IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Hamilton Square, BIRKENHEAD, CH41 5BN

Commemorating the 88 pupils of the Birkenhead Institute who died in WWI. It quotes the poem "Futility" by Wilfred Owen.

This statue is in memory of the 88 pupils of the Birkenhead Institute School including Wilfred Owen, the renowned World War I poet and also a pupil who were killed in that war.

Looking towards Hamilton Square. The grandiose architecture of the square does not continue into the neighbouring streets, despite the hopes of the early promoters.

All dated c1840. The nearer ashlar group has some cast-iron balconies. The far group, in brick, was the Copperfield pub. Grade II listed.

Located in the imposing, Victorian, Hamilton Square which was designed by Gillespie Graham. This could almost be in Edinburgh's New Town!

Birkenhead town hall opened in 1887, completing the last space in Hamilton Square. It was made using local sandstone and Scottish granite. In 1974, it was made redundant due to the reorganisation of local government. However, it bounced back in 2001 as the Wirral Museum, retaining the highly decorated interior. It holds interesting information on the Mersey tunnels, World War II experiences, ships and submarines built at Cammell Lairds, John Laird, Mallory and Irvine (the latter was born in Birkenhead), history and geology of Wirral. I particularly like the large model of Woodside as it was in 1934. See http://www.wirral.gov.uk/ed/wirral_museum.htm

Situated on the south-east side of Hamilton Square, the structure was built as Birkenhead Town Hall and completed in 1887. The re-organization of local government in 1974 meant that it lost its town hall status, but it has subsequently been refurbished as the Wirral Museum. The clock tower is a prominent landmark. Mortimer Street is to the left of the building.

This remarkably grand and complete Georgian composition is like an alien intrusion into the cityscape. Take one step outside in pretty much any direction and one is brought down to earth with a bump. The rest of William Laird's scheme never got off the ground. The square was laid out by James Gillespie Graham and construction took almost twenty years. The south end of the east side, pictured here, was the last section to be completed, in around 1844. The town hall divides the two halves of this side. Grade I listed.

This remarkably grand and complete Georgian composition is like an alien intrusion into the cityscape. Take one step outside in pretty much any direction and one is brought down to earth with a bump. The rest of William Laird's scheme never got off the ground. The square was laid out by James Gillespie Graham and construction took almost twenty years. The south side, pictured here, was built in 1839-44. Grade I listed.