Birkenhead Priory

I wrote about acting as a tourist in my own town a couple of months back. To consciously seek out experiences and explore within a few miles of home can give you a new slant on where you live and allow you to appreciate it afresh.

I’ve always been aware the Birkenhead priory exists, and have vague memories of taking stone rubbings there when I was on a trip with primary school.

But as it was a trip and we had to get a bus there, its existence didn’t really register it as being part of my neighbourhood.

There are signs pointing it out as I speed along the edge of Birkenhead towards New Ferry, Bromborough, and North Wales, but I’d never visited solo, or paid them much attention.

The Priory is a place out of time. A relic of the Middle Ages set squarely on an industrial estate and rammed up against Cammel Laird shipbuilders.

The industrial estate is why I ended up visiting Birkenhead Priory again, as my wife was attending a meeting in one of the units, and the daughter and I were due to collect her after it finished.

Arriving early, and unable to find the gaffe, we parked on the road outside the Priory and wandered around searching.

On retrieving the wife, we popped in for a look around - exploring the grounds in our own time.

It’s peaceful and quiet, despite the hustle of the estate and the presence of a warship looming over the back wall. You can feel the weight of history in the roofless great hall, in the graveyard, the preserved ruins, the chapter house, and the bell tower that gives a fantastic view over Birkenhead, Liverpool, and the surrounding area.

There’s even a mini museum with some cool artefacts including dinosour footprints, historical objects, models, dioramas, and with a small selection of gifts such as postcards to purchase.

It ws in here that we were offered a guided tour by a lively lady, who took us on a guided tour - revisting the areas we have already enjoyed, but with the context added by an expert who clearly loves the place.

Birkenhead Priory is not a ‘day out’ as such - and it’s unlikely you could find enough to do there that would take more than a couple of hours. But there are also a few benches, and next time, we’ll take a picnic, and enjoy some medieval calm in the middle of the urban sprawl.

10 / 10 would recommend.