Burbo Bank - the Brick Beach

[tpoo22]

We spent a lovely Saturday afternoon wandering north from Crosby Coastguard station, an area I've coined the 'Brick Beach'. The coastline here consists entirely of rubble: bricks, plinths, granite pillars, doorsteps etc.
I can only imagine that this area served as a dumping ground after the Blitz, with the secondary purpose of slowing coastal erosion. Can anyone confirm this? I've been unable to find anything concrete (ha!) on the web, and would love to read any first-hand accounts or anecdotes. I'm moved by the sight of so much human endeavour, laid waste by warfare and now pounded by the sea back into sand.

[geoffrey]

I'm a bit rusty on the geography of that area so i don't know if it's relevant but certainly at Hightown some buildings were just abandoned to coastal erosion and this page mentions builders' rubble being chucked in to try and control the Alt at its mouth.

http://www.seftoncoast.org.uk/articles/99winter_erosion.html

[tpoo22]

Thanks geoffrey - that page seems to be talking about the dumping of rubble to backfill the sea wall. Here's a Google Maps link (http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=53.497741,-3.059075&spn=0.002278,0.005021&t=h&z=18&om=0)to the area I'm talking about. On the satellite view you can see the red tinge of the bricks. I haven't walked that far yet, but it does appear to stretch as far as the mouth of the Alt. There's clear evidence of erosion, since the rubble forms a cliff in places. But where did it all come from? I'd love to know if anyone can confirm that this is from the Blitz

[gregs dad]

It was used to dump materials from buildings being demolished.You can see
large pieces of sandstone which look as if they might be parts of some old churches. I think the idea was to try to stop the erosion by the tide.
The actual Burbo Bank is the large sandbank which appears off shore at low
water where Liverpool`s old fishermen would clean the keels of their boats.
I used to there with my brother and his boat.you would be surprised at the amount of coal and broken crockery you could find. We always brought the coal home for the fire.

[tezmac]

I like walking and when i have been around there i always think it looks very untidy to it,s surroundings

[phredd]

The wife and I paid a visit to the Crosby Coastguard Station a few years back and noticed the brick ?infill? on the beach.
All I could think of was the Slum Clearance of the 60s and 70s.

I was born in Celt Street, West Derby Rd. All the streets in that area, as I knew them, have long gone:-
Grey Rock Street.
Red Rock Street.
White Rock Street.
Norwood Grove,
and most of the others from there down to Belmont Road.

Take that and all of the demolition of Scotland Road and you have a good idea of where the bricks on the beach came from.

Norwood Grove also had a Church and Church Hall on the corner with West Derby Road. That may explain the Sandstone bits found on the beach.

At the age of 70 next week the brain cells are going fast so some of the above may be wrong.

Phredd

[wsteve55]

Hi Phredd,
me and the missus went for a walk along there on Boxing day, and wondered where "fort Crosby" used to be? I think it was demolished in the late 50's,early 60's, but I cant find any info' on this!:snf (41):

[Sirob]

From the beginning of the last century, the mouth of the River Alt began to migrate along the foreshore towards Liverpool. This had the effect of lowering the beach, allowing waves to reach and erode the sand dunes, gardens and large houses along Burbo Bank Road. In fact Burbo Bank Road North itself disappeared at one point.
In 1936, the Alt was diverted out to sea by a breakwater between Hightown and Hall Road. Due to the lowered beach, erosion continued and Blitz rubble and Bootle Tinworks waste was tipped to provide a barrier. Later demolition rubble followed, until the construction of a promenade over part of it. The shore level has now risen enough for erosion to become accretion. Planting of Marram grass on the dunes north of Hall Road has stabilised that section.
Fort Crosby was located in the dunes, in line with an acess crossing the railway, half way between Hall Road and Hightown. In the 1960's, Rainfords extracted sand from that area, but I don't know if they demolished it. It consisted of a long concrete structure, buried at it's seaward side, with barracks and other buildings in the hollow behind it.

The pictures are by the late R. K. Gresswell, who studied this coastline.

[Mayorz]

Ahh yes, fort Crosby

Me and my girlfriend have walked along the beach many times looking for this piece of history. one day we found what was left, and even managed to get into about 3 of the many different bunker type structures by digging a small hole in the sand - once inside they are rather large - but messy :disgust:

[anti dock]

that area used to be called the black rocks. { by the locals }
were you see the sea wall by crosby baths down to were the rubble is
was loads of big black stones and anti tank blocks.
there used to be wooden sea defence wall in the area you are talking about
it was used as a rubble dump

as for the fort it was further down towards hightown there was allso couple of pillboxes there
an episode of z cars was filmed there.

[Waterways]

.

What dock are you anti?

[groundy]

The wife and I paid a visit to the Crosby Coastguard Station a few years back and noticed the brick ?infill? on the beach.
All I could think of was the Slum Clearance of the 60s and 70s.

I was born in Celt Street, West Derby Rd. All the streets in that area, as I knew them, have long gone:-
Grey Rock Street.
Red Rock Street.
White Rock Street.
Norwood Grove,
and most of the others from there down to Belmont Road.

Take that and all of the demolition of Scotland Road and you have a good idea of where the bricks on the beach came from.

Norwood Grove also had a Church and Church Hall on the corner with West Derby Road. That may explain the Sandstone bits found on the beach.

At the age of 70 next week the brain cells are going fast so some of the above may be wrong.

Phredd

Hi Phredd, I used to live in the prefabs in Sheil park I remember Celt St and Goth st very well, Alfie Kehoe in Celt st, and Joey Duvall who had the pub at the corner of goth st,Thanks for the memories Alex

[angus]

[QUOTE=anti dock;167813]that area used to be called the black rocks. { by the locals }
were you see the sea wall by crosby baths down to were the rubble is
was loads of big black stones and anti tank blocks.
there used to be wooden sea defence wall in the area you are talking about
it was used as a rubble dump


I was brought up down there. We lived at right next door to where they built the Baths in 1963 in Warrenhouse Rdand I remember well the filming of Z Cars in about 1965, they shot it it in the car park and my sisters and I were "extras" in that we were filmed playing in the background.
I also remember the fort well as we used to play there as kids and the sandwhining factory just in front of the fort. The fort was blown up in about 1967 although bits of it were around for years after in various states of disrepair and decrepitude along with many bunkers and communications infrastructure. My first cigarette, joint and fishfinger pie were all enjoyed in one of the sunken bunkers that led up to the fort. We moved in 1969 and the tank traps were all removed somwhere about that time.

The bricks and other debris that lined the beach at Hall road came from the houses that fell into the sea after a storm in 1928. Other debris was brought in from the blitz to bolster the sea defences and prevent further errosion of the coast caused by discharge from the River Alt.

[Ged]

Great info angus.

[wsteve55]

Here's a few pic's of fort Crosby. The bunker entrances have now probably gone,as I've never seen any,when I've been down there?

photo's courtesy of ??

[angus]

Nice one Ged and wsteve55. It's funny how many people now in their 50's like me have vivid memories of the old Fort. It was a great place to play. During and immediately after the war POW's were housed there. When I visited East Berlin (DDR Communist) in the late 70's I actualy met a guy who'd been incarcerated there. I've some more photos somewhere of the inside of the fort, I must see if I can locate and post them.
Cheers guys

[wsteve55]

Nice one Ged and wsteve55. It's funny how many people now in their 50's like me have vivid memories of the old Fort. It was a great place to play. During and immediately after the war POW's were housed there. When I visited East Berlin (DDR Communist) in the late 70's I actualy met a guy who'd been incarcerated there. I've some more photos somewhere of the inside of the fort, I must see if I can locate and post them.
Cheers guys

Hi Angus,hope you can find them,as there doesn't seem to be much info' about the fort,and it's activities!(Never knew about the P.O.W.'s !)
Steve.

[angus]

Nice one Steve. Here is the info and photos which came from Andrew Lee-Hart, Local History Unit of Crosby Library.

Fort Crosby: building began 1906. It had a cinema, church, hospital & football pitch. Prisoners left the camp by 1950. The TA used it until 1954. The base was closed in 1957 and blown up in 1967.Fort Crosby was headquarters for the Lancashire and Cheshire Heavy Brigade of the Artillery, as well as for the Mersey and Barrow defences. After the 1st World War it was used as a training centre; there was a regular Major in command and about 40 gunners to man it. They also looked after the defences of Walney Island off Barrow-in-Furness. The original compliment of guns were two 6inch Mark VII guns, the same as installed at Perch Rock. The Fort was never in action during the 2nd World War but examined shipping coming into the area. However the battery grew to include a well dispersed system of searchlights, barracks & anti-aircraft guns. After the war Fort Crosby was used to house German POW's; it had a cinema which showed German & English films, and proved to be popular with local residents. Every Christmas the German POW's would put on a concert at the Industrial School.


**** I cannot download the photos of the interior of the Fort...I'll try again later.

Cheers

[angus]

Right here they are....I hope !
16366

[Ged]

Brill Angus. Just shows what pics are out there waiting to be unearthed.

[wsteve55]

Great pic's Angus,always wondered what it looked like,in use!:nod:

[angus]

Thanks Guys. I remember as a 8 year old running up the stairs you can see in the first photo onto the top of the wall and "defending" it agaist my mates attacking from the dunes. It was surprisingly high and potentially very dangerous for small kids to play on, I remember thinking I could jump onto one dunes but thankfully reconsidered. So I'm not surprised they demolished it. You may remember that they built a massive fence around the whole structure which was blown down in places from the blast of the demolition charges, and the two pill boxs immediately in front of the gates were blown onto their sides.
In one of the gun (spotters) emplacements there was a map of the estuary drawn on the wall with various reference points and ranges.
I had a short correspondance some time ago with the guy who looked after the fort in the final years leading to it's decommisioning. He lived in Formby and had offered to give me all the history etc of the Fort in exchange for a few pints. I had intended to check him out next time I came up to Liverpool for a visit but life intervened and I never got round to it and I've lost his details now.
You may also remember that there was a road leading to the fort that was accessed along the Hightown bends.

[Ron Ham]

Thanks for those pics & interesting info Angus . Ron :handclap:

[Samsette]

Nothing to do with Fort Crosby, but as a 14 year old "second man" on a dump truck I was engaged in trucking the remains of sandbagged fire watch (ARP) huts off the roofs of a number of buildings around the city. We took it to the destroyed branch of Huskinson Dock, where it joined the rubble removed from bombed sites.

[Trampshipman]

From the beginning of the last century, the mouth of the River Alt began to migrate along the foreshore towards Liverpool. This had the effect of lowering the beach, allowing waves to reach and erode the sand dunes, gardens and large houses along Burbo Bank Road. In fact Burbo Bank Road North itself disappeared at one point.
In 1936, the Alt was diverted out to sea by a breakwater between Hightown and Hall Road. Due to the lowered beach, erosion continued and Blitz rubble and Bootle Tinworks waste was tipped to provide a barrier. Later demolition rubble followed, until the construction of a promenade over part of it. The shore level has now risen enough for erosion to become accretion. Planting of Marram grass on the dunes north of Hall Road has stabilised that section.
Fort Crosby was located in the dunes, in line with an acess crossing the railway, half way between Hall Road and Hightown. In the 1960's, Rainfords extracted sand from that area, but I don't know if they demolished it. It consisted of a long concrete structure, buried at it's seaward side, with barracks and other buildings in the hollow behind it.

The pictures are by the late R. K. Gresswell, who studied this coastline.


Great photo`s. I actually remember the last two from my boyhood and have vivid memories of the sea washing around those houses. The last photo though if my memory serves me correctly is of a gun emplacement which was actually on the headland at FRESHFIELD. We used to play in and on it until of course it toppled down the sandhill. I well remember playing around the abandoned and desolate Fort Crosby as a lad too. It was indeed aback the sand dunes in the hightown/Hall road area, which makes me wonder why it was referred to as Fort Crosby ? I do not remember whether it was eventually actually demolished or whether it just gradually disintergrated and became buried in the dunes. I do know however that sand was being taken from the area long before the 60`s. Rainfords wagons
used to load it from the dunes where mechanical shovels were used. The drivers then had to haul it to a railway siding which adjoined Formby Station at that time [by Eccles railway crossing which does still exist]. the drivers themselves then had to transfer the sand themselves by hand into railway wagons just using large hand shovels. They soon all started carrying extra shovels because we as kids would offer to help with the shovelling in return for a ride in the cab to the beach and back again when they were loaded up again.
We often spent all day just shovelling and riding back and forth in the wagons. It was backbreaking work but worth it for the rides. [or so we thought as kids]. Those drivers were all `made up` with us, though of course health and safety would soon put an end to that sort of thing these days. Anyway like I said,that was way before the 60`s, it would have in fact been from around 1942/43 and on, and even then the wisdom of the practise was being questioned, as to why so much sand was being taken from the area when everyone was fully aware that Formby was already below sea level anyway and all that sand was actually our protection.

Regards,
Ken.