Ponterwyl

Thornton Manor

Thornton Hough · 11 miles

A substantial 19th-century country house dominates the village of Thornton Hough on the Wirral, Merseyside. Recorded as a Grade II* listed building, the manor was erected in the middle of the 1800s on land once owned by the Mostyn family of North Wales. After purchase by solicitor Charles William Potts in 1849, the property changed hands to businessman Thomas Brittain Forwood in 1863 and was subsequently let to William Lever in 1888, who bought it outright in 1893. Lever’s tenure saw a series of extensions: an Elizabethan-style main block designed by Douglas and Fordham around 1896, stables by J.J. Talbot in 1899, a music room in 1902, a later ballroom-turned-swimming pool, a south-front porch in 1906 and a gatehouse in 1910. A major 1913 reconstruction added further Elizabethan wings, while plans for additional enlargement were halted by the First World War. The surrounding park, originally laid out under Forwood, was later refined by Thomas H. Mawson and the Lever family, featuring a lake, a loggia dated 1912, a lookout tower, and a network of tree-lined avenues extending roughly five miles. Today the manor remains in private ownership and is not generally open to the public. It can be hired for weddings and other events, offering the historic interiors and extensive grounds as a venue. Notable recent uses include private political talks in 2019 and a significant fire in early 2022 that required eight fire engines. No regular admission fee or visitor facilities are provided, as access is limited to organised functions.

The Dungeon (SSSI)

Thurstaston · 12 miles

The Dungeon is a 1.2-hectare (3.0-acre) Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) situated 1 mile north-west of Heswall, on the Wirral Peninsula, England. The site was notified in 1988 due to its geological features which show the Tarporley Siltstone Formation of the Mercia Mudstone Group.

Arrowe Park

Woodchurch Green · 14 miles

A mix of open countryside, sporting amenities and historic structures gives the Arrowe Park area a distinct character on the Wirral Peninsula. Situated roughly 6.5 km west of Birkenhead, the park lies within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, adjacent to the Woodchurch housing estate and just south of the village of Upton. The land originally formed part of an estate acquired by John Shaw in the early nineteenth century; his nephew, John Ralph Nicholson Shaw, erected Arrowe Hall in 1835 and laid out parkland, a lake and workers’ cottages. Ownership passed to Lord Leverhulme in 1908, then to Birkenhead Corporation in 1926, and finally to the Wirral local authority in 1974. Arrowe Hall, a Grade II-listed Elizabethan-style mansion, was sold in 1997 and now operates as a private care centre, while the nearby Arrowe Park Hospital, opened by the Queen in 1982, provides acute accident and emergency services. The country park, opened in 1926, offers a range of recreational facilities. Within its 150 acres lies Arrowe Park Golf Club, founded in the 1930s, with a clubhouse and an eighteen-hole course; additional provisions include a pitch-and-putt area, footgolf, tennis courts, bowling greens, football pitches and a children’s play zone. A public house, built in 1994, serves visitors. Arrowe Brook runs along the western boundary, forming Arrowe Park Lake and a walking path. The nearest settlement identified on OpenStreetMap is Woodchurch Green, providing a reference point for directions. Admission to the public park is unrestricted, while the hospital and private care centre operate on a medical-service basis.

War Memorial

Port Sunlight · 14 miles

Set within the model village of Port Sunlight on the Wirral, the war memorial occupies the most prominent position at the junction of The Causeway and The Diamond, the two broadest avenues in the settlement. Conceived by the village’s founder, William Lever, the monument was intended to commemorate the employees of Lever Brothers who fell in the First World War. Lever commissioned the sculptor Goscombe John as early as 1916; the finished work was unveiled on 3 December 1921 by Sergeant E. G. Eames, blinded at the Somme, and Private R. E. Cruickshank, a Victoria Cross recipient, both former Lever workers. The stone is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade I listed building and bears the names of staff who died in both World Wars. Constructed from granite, the monument centres on a runic cross set upon an octagonal plinth that supports eleven bronze figures, including three soldiers, a wounded man attended by a nurse, a seated woman with infants, a girl with her brother and a Boy Scout. The surrounding enclosure features a circular parapet broken by four stepped approaches, each flanked by distinct reliefs of children holding wreaths and additional reliefs depicting the Naval, Military, Anti-Aircraft and Red Cross services. Four seating areas and flower beds lie between the steps, while the overall height reaches approximately 11.6 metres and the diameter spans about 22.4 metres, providing a substantial focal point for reflection within the village’s public space.

Lady Lever Art Gallery

Port Sunlight · 14 miles

The Lady Lever Art Gallery is a museum founded and built by the industrialist and philanthropist William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme and opened in 1922. The Lady Lever Art Gallery is set in the garden village of Port Sunlight, on the Wirral and one of the National Museums Liverpool.

Williamson Art Gallery & Museum

Oxton Village · 16 miles

The gallery’s Neo-Georgian building, deliberately designed to blend with its surroundings, opened on 1 December 1928 and now serves as Birkenhead’s principal venue for visual art and local heritage. Situated in Birkenhead, Merseyside, the museum lies a short distance from Oxton Village, making it readily reachable on foot or by local bus services that serve the area. Financial backing for the establishment came chiefly from John Williamson, a director of the Cunard Steamship Company, and his son Patrick Williamson; additional support arrived from members and families of the nearby Birkenhead Art Club, whose contributions helped secure both the building and its early collection. Inside, visitors encounter a range of works that illustrate regional artistic traditions, including Victorian oil paintings, English watercolours and Liverpool porcelain. The museum also holds the United Kingdom’s largest public assemblage of Della Robbia pottery, alongside an extensive display of ship models that highlight Cammell Laird shipbuilders, the Mersey Ferries and other vessels that have navigated the River Mersey, such as the bell from the RMS Mauretania. Notable paintings on view comprise Philip Wilson Steer’s *The Muslin Dress* and Albert Joseph Moore’s *Seagulls*. Beyond its permanent holdings, the venue regularly stages temporary exhibitions featuring nationally and internationally recognised artists, organises musical concerts and provides space for art and craft workshops. As a single-storey museum, it offers a compact but comprehensive experience of Wirral’s artistic and maritime legacy, with on-site access from the surrounding streets of Birkenhead.