At The River's Mouth

Crosby Coast

2006-10-21T12:08:00.000+01:00

After writing about the iron men of Another Place, I thought I would share some images of the Crosby shore taken near the Serpentine. This part of the shore often has such luminous light and wonderful cloud formations over the Mersey Bar.

You can look out over the Wirral and on clear days see Snowdonia.

We will be sharing more images of our favourite spots on the Mersey and Dee coastlines in future posts such as Alt Estuary, Rock Park, the foreshore at Brombrough, Thurstaston shore, Hilbre etc.

I have been travelling in land a lot recently and I realise more than ever that I couldn't be away from the sea for too long. The reason I live where I do was based on being near the sea and the river to get the best of both experiences.

Col 21/10/06

Antony Gormley's Another Place

2006-10-20T16:27:00.000+01:00

Art doesn't always engender public adoration but Antony Gormley's Another Place has certainly got people talking since Sefton Council decided not to back a bid to keep the piece of art on Merseyside. It is estimated that Another Place attracted 600,000 extra visitors to Crosby beach over the last 18 months and many people want the artwork to stay though the local coastguard has reservations about it's safety and other groups such as fishermen were unhappy.

Another Place consists of 100 cast-iron, life-size figures spread out along three kilometres of the foreshore, stretching almost one kilometre out in to the Mersey estuary.

The work has been exhibited at Crosby Beach on Merseyside after previously been seen in Cuxhaven in Germany, Stavanger in Norway and De Panne in Belgium. It was never intended for the installation to remain on Merseyside and was expected to be moved to New York in November 2006. However, many people want it to stay and the local and national press coverage has certainly stirred up a lot of interest.

The artwork was brought to the area by South Sefton Development Trust, an organisation set up by South Sefton Partnership to continue its regeneration work in the area.

The Another Place figures - each one weighing 650 kilos - are made from casts of the artist's own body and are shown at different stages of rising out of the sand, all of them looking out to sea, staring at the horizon in silent expectation.

I personally was enthralled by the work which could be experienced in many different ways depending on the state of the tide, the weather conditions and the time of day when you visited. I loved to see the figures emerge after a full tide as though they were being re-born. The figures have also become part of the landscape as they have rusted and been encrusted with barnacles as nature clings to them for life.

According to Antony Gormley, Another Place harnesses the ebb and flow of the tide to explore man's relationship with nature.

He explained: ''The seaside is a good place to do this. Here time is tested by tide, architecture by the elements and the prevalence of sky seems to question the earth's substance. In this work human life is tested against planetary time. This sculpture exposes to light and time the nakedness of a particular and peculiar body. It is no hero, no ideal, just the industrially reproduced body of a middle-aged man trying to remain standing and trying to breathe, facing a horizon busy with ships moving materials and manufactured things around the planet.''

The environmental impact of Another Place on the coastline and local wildlife has been judged to be minimal and also reversible.

I believe the artwork to be visionary and inspirational allowing different people to experience art in different ways depending on the time of day and weather and adds a unique dimension to the foreshore.

I believe it is very short-sighted to let them go given the work being done to enhance the coastline by Mersey Waterfront and the forthcoming Capital of Culture in Liverpool. I would think that the artwork will have attracted more people than some of the things planned in Liverpool for 2008.

If I was on Wirral Council, I would be calling up Antony Gormley and getting them booked in for the North Wirral coastline off Leasowe Bay!!!

Shipments To & From Birkenhead Docks

2006-10-20T11:10:00.000+01:00

The above consignment notes were usually fixed to the exterior of railway wagons to denote the destination and the consignee of the wagon's loads. I recently picked this one up off Ebay because of its local connections.

As a youngster in the early 60's, I would love watching the trains pass near my house. I used to go to an advantage point on the top floor of a tenement block which was located just off Green Lane, Birkenhead. From this spot, I could overlook engine movements on Birkenhead Depot as well as catch what was coming out and going into Woodside Station. More importantly, I could watch the movements in and out of Birkenhead Docks which always threw up surprises with engines travelling from across the country hauling loads to be shipped out or taken in land to other industrial centres. The sound of 9F's, WD's and 8F's still rings in my ears though most have long gone to the big scrap yard in the sky.

The load denoted in the consigment note was from the British Steel plant in Corby and was handled by Cayzer Irvine on one of their Clan Line ships. The date is obscured but looks like 24th July 1964 and was for 135 bales of a finished steel product.

Clan Grant Mid 60's

The shot of Clan Grant above appears to have been taken in the West Float, Birkenhead Docks on the Wallasey side of the docks.

Vittoria Docks, Birkenhead Early 60's
Vittoria Docks, Birkenhead Early 60's

The above 2 shots of Vittoria Dock come from my own archives and show the dock before the construction of the new buildings in the late 60's which are still standing. The Clan Line shed can be clearly seen on both shots to the left though the ships on both photos appear to be Blue Funnel Line ships.

I often pass through the docks and I am always filled with awe to think of all the material which has passed through and all the people who took part in such a large scale operation. I used to look down from Bidston Hill as a kid, where you could get the best view of the dock's size and complexity and view all the ships, and because they looked like part of a giant model longed to replicate them back at home to play with.

Back then, Triang the toy makers used to make Minic metal ships with pieces of docks, warehouses etc and with these and cast off pieces of metal and plastic from my Dad's work, I would build my own version of Birkenhead Docks. I recall my Dad buying me a piece of blue/green plastic made by Triang to represent the sea. That piece of plastic bought on late murky afternoon in Blackburn represented for me a magical experience because our brown linoleum floor was a poor substitute for the sea and now I had something nearer to the real thing.

Wirral Fingerposts

2006-10-11T22:14:00.000+01:00

Saughall Massey Village

A553 at Heron Road/Birkenhead Road Junction, Meols

We haven't come across too many fingerposts on the Wirral as yet. The above 2 are both being encroached upon by shrubbery!!!

For some reason, fingerposts remind me of the I-Spy books which I used to love when I was kid which you had to complete by seeing things on your travels along roadsides etc. I was surprised to discover that they are still published by Michelin.

Col 12/10/06

New Brighton Sunsets Part 2

2006-10-11T20:48:00.000+01:00

Harrison Drive 16/9/06

New Brighton Promenade 9/9/06

Here are some of my photos of sunsets in New Brighton.

Barb 12/10/06

Cheshire Fingerposts

2006-10-11T17:53:00.000+01:00

A534 by Coombe Dale

In a previous post, I mentioned that fingerposts are now receiving attention from the authorities in order to preserve and maintain iconic features of travel in our countryside which had been disappearing too quickly.

I have posted some examples of Cheshire fingerposts which we have come across on recent travels.

2 Shots at Fullers Moor on A534

Bunbury Village

South of Utkinton

2 Shots at Willington Corner

Hoylake Station Signal Box

2006-10-09T15:48:00.000+01:00

Hoylake Station Signal Box Circa 1981/2

I have long had an interest in railways which began as a child and was inspired my father's love of model railways and the fact that we lived across the road from Birkenhead Steam Shed situated in Mollington Street. The sound of engines shunting is one of my earliest childhood memories combined with watching the coal lorries come and go from the coal yard which was alongside the shed. The sound of the shunting was combined with the periodic clattering of the coal from the hoppers into the tenders of the huge British Rail 9Fs which would probably be starting their run on the iron ore trains from Bidston Dock to Shotton Steel Works.

I will return to my railway memories from the 50's and 60's at a later date. While researching another topic, I came across some information on Hoylake's former signal box. In the early 80's, I had another spell of interest in railways travelling all over the country. I regret now that I didn't record too much of the local scene especially the architecture because so many parts of the Merseyrail system have been demolished since then. This is especially true of the signal boxes including Hoylake Station's signal box which was demolished in 1994 as part of the re-signalling of the Wirral Line.

The above photo was taken on a summer's day after we had alighted from a train on route to a visit to Red Rocks in Hoylake. I can recall seeing the Class 503 approaching and thought the backdrop of the signal box would add an element of interest. It was taken from the footbridge over the line.

Hoylake Station is a wonderful example of art deco railway architecture and was recently restored to it's former glory for the Open Golf Tournament this summer which the town hosted to great success. One pleasing aspects of the planning of the tournament's success was the use of the Merseyrail system to transport the spectators to and from the golf course.

The first Hoylake Station was originally part of the the Seacombe, Hoylake & Deeside Railway (SHD) which was a late provider of proper signalling - Hoylake box opened in 1889. The Board of Trade were not impressed when they inspected the new work either, finding the level crossing hand-worked and not interlocked, with the signal box at the other end of the station controlling the good yard. They suggested the box be moved nearer the level crossing but this advice was ignored.

However, when the line was doubled from the Birkenhead direction in 1895, they found the situation unaltered. At their first inspection (on 5th November) they demanded the gates be interlocked with the box. They returned on the 19th to check the newly completed arrangements and then stipulated once again that the box must be moved. It was only then that the box was moved to the position seen here, next to the level crossing.

The box was of standard Railway Signal Company design, although the lower row of windows normally provided on that design did not appear on any boxes in this area. Hoylake box did not remain in the SHD's ownership for long - passing to the Wirral Railway in 1891.

Inside the box was a standard Railway Signal Company lever frame of twenty-one levers (the original frame had just thirteen), and as can be seen nearly all were operational. The red and yellow lever (with white band) controls an Intermediate Block Home signal at Meols which was provided after the box there was abolished.

At the far end of the frame is the gate wheel, whilst visible on the block shelf is one of the two London & North Western type block instruments. It is likely these were installed during London, Midland and Scottish Railway ownership, replacing one-wire, two position instruments previously in use.

I was fortunate during the early 80's to firstly live next to a driver who took me on several cab rides around the Wirral Line and then I moved next door to the signal box man for New Brighton who let me into the box on several occasions.

Ships In Birkenhead Docks Circa 1980's

2006-10-09T15:32:00.000+01:00

Semeli in East Float
Saudi Ambassador Duke Street Wharf

Luka Botic Cavendish Wharf

As promised, the above selection of B/W photos from my Dad's collection represent only a small part of the photos he snapped during the late 70's and early 80's in Birkenhead Docks. The best ones are amongst a collection of 35mm coloured slides.

I will post up more as I get chance. I would love to publish all the slides because there are some wonderful pictures in the collection of a time when Birkenhead Docks was still very busy.

I have been unable to discover very little information on the above 3 vessels:

The Semeli was Greek owned but sailed under the Belize and St. Vincent & Grenadines flags. I found a record of her colliding with a Bulgarian vessel in the Bosphorus and sinking in 1999 but I also read that she had accident at a later date and was in dry dock in Ferrol!!! She usualy carried grain and maize which would mean that she was probably off-loading that cargo in the photograph in the East Float Mills.

I couldn't discover anything about the Saudi Ambassador.

The Luka Botic was a multi-purpose freighter which was in the 80's a Yugoslavian vessel named after the Romantic 19th Century Yugoslavian poet and registered in Split.

New Brighton Sunsets

2006-10-09T11:55:00.000+01:00

New Brighton Postcard Circa 1905

Often when you read about New Brighton in old guide books there is usually mention of the wonderful sunsets viewed from the town which is reflected by many turn of the 19th Century postcards.

My wife prompted me to post up some of our photos of this year's sunsets which once again prove that the North Wirral is the place for spectacular sunsets.

Harrison Drive 16th September 2006

New Brighton Promenade 29th September 2006

New Brighton Promenade 10th July 2006

Harrison Drive 9th September 2006

Stewart Bale

2006-09-24T14:15:00.000+01:00

Riverside Station Circa 1945

The evocative images from the Stewart Bale archive are amongst my favourite photographs of Liverpool.

Stewart Bale Ltd. were commercial photographers operating out of Liverpool from 1911 to the early 1980s and specialising in architectural and technical photography. The name of the firm derives from its founder’s surname, Herbert Stewart Bale (1859 - 1929), a printer who immigrated to England from Australia in the early 1900s and established an advertising agency, initially in Seacombe in 1899 and then in Liverpool.

A high standard of photographic illustrative work was required by the business but the difficulty in finding photographers to meet this standard eventually led them to fulfil this role themselves, beginning with the introduction of Edward Stewart Bale (1889 - 1944), Herbert’s son, into the firm as a photographer.

The range of subject areas are great but are particularly well represented in shipping (including major shipping and shipbuilding companies), dock activity; industry and construction (including the Queensway Mersey tunnel); architecture (including construction of Liverpool’s Anglican and Metropolitan cathedrals); transport, social history and World War II (including bomb damage). Further, the geographical range of commissions was extensive within the North West of England and beyond.

We are fortunate that Liverpool Museums have a large archive of the company's work some of which has been published by the Bluecoat Press in "A Liverpool Album" in 1997.

Liverpool Lime Street Station 2006

I was inspired by the classic Stewart Bale shot of Riverside Station to recently take the above photo of Lime Street Station but I am way short of the mark being unable to capture the shadows of the 1945 photo!

Liverpool Museums recently ran a competition challenging people to capture images of Merseyside based on Stewart Bale originals. You can see the results here. If you visit the on-line exhibition you will see the work of Pete Carr who produces outstanding digital images of Liverpool and other subjects. Pete Carr's work was new to me and the Flickr site also contains many interesting images of Merseyside from other photographers as well.

Stewart Bales's former home (dark door) at 158 Rake Lane Liscard

I was re-reading one of Noel E Smith's books recently and discovered that one of the Bales lived at 158 Rake Lane Liscard for a number of years but I am not sure whether it was the father or the son? It is house that I have passed thousands of times over the years and never realised the connection!

Richard Wane

2006-09-24T12:03:00.000+01:00

Unloading The Catch

I came across the artist Richard Wane while reading a book by the local history writer Noel E. Smith who has written several informative books about Wallasey and New Brighton. Richard Wane was born in 1852 and died in 1904 at his home in Egremont, Wirral. He specialised in landscape, coastal and genre painting and studied at the Manchester Academy. He was living in Manchester in 1881, Conway 1883, Deganwy 1887, Dulwich 1890 before moving to Egremont in 1895.

100 Victoria Road New Brighton

During his time on Merseyside. he had at least 2 studios; one above the original Post Office at 100 Victoria Road, New Brighton; and another in North John Street which he shared with the Manx painter E. C. Qualye. Two of Wane's children also became painters, Ethel and Harold.

Wane was at one time President of the Liver Sketching Club

Approaching The Storm

Unloading The Catch In A Calm Bay

He exhibited at Royal Hibernian Academy 1902, Royal Scottish Academy 1902, New Water Colour Society 1903, Royal Institute Of Painters 1903, Royal Cambrian Academy 1904, Royal Society Of British Arts 1907, Royal Institute Of Oil Painters 1908. Hew as also a member of the Royal Society Of British Artists. He had retrospective exhibitions at the Royal Academy Of Arts in 1920 and Manchester Art Gallery in 1932.

To date, I have not been able to find any paintings which feature Mersyside by Wane. However, during the course of researching him I fell upon a host of fine artists who lived on the Wirral who specialised in marine art. I will be featuring these local artists in future posts.

Colin 24/9/06

Gorsey Lane Hightown

2006-09-03T15:45:00.000+01:00

Gorsey Lane Hightown

Last bank holiday, we escaped the traffic by meandering down Gorsey Lane hoping then to drive into Sandy Lane and eventually reach Hightown. However, the lane eventually petered out even though the OS Map would lead you to believe otherwise. It was though the local populace had let the trees and bushes grow over the lane to prevent any interlopers discovering their quiet backwater, around the fields of Moss Farm, which lies about half a mile from Hightown.

We eventually had to turn round and the above photo was taken as we drove back towards the main road. We later found the other side of Sandy Lane by Hightown Cricket Club and discovered that it was just as difficult to navigate out of Hightown as well.

We had originally set out to visit the mouth of the River Alt after being prompted by feedback from a visitor to our blog. We will be posting our photos and discoveries about the Alt in a later post.

Colin 3/9/06

Dr Poggi's Shelter

2006-08-23T10:36:00.000+01:00

"Dr Poggi's Shelter" Egremont Promenade

The River Mersey waterfront continues to go through a period of rapid change with a myriad of both private and public sector developments and initiatives.

One of these initiatives is the Mersey Waterfront programme which is part of the North West Development Agency's portfolio of work on Merseyside.

"The Mersey Waterfront programme is not only bringing millions of pounds of investment to transform the area, it is energising the communities that live alongside the water, and connecting buildings with beaches with wildlife with business with transport with tourists with artists with industry with the wider environment."

A flagship theme of the Mersey Waterfront programme is "Pride in our Promenades" aiming to transform the historic promenades which have suffered from years of neglect. The programmes' plan is to unite them into a superbly designed, world-class seafront where visitors and residents alike can enjoy the sense of connection between sea and land that promenades invite.

Earlier this year, Mersey Waterfront invited the views of the local communities of Egremont, New Brighton and Seacombe to help develop the he stretch of promenade from Seacombe Ferry Terminal to New Brighton - called ‘Egremont Promenade’ which is to be developed as part of the next stage of this programme.

The views of the People's Panel on the proposals for Seacombe Gateway, Seacombe Embankments and Vale Park Interface have now been published and cover many aspects and features of the promenade.

One of the features covered in their proposals is a shelter called "Dr Poggi's Shelter" which stands on the corner of the promenade and Magazine Lane next to Vale Park. The shelter is named after a Dr Poggi who owned the New Brighton College which stood on the site of the present shelter. It was originally built as a hotel which was known as the Liscard Hotel. Around 1850, the hotel's name was altered to New Brighton Hotel as New Brighton developed into a seaside resort though sometime after that it changed again to the Stanley Arms.

Rocks on the foreshore below Egremont Promenade near the shelter

Only the rocks on the present foreshore give us a feel what the river bank was like during the early 1830's. A Victorian painting of the building shows that the former hotel was a large 3-storey building and faced out towards river and had its own sea wall with railings and steps down to the beach. The hotel closed sometime in the 1850's and was opened by Dr Poggi an Italian who had fled his country during the war for independence. He was a close friend of Garibaldi who was the leader of the Italian nationalists fighting to reunite their country. It is known that Poggi came to England sometime around 1850 and had run a college for young gentleman in Seacombe before transferring to New Brighton. Poggi more than likely came to England as a refugee following the collapse of the Italian nationalist forces which were defeated by the French in 1849.

Garibaldi actually sent his 2 sons Menotti (b.1840) and Ricciotti (b.1847) to Poggi's college. Originally, Ricciotti had gone with his father to Nice, France and attended college there around 1850 before being placed in the care of an English woman called Emma Roberts. Emma Roberts must have been trusted by Garibaldi because she took the young disabled Ricciotti back to England for orthopaedic treatment and education.

It has been recorded that they were in residence when the school caught fire in 1864. However, Ricciotti and Menotti would have been 17 and 24 respectively which puts in doubt whether both were there at the time of the fire. It has been claimed that Menotti's diary was discovered in 1880 and he mentions the fire. Recent research shows that by around 1858, he was fighting with his father back in Italy which casts doubt on whether he went back to the college. The same research states that Ricciotti spent his childhood and adolescence in England but was back in Italy for the Italian Unification celebrations in 1870. Therefore, the reference to the fire in Menotti's diary may refer to his brother's presence at the school in 1864 or Poggi kept in touch with the family after their return to Italy.

The fire led to the subsequent closure of the college due to the damage caused by the fire. Poggi then moved the school to Victoria Road, across from the Trocadero Cinema in New Brighton, but there is little evidence that it existed for too long.

The former school in Magazine Lane was used as a baker's shop and a warehouse before it was demolished in 1899. This probably occurred following or during the building of Egremont Promenade or the development of the former estates of the Woodlands and Liscard Vale Hall into Vale Park.

I have searched a number of sources but have been unable to establish when the shelter was built and whether it was called "Dr Poggi's from when it was built. There are number of published early 20th century photographs and postcards of the promenade at his point but none show the shelter.

Inside of the shelter

Close up of tilework

Ornate pillar supporting shelter

The shelter is built of "Ruabon" engineering brick and has "Minton" type tiles on it's inside walls. There are some pieces of patterned "Ruabon" brick on the inside walls. The building is supported by elaborate iron work. The inside paving and the roof do not appear to be original. There would appear to have been windows which have been bricked up at some stage. The 2 benches are not original.

The shelter has been recognised by Mersey Waterfront as an important feature on the promenade and the People's Panel consider 4 options for the regeneration of the shelter:

A) Restoration.
B) Refurbish the shelter, retaining some features and altering other parts.
C) Remove the shelter altogether.
D) Replace the shelter with a new, more modern shelter.

Looking south from the shelter on a cold winter's morning in January 2006

Apparently, the majority of panel us choose option ‘B’ as top priority.

I personally believe that the existing shelter should be refurbished. I don't think making it a gateway into the park would be a good idea as proposed by some members of the panel. This would mean some alteration affecting the layout of the shelter thus interfering with it's history.

Let's hope whatever is decided enhances what is a wonderful asset from which to view the river.

Col 23/8/06

New Life For Birkenhead Docks?

2006-08-17T17:44:00.000+01:00

Birkenhead Docks August 2006

This week's Wirral Globe dropped through my door this morning with the news that Peel Holdings, the owners of Birkenhead Docks, are about to announce a complete re-development of the docks. Peel Holdings are responsible for the re-development of Salford Quays. To be honest Wirral has been slow to fully realise one of its prize assets in the same manner as Salford or many other former port towns such as Hull, Swansea, Preston and Belfast have already done. Though we mustn't forget that the refurbishment of Woodside and the continued Twelve Quays development have paved the way for further regeneration to the once thriving area.

The development doesn't really surprise me given Peel Holdings track record but water seems to draw people and the recent success of the first East Float flour mill conversion shows what can be achieved. In years to come the East Float development may be regarded as Birkenhead's and Wallasey's Albert Dock kick starting a renaissance.

I had already been gathering photos of the docks as they are now and archiving my father's photos of dockland scenes for future use on the blog. This announcement has given me greater incentive to record the area before the transformation begins. While walking around the docklands last week, I was prompted to think how much had already gone in my lifetime.

The over-riding thought as I walked around was the sense of how quiet the area had become in comparison to when I was child. But more of my recollections later.

Above is a photo of the docks last night as we drove over the Four Bridges.

Col 17/8/06

Fingerposts

2006-08-16T14:52:00.000+01:00

In the "quiet lanes" of Elwy Valley, Denbighshire

While driving through the Elwy Valley in Denbighshire, we came across this old fingerpost sign which was just about standing up.

We had stopped at the junction on this quiet lane to take in the views across the valley. The sign pointed back towards St Asaph where we had been in the morning exploring the country's smallest cathedral city for genealogical evidence for one of my wife's ancestors. Cefn Meiriadog is well known for its chapel ruins and the holy well at Ffynnon Fair (St Mary's Well). At one time the well was thought to have curing properties, but it fell into ruin during Henry the Eighth's reign.

Traditional direction signs make a very important contribution to the local character and identity of suburbs, villages and rural areas across the country. Fingerposts are a cherished part of the traditional image of the British countryside and suburban fringe. They have become icons that are important to national as well as to rural identity.

Seeing the above example, prompted me to search out whether anyone was actually doing anything to protect and maintain the distinctive fingerposts which gives a sense of continuity in a rapidly changing environment.

I soon found out that there is now a Department of Transport guidance note on Traditional Direction Signs ("Fingerposts") that emphasises the particular importance of high quality design and maintenance of transport infrastructure in historic urban and village environments, and in rural areas of high landscape. This guidance note gives a brief history of fingerposts and sets out guidelines for their protection and maintenance.

There is a long history of directional signs in the UK but fingerposts first appeared after the 1903 Motor Car Act 1903 which passed responsibility for the provision of all traffic signs to local authorities. The fingerposts which we still see today came about after 1921 when the Ministry of Transport provided a model for direction signs, which recommended standard 21/2 or 3-inch black upper case lettering on a white background, and specified that the name of the authority responsible for maintenance should be included in the design. The supporting posts were to be white. This requirement was set down in regulations in 1933 with a slightly modified font. The posts were now specified to be black and white.

Although based on a common model, local authorities had considerable discretion over the design of the posts, arms and finials, and this led to a rich variety of local styles which reinforced local character and identity. Following criticism of the inadequacy of the 1933 traffic signs system, in 1961 a Committee was appointed under Sir Walter Worboys to review traffic signs. The result was the 1964 Traffic Signs Regulations, which specified a new standard national style based on a mixed case font. Although local authorities were encouraged to remove traditional fingerposts, there was no general requirement to do so, and existing pre-1964 signs remain lawful to this day.

The 2005 guidance note also recommends that new fingerposts can be created in the countryside to maintain the rural character.

Col 16/8/06

Changing Urban Landscape Of Liverpool

2006-08-16T12:15:00.000+01:00

Beetham Tower reflected at the corner of Chapel Street October 2005

Liverpool's Open Eye Gallery has always been a regular stopping off place for me over the years since I first discovered their original premises in Queen's Square. The gallery is now located at 28-32 Wood Street in the heart of Liverpool's Creative Quarter. A forthcoming exhibition of photographs by Carlos Garaicoa has caught my imagination. The exhibition by the entitled Havana-based artist will explore the changing urban landscape of Liverpool and will run from September 16th to November 26th 2006.

Since I obtained a digital camera, I have been trying to document the changing urban landscape of Liverpool trying to record the development and loss as the city continues it's renaissance. Therefore, I look forward to visiting Carlos Garaicoa's exhibition after recently familiarising myself with his work.

NY from Carlos Garaicoa's The Traveller's Map 1996

Garaicoa was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1967, where he currently lives and works. He studied thermodynamics at the Instituto Técnico Hermanos Gómez and studied visual arts at the Instituto Superior de Arte in Cuba from 1989 to 1994. Although never formally trained as an architect, he has been an active observer of architecture and has applied this discourse to his artwork.

Carlos Garaicoa's "Cuban Garden" 1997

He explores architecture as a metaphor for the fate of 20th Century utopian ideals and the potential - and failure - of post-revolutionary Cuba. Using a wide variety of mediums besides photography and drawing - like sculpture and video which are not featured in this show - Garaicoa explores the possibilities of buildings featured in his photographs by using outlines that give us an idea of what they looked like when they were new, what they might look like if they ever get built, or imaginative interpretations of the best that they can be. Garaicoa documents architecture that has fallen into disrepair and decay and building projects that have been halted in and around his native Havana. He dwells with longing on old buildings that were destroyed to make way for new ones in cities within Cuba and elsewhere. Cuba was famous for its historic architecture and its mouth-wateringly beautiful colonial buildings - many of which will not see a future at all unless a concerted effort is made to preserve them.This is not exclusive to Cuba - there are many countries where colonial architecture is crumbling to rubble through neglect as new structures tower around them.

Garaicoa’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions, including Art in General, New York; Arts TeorETICA, San José, Costa Rica; Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango, Bogotá; The Bronx Museum of the Arts; Castello di Rivoli, Turin; Centro Wilfredo Lam and Fundación Ludwig de Cuba, Havana; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Kunsthalle, Vienna; Museo de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; and Vancouver Art Gallery. He has participated in the V, VI, and VII Bienales de La Habana; XXIV and XXVI Bienais de São Paulo, Brazil; Documenta XI, Kassel, Germany; 1997 Kwangju Biennale, South Korea; Sonsbeek 9, Arnhem, Holland; and I Yokohama Triennial, Japan. He has also been invited to participate in the 2005 Venice Biennale.

Garaicoa says “One of the propositions of my work is to extract the city’s secret and to expose it. Moreover setting up this secret as a critical discourse about contemporary society has become necessary to give shape to my work and which makes it exist, between fiction and the void of our fragmented memory”.

Littlewood's Building from Bixteth Street October 2005

As I have wandered around the city recording the changes in the landscape I have unearthed in my own memory the stories which linger in my mind of what existed and occurred before the changes started to eradicate the physical reality of where those stories began.

Col 16/8/06

Ponds On The Wirral

2006-07-25T10:02:00.000+01:00

Last weekend, we spent Saturday on one of our periodic rambling and unplanned adventures on the back roads of the Wirral where you can get lost in time. Turning down Willow Lane in Raby brought my mind back to an evening in the early 60's, when my father took me fishing somewhere in this vicinity, the precise location is long lost in my memory.

As we came across the pond which I have passed so often in the past, something told me we should stop and as we did we disturbed a heron who was preparing for a catch. This chance encounter left us feeling guilty but the desire to stand at the pond's edge for a moment overcome any feelings of guilt.

Water in any shape always beckons to my inner soul and I need to constantly connect with water otherwise I feel empty. I also wanted to connect back to that moment in the 60's when on that evening I caught a Stickleback while fishing in a pond. My father had opened the jar for me to drop the fish in until we ready to go home so that we could safely return the small fish back to the water before we left.

In stopping at this particular pond, we were prompted to talk about how many ponds had disappeared since out childhood and the significance they have played in human development in the area and how important they are for biodiversity.

I lived as a child in the centre of Birkenhead and had little chance to play around ponds except on journeys to my cousin's in Bunbury, Cheshire or on day excursions by car or bus out in the Wirral countryside.

When my family moved to Oxton in the middle 60's, I entered a world which was rapidly changing but fortunately for a brief time I was able to explore the fields which still existed around Oxton and Prenton which then contained many ponds which sadly have been lost in the urban sprawl which affects much of East Wirral.

In recent times, various organisations from DEFRA to Wirral Borough Council to John Moores's University have recognised that ponds need to be protected and are essential for biodiversity as well as preserving our heritage because most ponds in Wirral are actually man-made. Ponds are found throughout the North West with particularly high densities present on the Cheshire plain, the Fylde, the area south of the Ribble, to the north and west of Chorley, on the Wirral and West Manchester, particularly around Wigan. In some areas pond density exceeds thirty-five per kilometre square. Large numbers of ponds were excavated on the Cheshire and Lancashire plains. These ponds are associated with lime-rich soils.

Prior to industrialisation and the fertiliser industry, small pits were dug to extract marl or boulder clay for spreading on surrounding fields as top dressing. Many of these pits have since filled with water to form ponds. Ponds elsewhere have been dug for a variety of reasons, especially local sand and brick clay and for amenity purposes. Many ponds, however, are now in the late stages of natural succession and are starting to fill with silt and vegetation. Others have been in-filled for agricultural purposes or have been lost to road construction and building developments, especially in urban fringe situations.

Of nearly 42,000 ponds identified on Ordnance Survey maps of the Cheshire region in the 1870s, 61% had disappeared by the early 1990s. Pond loss has taken place across the county and is associated with a number of different replacement land-uses; loss rates are highest in areas of urban development, but numbers have declined most rapidly on farmland. From aerial photography, only 45% of those ponds remaining show areas of open water, many being completely overshadowed by trees or with substantial emergent vegetation. The effects of pond loss are now being felt in increasing fragmentation of the pond landscape; the density of wet ponds over the county has fallen 17.8 per sq.km. (c. 1870) to 3.25 per sq.km. (1992/3), and the 'connectedness' of the pond landscape has been similarly reduced. Nevertheless, the county of Cheshire still has the densest pond landscape in lowland Britain and probably has no equivalent elsewhere in north-western Europe.

In order to conserve ponds locally, there are several organisation who are protecting them for the future. Several ponds in Wirral are included within sites designated as Local Nature Reserve(LNR) and are protected by Wirral Borough Council such as Bidston Moss and Thurstaston Common. Ponds are also included in sites designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) such as Dee Cliffs. Others are in sites designated as Sites of Biological Importance (SBI) such as: The Dungeon Pond; Raby Ponds; Benty Heath Lane Ponds and Sandbrook Lane Pond. Ponds are also recognised by the Wirral Borough Council as essential for biodiversity. Ponds were recognised as important in the Merseyside landscape as well as their continuing creation by the Pondlife Project.

A further problem is that whilst large areas of natural habitat survive in Wirral, many have become separated and fragmented. This adversely affects the mobility of species and their ability to survive or adapt to environmental change. Of particular concern are Bidston Hill and Eastham Woods, cut off from the open countryside by urbanisation, and the very narrow ‘green-belt’ corridors between the urban areas of Heswall/Pensby, Greasby, Upton and Woodchurch. The M53 motorway is also a major barrier to wildlife mobility, although some accommodation works such as badger tunnels were provided.

If we return back to my childhood, the two ponds that played such an important part in my life as I explored the flat lanes of Oxton have both gone - one on Duck Pond Lane destroyed by the old Birkenhead Council in the early 70's on a place I called the Field of which I will talk in more detail in a later post - and the other lost under houses only in the last couple of years by the Wrexham to Bidston Rail Line near the Holmlands Estate.

Col 25/7/06

The Tide Goes Out

2006-07-10T18:22:00.000+01:00

This blog is a joint venture between myself and my wife to share our common interests .

The intention of this blog is to explore the stories behind the history, genealogy, geography, architecture, and culture on the banks of the River Mersey and across the Wirral to the River Dee.

The blog will act as diary of our travels, an exploration of our family history and genealogy as well as our discoveries about our local culture, environment and history. The blog will reflect our recent research, current reading, items in the news or information we stumble upon on the Net.

The above photograph of the Mersey at low tide near New Brighton on cool March morning awakes for us the constant change of our environment with the ebb and flow of the river's tides. No one day is the same and the river and sky around the river's mouth are a reminder of this fact.

Our imprints in the sand washed away

Barb & Col 10/7/06