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Riots broke out in Birkenhead!

From the Wirral Globe, first published Wednesday 25th Nov 1998.

OLD New Brighton is infamous for smugglers and wreckers but did you know smugglers and wreckers beat them to it at Parkgate and Neston? In his latest local history book, Wirral Gleanings, author Greg Dawson, of Irby, explores a smuggler's cave.

"There has not been a great deal written up to now about smugglers along Wirral's Dee coast, so I thought I would put pen to paper. The information I dug out is fascinating and shows smuggling in Wirral was rife in all walks of life.

"There are many old stories about secret tunnels and hidden caves used along the Dee coast but no one knows where they are. The smugglers cave in Heswall does exist!" Greg told the Globe.

In the 1700's most smuggled goods came to Wirral from Isle of Man but in 1765 a patrol vessel the Lordship of Man put a stop to wholesale smuggling. Most smuggled goods then came from Ireland.

There were two types of smugglers, those who brought stuff in by sea and land and who were often armed. "Wirral up to the middle of the 18th century was a desperate region. The inhabitants were nearly all wreckers or smugglers."

It has always been said that pretty well all the inter-related villagers of Parkgate, Gayton, and Heswall Village were in the know as regards smuggling. Legends and stories about ghosts were encouraged, to scare people away from desolate areas where contraband might be landed.

Smuggled goods taken to Parkgate to Neston were carried along Buggen Lane. In those days ghosts were called buggens.

Other chapters in the book deal with other matters such as 'Injustice in Birkenhead'. This tells of the Birkenhead Riots following the sinking of the Cunard liner Lusitania by a U Boat in 1915 while on its way to Liverpool.

The day after anti-German riots broke out. In Birkenhead police tried to protect the first victim who had a butcher's shop at Watson Street but it was wrecked after police were overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Riots lasted for a couple of days and pubs were closed.

Some luckless victims were not German related. Fried fish dealer Thomas Lincoln, of Price Street, had his shop smashed up by a mob made up mostly of women and young boys. They looted everything after someone said he had sold a fish to a German!

Wirral Gleanings written by Greg Dawson, published by Inprint, Wallasey, price £4.95.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.

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