Recently I mentioned that I’d heard about an old mortuary in the Carr Lane estate – possibly under the ramp that the bin lorries used to drive up. As often happens, a HoylakeJunction.com reader provided more information. John Hall left this interesting comment:
With reference to your article on “The Mortuary” (4th April 2010). Â It was situated in Carr Lane, on the left, a short distance from the “Manweb” entrance ( Just before the right hand bend). There were tables for three bodies, and a “viewing gallery”. The building was small (a single room) and had a pitched roof and stood in its own grounds.
I came to Hoylake in 1960 as a young Police Officer in the Cheshire Constabulary and at that time we were also Coroners Officers and as such we had to attend postmortems when the deceaseds doctor could not issued a death certificate. In my time as a Pc in Hoylake I have witnessed very many postmortems performed in the Hoylake Mortuary mostly conducted by a Doctor McLean from Clatterbridge Hospital.
Sadly another “piece of old Hoylake” has been demolished.
I screen captured the above image from google maps by the way – the location shown is approximately where the mortuary used to be.
I seem to remember reading years ago that the mortuary was built not long before the First World War. Before it was built, if a body of a drowned seaman or fisherman was washed up on the beach and could not be identified, there was a very old lady who lived in a now demolished cottage off Black Horse Hill, West Kirby, whose job it was to collect the body and then lay it out. She was most busy in the 1890s when there were a number of great storms off the Wirral coast…..
I enjoy Hoylake Junction a lot, but I guess I am your only reader living in Northern Ethiopia!
Andy K
Hi Andy
Thanks for your comment – yep, I suspect you are the only reader in Northern Ethiopia …but you never know!
Cheers
John