HOME





Hamilton Square
Hamilton Square is a town square in Birkenhead, Wirral, England. The Georgian square, which was designed by Edinburgh architect James Gillespie Graham, has the most Grade I listed buildings outside London (after Trafalgar Square). It is named after the family of the wife of Scottish shipbuilder William Laird. Hamilton Square was the first part of a major civic scheme to develop the town of Birkenhead in the early 19th century. But owing to several factors, including a depressed economy and the influx of working-class labourers needing lodgings, the square become the only part of the grand design to be completed. William Laird wanted to build an urban development similar in scale and style to New Town, Edinburgh. Hamilton Square would have had been at the centre of a planned borough that had wide, straight streets lined with late Georgian stone-clad terraced Townhouses, public buildings, and enclosed parks. History In 1801 Birkenhead was still a small, undeveloped village o ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon]


Birkenhead Town Hall
Birkenhead Town Hall is a civic building and former town hall in Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula in Merseyside, England. The building was the former administrative headquarters of the County Borough of Birkenhead, and more recently, council offices for the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Since the closure of the Wirral Museum in 2010, there is uncertainty over the future purpose of the Grade II* listed building. History When Hamilton Square was designed in the early 19th century, a plot of land was made available for the siting of a town hall between Hamilton Street and Chester Street. Designed by local architect Christopher Ellison, the building was constructed using Scottish granite and sandstone from the now filled-in local quarry at Storeton. It was officially opened in 1887. The building consisted of a council chamber, offices, with a concert hall and function rooms known as the Assembly Rooms. Birkenhead's magistrates' court chambers are located in a separate build ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon]


picture info

Town Houses
A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence (normally in London) of someone whose main or largest residence was a country house. History Historically, a townhouse was the city residence of a noble or wealthy family, who would own one or more country houses in which they lived for much of the year. From the 18th century, landowners and their servants would move to a townhouse during the social season (when major balls took place). United States and Canada In the United States and Canada, a townhouse has two connotations. The older predates the automobile and denotes a house on a small footprint in a city, but because of its multiple floors (sometimes six or more), it has a large living space, often with servants' quarters. The small footprint of the townhouse allows it to be with ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon]


picture info

John Laird (shipbuilder)
John Laird (14 June 1805 – 29 October 1874) was a British shipbuilder and key figure in the development of the town of Birkenhead. He was the elder brother of Macgregor Laird. He was one of the first to use iron in the construction of ships. Early years Born in Greenock, Scotland, the eldest son of Scottish entrepreneur William Laird and Agnes (née Macgregor), John Laird was raised in Liverpool and educated at that city's Royal Institution. In 1824 the Laird family moved to Birkenhead, on the opposite bank of the River Mersey, where William Laird and Daniel Horton established the Birkenhead Iron Works. This manufactured boilers near Wallasey Pool. This partnership was dissolved in 1828 and William Laird was joined in his business by John Laird, who had been a solicitor's articled clerk. The company was renamed William Laird & Son. Shipbuilding Laird realised that the techniques of bending iron plates and riveting them together to build ships were similar to the principle ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon]


picture info

Statue Of John Laird
The Statue of John Laird stands on the west side of Hamilton Square, Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. It commemorates the life of John Laird, a local ship builder, politician and benefactor. The statue was sculpted by Albert Bruce-Joy, and unveiled in 1877 by Lord Tollemache. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. History John Laird (1805–74) was a shipbuilder and politician. He was born in Greenock, Scotland, and as a child moved with his family to Liverpool, then in 1824 to Birkenhead, where his father, William, founded a shipbuilding business. John was educated at Liverpool Royal Institution and, after training as a solicitor, joined his father's business in 1828. When William Laird retired in 1839, John became sole partner. He retired in 1861, and the business was continued by his three sons, eventually becoming the major ship building firm of Cammell Laird. During the time that John Laird was worki ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon]


Queen Victoria Monument, Birkenhead
The Queen Victoria Monument stands in the centre of Hamilton Square, Birkenhead, Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is in the form of an Eleanor cross. The memorial was designed by Edmund Kirby, and was unveiled in 1905. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. History Following the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, a Victoria Memorial Committee was established in Birkenhead to make arrangements for a memorial to the queen. An open space was created in the centre of Hamilton Square in 1903 by Birkenhead Town Council. The committee then discussed the form of the memorial to stand in its centre. It had been hoped to have a monument in bronze, but the amount of money raised was inadequate to provide this, and it was decided that the monument should be in the form of an Eleanor cross. Eleanor crosses were erected by King Edward I in the late 13th century to commemorate the life of his wife, Eleanor of Cas ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon]


picture info

Cenotaph
A cenotaph is an empty grave, tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere or have been lost. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the majority of cenotaphs honor individuals, many noted cenotaphs are also dedicated to the memories of groups of individuals, such as the lost soldiers of a country or of an empire. Etymology "Cenotaph" means "empty tomb" and is derived from the Greek , a compound word that is created from the morphological combination of two root words: # meaning "empty" # meaning "tomb", from History Cenotaphs were common in the ancient world. Many were built in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and across Northern Europe (in the shape of Neolithic barrows). The cenotaph in Whitehall, London, designed in 1919 by Sir Edwin Lutyens, influenced the design of many other war memorials in Britain and in the British sectors of the Western Front, as wel ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon]


Hamilton Square, North Side - Geograph
Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (album), album based on the musical ** ''The Hamilton Mixtape'', album of music from the musical performed by various artists ** ''Hamilton'' (2020 film), a live film recording of the musical, featuring the original cast Hamilton may also refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilton (other), several Scottish, Irish and British peers, and some members of the judiciary, who may be referred to simply as ''Hamilton'' ** Clan Hamilton, an ancient Scottish kindred * Hamílton (footballer, born 1980), Togolese footballer * Lewis Hamilton (race driver, ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon]


picture info

Wallasey Town Hall
Wallasey Town Hall is a municipal building on Brighton Street in Wallasey, Merseyside, England. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Wirral Council until 2023, is a Grade II* listed building. History In the early 20th century, Wallasey urban district council, which had been created in 1894, was based in council offices in Church Street. After population growth, largely associated with the tourism, Wallasey became a municipal borough in 1910 and then a county borough in 1913. Civic leaders decided to procure a town hall: after a long debate, during which sites at Liscard and in Rake Lane were also considered, the site they selected was one which had been occupied by a mansion known as Northmead House. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by George V, King George V, who was accompanied by Mary of Teck, Queen Mary, on 25 March 1914. It was designed by Arnold Thornely, Briggs, Wolstenholme & Thornely in the Neoclassical architecture, Neoclassical style and bu ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon]




Storeton
Storeton is a small village and former civil parish in the Wirral district, in the county of Merseyside, England, on the Wirral Peninsula. It is west of the town of Bebington and is made up of Great Storeton and Little Storeton, which is classified as a hamlet. At the 2001 Census the population of Storeton was recorded as 150. History Storeton has Viking connections, the name deriving from the Old Norse ''Stor-tún'', meaning "great farmstead". The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Stortone''. It has been thought that the poem ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' refers to Storeton Hall. Storeton Hall dates from the 14th century. It was formerly in Wirral Hundred. Storeton was formerly a township in the parish of Bebington. It became a civil parish in its own right in 1866. In 1933 the parish was absorbed into the urban district of Bebington, which became the Municipal Borough of Bebington in 1937. Storeton remained a civil parish until 1974, but as an u ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon]


picture info

Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to manage their safety risks and reduce their environmental impact. The word ''quarry'' can also include the underground quarrying for stone, such as Bath stone. History For thousands of years, only hand tools had been used in quarries. In the eighteenth century, the use of drilling and blasting operations was mastered. Types of rock Types of rock extracted from quarries include: *Chalk *China clay *Scoria, Cinder *Clay *Coal *Construction aggregate (sand and gravel) *Coquina *Diabase *Gabbro *Granite *Gritstone *Gypsum *Limestone *Marble *Ores *Phosphate rock *Quartz *Sandstone *Slate *Travertine Methods of quarrying The method of removal of stones from their natural bed by using different operations is called quarryin ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon]


picture info

Sandstone
Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar, because they are the most resistant minerals to the weathering processes at the Earth's surface. Like uncemented sand, sandstone may be imparted any color by impurities within the minerals, but the most common colors are tan, brown, yellow, red, grey, pink, white, and black. Because sandstone beds can form highly visible cliffs and other topography, topographic features, certain colors of sandstone have become strongly identified with certain regions, such as the red rock deserts of Arches National Park and other areas of the Southwestern United States, American Southwest. Rock formations composed of sandstone usually allow the p ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon]


picture info

Granite
Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies underground. It is common in the continental crust of Earth, where it is found in igneous intrusions. These range in size from dike (geology), dikes only a few centimeters across to batholiths exposed over hundreds of square kilometers. Granite is typical of a larger family of ''granitic rocks'', or ''granitoids'', that are composed mostly of coarse-grained quartz and feldspars in varying proportions. These rocks are classified by the relative percentages of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase (the QAPF diagram, QAPF classification), with true granite representing granitic rocks rich in quartz and alkali feldspar. Most granitic rocks also contain mica or amphibole minerals, though a few (known as leucogranites) conta ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon]