Bringing Wirral's past back to life
Researching our past, to improve our future.
Welcome to Wirral Archaeology’s website. Wirral Archaeology is a local voluntary group dedicated to archaeological analysis, research, and the interpretation of Wirral’s forgotten historic past.
This website will constantly evolve as our investigations progress and we will continually update it. The theories outlined here at present may also change with the discovery of new information, and scientific data. That is the nature of these investigations.
We have several fascinating projects investigating Wirral’s unique local heritage. Learn more about these on the dedicated pages.
Our aim is to promote serious professional analysis of Wirral’s historic past, to raise community awareness of Wirral’s history, and use professional methodologies to jointly investigate local archaeology and history with several universities, scientists and historians.
Meet the Directors
David Allan
Director
Educated Birkenhead School and Royal Agricultural College. Ran a Garden Centre – now retired. Rugby player – teams include:- Old Birkonian, United Services…
Dr Brian Atkin
Director
Works as a financial consultant and an accountant.
Marine Archaeologist
Dived on the Graf Spey after the War – first British diver to do so.
Prof Stephen Harding
Director
Educated at Overchurch School, Wirral & Pembroke College Oxford: BA, MA, DSc Royal Society of Chemistry Junior Medallist & Knight of the Royal Norwegian…
Dominga Devitt
Director and Chair
A Public Relation, Media Liaison and Communication professional In 1974 she moved to Birmingham and spent the the majority of her career in
Current Projects
Wirral’s Farms and Fields
Yes, we take them for granted, barely giving them a second glance as we whizz along in our motor cars. Grazing cows, bleating sheep and a few areas of ploughed earth constrained by overgrown hedges. They’re just fields. We may catch a glimpse of a footpath sign even a farmhouse or too and that’s it. Forgotten. Ignored. Neglected. But as good historians should we not be asking ourselves, why? Why are those fields there?
The Wirral Shore
The Wirral Shore
Miles of golden sand fringe the Wirral Peninsula where it meets the Irish Sea. For the unwary, there are treacherous mud banks and unexpectedly deep channels. The Dee estuary embraces three small islands – Hilbre, Middle Eye and Little Eye all with their own place in history.
The Egremont Bloomery
The Egremont Bloomery
Where is the Egremont Bloomery? In Egremont – on the Wirral bank of the River Mersey, sandwiched between New Brighton and Leasowe. Not the one in Cumbria!
What is a bloomery?
A bloomery is the earliest form of iron smelter. It produces a porous mass of iron and slag called a bloom which is consolidated and further forged into wrought iron.
The Search for the Battle of Brunanburh.
Battle of Brunanburh, 937AD.
This forgotten battle is regarded by most historians as the event that created the English nation; but where is took place has been lost for centuries. There have been many attempts to locate the battlefield, but these have been based on trying to interpret a few clues and information taken from manuscripts written sometimes hundreds of years later. None of them have been able to firmly place the symbol of crossed swords on a map to show where the battle was.
The boat beneath the car park
The boat in the carpark
n 1938 the remains of a clinker-built boat were unearthed by workmen digging the foundations of the new Railway pub in Meols. It was described as “an ancient ship built in the Nordic clinker (overlapping planks) style buried twelve feet down and covered in a layer of blue clay”. As they were on a tight schedule to get the new pub open, the workmen were told to keep quiet and cover it up.
Wirrals Roman Roads.
Wirrals Roman Roads.
Over a period of many years, we have researched the suspected Roman road network of the Wirral peninsula, as time and other projects have allowed. There is clear evidence of at least two roads, one running directly from Chester to Meols, and the other aligned on a point close to Bidston village. Modern development has obliterated some of the alignment of these roads, but enough remains to plot their courses.