| Crossing to
Cheshire from Liverpool fifty years ago [early
18th century] was a very different expedition to
what it is at present. In fact, very few people
ever thought of paying the Cestrian regions a
visit then, and it was only from necessity that
such a voyage was undertaken. In the first place
there was but little or no accommodation in the
vicinity of the ferries. The ferry houses
themselves were little better, and in some cases
not so good, as road-side inns. Then the hazards
of the weather were too heavy to risk a voyage
for mere jaunting purposes. The boats plying were
either half-decked or open, and were of not more
than from five to six tons burden, with
accommodation for 10 to 15 passengers at the
utmost. It was quite like a voyage to a foreign
land to cross to the opposite shore in those
days. There were thousands of the inhabitants of
Liverpool who, in all the course of their lives,
never put foot in Cheshire. [...] To cross the
water was a perilous undertaking at that date.
Even within thirty years [since 1840] it had its
discomforts and horrors, in dirty slow
steam-boats, in inconvenient and perilous
landing-places, and in uncertain times of
departure and arrival. But, even under these
adverse circumstances, the passage was made with
vast advantages over the former mode of transit.
Until the introduction of steam, in 1815, the
cost of the passage depended upon any bargain
made with a boatman, who would get all he could,
from a penny a piece from a lot of schoolboys, to
half a sovereign from a green and credulous
passenger. Tales are told of people passing half
the night on the water striving to make the
pierhead, 'The Old Dock Gut', 'The Potteries',
'Knott's Hole', 'The Dingle', or anywhere, in
fact, and felt at length grateful to land amidst
rain, wind, and darkness, by the calm waters of
Garston Creek, although a long walk of six miles
was entailed. A gradual and vast improvement has
taken place of late years in the ferry traffic.
The first steamboats were small vessels with one
mast, having a square sail. The paddles were of
limited size, and the funnel slender and tall. In
the Mercury of 14th March, 1816, on the
application of steam to the Tranmere boats, a
correspondent remarks that it is equivalent to
'bridging over the Mersey'. In 1770 there were
only five ferries - namely, at Carlton or
Eastham, the Rock, Tranmere, Woodside, and
Seacombe. Previous to 1800 there was a long
wooden pier-running out into the river to the
south of the Old Dock entrance. |
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| In adverse
weather the passage boats ran alongside of this
pier, but it was a very dangerous landing, having
no protecting railings. In the beginning of the
last [18th] century, the ferry-boats ran to the
shore opposite St. Nicholas's Church and the
bottom of Water-street. Then people had to
scramble up to land through the shingle, ooze,
and dirt, at low water, or be carried on men's
shoulders, or by stepping along a rickety
moveable foot platform at the time of the flood.
In an open boat, in rough weather, it may be
imagined what sort of a voyage half-a-dozen
people would endure, most of them proving
disagreeable to their fellow-passengers, as well
as to themselves, suffering from that aquatic
complaint which may be termed 'the quarcks'. Few
persons thought of staying in Cheshire until
evening or night, for the uncertainty of the
weather made the passage, if not perilous, at any
rate full of terrors to landsmen. At Woodside
almost the only dwelling was the ferry-house.
[...] The landing place was a timber and stone
causeway, which ran out at some distance into the
river, at all times being wet, slimy, slippery,
and dangerous, from its exposed situation and
unprotected sides. |
|
| Reader of
'The Streets', step towards the south end of the
George's Landing Stage, and look steadfastly at
the river wall before you. Do you see under, or
in front of the clock-tower of the baths, a
steep, narrow set of steps, and do you see
another set or flight of narrow steps at the end
of the river wall adjoining the Duke's Dock?
Well, at one time those steps were the only modes
of landing from, or getting on board of, the
river steamers, and by those steps had the young
and old, the lame, and the infirm, and the lazy,
to descend or climb in boisterous or calm
weather. In the former, when the old ferry tub
ran up, frantically bumping herself against the
wall, the unhappy passenger had to watch his or
her opportunity to jump on shore or on board, as
the case might be, on the rising or falling of
the boat. Unless a person was uncommonly active,
the chances were that a wave overtook him, and
gave his legs a taste of the 'briny'. [...]
Alongside that wall did the public, my dear
madam, arrive on terra firma; and very glad you
may be assured, people were when they found
themselves safe under the baths piazza, waiting,
may be, for some other members of their party to
land, or until one of them, who had fortunately
been amongst the first to get on shore, had gone
up to Castle-street for a car! No handy omnibuses
were there till 9-30 at night, to convey weary
travellers to all parts of the town! No strings
of neat cars or cabs were then ready to be hired.
To stump it was your only remedy, let the night
be what it would. Believe me, we are living in
very convenient times, if we only look back a
little. [...] The Cheshire ferries are now the
most convenient, the cheapest, and pleasantest to
use in the kingdom. The fare was reduced to a
penny from twopence on the 1st of June, 1848.
[...] [SOL] |
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