Do you remember this great photo showing the old railway sidings at Hoylake? There’s only one of them remaining now and it’s a little takeaway for bacon sandwiches, teas, etc.
Well, when I walked past with the dog on Sunday morning I happened to spot what you can see above …an old wheel half-buried in the ground! It would suggest that those old huts were perhaps old railway wagons or old trucks?
By the way, aren’t the houses opposite The Quadrant in Station Road quite attractive? They’ve all got lovely old wooden front doors and must have looked very attractive when first built. Does anybody know the history of those houses?
Thanks for the comments on last weeks photo of The Green Lodge. Syd Bird says:
…I think St Hildeburghs was built about 1897/8 and I do have a photo of it under construction, in that photo you can see that the road surfaces of both Kings Gap and Stanley Road were “made up” and not a dirt track which seems to be the case in the photo I sent you of the Green Lodge. This is one of the reasons I think the photo belongs to the 1880`s.
St Hildeburgh’s is currently having some repair work undertaken. I took this picture at the beginning of March and last time I looked the workmen were attending to the other end of the roof.
On the assumption that the workmen are full time then these repairs to the building must be quite time-consuming.
I’m not quite sure what work is involved – if you know, feel free to leave a comment.
There are a couple of new flower tubs next to the perimeter bricked wall at Meols Parade Gardens. Personally, I’ve always thought this wall looks rather tatty so new flower tubs are a welcome addition. I’m fairly certain that the Hoylake in Bloom team are the ones we need to thank for these new tubs. Since taking the photo some plants have been planted.
Thanks to Ian Davies for spotting this article in the Daily Mail about the Burbo Wind Farm. Apparently the turbines could be sinking due to a design flaw. The Burbo turbines are to the east (or right) of the Lifeboat Station as viewed from the promenade.
The story about the turbines in the water might have some sffect on Essex County On., the residents of Lakeshore on the north of the county are concerned about plans for Lake Saint Clair. On the south shore Kingsville and Lemington are saying not in Lake Erie. The sinking turbines might give them an aid in the fight. In Kent County, east of Essex they are welcomeing the turbines on the farms.
Leamington On. has H J Heinz plant that at one time was the largest food processing pplant in the British Empire. Thats what they told us in school then,maybe it was just a Leamington thing
St Hildeburgh’s is a copy of St John’s Meols. Has anyone noted the similarity between the two (I was married at St John’s forty years ago last Sunday!)
As I understand it West Kirby Residential School, formerly the Convalescent Home began in one of the Cottages in Station Road before the building on Meols Drive was built.Congratulations Ian and Joan on your Ruby Wedding.
Typical Daily Mail rhubarb this.
Headline: “Hundreds of wind turbines could be SINKING due to design flawâ€
Salient details: They’re sinking by a “few inchesâ€, there are “no safety or operational issues†and the cost of repairs to effected turbines will only cost M£50 (I say ‘only’ as the article goes on to describe how the industry can expect B£130 of investment over the next decade or so).
People may well have objections to wind farms but they should state them honestly – disingenuous headlines and cod-economics won’t wash.
The work to repair the faulty construction of the wind mills started on Sunday when a jack up vessel called Resolution arrived at the wind farm. There is an interesting website that allows you to find out the names of vessels in our waters and see pictures of them, you can have a look here. http://www.shipais.com/currentmap.php?map=bar
Sorry to be so far behind the times, but could I add a note about the wheels on the Hoylake Station Tea Bar.
As I understand it, under local By-Laws (I say local, but I believe most councils throughout the country had similar ones ), these tea-huts were deemed to be temporary structures, not liable to all the trading requirements of ‘fixed’ cafes and restuarants. As such, the Council could, and in some areas regularly did, ask that the tea-huts be moved, hence the wheels !! The distance needed to be moved was usually a token distance of a foot or two, but some Councils would ask they be moved some distance , say round the Quadrant and back, if they were feeling tough !!
I guess these By-Laws either fell into disuse or were deleted altogether in the various Local Authority changes, and many of the tea-huts were either propped up on proper foundations or simply sank in the mud !! Hoylake’s seem to be the former, but has retained the wheels as an interesting artifact of social and industrial archaeology.