BIDSTON CONSERVATION AREA
Bidston is the oldest of Wirral’s Conservation Areas. Designated by the former Borough of Birkenhead, it was established to preserve the character of a small, once rural settlement, with stone built former farms and outbuildings, open spaces and surrounding woodland.
At the heart of the village is St Oswald’s Church (Grade II) built about the middle of the C13th with a tower added in the 1500s but substantially rebuilt in 1855-1856, to the design of W. & J. Hay. The windows in the south aisle, installed in 1912, include work by Morris & Co. Bidston was originally a large parish, embracing Birkenhead, Claughton, Moreton and Saughall Massie and its churchyard reflects this, housing several substantial graves.
Facing the church is the parish War Memorial with the names of 20 local men and one woman, the VAD, Maude Millicent Wilson, who died in WW I.
Of the secular buildings, the most significant is Bidston Hall, Grade II* listed and one of Wirral’s oldest halls. Acquired by the Stanley family in 1397, the present hall is a late C16 or early C17 re-building of an earlier structure. It passed to Lord Kingston in 1662 and to Sir Robert Vyner, royal goldsmith and banker and sometime Mayor of London, in 1680. The enclosing wall of the Hall’s forecourt and its impressive gateway, probably late C16, are listed Grade II* while the wall to the rear of the hall, of similar date, is listed Grade II. To view a map of the Conservation Area click here.
OTHER KEY BUILDINGS INCLUDE :
Bidston Hall Farm, the largest in the village and formerly part of the Bidston Hall estate. Probably late C18, (Grade II) its outbuildings have been converted into cottages.
Yew Tree Farm has a datestone of 1697 with the initials T.H.W. for Thomas and Hannah Wilson, married at Bidston in 1694. A timber gable suggests it is of earlier date. (Grade II)
Ivy Farm and its outbuildings, originally called the Green Farm, now form two separate dwellings. It is largely late C18-early C19 but with earlier origins.
Church Farm (Grade II ), built over a period of time, originated in the early C16 but is mainly C17. A kennel for the farm dogs is built into the steps of the former granary.
Stone Farm, once the Ring O’Bells, is mainly C18 but with earlier origins. (Grade II)
Lilac Cottage, once a farmhouse, is now subdivided. Dating from the late C17 it has been extensively restored. (Grade II ) Its former outbuildings – a barn range and stables – are now converted into dwellings. (Grade II) Clover Cottages – formerly a pair of alms houses, dated 1901, built for G.R. Clover & Co, the Birkenhead shipbuilder and designed by Woolfall and Eccles. (Grade II)
2-4 School Lane, a pair of cottages, one now divided into flats, are probably C18. (Grade II)
At the entrance to the village, from the east, is the Toll House, erected following the turn-piking of the Woodside to Hoylake road in 1841 and in use until 1866. At the west end stands the former village school and School Master’s house. The school is not listed but dates from 1838. Above the village, on the sandstone ridge, stand several landmark buildings, including the Observatory, built for the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board in 1867, Bidston Lighthouse, built in 1873 to replace an earlier structure and Bidston Mill. On the slopes of the hill is Tam O’Shanter’s Cottage, run as a small urban farm.
