Bidston Hill Photos

[corky100]

A few snaps of the lovely views and Norse carvings of Bidston Hill

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[dazza]

Great photos corky. Was this were they signalled Liverpool when ships rounded the Wirral peninsula?

[pablo42]

Nice one Corky. Used to be me playground when I was a kid.

[corky100]

Think so Dazza, part of the trio of lighthouses from Leasowe to New Brighton. I do believe that they used the observatory as a timepiece to fire the one o'clock gun. Theres others on here with far greater knowledge than I :)

[pablo42]

I think that to get to Liverpool years ago, they used the channey where Bidston Lighthouse was above Moreton Lighthouse, they used to follow the Mockbeggar Channel until they seen the New Brighton Lighthouse and turn left to Liverpool. The Bidston Observatory was the Worlds centre for tidal information and was still being used until quite recent times. You could look through the window and see machines with dials and gears predicting tides. It's a lovely building and well worth a visit. On the other side of Bidston Hill is Flaybrick Cemetary, another place well worth a visit. Tam O' Shanters Urban Farm is nearby and the kids will like that too. There are also tunnels dug underneath Bidston Hill said to be smugglers caves going to Mother Redcaps in Egremont. I think this is Urban Legend, but a good story none the less. There are stories of the good folk of Wallasey enticing ships onto the Red Rocks at New Brighto and Harrison Drive to get them to founder and ravage the cargo. Wallasey folk aint changed much over the years then...

[dazza]

The Wallasey-wreckers, lighting fires on the shore at night to entice ships to run aground. Is it still going on Pabs.? :)

[pablo42]

The Wallasey-wreckers, lighting fires on the shore at night to entice ships to run aground. Is it still going on Pabs.? :)

I think there's one set up for saturday night, but no, it never goes on any more, God Bless you...

[az_gila]

We used to go there after a night drinking to see the sun rise....

Being university students we knocked on the door of the observatory one morning and got a tour - the observatory is (was?) run by Liverpool University.

The item I remember the most was a beautiful wood, brass and glass analogue computer that made the tide tables for the admiralty.

This computer made world-wide tide tables, and the computations were so complex it wasn't replaced by electronic computers until the 60's.

The cables, dials, and brass gears, all in wood cabinets with glass fronts were a work of art/furniture - and functional too. It dated from the 20's and reminded me of the wood/glass architecture in the Liverpool pubs of that era.

[corky100]

From Bidston Moss. Yes, bad Vignetting but I'm feelin lazy :O

[az_gila]

After much searching, I finally found a picture of the computer that intrigued me in 1966 or so....

http://www.pol.ac.uk/home/oetg/images/doodson_lege.jpg

From an era way before Personal Computers - it was built in 1924.

http://www.pol.ac.uk/home/oetg/history.html

[Mark R]

Great photos Corky100 :handclap: Bidston Mill was one of my favourite places to go to as a kid.

[pablo42]

From Bidston Moss. Yes, bad Vignetting but I'm feelin lazy :O

Nice photo Corky. That building on the right hand side is the old St Georges School, I think it's called Claremount now. This was the first solar powered heating system in the World. It was offered to the Government and was turned down. The way it works has remained a mystery since the inventors death. Many people have tried to copy the idea with no success.

[pablo42]

After much searching, I finally found a picture of the computer that intrigued me in 1966 or so....

http://www.pol.ac.uk/home/oetg/images/doodson_lege.jpg

From an era way before Personal Computers - it was built in 1924.

http://www.pol.ac.uk/home/oetg/history.html

Nice picture Gila, yes that's how I remember it too. I thought it was built a lot earlier than that.

[az_gila]

Nice picture Gila, yes that's how I remember it too. I thought it was built a lot earlier than that.

The Yo sailors should be interested. I created tide table for the essentially the entire world via the Admirality from the 1920s until the mid 60's.

When I was there, they had just started using the university KDF9 computer (top rate stuff for the mid-60's, but it took all night on the computer just to do a few calculations....:)

[pablo42]

Nice one.

[Aprillove20]

Those are lovely views and stunning photos corky. Good stuff!