The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-11-05 00:00:00

BIRKENHEAD. star the formality of laying the foundation-stone of the great works about to be proceeded with, will take place. The basin will have two entrances, formed by the construction o f an o bl ong i s l an d, b e t ween th e p o int of Woodside Ferry pier and the southern corner of the sea wall, to the north, which is to enclose Wallasey Pool. These two entrances, it is supposed, wilt afford better ingress and egress of craft than a single opening, as either may be taken advantage of according to the wind. South ward will be the reclaimed land on each side of the en trance to the Pool, or, as it will be termed, " The Great Low-water Basin," of 37 acres. The land reclaimed, or made, on each side will be about 60 acres, or 120 in all, with a quay space all round of 300 feet wide. The gates from this basin to the Great Floating Dock above, of 150 acres, and of a depth of 19 feet, are so clearly defined on the map, that we need not supply any further elucidation. The Birkenhead Dock Warehousing Company possess the whole wide belt of land on the south side of the Pool up to Corporation-road, and will doubtless employ or let it, to the best advantage, for lateral docks, warehouses, yards, quays, &c. Scientific plans are in preparation. From the increasing trade of Liverpool, it is expected that the buildings erected will come into requisition as soon as finished, for the storage of articles, especially those of a bulky description. The opposite, or Seacombe shore will be equally available, and enhanced in value, for the works now upon it or similar manufactories, as well as for quays, slips, and new erections in warehouses or depeits. It will be observed that there will be a road or bridge over the gates from Birkenhead to Seacombe, near the river -wall, which will not only be a great accommodation to visitors, Pedestrians, and others, but form a link between the two townships which they have never before enjoyed even with th e advantage of Poulton-bridge, recently constructed, Which is much higher up, and involves additional miles of travel. There is a small dock to be constructed early at the south end of the Low-water Basin. Our townsman, Mr. John Tomkinson, the builder of , ar Custom-house, and of our New Assize Courts, has obtained the contract for the whole of the Birkenhead Dock sea-walls, &c., and is deserving of the trust reposed in his abilities as an experienced and faithful workman. lie has already made great progress in fixing his double rows of perpendicular balks, with railways on horizontal Parallel balks at the top, for the curricles to convey and deposit in their places the huge stones for the sixteen-acre basin ; and these, extending along the the shore from Woodside Ferry to the gut between it and the Patent slips, already show conspicuously from this side of the water. He has also laid transverse elevated rail ways for the same purpose, abutting into the present beach ing ground in that quarter ; and he is preparing to lay down a railway for the conveyance of the principal part of the stone from the quarry at Flaybrick Hill, for the sea Walls ; and has already got a new steam-engine for mortar grinding, and a new lime-kiln erected, on the shore facing t he works. He has also, in this early stage of the works, and though the season begins to be unpropitious, a vast ''umber of workmen employed—perhaps not fewer than t wo thousand. The excavators swarm along the shore, which they have already deeply trenched, finding close to the surface, at the highest part, solid beds of sound red free-stone, which will be applicable to many parts of the works. A crane has also been erected a little to the northward of Wood side Ferry slip, (elevated on a square stone basement, re sembling the lower story of a tower,) for the hoisting of large stones, &c. from the fiats that may come alongside when the tide is up ; and these blocks will be conveyed in waggons on an elevated branch railway, running shore ward from the crane to the other lines of rail, so that they may be readily deposited on their destined sites at any part of the works. The whole of the machinery, indeed, is of the best description, to facilitate the grand opera tions. We may state that, in addition to the handsome places of worship of the Establishment, especially Trinity Church, (a fine Norman building), Birkenhead Church (Gothic), and the Scotch Church, Conway-street, and the Catholic and Dissenting Chapels, four new " Churches" are to be shortly erected, on eligible sites, as indicated in our plan,— to meet the wants and wishes of the rapidly increasing population. Birkenhead will, no doubt, derive very considerable ad vantages from the number of railways that will shortly terminate there, as well as from those now existing. We may enumerate—the respective railways from BIRKENHEAD, to Birmingham and London ;—to Shrewsbury, Mont gomery, Welsbpool, and New-Town ;—to Mould and Wrexham ;—to H olyhead ;—to Runcorn, Warrington, and Manchester ; and by various ways, in connection with these and other lines, to all parts of the north and east of England. It is stated to us, indeed, that no town in the country will become so much the focus of railways, in a few years ; so that the docks and warehouses will be in direct communication with all parts of the kingdom. The government mail steam-ships, too, will there find a haven of security, in place of anchoring in the Sloyne ; and the tidal basin will be of advantage to vessels bringing cattle, as they may at all times there discharge their live-stock, without the necessity of losing a tide. The intended " Birkenhead, Manchester, cad Cheshire Junction Railway," will join the Chester and Birkenhead Railway, by a branch, near Bebington, for the Birkenhead traffic, and another near Chester for the Shropshire, Welsh, and Irish traffic. These branches will unite near Elton, the line then to be continued to Frodsham and Preston-Brook, and thence (crossing the Grand Junction) to Manchester, via Altringham, whence a branch will he carried to Stockport. In fine, Birkenhead is, (to use a Yankee phrase,) " going a-head in style." The population (as before stated) is already from 15,000 to 16,000 souls. In 1841, the popu lation was, by the census, only B,227,—showing an in crease of nearly double in the short space of three years ; and as regards the sanitary condition of the township, we find, from an authentic table in Mr. Stansfield's work, that from 1838 to 1841 (inclusive) the average deaths were little more than two per cent.,—being but 1 in 45.—The principal proprietors, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Laird, Mr. Pot ter, and others, have agreed not to allow of courts of houses, or dwellings in cellars. Rates, &c. With regard to the revenue and rates it may be stated, "rst—that in proportion to the population and assessment t c,f Liverpool, the receipts of the Ferry, the Market, and 4 ," Slaughter Houses, will be greater in nett amount to t he township of Birkenhead, than the town-dues to our °"• The local rates are lower than in anv other town ; for the township being extra-parochial the inhabitants are t °t subject to church-rates and the sewerage has been en -1419 at the expense of theowners of the land. The pas sengers crossing the Mersey to and from - Woodside alcne and which last year averaged about 5,500 daily—such has since been the increase—now average about 10,000 ! And, as the ferry rate is about to be reduced one half (from 2d. to Id)., this number will no doubt be soon greatly augmented, especially if the landing-places on this side (which are in some respects lamentably deficient) be rendered more safe and commodious,—for which some plan will, we hope, be ere long adopted. Shops. 5 ,.1.1a1 vi s it ors t o Bi r k en h ea d w ill, no d ou bt, b e muc h I fled architecture, and the splendid stocks of the principal 4, P r ised by the rapid increase, the elegant and diversi- shops and other trading establishments. It may appear