The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-09-13 00:00:00

pious liberality of Mrs. Swainson, the lady of the manor,
erected a chapel at the little village of Hoose, this celebrated
Hoylake was inhabited by as heathen a population as any in
the United Kingdom* It is related of them, in former days,
that a visiter from some Christian region, having remarked
his surprise, that no attention was paid to its being Good
Friday, the anniversary of the death of Jesus Christ, was
answered " Is he dead, indeed ? We did not know the gen-
tleman in this country." A better state of things happily
exists now; the rising generation have the benefit of a school-;
and it is to be hoped,. that the adults have learned, from the
excellent clergymen who have successively informed their
understandings, what is the history, and what the faith and
hopes, resulting from our blessed Saviour's ministry. The
chapel of Hoose is a very elegant Gothic structure, built by
Mr. Fiction, architect, of this town. The body of the
church is externally of the style vulgarly called Saxon, the
chancel of a later date, and some of the wood-work within,
forming the altar-piece and vestry, is of the more ornate
character of English Gothic. A visit to it would repay the
admirers of architecture the trouble of the journey ; for,
although exception may be taken to some of the proportions
of the mouldings, the general effect is superior to the ordi-
nary works of modern artists.

The inroads of the sea on this coast have been so serious
and so constant, that the Leasowe Lighthouse, which now
claims our attention, has been twice withdrawn inland, and,
at this moment, is within little more than one hundred yards
from the surge at high water. To remedy the threatened
inundation, which would, in all probability, have forced a
way along the course of the Birken stream into the very heart
of the pool, an embankment has been erected, at a vast ex-
pense, under the direction of Francis Giles, Esq., for which
an act of parliament was obtained in 1829. To persons in-
terested in works of this description, this embankment de-
serves notice, since there is probably no part of the coast
where the sea breaks with greater force at some seasons.
The extent of the embankment is upwards of a mile and a
quarter. It is formed on the principle of an inclined plane,
at an angle of about 15 degrees. The surface is composed
of stones imbedded in blue clay. It is but justice to our-
selves to say, that we took considerable pains to point out
the depredations of the sea in this particular quarter, and the
necessity for immediate measures being taken to prevent its
further inroads.

The Leasowe, on which we have now entered, is a level
tract of verdant turf, that formerly extended for four miles,
up to the very outskirts of the village of Wallasey ; but a
great portion of it was enclosed about twenty years ago. In
its pristine state it had been a race-course, from almost the
earliest time, and probably the history of the turf cannot
produce an earlier record than may be furnished by this lo-
cality; Webbe, an old. historian of the county, writing in
1605, says, " Here lie those fair sands on which gentlemen
and others try the swiftness of their horses, and lose no small
sums in the contest."- r The history of Leasowe Castle,
which we shall shortly attain, has 'also additional reference
to this sport, to which it owes, its origin, in 1593. The races
at the Rood Eye, at Smithfield, which may date from a more
remote period, were merely the sports of a fair, and can offer
no rivalry with those which became, on this spot, the amuse.;
ment of the higher classes, and, of course, of a higher de-
scription of cattle and prizes. The Leasowe continued to
figure in the annals of racing in subsequent years. In 1685,
the Duke of Monmouth, when progressing through the west-
ern counties on a tour of popularity, came to Chester, where
he became godfather to the daughter of the mayor, and, to
excite applause, came over to the Wallasey Races, where he
rode a horse himself, and won a cup, which he gallantly pre-
sented to his infant goddaughter. In 1720-1730, the prin-
cipal nobility and gentry of the neighbouring counties, in-
cluding the families of Stanley, Grosvenor, Cholmondeley,
Egerton, Wynne, &c., tweed to subscribe twenty guineas
each for ten years, and' to bring horses to contend for the
prize on this race-course. This is believed to have been the
earliest sweepstakes on record ; and races of this description
were called, for many years, even at Newmarket, Wallasey
Stakes. The races themselves are registered in the racing
calendar, where the winner of each year may be found noted.
It does not appear, however, that they were extended beyond
the period of the first agreement, as no further mention of
the Wallasey Races is to be discovered in the racing calen-
dar; but the course was probably used as a training-ground
for many after years, as a building known by the name of
the Grosvenor-stables may be seen near the village of Wal-
lasey, on the doors of which the horses' plates still remain.
We now reach Leasowe Castle. This was originally an
octagon building, having four square towers on the alternate
faces, and is said to have been built by the Stanley Family, as
a stand for seeing'the sports on the Leasowe, over which a
window looked in every direction. The Legs of Man, with.
the date 1593, exist on one of the stone chimney-pieces. It
afterwards passed into the family of Egerton, the members of
which used to occupy it as a sporting box, until, towards
the middle of the last century, the Squire of Oulton retired
here to practise the economy requisite to repair the effects of
a too indiscriminate hospitality in the halls of his ancestors.
He died here about 1783, and, since that time, it was occa-
sionally occupied as a residence, until ultimately, it was pur-
chased as such by the late Mrs. Boode, who added largely
to its accommodation. This lamented lady, whose humanity
and beneficence were proverbial, and whose memory still'
lives among many who suffered shipwreck on these shores,
was the victim of a lamentable accident by which she lost her
life, in 1826: and we shall have occasion to attend to the event
as we pass the spot at which it occurred, in cur homeward
course to Liverpool. The castle is now of considerable extent
and is a very decorative building of stone, containing several
handsome apartments ; amongst others, one has been fitted
up with the oalF panneling that formerly covered the walls of
the celebrated Star Chamber, in the royal palace of West-
minster.l: On visiting this room our thoughts reverted to the
number of victims, whoin bygone days, had suffered extor-
tion and ruin from the exactions of the tyrants who reigned
supreme within its walls, and were reminded of the exclama-
tion of Shylock• :

gay, take my life and all, pardon not that :
You take my house, when you do take the prop
That cloth sustain my house; you take my life,
When yell do take the.-means whereby I live.

These remains of a once infdmous court came to the hammer
a feW years since, upon the demolition of the old exchequer
buildings, and were purchased by, the" present proprietor of
the castle, Hon. Sir E. Cust. There is also a very ancient
picture of horse-racing here, in the days of James 1. includ-
ing portraits of that monarchand his sons, who are represented
as sharing the sport, in which a buxom lady in a carriage, dri-
ven by servants in the royal livery, also participates. In the
drawing room there is a portrait of King Williani the Third
reviewing his troops on the Leasowe, preparatory to their em-
barkation on the expedition which terminated in the battle of
the Boyne. An inscription to this effect is recorded on the
frame of the picture. The leads of the turrets command an
interesting view of the surrounding country. Passing from
the house, a garden, brilliant with flowers, and with a more
flourishing display of trees than can be expected in such a
boisterous region, leads down to the very shore, on which you
step from a partterre. You pass a monument erected to the
memory of a favourite spaniel, of which the effigy is modelled
on the summit. The following inscription appears on the four,
faces of the pedestal
" Say not, with Gray, A fav'rite has no friend ;'
He sleeps below who knew one to the end.
The early playmate of life's joyous hours
Assuaged the pains of his declining powers,
And made his grave far from her distant home,
Amid the scenes where 'erst he loved to roam.
Reader ! when thou shalt turn to kindred dust,
May thou be deemed as faithful to thy trust."

We now pass on to the village of Wallasey, through which
we may haste with as much speed as an execrable pavement,
and herds of cows thronging the miserable narrow street, may
permit us. We then ascend from the plain, and pass along a
height which commands a very beautiful view over Bidston
village and the Lighthouse hill, as well as access to the plain
we have just traversed, as far as the distant hills of NA, ales,
where Moel Faunah towers supreme ; and even Snowdon,
with his three white heads, is frequently to be seen on a clear
day. The only building of interest we meet on the way is the
elegant little Gothic cross which records the sad event we
have elsewhere alluded to. The inscription inserted on a
stone of the wall below, records the event.

Near this spot, Mrs. BOODE, of Leasowe Castle,. was killed
by a fall from her pony-carriage, April 21st, 1826.
May ye who pass by respect this memorial of an awful
dispensation,
And the affectionate tribute of an only Child,
To perpetuate her dear mother's memory
Beyond the existence of that breast which will never cease

To cherish it.
Ah ! may the sad remembrance
Which attaches to this spot
Impress on every one this salutary warning,
In the midst of life we are in death.' "

•
Turning to the left, at the bottom of the hill, we may take
the road leading to New Brighton, a creation of yesterday,
from tke capital and enterprising spirit of a townsman, the
late Mr. Atherton, who died a few months since. The banks
of the river Mersey are here covered with villas and resi-
dences, but, as they are now attained again, we may extend
our patronage to any one of the various ferries that will con-
vey us back to town, after our long, but not very fatiguing,
excursion to the Cheshire shore, to which a melancholy in-
terest has recently attached from the sad events of the hurri-
cane of the 6th and ith of January.