Parkgate, Wirral, Cheshire - Boat House Cafe - postcard c.1970s

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  The Boat House Cafe, Parkgate [Cheshire - Wirral]
• Publisher: PT18321 Photo Precision
• Postally used: no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Parkgate is a village on the Wirral Peninsula, in the part that lies in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chesterand the ceremonial county of Cheshire, in the North West of England. It is situated on the coastline of the River Dee, adjoining 100 square kilometres of salt marsh, separated by a sandstone former sea wall.^[1] At the 2001 CensusParkgate had a population of 3,702,^[2] reducing to 3,591 at the 2011 Census.^[3]

Parkgate was an important port from the start of the 18th century, in particular as an embarkation point for Ireland. The River Dee, which served as a shipping lane to the Roman city of Deva (Chester), had silted up, in part by 383 AD, creating a need for a port further downstream.^[4] Quays were built, first at Burton and later near the small town of Neston but further silting required yet another re-siting slightly further downstream near the gate of Neston's hunting park. Hence the settlement of Parkgate was born.^[5]

During the years when the port existed, two distinguished guests stayed in the local hostelries. One was Lord Nelson's mistress, (Lady) Emma Hamilton, who was born in nearby Ness and bathed at Parkgate, apparently as a cure for a skin complaint.^[6][7] Another was George Frideric Handel, who stayed in Parkgate before sailing to Dublin in April 1742 for the first performance of Messiah. He had finished Messiah in the summer of 1741 and at most he could only have added minor touches to the work in Parkgate.

As the Dee silted up even further, Parkgate became unusable as a port and was superseded by the port of Liverpool, on the nearby River Mersey.^[8]Towards the end of the 18th century Parkgate was popular as a seaside resort with bathers. But this diminished as the sands of the estuary were consumed with grass. With no beach and no direct access to the sea, Parkgate could manage only small subsistence from fishing and shrimps. The silting of the Dee has been accelerated by the deliberate introduction of the invasive colonising grass Spartina anglica in Connah's Quay in 1928, resulting in the growth of extensive marshlands.^[9][10]

Mostyn House School, a striking black and white building, was opened in Parkgate in 1855. From 1862 until it closed in 2010, it was run by the Grenfell family, most recently as a co-educational day school. Sir Wilfred Grenfell (1865–1940), famous medical missionary to Newfoundland and Labrador, was born in Parkgate and was a pupil at the school. The Duke of Westminster's children attended Mostyn House.^[11]