the encyclopedic entry of Bidston

Bidston

Bidston is a suburb of Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England. Administratively, it is also a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of the County Borough of Birkenhead, within the geographical county of Cheshire. At the 2001 census, the population of Bidston was 10,446, consisting of 4,725 males and 5,721 females.

Description

Located close to the M53 motorway, the village of Bidston is situated on a hill, with an elevation of approximately 60 metres above sea level. Bidston is a mixture of the well-preserved Bidston Village, Bidston Hill, the industrial estate Bidston Moss and a modern housing estate.

The area has one of the largest Tesco supermarkets on the Wirral, situated at Bidston Moss.

Attractions

Bidston Hill comprises of heathland and woodland maintained by Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council as a nature reserve and public park. The land was purchased in stages from 1894 to 1908 by Birkenhead Corporation from local landowner Lord Vyner. It is the site of Bidston Windmill, built around 1800 and Bidston Observatory, owned by the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory. The hill also contains a number of ancient rock carvings, including that of a Sun Goddess thought to have been carved by the Norse-Irish around 1000 AD.

Tam O'Shanter Cottage was believed to be built about 300 years ago. Its name derives from a stone carving of the poem Tam O'Shanter by Robert Burns, which adorns a wall on the site. In 1950, the building was recognised as having special historical interest for preservation. Despite two fires and threats of demolition in 1954 and 1975, the cottage was rebuilt and restored in the mid 1970s. Four acres around the cottage were developed as a city farm in 1986, known as the Tam O'Shanter Urban Farm.

Opposite the cottage is Flaybrick Memorial Gardens, Birkenhead's first municipal cemetery. The grounds encompass an arboretum and nature trails.