Ferry Cross The Mersey - To The Place I Love

Monks running a Ferry from Birkenhead Priory

The Mersey Ferries have a long and distinguished history with the first, mentioned in the 'Doomsday Book' of 1086, being run from a stone slipway situated at Seacombe on an inlet on the northern side of Wallasey Pool close to where Kelvin Road meets Birkenhead Road today, although at that time Seacombe was only a small collection of cottages. It is likely that others also ran ferries across the Mersey but were suppressed by the all powerful Prior who would take legal action to stop this competition as the Abbot did not want this extra income being taken by the many other entrepreneurs who plied the river in small boats for a penny or two. The history of Birkenhead Priory, the oldest standing building on Merseyside, lies with the ferry becoming increasingly popular and the need to provide hospitality for travellers headed across the Mersey. In 1318 the Priory was in a very impoverished state, owing to the burden of offering hospitality for free. The Prior therefore petitioned Edward 11 for permission to build a hostel and charge guests for food and drink.
This led to the inception of the Liverpool to Woodside ferry in 1318 under the charter given to the Beneditine Monks and was confirmed in and around 1330 by Edward 111 from a petition from the Prior for the right to run the ferry service. The Monks' charter enabled them to charge passengers to ferry them from Birkenhead to Liverpool, but interestingly, not in the other direction. The ferry service was erratic as it likely it took the form of a rowing boat that carried the passengers across the 'narrows' of the river to the vicinity of what was to later become St Nicholas’ Church. They continued to do this until the monastery was closed in 1536 as it fell victim to Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. The rights initially passed to the crown and then changed hands a number of times over the centuries that followed.
In 1330 there is a reference to a ferry between Liverpool and Seacombe and in 1509 there are records of a service from Liverpool to Eastham. Services from Liverpool to Tranmere were introduced in the 16th century and to Rock Ferry by 1660. The Lord of Tranmere is also mentioned as a Ferry operator with details occurring in accounts dated 1626 and 1715. In the eighteenth century, 5 Ferry houses existed in Cheshire at Ince, Eastham, Rock (Rock Ferry), Woodside and Seacombe. By 1797 it was recorded that passengers were advised to make an arrangement with the ferryman beforehand and not pay until the return journey, when a boat would be hired to take them over. Regular passengers paid 2d, the wealthier 6d and Strangers were 'imposed upon'.

The first steamship to operate on the Mersey was the Elizabeth, a wooden paddle steamer, which was introduced in 1815 to operate between Liverpool and Runcorn. Two years later a steam ferry was introduced on the Tranmere route and in 1822 the paddle steamer Royal Mail began its commercial operation between Liverpool and Woodside when the town of Birkenhead was in its infancy. A small slipway was built on the beach which allowed the boats to berth and this continued for about 20 years. Paddle steamers were introduced on the other Mersey ferry routes in the 1820s and 1830s with several new routes introduced; in 1829 to Egremont, in 1833 to New Brighton and in 1835 to Monks Ferry. Sometime after 1835, but before 1843, a landing stage was constructed in Brunswick Dock for Seacombe steamers and was apparently operated at the south end of Princes Dock. In 1865 the so-called 'New' ferry service was introduced between Liverpool Pier Head, Toxteth and Birkenhead.

Up until the mid-19th century the Mersey ferries were operated by an assortment of individual entrepreneurs and railway companies. By 1840 the Birkenhead and Chester Railway Company owned the Woodside ferry. When the company threatened to put up charges, the Birkenhead Improvement Commissioners became lessees of the service and purchased the ferry rights in 1858. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Birkenhead Corporation were also operating the New Ferry, Rock Ferry and Tranmere ferry services. In 1862 Wallasey Local Government Board acquired the Liverpool to Seacombe, Egremont and New Brighton ferries. The Liverpool and Birkenhead Ferry-Steamer, 'Cheshire', was launched on the 31st of October 1863. This paddle-steamer ferry was built for the Woodside Ferry Commissioners to a design that allowed up to 2000 passengers per journey.

In Nov 1865, when the American Confederate warship Shenandoah arrived and moored in the Mersey off Rock Ferry to surrender to the British Navy, it caused quite a stir and ferry boats were used to take people out and around her. By 1876 Seacombe Ferry carried annually some 1.75 million passengers so an 1872 Act called for a new Ferry Terminal. At a total cost of £143,508 9s 0d, the terminal opened for business on the 5th of February 1880. In 1879 a screw-driven ferry was introduced on the Liverpool to Woodside route. This was the Oxton, which was the first so-called 'luggage-boat' which could carry vehicles.                                                                                                                                                    On the 26th of November 1878 the Seacombe ferry boat 'Gem' was crossing to Liverpool in fog carrying 300 passengers when she ran into the Bowfell, a Brocklebank ship anchored in mid stream. The steamer's funnel fell among the passengers, fatally injuring one man, and as passengers boarded the Bowfell some fell into the water, with one young man drowned. More than a dozen people lost their lives in the incident. Five other vessels had been sunk in the Mersey in the two weeks prior to this incident and in the discussions following this disaster 'a tunnel under the Mersey' was seen as the best solution to end the ever increasing number of accidents. In 1886 the Mersey Railway Tunnel was opened providing competition for the various ferry services and in 1894 trains were now carrying 25,000 passengers per day and the ferries 44,000 per day.

Daffodil and Iris, after the Zeebrugge raid in April 1918

In 1906 Wallasey Corporation introduced the TSS Iris and the TSS Daffodil which became famous because of their exploits during World War I and at Zeebrugge in April 1918. They needed extensive refitting before they could resume peacetime activities but when they did so in 1919, they were re-named Royal Iris and Royal Daffodil as both ferries were awarded the 'Royal' prefix in recognition of their contribution to the raid. The former was sold in 1932 and the latter in 1934 but a succession of Mersey ferries have gone on to bear the names Royal Iris and Royal Daffodil. By 1933, the travelling habits of commuters began to change with the introduction of buses instead of trams. Businessmen, particularly in the winter, preferred to get a bus to Seacombe and take the much shorter ferry trip across the Mersey. In 1936 the Corporation decided that the New Brighton ferry would now only run during the summer months being the main means of transportation for holiday makers and day trippers. It was a wise decision as the New Brighton - Liverpool railway was completed in 1938 .                                On the 8th of May 1941, Royal Daffodil was tied up at Seacombe and suffered a direct hit by a German bomb that did not explode. Although damage was not extensive, she sank at her moorings and the only casualty was an engine room worker who was blown out of the engine room, minus his false teeth.      Losing money ever since the opening of the Mersey Tunnel had taken away virtually all the lucrative goods traffic, as late as the early 1950s the Ferries were still carrying around 30 million passengers a year.

Holiday makers headed for New Brighton on 18th May 1937

The Royal Iris, delivered for service on the Mersey in 1950, was fitted out in some luxury, with a dance floor and stage, tea room, cocktail bar and even a fish-and-chip restaurant, which led to her becoming affectionately called the 'Fish-and-Chip' boat. It soon became a well-loved part of Liverpool’s lively social life and the on-board concerts treally cement its place in Merseyside history. In 1961 Ray McFall, the owner of the Cavern Club, organised a series of concerts on the Iris known as the Riverboat Shuffles. Many groups from the Merseybeat scene appeared, including Gerry and the Pacemakers, with the Beatles playing four concerts on the Iris between August 1961 and September 1962. It was utilised in the 1980s as a restaurant and for short river cruises but was sold in 1991to reside on the River Thames sadly rusting away. The Royal Daffodil of 1958 was re-named Ioulis Keas II in the 1970s and left the River Mersey for service in Greek waters. The present Royal Daffodil is the refurbished Overchurch and can be seen today cruising the Mersey in full splendour.

Ironically, given their association with the city, at no time was Liverpool involved in the Mersey Ferries with all the boats being owned and operated by the Wirral side of the river. Woodside boats being Birkenhead Corporation and Seacombe & New Brighton being Wallasey Corporation. Today the ferries ply a circuitous route from Liverpool's Pier Head to Seacombe (Wallasey) and Woodside (Birkenhead) and are heavily reliant on the tourists whose journey is enlivened by an informative audio commentary and occasional airings of Gerry Marsden singing 'you know what'.

Gerry Marsden 1942-2021 - RIP

Gerry is the only person Mersey Ferries have ever given the Freedom of the Ferries award to.

see also:- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2021/03/the-birkenhead-one-oclock-gun.html?q=Birkenhead+Gun