;IE HUNDRED - Old Wirral.com

BIRKENHEAD PRIORY
ferry were well wooded, as its name, Woodside,
denotes.
Yet hidden away and surrounded by modern
buildings, which climb nearly up to its walls, is the
interesting Priory of Birkenhead. It seems, so
much has the hand of man changed the face of
the country, a strange situation for a monastic
building, and there is a difficulty in fixing the
precise date when the Priory was founded ; but
the name of Oliver, Prior of Birkenhead, occurs in
the reign of King John. Doubtless the cathedral
builders chose a fine situation for the Priory, for at
the period of the building the land about Birkenhead
was well timbered, and the situation of the
Priory was carefully selected, the building being
placed on the red sandstone, guarded on three sides
by the river Mersey. The Prior had the exclusive
right of ferry from Birkenhead to Liverpool, and
from the houses he held for the accommodation
of travellers, and from the ferry, he is said to
have derived a
"
good revenue. The demesne
of the ancient Priory," says Mortimer, " was on a
peninsular rock of red sandstone surrounded on
three sides by the river Mersey, and the fourth
gradually receding westward towards Claughton,
where the grange was situated. The immediate
precincts of the convent were surrounded by a
wall, of which there are now no remains. The
ruins of the building exhibit a variation from the
order of the majority of monastic houses.
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The