St Oswald's Church, Bidston
The church stands atop a hill, and although not the highest point in Bidston, in
an imposing position at the centre of the village. It is surrounded by a
graveyard, but many of the stones have now been laid out into a pathway around
the building. Entrance to the grounds is through a lichgate. It is
on the main road through the village, and there are many original sandstone farm
buildings, and a schoolhouse, still surviving. The village War Memorial is
in a small garden of remembrance on the opposite side of the road.
There has been a church on this site for over 400 years, and the parish
records, microfilmed and viewable at Birkenhead Library, start in the early
1600's.
Bidston Hill, one of the highest points on the Wirral, has a windmill, a
lighthouse and an observatory on top of it. The windmill is used as a "show
and tell" for local schools, and has public open days during the summer
period. The telescope from the observatory is on show in Liverpool museum,
hopefully to be restored. Also at the observatory is the Proudman
Institute. This institute studies the tides and the oceans. It is
the one place in the UK that produces the tidal predictions for the UK.
This is done by computers now, but the original mechanical device is still
there, on show, and in working condition. It is about 6' x 6' x 3' and a
mass of cog mechanisms. Set between the mill and the observatory there
used to be a row of flagpoles. These were used to fly ships companies
flags to show that their ships were in port. There are a number of Rock
Carvings on the hill, but there is debate as to their age. The hill itself
is public land, bought from the Vyner family by public subscription.
There is also an Urban Farm at Tam O'Shanter's Cottage. This thatched
cottage is so called because it has a picture of Tam O'Shanter being chased by
the witch, who pulls off his horses tail, on a stone that is part of the
building.
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