Wallasey Pool

Wallasey Pool was a natural tidal inlet of water that separated the towns of Wallasey and Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula, England. Originally flowing directly into the River Mersey, it was converted into the sophisticated Birkenhead Dock system from the 1820s onwards by land reclamation, with the main portion of the pool becoming known as the Great Float. In 1933, with the exception of a small lake, the head of Wallasey Pool at Poulton was converted into Bidston Dock. By 2003, this dock had been filled in.[1]

Redevelopment

A new development was approved for Birkenhead docks in 2010.[2] The Wirral Waters development will transform the docklands area into business, leisure and retail facilities.[3]

Bridges

Four road bridges cross the former Wallasey Pool, over what is now Birkenhead Docks:

Egerton Bridge is situated between Egerton Dock and Morpeth Dock and is a bascule bridge. It was built between 1928 and 1931, replacing an earlier hydraulic swing bridge. The bridge and the machine house were completely restored in 1993 and opened to the public in 1995.[4]

A red girdered bascule bridge at Tower Road connects the Seacombe district of Wallasey with Birkenhead. Known as the Four Bridges, as originally four movable bridges existed along Tower Road: two between the Great Float and Alfred Dock, one between the Great Float and Wallasey Dock and one between the Great Float and Egerton Dock.[5] When originally built, all four were hydraulic swing bridge types. In the 1930s most were replaced by bascule bridges.[6]

Joining the southern end of the Poulton district of Wallasey with the north end of Birkenhead, Duke Street bridge is also a bascule (see-saw) bridge but with painted green girders. Originally, it was also a swing bridge.[6]

Furthest upstream is the Penny Bridge, which crosses the head of the pool to connect Poulton with Bidston in Birkenhead. Replacing an earlier wooden bridge of 1843, the name derives from the 1896 one penny toll to cross in one direction.[7][8] The bridge was replaced again in 1926[7][9] and provided access to Bidston Dock. The dock itself has been filled in and the bridge was replaced by a fixed roadway in 1996.

Bidston Moss
The fishing lake at Bidston Moss.

Bidston Moss was originally low-lying wetland marsh at the head of Wallasey Pool. In 1936 most of the land was given over to residential, commercial and industrial landfill. Since the cessation of waste disposal operations in 1995, Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority and the charitable trust Groundwork Wirral have undertaken environmental restoration works to landscape the site.[10] The site is now known as the Newlands Project Nature Reserve, is 68 hectares (170 acres) in size, with a fishing lake and a 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) of cycling trail.[11] The site is also accessible, to the public, from Cross Lane and the Wallacre in Wallasey.[12] The nearest car park is at Bidston station.[13]

The footbridge into the nature reserve, from Wallasey.

References
  1. Birkenhead Docks (photo18), Merseyside Views, retrieved 12 October 2007
  2. "Approval for £4.5bn Wirral waterfront regeneration". BBC News. 29 November 2010. Retrieved 30 November 2010.
  3. "www.wirralwaters.co.uk". Archived from the original on 17 October 2010. Retrieved 28 September 2010.
  4. The Birkenhead Dock System (art project), Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, archived from the original on 8 November 2005, retrieved 12 October 2007
  5. Birkenhead Docks (photo 46), Merseyside Views, archived from the original on 27 September 2011, retrieved 3 July 2009
  6. Birkenhead Docks (photo 30), Merseyside Views, archived from the original on 27 September 2011, retrieved 3 July 2009
  7. Kemble, Mike, Wallasey History (page 1), archived from the original on 22 July 2009, retrieved 3 July 2009{{citation}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. Birkenhead Docks (photo 21), Merseyside Views, archived from the original on 31 March 2008, retrieved 3 July 2009
  9. Birkenhead Docks (photo 22), Merseyside Views, archived from the original on 4 April 2008, retrieved 3 July 2009
  10. Bidston Moss Vision Plan, Groundwork Wirral, retrieved 13 October 2007
  11. Newlands Project, newlandsproject.co.uk, archived from the original on 20 December 2013, retrieved 19 December 2013
  12. The access bridge from Wallasey
  13. Bidston Moss, Natural England, retrieved 19 December 2013

^ www.wirralwaters.co.uk The New Docklands development Scheme

53.40320°N 3.03780°W / 53.40320; -3.03780

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