Location Flashcards
location
New Brighton is a seaside resort forming part of the town of Wallasey within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Cheshire, at the northeastern tip of the Wirral peninsula, it has sandy beaches which line the Irish Sea and mouth of the Mersey, and the UK’s longest promenade at slightly over 3 mi (4.8 km)
New Brighton is situated at the northeastern corner and the most northerly point of the Wirral Peninsula, and at the western side of the mouth of the River Mersey. Liverpool Bay of the Irish Sea is to the north. New Brighton lies on quite a steep hillside
History (new Brighton tower)
New Brighton Tower was in its day a magnificent ballroom.
In the early sixties the ballroom was the venue for many gigs by the new generation groups such as, The Beatles, Gerry and Pacemakers, Cilla and Jerry Lea Lewis.
New Brighton Tower F.C. were an English football League club based in New Brighton that folded in 1901. Like Liverpool, Chelsea and Thames, New Brighton Tower were formed to play at an already-built stadium, the Tower Athletic Grounds, with a massive capacity of 80,000.
New Brighton Tower was destroyed by a fire in 1969.
History Fort perch rock
A coastal defence built between 1825 and 1829.
It was built to protect the Port of Liverpool and as a fortified lighthouse to replace the old Perch Rock Light.
It was originally built on an area known as Black Rock and was cut off at high tide, but coastal reclamation made it fully accessible. It is currently open as a museum.
History New Brighton pier
The New Brighton Promenade Pier was built in 1867 adjacent to the ferry pier on the north side. It was opened on the 7th September, 1867 and completed on the 9th April, 1868.
The pier had its own theatre which was about 130 feet in length and was used for Concerts and Flower Shows. Shows were held there during the 1800’s and towards the end of the century.
After much discussion, the pier was dismantled in 1978, the ferry pier having been demolished some five years earlier.
Changes 19th century
In 1830, James Atherton, a Liverpool merchant, saw New Brighton’s potential as a tourist attraction. He purchased 170 acres of land at Rock Point to develop it as a residential and leisure sight for the gentry.
His aim was to develop it as a desirable residential and watering place for the gentry, in a similar way to Brighton, one of the most elegant seaside resorts of that Regency period – hence “New Brighton”. Substantial development began soon afterwards, and housing began to spread up the hillside overlooking the estuary – a former gunpowder magazine being closed down in 1851.
By the late 19th Century, New Brighton was established as a seaside resort, with many hotels catering for visitors. In the 1860s, a pier was built, and a promenade completed in 1901.
The River Mersey and the resort were described by the diarist Francis Kilvert in 1872 as: “crowded with vessels of all sorts moving up and down the river, ships, barques, brigs, brigantines, schooners, cutters, colliers, tugs, steamboats, lighters, “flats”, everything from the huge emigrant liner steamship with four masts to the tiny sailing and rowing boat .
20th century
Ferries across the Mersey from New Brighton were discontinued in 1971 and the landing stage was dismantled soon afterwards. The pier was dismantled in 1977.
