Yes, I can see that the image could be from West Kirby end of beach with golf course to the right as one looks toward Red Rocks.

I have a strong incling that the view is from the left-hand corner of Wirral looking toward Beach Rd/Kings Gap with North Parade in the distance. Boats used to anchor on this part of the beach didn’t they? The shoreline does curve from the point to say St Margarets Rd

When I get chance I’ll take a photo of the view as it is today and we can debate this further!

Oh, who said it was windy both ways on Stanley Road? Can’t see it myself. I’ve been up and down this road hundreds of times and with the typical north westerly winds you get blown up Stanley Rd toward the Green Lodge, whilst the wind is in your face when you head on down to Red Rocks – just like today in fact!

John

From what was told me in the distant past, on good authority, your uncle was quite right ! Fred Shipman was, apparently, a bookie’s runner. He also had some connection with the bookmakers Thurston (Thursfield ?) which opened in the shop on the corner of Shaw Street and Grove Road (which had formerly been Roberts Greengrocers). A tale also attaches to Shipman’s actions on the night Thurston / Thursfield died. As a cycle repairer, Shipman left a bit to be desired. A friend and I nicknamed him “Spike Spiv”. When his shack was demolished for the two shops with the flat above, Shipman moved into another shack at the back a house in Alderley Road, accessed from a lane off the Market Street side of Evans Road. He was still there in 1964 but I don’t know for how long after that.

The key is to identify the large house on the right and there are no houses of that height, mass or design on the south side of the road nor have there ever been. You also need to identify the other three houses to the left which I take to be in Beach Road where there is a high stone wall above the slipway.

The sandstone hardly extends around the corner at Hilbe Point so would not be visible in a photograph taken from that spot.

Land level – I assume that the dunes have simply been leveled off.

John?

The curvature of the coast is the same as the wall which bends out towards the sandstone point. My main puzzle was the large house. The house visible was the last Victorian-style house house on the road and the view shows the side elevation. Somewhere I came across a photo of that old (now long-gone) house and was able to match the design with that in the photo. I had actually forgotten about this old house thinking that Invergarry (also demolished) was the last Victorian house but when I saw a photo it all came back and I was able to confirm, to my satisfaction at least, the location of the photographer.

From Hilbre Point the houses on the north side of the lower end of Stanley Road are very visible. The two demolished houses were tall and had gardens ending on the seawall and if you look closely at the photo you can see where property owners have erected fence posts to demarcate their holdings.

Had this been a view as you suggest from the south I agree that the line of the coast is similar as it curves to meet the sandstone point but that curve is filled in with low dunes and a fresh water marsh (slack). Moreover, where would the large house be situated?

Perhaps if we ask John nicely, he could take a photo from the spot on the corner of the peninsula of how the view is now!

Peter

The view is not the frontage of the golf links but the one from Red Rocks, standing right at the corner of the peninsula, and looking along the north Wirral coast towards Hoylake promenade with Stanley Road on your right. Houses were built on the dunes between Stanley Road and the beach and at some point a seawall was built between the Royal Hotel and Red Rocks to protect them.

Does anyone know when the seawall was built? I’ve often wondered. It is of quite a ‘modern’ style design but must be some time in the 30s, 40s or even the early 50s.