Friday Photo: Meols Parade Gardens
February 26, 2010 by John · 3 Comments
You wait all day and then three arrive at once!
I normally prepare the Friday Photo in advance and schedule the publication date for the Friday morning, or I’ll create the post on the Friday morning. But after having one of those weeks I just haven’t had chance, so I apologise for the late arrival of today’s photo. As a bonus I’ve got three old images for you of the area around Meols Parade Gardens.
The one above was kindly sent in by Syd Bird and shows the view toward the current Community Centre from Deneshey Road/Queens Park area. The building in the background was then the school so the photo was taken no earlier than 1909.
Below are two images taken from old postcards of the Parade Gardens. Was that a bandstand that you can see or just a sheltered seating area? By my reckoning that bit of the gardens is now just a little, grassed hill. Look how hilly it is in the background towards Meols. I wonder if that’s the roof of the Railway Inn in the distance?
The two bowling greens are still in use today of course and should be opening soon after being closed for winter.
The image below also shows an old jetty down at the Sandhey slipway with boats mooring on the beach – not something you’ll see today. In fact, since the jet skiers stopped using that slipway (was that banned?) I don’t think that it gets used at all?
I can’t say when the photo was taken but the postcard had a postmark date on 3rd June, 1938. The sender said of Hoylake: It is a nice place and the weather is fine but cold. Couldn’t have been a warm June then, back in 1938!
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Hi John,
the roof of the building you thought might be the Railway Inn in the two postcard views( just to the right of the bandstand) and peeping out above the sandhills I think belongs to the large house of “Sandhey” which was situated in extensive grounds and the main entrance was via Shaws Drive . This residence was pulled down between the two world wars and houses were built on the site ,this area is now occupied by Garden Hey,Ashford and Firshaw Roads . In an aerial photo I have from the 20s/30s it shows at the rear of the house there was an extensive thickly wooded area and the few remaining trees from that time are now known as Monkey Woods ,or they had that name when I lived in Hoylake.
Syd
Thanks Syd – very interesting!
Yep, they’re still called the Monkey Woods for whatever reason?
John
Great images!
I would love to see photos of more of Hoylake’s oldest nineteenth century seaside houses set in substantial grounds – Sandhey, The Dale, The Gap and The Chase are all now sadly lost to suburban style developments. So much of Hoylake’s history and character went with them and all the old sandstone cottages that have been similarly lost over the years.