Rock Ferry

History

In the 17th century Derby House, an occasional seat of the Minshull family, covered most of the grounds covered by present-day Rock Ferry. Thomas Oakshott, Mayor of Liverpool, lived there in the 19th century. The house, located on Rock Lane West close to the New Chester Road, was demolished in the early 20th century.

Residential building did not really happen until the early part of the 19th century, the rise of the ferry and the railway, and the establishment of the Royal Rock Hotel and bath house in 1836. Between then and 1870, the area received an influx of luxurious housing, the villas of Rock Park and many other large houses around the Old Chester Road making Rock Ferry one of the most desirable addresses in the North West. In the later part of the 19th century, Rock Ferry expanded due to the need to house the increasing population of workers, especially at Birkenhead's Cammell Laird shipyard. By 1901, the population stood at 2,971.

In 1910, the Olympian Gardens were opened adjacent to the Royal Rock Hotel. These pleasure gardens were considered a great attraction and customers travelled from the whole of Wirral and, using the nearby ferry terminal, from Liverpool. The gardens hosted classical piano concerts and also slapstick comedy shows, with performers including Arthur Askey and Tommy Handley. At times the gardens held a prestige similar to the more famous Vauxhall Gardens in London. Shows were held in a large tent set amongst the trees and shrubs of land owned by Charles Boult. The gardens closed in the late 1920s after Mr Boult's death.

The decline of local industries in the 1950s took its toll. Many of the splendid buildings were dilapidated and unrestored. This decline was reflected in the loss of the Royal Rock Hotel, as well as many of the shops in the Old Chester Road and Bedford Road; whereas before Bedford Road had supported a wine merchant, a jeweller, two tailors, three banks, and two bookshops, most shops stood vacant. Large-scale regeneration work in the 1990s, which involved the demolition or restoration of many such derelict properties, and the building of new housing, means that the area has improved considerably, although many buildings of considerable character have been lost.

Geography

Rock Ferry is situated on the eastern side of the Wirral Peninsula, at the western side of the River Mersey. The area is approximately 8 km (5.0 mi) south-south-east of the Irish Sea at New Brighton and about 9 km (5.6 mi) east-north-east of the Dee Estuary at Heswall. Rock Ferry is at an elevation of between 0–30 m (0–98 ft) above sea level.

Architecture and famous residents

The best-known part of Rock Ferry is Rock Park, on the banks of the River Mersey, an area of large Victorian villas of sandstone from Storeton quarry. In what was one of the first residential park developments in Britain, the houses were built between 1837 and 1850, and were the first early Victorian properties to be designated listed buildings. The lodge and nine other houses were demolished in the 1970s to make way for the New Ferry By-Pass (A41), including Hawthorne House, number 26, the former house of Nathaniel Hawthorne when he was consul to Liverpool in the 1850s. The property was subsequently owned by astronomer Isaac Roberts, who installed a seven-inch refracter in a revolving dome on the top floor. Immediately after the building of the bypass, the remainder of Rock Park was quickly designated a conservation area in 1979.

Other areas of architectural significance include Egerton Park, an oasis of late nineteenth-century villas in a leafy setting, and the Byrne Avenue Baths, a 1930s swimming pool with plenty of Art Deco features, which closed in February 2009. The row of semi-detached houses on Rockville Street, built in 1837, is one of the earliest rows of private houses in Britain to use Gothic detailing on their exteriors, while St Anne's Catholic Church on Highfield Road was designed by E. W. Pugin. The writer May Sinclair was a Rock Park resident. F. E. Smith, later Earl of Birkenhead, also briefly lived in a house on Green Lawn. Former Australian Premier Sir Charles Gavan Duffy lived at Rose Cottage, which still stands on Rockville Street, where his son, Irish politician George Gavan Duffy, was born in 1882.

Highfield United Reformed Church, completed in 1871, is a sizeable place of worship within Rock Ferry and a Grade II Listed building.

Ferry service and shipping

There are records of a ferry service from Rock Ferry pier to Liverpool from 1709 onwards, until being discontinued on 30 June 1939. The ferry landing stage was removed in 1957 and the terminal building demolished. The pier became part of Tranmere Oil Terminal and modified for use as a berth for tanker cleaning and degreasing. It has since fallen into disuse and become very dilapidated. A stone slipway originally used by the ferry service also remains.

The Royal Mersey Yacht Club was founded at a meeting held in the Mersey Hotel, Old Church Yard, Liverpool on 26 July 1844. The club opened the doors of its present premises in Bedford Road, Rock Ferry, on 31 May 1901. Rock Ferry was home to a number of boat builders. Samuel Bond built four Royal Mersey Restricted Class boats in 1913, including Mefanwy and Phyllis. The Enterprise Small Craft Company, built a number of notable boats. Among these were 11 Seabird Half Rater one design sailing yachts in 1924, Robinetta and Fairwind in 1937 and 18 Hilbre One Design craft between 1959 and 1962.

The Naval training school vessels HMS Conway and TS Indefatigable were moored at the Sloyne, in the River Mersey, between Rock Ferry and New Ferry. These were ships converted for the purpose of training boys for a life at sea. During the nineteenth century, the reformatory ships Akbar and Clarence were also moored there. In the early years of the Second World War, both the Conway and Indefatigable were moved from the Mersey to avoid damage.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel's SS Great Eastern was beached at New Ferry for breaking up in 1889, which took eighteen months to complete.

Transport

Rock Ferry railway station is on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail commuter rail network. Regular underground services (6 trains per hour) operate northbound cross-river to Liverpool via Birkenhead and surface services southbound to Chester (every 15 minutes) and Ellesmere Port (every 30 minutes). Until 1985, when electrification was extended to Hooton, the station was a terminus for Wirral Line services.

There are also several scheduled bus routes that run along New Chester Road into Birkenhead and central Liverpool

Education

The area was previously served by Rock Ferry High School, which became an Associate College of Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) from 2006. The school closed in January 2011, merging with Park High School to form University Academy Birkenhead (now Birkenhead Park School). The nearest secondary schools are Bebington High Sports College, Wirral Grammar School for Boys, Wirral Grammar School for Girls and St John Plessington Catholic College, all of which are in Bebington.

Rock Ferry also has many local primary schools, such as Rock Ferry Primary, St Anne's Primary and Well Lane Primary. The Dell Primary School closed in 2006 and has since been demolished.