A Postcard from Birkenhead Priory

Today I'm sending you a postcard from another hidden gem from the Paradise Peninsula ....

Birkenhead Priory is the oldest standing building on Merseyside, and dates from 1150. It stands on the very edge of the river and the monks who lived there offered hospitality to travellers making their way across the Mersey to Liverpool. They provided the very first ferry service. The tower in the centre is part of the church of St Mary which was built on the site.

There are some original parts of the priory still standing ....

... but there are some other interesting stories to tell. Inside the church tower there is a plaque to commemorate the loss of the H.M.S. Thetis .... a submarine which was lost in the Mersey on its trial voyage in 1939. A hundred lives were lost .... 99 crewmen, engineers and even the river pilot. The hundredth man was one of the rescue workers.

We climbed the 101 steps to the top of the tower .... passing the mechanism of the church clock on the way.

The names of each man who died is remembered on a small plaque, and they can be seen all the way to the top.

It was  a lovely clear day and the views from the top of the tower were worth the climb. The priory has been surrounded by the huge shipyards of Cammell Lairds for the past hundred years .... 

you can see the dry docks and cranes below ....

Lairds was a huge employer in the area ... most families on Merseyside are connected in some way to shipping. My father-in-law worked here in the sixties, and my husband got to see the launch of several famous vessels when he was a child.  Of course, those days have long gone, and at one time the shipyards closed. Today, there is some work going on in these large sheds, apparently they're building decks for aircraft carriers, but it certainly doesn't employ the thousands of men it used to.

Across the river we had wonderful views of Liverpool's finest buildings ....

The Anglican Cathedral dominates the skyline.

The old and the new stand side by side now ... the Liver Buildings at the Pier Head, and the new skyscrapers that have grown up around the city in the last few years.

Back on ground level, I found I quite liked the way the cranes tower over the remains of the priory .... both have their place in Birkenhead's heritage.

There's a very small information centre tucked away across the courtyard, which tells more of the history of the area .... but at this point the battery in my camera ran out .... so that will have to be the end of the visit!