IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Abbey Street, BIRKENHEAD, CH41 5JU

Birkenhead Priory, a Benedictine Monastery established 1150 is the oldest building on Merseyside. Much of the original building still remains and other parts have been sympathetically restored to their former stature. Climb the tower of St. Mary’s Church dated 1822, and experience the panoramic views of Liverpool’s waterfront, the unmatched views across Birkenhead to Oxton Ridge, Bidston and the Wirral coast.

The Scriptorium built on top of the Chapter House nearest the camera

In 1999 the tower was dedicated as a memorial to those who died on the submarine Thetis which sank 60 years previously on sea trials in Liverpool Bay off the North Wales coast. The names of the 99 men who died are recorded as you move up and down the 101 steps to reach the parapet and the unparalleled views of the river, Liverpool and Birkenhead but, most particularly, the shipyard of Cammell Laird so many ships of importance to the country’s history, including Thetis, were built. ** Courtesy Birkenhead Priory

Founded in 1828 and is based on the River Mersey, Cammell Laird is one of the most famous names in British industry. In its heyday, the Cammell Laird shipyard built more than 1350 ships including many famous and innovative vessels. The company played a key role in World War I and II both building and repairing vessels. During World War II alone the shipyard produced nearly 200 vessels both commercial and military in support of the UK war effort. Including HMS Rodney, HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Ark Royal. The company’s Birkenhead site expands across 130 acres and includes four dry docks, a large modular construction hall and extensive covered workshops. It is also at the centre of a marine and engineering cluster with easy access to support services classification societies and port state authorities. The company was nationalised along with the rest of the British shipbuilding industry as British Shipbuilders in 1977. In 1986, it returned to the private sector as part of Barrow-in-Furness-based Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd (VSEL). VSEL and Cammell Laird were the only British shipyards capable of producing nuclear submarines. After the end of the Upholder class submarine building programme in 1993, the owners of Cammell Laird, VSEL, announced the yard's closure. Part of the shipyard site was leased and then sold with the new owners adopting the Cammell Laird name. Today the company operates as an engineering services specialist in military ship refit, commercial ship repair, upgrade and conversion and shipbuilding. http://www.clbh.co.uk/ Cammell Laird http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cammell_Laird Wikipedia

The Laird Family Vault.

The tower of St Mary's, the first parish church of Birkenhead shares its site with the Benedictine monastery, Birkenhead Priory. The 101 steps of the tower serve as a memorial to those lost in the 1939 disaster aboard the Laird's built submarine Thetis. The church was designed by Thomas Rickman in 1821 but only the Tower escaped demolition in the 1970's.

Here is a link to the HMS Conway website http://hmsconway.org/intro.html

John Masefield's poem The Conway Gulls published in his 1933 edition of The Conway, provided the inspiration for Wirral artist David Hillhouse to design a stained glass window for the Conway Chapel in 1995. The artist has worked around the theme of the poem, where John Masefield sees the new cadets as young gulls, leaving the ship for their journeys around the world. They finally return home to "Conway" as mature gulls to settle in the spars of the old ship. There was a tradition on the ship therefore that seagulls on the spars should be left alone, they were departed OCs returned. The following words are shown within panels of the window: "And being gone, they wander home again Here, to the ship, and settle on her spars, They are our brothers, so we let them be, Old Conways, fellow sharers of the stars." John Masefield poet laureate and Old Conway http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCEQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hmsconway.org%2Fdocs%2Fpoems.rtf&ei=FZm7VJmIPMPyaMHygPgI&usg=AFQjCNFT-I1OJNXe-65lT-HdXeqsrsqRAQ