Bidston Lighthouse
The lighthouse at Bidston always seemed to be set just that little lower to the ground than Bidston Observatory. Here is a view from the roof of Bidston Observatory over to the lighthouse; you can see that there are distant hills. We believe at the time we were witnessing 'refracted horizon', as the only mountainous region on that bearing would be the Lake District National Park. The refraction was so significant (perfect atmospheric conditions) that I am also certain there is a slither of the Scottish Coast at Kirkcudbright faintly showing. Bearing in mind we also had a negotiable additional 50 feet on top of the 196 ft above sea level of the actual Bidston Hill, so we amused ourselves with the notion that we caught the final rays of the day on that roof at about 250ft up!
At night, the view over to Leasowe, Moreton, Upton and beyond to Meols and Hoylake always resembled the dying embers of a coal fire; together with little street lamps, piercing through the darkness here and there, even in twilight (you can clearly see this happening in the photograph below). When you consider just how much Wirral was overwhelmed with sudden development in the 50's and 60's (when it forfeited it's all four corners countryside status) it's quite nice to see the minimalism shown in this photo.
"Call the coast guard - Bidston Observatory 2010"
One night at around 9pm a red distress flare went up over Leasowe Bay, about a quarter of a mile out from the Wirral coastline. The Observatory was great for trig points as in this case I was able to say to the Coastguard that the flare went up directly in line with Bidston Observatory, Heyes Drive and the flare source out beyond the shore. It was quite an empowering thought, that we were able to do 'lighthouse duties' in 2010, 97 years after the last 'light' on the hill; my wife Sheryl and I often wonder what the coastguard must have thought when receiving our call. We also had a great view over to Leasowe Lighthouse too, and car headlamps would catch your eye, blinking at you as they took the 90 degree bend from Pasture road into Leasowe Road.
"Looking for
ships, still looking...."
This photo also shows two
venting stacks on the copper conical roof of the lighthouse (note the one to
the right has lost it's 'cap'). These stacks were installed for the oil lamps that
were used with the refracting mirror, invented and pioneered by William
Hutchinson.
"Power
failure"
22nd November 2009
witnessed a bizarre occurrence when I arrived home at 1.30am. I got into
the Observatory and upon looking out of the window towards Moreton saw all
the power go out; the whole of North Wirral seemed to go black right in
front of my eyes, quite a surreal 'God's own light switch' moment. The blackness engulfed as the
street light "embers" from Wallasey Village right over to Moreton were
snuffed out in an instant. The only lighting that remained was along the M53
corridor, the outage lasting for about an hour. I recall seeing
the security lights at Leasowe leisure centre being the only true evidence
of emergency lighting in front of me.
Torch lights could be seen
switching on over in Moreton; like fireflies, people buzzed around as they
muddled their way
through the darkness.
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