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Mersey Estuary websites and books

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The Royal Liver Building and the Cunard Building in Liverpool

The Royal Liver Building and Cunard Building in Liverpool on the Mersey Estuary

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This post gives some suggestions for websites and books on the maritime history, wildlife and environment of the Mersey Estuary and its Liverpool, Wirral and Cheshire shores as follows:

I hope that you find it useful and please let me know if you have suggestions for other items to include or find web links that are out of date.

Many of the book references are from The Mersey Estuary: A Travel Guide for which details are at the bottom of this page. If interested, you can also sign up for my newsletter there, which has more content on maritime history, wildlife and the environment.

Mersey Estuary websites and blogs

Maritime History

There are many websites which include articles on the maritime history of Liverpool, Wirral and Cheshire and here is just a small selection. It is also worthwhile exploring the websites of local history societies.

Other lists: this of course is a huge topic and the following compilations in particular are worth mentioning as a starting point for finding out more:

There are more links in the following posts on this website:

Wildlife and environment

This again is a huge topic and here are some websites that provide a great starting point for finding out more. See the links they provide as well for more ideas.

There are more links in the following post on this website:

Mersey Estuary book reviews

If you would like to find reviews of books on the Mersey Estuary, Goodreads is a good starting point, along with some of the websites listed above. For convenience I’ve reproduced some reviews below from my own Goodreads page here.

Mersey The River That Changed The World by Ian Wray

Several decades ago, the Mersey Estuary was heavily polluted, before the work of the Mersey Basin Campaign, which brought together government, businesses and community organisations to tackle the problems. The resulting changes sparked a new pride in the waterfront and economic development and its waters are now so clean that even salmon have returned.

This book celebrates these changes, bringing together several authors writing on different aspects of the estuary. This includes a fabulous article called Wild Mersey by Chris Baines on how wildlife has returned and On the Waterfront by Peter de Figueirido, which describes historical developments along the Mersey from Stockport to Liverpool.

Richly illustrated, it’s the type of book you would normally dip into but, like me, you may end up reading it all the way through.

Faster Than the Wind: A History of and a Guide to the Liverpool to Holyhead Telegraph by Frank Large

Even before the days of radios and satellites, it was a great help to have early warning of a ship’s arrival in port, allowing owners to arrange berths and hire labour, and to start finding buyers on commodity exchanges.

This meticulously researched book tells the story of an ingenious signalling system that was set up in 1827 along the north Wales coast from Anglesey to the Port of Liverpool, using semaphore masts with several mechanical arms to relay information. Typically, it took just a few minutes to send a signal along the twelve stations from start to end although a BBC Coast programme suggested the record was under a minute.

I particularly liked the imagined description of how a day’s work must have been for the key operator at Holyhead, interpreting the flags on ships as they came into sight, and of the elaborate semaphore coding system, which allowed a huge variety of messages to be transmitted. The older flag signalling system that it replaced also features. The system was finally replaced by electrical telegraph in the 1860s

Wild Merseyside by John Dempsey

Merseyside stretches from south and east of Liverpool to Southport to the north and includes much of the Wirral. This book celebrates its wildlife including seals, lizards, seabirds and rare plants. Written by a local wildlife expert, it is stunningly illustrated with many insider’s tips on when and where to go. Habitats discussed include parks, nature reserves and the coast. Suitable for both beginners and enthusiasts, it is great to dip into when planning a trip or to take out in the field to see what you can find.

Both sides of the river: Merseyside In Poetry and Prose by Gladys Mary Coles

This imaginative book collects together a huge variety of extracts of published work on Merseyside into a single volume, with a particular focus on Liverpool. These are drawn from ‘…poetry, novels, short stories, scripts for stage, television and radio, songs, legends, biographies and autobiographies, diaries, letters, travel-writing and journalism’. Edited by a renowned poet, it is a book to dip into, with both modern and historical works featured, including some fascinating traveller’s accounts of visits to the Port of Liverpool in the early days. It also features a great selection of photographs and paintings.

Mersey Estuary books and other information

Some other books and other references you might enjoy are listed below under the following headings:

There are of course many other books on these topics, particularly on the history of Liverpool, and the links provided under Other lists above are a great starting point for finding more.

General

Liverpool

Wirral and Cheshire shores

Maritime history

Wildlife and environment

Many of these book references are from The Mersey Estuary: A Travel Guide. This describes places to visit around the estuary, walks and cycle rides, and its history, environment and wildlife. It was published in 2020 in printed and ebook form and is available from most bookshops and online stores. See www.troubador.co.uk and Goodreads for more information, including links to ebook retailers and a short video about the book.

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