on Gautby Road. The Observatory School, located on Bidston Village Road, is a community

special school Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual d ...

serving pupils aged 11–16.

Churches

St Oswald's Church is Bidston's

church, and dates back to the 13th century. The current building has a 16th-century tower, with the rest of the church rebuilt in the mid to late-19th century. Holy Cross Church, the last designed by F. X. Velarde and built in 1959, is a

building located at the junction of Hoylake Road and Worcester Road. This church is Bidston's local

church but is now closed and boarded up. Bidston also has a Kingdom Hall of

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...

, located in School Lane.

Leisure

A play and

community centre A community centre, community center, or community hall is a public location where members of a community gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may be open for the whole community or for a sp ...

is situated on Gautby Road, and a model boating lake is opposite.

Public houses

The only operational public house, within the vicinity of the village, is ''The Bidston'' on Hoylake Road. Bidston has had a couple of public houses closer to the centre of the village. The ''Ring 'o Bells Inn'' closed in 1868, and is now a residential property. ''The Corsair'' closed prior to 2009, and the site was approved for a residential construction in 2015.

Parks, commons and other green spaces

Bidston Hill comprises of heathland and woodland maintained by Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council as a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

and public park. The land was purchased in stages from 1894 to 1908 by Birkenhead Corporation from local landowner Lord Vyner. It is the site of Bidston Windmill, built around 1800 and Bidston Observatory, owned by the

Natural Environment Research Council The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is a British Research Councils UK, research council that supports research, training and knowledge transfer activities in the environmental sciences. History NERC began in 1965 when several envir ...

. Adjacent to Bidston Hill is Tam O'Shanter Cottage, which is believed to have been built about 300 years ago. Its name derives from a stone carving of the poem '' Tam O'Shanter'' by

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...

, which adorns a wall on the site. In 1950, the building was recognised as having special historical interest for preservation. Despite two fires and threats of demolition in 1954 and 1975, the cottage was rebuilt and restored in the mid-1970s. Four acres around the cottage were developed as a city farm in 1986, known as the Tam O'Shanter Urban Farm. Opposite the cottage is Flaybrick Memorial Gardens, Birkenhead's first municipal

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

. The grounds encompass an

arboretum An arboretum (: arboreta) is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arbor ...

and nature trails. Bidston Moss was originally low-lying wetland

marsh In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...

at the head of Wallasey Pool. In 1936 most of the land was given over to residential, commercial and industrial

landfill A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...

. Since the cessation of waste disposal operations in 1995, Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority and the charitable trust Groundwork Wirral have undertaken environmental restoration works to

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

the site. The former landfill sites are now part of a nature reserve, which has several sections surrounding Bidston Moss Retail Park and Junction 1 of the M53. Bidston Village has won title of ''Best Small Village'' several times at the ''Northwest In Bloom'' awards.

Sport

Bidston

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

Club and 18-hole

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...

, opened in 1913, is situated to the north of the village, on the opposite side of the M53 and railway station. The Wirral Tennis and Leisure Centre, operated by the local council and located on Valley Road, offers six indoor and two outdoor

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

courts, a sports hall, a fitness suite and

five-a-side football Five-a-side football is a version of minifootball, in which each team fields five players (four Outfield#In association football, outfield players and a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper). Other differences from association football ...

pitches.

Transport

Road

The village is nearest to the northern end of the B5151 road. The retail park is situated on the A554 and also adjacent to Junction 1 of the

M53 motorway The M53 is an motorway in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside and the Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough of Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire on the Wirral Peninsula in England. It is also referred to as the Mid Wirral ...

. The A553 Bidston bypass separates the village from the railway station, and the retail park, to the north. This dual carriageway allows quicker road travel between Birkenhead and Moreton. The former route, through the centre of the village, is now cut off at the western end by the M53.

Rail

The locality is served by Bidston railway station. Trains operate to

and

on the Wirral Line of the

Merseyrail Merseyrail is a commuter rail network which serves Merseyside and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire in the North West England, North West of England. Merseyrail serves 69 Railway station, stations, 67 of which it manages, across two lin ...

network and to

on the Borderlands Line. Birkenhead North railway station is also a short distance away from the locality.

Cycling

National Cycle Route 56 National Cycle Network (NCN) Route 56 is a Sustrans National Route that runs from Chester to Liverpool. The route utilises country lanes, a former railway trackbed, a coastal path and a seaside promenade. Route Chester to Hooton The route begi ...

passes through the centre of the village, along Bidston Village Road and School Lane. The route continues alongside the A554 and turns off before Bidston Moss Retail Park, travelling between the retail park and the nature reserve and then beneath the M53 motorway. This route goes from Chester to Liverpool via Leasowe and Seacombe and includes part of the Wirral Way, along its course.

Notable people

* Lewis Collins, English actor, born in Bidston *

Elsie Kelly Elsie Kelly (born 7 June 1936) is an English actress. With a career spanning five decades, she has appeared in various television shows including '' Crossroads'', '' The Famous Five'' and '' Harry and the Wrinklies'', before taking on her best k ...

, English actress, lives in Bidston * Harry B. Neilson, illustrator, lived at Meadowbank, 36 School Lane, BidstonChristopher Proudlove,
Life and times of a Comic Genius
' at writeantiques.blogspot.com, accessed 5 March 2019

References

Sources

Bibliography

* *

External links

Tam O'Shanter Urban Farm

{{Populated Places in Wirral Borough Towns and villages in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral Birkenhead