Thanks for all the information Andy and for such a clear picture of how all the parishes fit together. My knowledge of Birkenhead is mainly confined to Grange Road, the Market, the Ritz Cinema (probably now demolished), Tranmere Rovers and Hamilton Square, mostly a long time ago though I have revisited twice recently. I believe that a new church(St. Paul's?) was built in Tranmere to cover, amongst other people's, the needs of Hr. Bebington residents until they had a church of their own. It was supposed to be handier for them than St. Andrew's in Lr. Bebington but was not used all that much by "Fir Bob" residents who continued to attend St. Andrews. There is a reference to Tranmere being within the parish of Bebington in the details of a charity which was specifically for the poor of the township of Tranmere. I found this in a book about St. Andrew's by Richard Lancelyn Green. Tara well, Hazel ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andy Bell" <ajb1605@hotmail.com> To: <BIRKENHEAD-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: 04 September 2001 14:20 Subject: [Birkenhead-L] Re: BIRKENHEAD-D Digest V01 #1 > For Hazel > > To the best of my knowledge, Tranmere (and Higher Tranmere) have never been > part of Bebington, but certainly next to it. (Likewise there is a Lower and > Higher Bebington) > > The frontage of the Wirral facing the Mersey, opposite Liverpool, is a > string of townships, all incorporating numerous villages, and in VERY > simplistic terms runs from North to Southeast as follows...Wallasey, > Birkenhead, Bebington, Bromborough/Eastham. > > This frontage must run for at least 8-10 miles, at a guess, hence the answer > to your question, why would marriages take place in a chapel in Birkenhead > instead of Bebington Parish Church. Long way - lots of churches in between. > > Tranmere is a part of Birkenhead that sits pretty much next to Bebington, > and it's constituent villages of Rock Ferry and New Ferry (Note all the > "Ferry" connections - the Priory is at a place actually formerly called > Monks Ferry, now next door to the current landing stage of Woodside. The > other current ferry terminal is in Wallasey, at Seacombe. New Brighton, at > the Northern end of Wallasey, which once was, and is becoming again, a major > local seaside attraction, used to have a pier and it's own Ferry). > > (Next to Tranmere is Prenton, home of the greatest Football team in the > world, the mighty Tranmere Rovers FC.) > > No doubt I will attract a load of responses telling me I didn't mention > this, or I should have said that, but this is just a very brief mental image > for you of the area of which you are enquiring. > > Hope it helps. > Andy Bell > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp > > ______________________________