The Wirral: Parkgate, Neston, Willaston and Burton

	Parkgate The silted up old port of Parkgate on the River Dee was, in the 18th century, a thriving port and a major embarkation point for Ireland. The name comes from a mid-13th century deer park and was adopted around 1600. Lady Hamilton, a local Neston girl and mistress of Lord Nelson, used to bathe here, apparently as a cure for a skin complaint. It is all hard to imagine nowadays, though the sandstone quayside and many original buildings remain. The area attracts many visitors for the atmosphere, bracing air, home made ice cream, pubs and locally caught shrimps. This is the view along the Parade to the south.
Parkgate in Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England (1848) It is situated on the bank of the river Dee, about half a mile westward of the village of Neston; and consists of a long range of houses, which all face the river, and command a magnificent view of the opposite coast of Wales. The quay and parade have been very much improved, at a considerable outlay, by the spirited owner, the Hon. Lloyd Mostyn; and the place is much frequented by visiters during the bathing season. There are several hotels, among which is the Mostyn Arms, a spacious establishment replete with every accommodation. Over the estuary of the Dee is a ferry to Bagilt and Flint. Formerly Parkgate was a sea-port of some note, and packets and other vessels were employed, especially in the trade with Ireland; but at present it is neglected as a port, vessels of burthen being prevented from approaching the quay by a large sand-bank, which impedes the navigation of the river. There was a custom-house, but the business has been transferred to Chester. An act was passed in 1847 for a railway to Bebington on the Birkenhead and Chester line, five miles in length, which will render this place, from the greater facility of reaching it, a still more fashionable and favourite resort.
	Parkgate The view along the Parade to the north.
	The Red Lion, Parkgate The Red Lion is at least 300 years old. Its situation is superb and you can sit in the characterful and cosy interior sampling one of the range of fine ales and gazing out over the marshes.
	St. Thomas's Church, Parkgate St. Thomas´s is a Grade II listed sandstone church dating from 1843. Known locally as the Fisherman's Church, it is situated in timeless Mostyn Square.
	High tide at Parkgate Parkgate only sees the tentative return of water at exceptionally high spring tides or in freak weather conditions. The area is then a paradise for birdwatchers.
	Sunset over the Dee Estuary near Parkgate
	The Wirral Country Park near Neston The Wirral Country Park follows the route of the old Great Western and London North Western railway that used to run from Hooton to West Kirby, the other stations being Hadlow Road (Willaston), Neston South, Parkgate, Heswall, Thurstaston, Caldy and Kirby Park. The line was closed to passengers in 1956. In 1970, the route was taken to form the basis of the Wirral Country Park, Britain's first country park. In one of its more interesting sections near Neston, the track here cuts deeply through the sandstone bedrock.
	Neston Old Quay The Old Quay at Neston was an embarkation point for Ireland earlier than Parkgate, but, being further upstream, it silted up first and had become unusable by the early 18th century.
Neston in Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England (1848) The town is pleasantly situated on an eminence about a mile from the Dee, and is much frequented during the summer months for the benefit of bathing at Parkgate, a hamlet partly in Great Neston township, and which is separately described. The air is very salubrious, and the views beautiful and extensive. [...] The flatness of the country, and the prevalence of sea breezes, which prevent the growth of timber, have given the surface a rather naked appearance, and may in some measure account for the parish having been for centuries deserted by nearly all its principal landowners. Several coal-mines have long been in operation; and coal of most excellent quality has been very recently discovered on the lands of the Hon. E. M. Lloyd Mostyn, which, it is supposed, is a continuation of the Flint and Bagilt coal-field: if this should prove to be the case, Birkenhead may derive from this new source the supplies of coal required for its use, and for exportation, on far easier terms than from any other quarter. [...] The church is a handsome and spacious edifice of considerable antiquity, having a nave, chancel, and aisles formerly terminating in small chapels, and also a tower, supposed to have been rebuilt in 1697; the edifice was restored in 1792: the font is an extremely elegant piece of workmanship, and was erected rather more than 400 years since.
	Denhall Quay, Little Neston Denhall Quay served the Denhall Colliery operations that probably started here in the 17th century under particularly miserable conditions for the miners, some of whom nevertheless made the crossing of the Dee from Wales to work here. It dates from the 1760s and coal was shipped from here to ports in North Wales, Ireland and the Isle of Man. The nearby Wirral Colliery, of which the spoil heaps are still visible (though cosmetically concealed), was opened in 1759. Underground canals were built beneath the Dee Estuary and man-powered boats were used to bring the coal from distant faces to the pit shaft, but all colliery operations finally ceased in 1928. Slate and limestone were imported and other industries here included coke and charcoal making, brick and tile making and metal smelting. This now peaceful area was once the largest industrial site in the Wirral.
	The Dee Marshes at Little Neston A view of the Clwydian Hills over the River Dee marshes at Denhall Quay, Little Neston.
	The Dee Marshes at Little Neston There is little open water here nowadays, but the area has a unique atmosphere in all weather conditions. Walking along the edge of the marshes, with only the sound of birdsong and the wind, is a rewarding (and sometimes bracing) experience.
	The Dee Estuary at Ness An elevated view towards Wales over the Dee estuary at Ness showing Moel Fammau, the highest hill in the Clwydian range, on the horizon.
Ness in Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England (1848) Here are very extensive collieries, situated on the margin of the Dee, under which the veins of coal run for a considerable distance towards the opposite coast of Flintshire: they have yielded an immense supply since they were first opened. The greater part of the township, which altogether comprises 852 acres of a sandy clay soil, is of very inferior quality, and much of it absolutely worthless. The village consists of hovels inhabited by the colliers. Denhall House stands on the bank of the river, and, with the grounds attached to it, forms a pleasing exception to the bleak and dreary prospect; it is the seat of Charles Stanley, Esq. (uncle of Sir William Stanley), who, and Mr. Errington, the Earl of Shrewsbury, and others, are proprietors of the collieries and the township.
	Willaston Old Hall The Old Hall probably dates from the 17th century, notwithstanding a date stone saying 1558, which was probably added during a 19th century restoration. It is a red-brick building, whose Elizabethan pedigree is suggested by the three gables.
Willaston in Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England (1848) It is a singular circumstance that Willaston is not mentioned in Domesday book, although it was of sufficient importance to confer its name upon the hundred, then called Wilaveston. The township comprises about 2300 acres, partly a sandy and partly a clay soil. The village is seated in about the centre of the hundred, and contains several substantial farmhouses. Willaston Hall, an ancient brick building, was erected by the Bennett family in 1558, and continued to be their residence until a very late period.
	Ashtree Farm, Willaston Willaston has a number of fine 17th century buildings, of which this is a lovely example.
	Hadlow Road Station, Willaston The disused Hadlow Road railway station, once serving the attractive village of Willaston, was built in 1866 and has been lovingly restored to its condition in 1952. Rail buff or not, the jump back in time here is extraordinarily effective.
	Willaston Windmill There are records of a mill on this site on Mill Lane (of all places) back to 1321. Windmills were dangerous places and there are several recorded deaths in Cheshire as a result of being hit by the sails, including a Margaret Palin here at Willaston in 1774. The present structure, built of recycled materials from the previous mill, dates from 1800. At 80ft (24m) high, it was the largest of the Wirral windmills. It became disused following storm damage in 1930 and was restored and converted for residential purposes in 1958. One of the millstones now dominates the village sign on the Little Green.
	The Wirral Country Park near Willaston An attractive stretch of the Wirral Country Park just west of Hadlow Road station.
	St. Nicholas's Church, Burton There was a Norman church here dating from the 12th century, stones from which have been dug up in the churchyard and are preserved in the porch and beneath the tower. Built into one of the walls of the tower is a coffin lid dating from the 13th century, which is decorated with a foliated cross.The Massey chapel (named after the local Puddington family) with its surviving east window was erected in 1380 and the remainder of the present church was built in 1721 (the chancel was rebuilt in 1870). It is built of red sandstone and stands in a prominent position on the hillside above the village of Burton.
	Barn End, Burton Burton is one of the most ancient communities known about in Cheshire. The name means 'fortification farm or settlement', possibly referring to the earthworks at Burton Point. In the 13th and 14th centuries it was a prosperous township and an important crossroads. It was on the route from London to the Dee ports via Chester and also that from Lancashire to North Wales via the ferry at Burton Point. The site of one of the earliest hospitals, St Andrew's of Denhall (13th-14th century), is located nearby. Following the silting of the Dee in the 15th and 16th centures, Neston took over as the main port and trading centre. Nowadays Burton is a quiet residential village with some lovely black and white timber-framed houses and sandstone cottages. Barn End, one of the prettiest, dates from about 1450.
	Bishop Wilson's Cottage, Burton This beautiful cottage was the birthplace in 1663 of Thomas Wilson, who, as Bishop of Sodor and Man, became the most famous bishop in the history of the Isle of Man.
	Shotwick Village To visit Shotwick is like stepping back in time. A narrow dead-end lane leads to a beautiful, unspoilt and very quiet village, where nothing much seems to have changed for hundreds of years. Shotwick grew up by a ford that had crossed the River Dee to Wales since the Dark Ages. By mediaeval times, this had become an established route by which salt was transported from Cheshire to Wales. The route gained military significance in 1245, when Henry III led his army across in an attempt to sort out the Welsh, an act repeated by Edward I in 1278 and 1284, and there had been a castle about a mile up the river since the 11th century, of which only the foundations now remain. Shotwick was also a port by virtue of a deep tidal creek, the remains of which are presumably Shotwick Dale with its little brook. By the end of the 15th century, silting further up the Dee had rendered Chester of limited use as a port and Shotwick became the major port on the river. The silting continued and the main ports moved further north to Neston and Parkgate over the centuries, leaving Shotwick to its present sleepy self.
	St. Michaels's Church, Shotwick It is likely that there was a Saxon church, of which nothing remains, in Shotwick. A Norman church was in existence at the time of the Domesday Book and the oldest parts of the present church of St. Michael (the arch of the south doorway and the wall up to the first buttress) date from around this time. Rebuilding took place in the 14th and 15th centuries and the present tower dates from 1500. The porch bears deep grooves used in olden days for sharpening arrows for archery practice following Sunday Mass.
	St. Michaels's Church Interior, Shotwick The beautiful interior of St. Michael's (the church is normally left open) boasts a number of antiques including a curious three-decker pulpit, the churchwardens' pew of 1673 (they were the only ones provided with seating at that time!), the mid-17th century altar rails and the box pews of 1710.
	Vicarage Farm, Shotwick One of the many beautiful old cottages in Shotwick, none of which seem to be less than about 250 years old.
	The Gibbet Mill, Great Saughall The Gibbet Mill takes its name from a murder that took place in the vicinity. In 1750, four Irish harvesters were travelling to Parkgate on their way back to Ireland, when three of them attacked the fourth and killed him. They robbed the body of money and clothes and deposited the corpse in a ditch. They made the mistake of spending some of their booty in a local inn, where they were caught. During the assize trial, one of the murderers gave evidence against his companions, who were subsequently hanged at Boughton. The two bodies were hung up in irons near the Two Mills on the heath as a warning to their countrymen, who had recently been causing trouble in that part of the country. The present windmill is probably of a slightly later date, possibly the 1770s, but it has acquired the sobriquet nonetheless. The mill continued to grind corn until 1926. After falling into ruin, it was restored and is now a private house.