Hilbre Island



Hilbre Island is an island at the mouth of the River Dee. The grid reference of the centre of Hilbre Island is SJ 185 879. It is the largest of a group of three islands which form a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The other islands are named Middle Eye and Little Eye. Hilbre Island is approximately 47,000 square metres in area and it is about 1.6 km from the nearest part of the mainland of the Wirral Peninsula.

Rocks on Hilbre Island are of Lower Triassic age and form part of the Sherwood Sandstone Group. These rocks are mainly reddish brown to yellow grey coloured sandstones, although there is a band of conglomerate and some red brown siltstone layers exposed on the island. The rocks were originally deposited as sand and gravel in river channels forming river terrace deposits or as fine silt and clay deposited on flood plains during times when the river flooded over its banks. After they were formed the rock layers were affected by earth movements. The layers have been tilted slightly to the north and faulted. A steeply-dipping normal fault is exposed in the cliff sections on the southern side of the island

Hilbre Islands History
Formed by the last Ice Age, these islands show signs of having been visited by Neolithic and Bronze Age people by the artefacts that have been discovered. Geological evidence suggests that originally, there was one large island. But, over the years, tide and weather erosion have worn away at the soft red sandstone to create three islands.

There was permanent habitation at least from Roman times, which continued through Norman times, when the first written records were made by a cell of Benedictine Monks associated with Chester Cathedral. The monks lived here until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538. The Monks are also reputed to have tended a light or beacon known as St Mary's light, but there is little evidence of it's function - what is known is that Earl of Chester John Canmore contributed ten shillings annually for its upkeep in 1236.

Early History
Occupied since as far back as the Stone Age, there have been numerous archaeological finds on the island, arrowheads, scrapers and flakes, dating from the Stone Age and Iron Age, a bronze axe-head and a buried urn indicate visitations during the Bronze Age period.

Other finds were Celtic and Viking. A cross head, carved out of a piece of red sandstone, was discovered on Hilbre in 1862. It is thought to have been made about 1000 A.D. by masons based at Chester, possibly at St Johns.

Another archaeological find, made in 1864, was a burial slab, under which were found four skeletons. The burial slab is thought to have been made in about 1050 A.D., and is still in existence (although moved to the mainland).



Saint Hildeburgh
The name "Hilbre" is said to be derived from the name "Hildeburgh". The 19th-century St Hildeburgh's Church, Hoylake, built nearby on the mainland, is also named for her (it was designed by Edmund Kirby and built between 1897 and 1899 - Kirby also worked in Chester). The island and supposed chapel of St Hildeburgh upon it are far older. There are several possible contenders for the original "Hildeburgh".

Some versions are that Saint Hildeburgh was a legendary figure said to have visited the island's monastery whilst on a pilgrimage. According to other versions Hildeburgh is said to have lived on Hilbre Island in the 7th century as an anchorite. Some consider that she never existed.

Others equate her with Saint Ermenhilde (Eormenhild of Ely), wife to Mercian King Wulfhere and the mother of Saint Werburgh to whom Chester Cathedral is dedicated. Ermenilda of Ely has very little contemporary historical evidence - most being taken from the "Kentish Royal Legend", which possibly dates from the 8th Century and is a diverse group of Medieval texts which describe a wide circle of members of the royal family of Kent from the 7th to 8th centuries AD. When discussing Wulfhere, Bede does not mention the matrilinear succession established at Ely by Æthelthryth, where power passed in turn to Seaxburh before subsequently transferring to Seaxburh's daughter Eormenhild and to her granddaughter, Werburgh. However, her name is possibly mentioned (once) as an abbess in a copy of a charter of King Wihtred of Kent, dated 699, along with three other abbesses present at the occasion when the charter was issued: "hoc est Hirminhilda, Irminburga, Aeaba et Nerienda". Ermenhilde is said to be one of the (much damaged) figures on the Shrine of St Werburgh in Chester Cathedral. Werburgh was instrumental in convent reform across England. She eventually succeeded her mother Ermenilda, her grandmother Seaxburh, and great-aunt Etheldreda as fourth Abbess of Ely. She died on 3 February 700 and was buried at Hanbury in Staffordshire. Her mother's "life" is given in the "List of saints' resting-places" in BL Stowe 944 (ff. 36-7) as follows:


 * "St Eormenhild, daughter of Eorcenberht and Seaxburh, was given in marriage to be King Wulfhere's queen. He was the son of Penda, king of Mercia, and in their time the Mercian people received baptism. Their daughter was St Werburh the holy virgin, and she was buried in the minster which is called Hanbury, and now rests in the city of Chester. And St Eormenhild rests at Ely with her mother and with her aunt St Etheldreda, and her powers are often manifested there."

After the death of her husband, Eormenhild retired to the abbey her mother Seaxburh had founded on the island of Sheppey in Kent, now Minster-in-Sheppey. Eormenhild succeeded her mother as abbess when Seaxburh went to join St Etheldreda at Ely. She then subsequently went to Ely herself, and died and was buried there. Her cult was tiny, almost non-existent; there were no churches dedicated to her, and her name only appears in a handful of post-conquest calendars giving her feast day as 13th Feb. The first shrine of St Werberh originally remained at Hanbury until the threat from Danish Viking raids in the late 9th century prompted their relocation (around 875) to within the walled city of Chester. It is unlikely that Hilbre Island would have named after Eormenhild until after that date.

Other versions equate Hildeburgh with St Edburga of Mercia (Eadburh of Bicester), daughter of the pagan king Penda. There are two very confusing saints said to be the daughters of Penda: Edburgh of Caistor (Lincolnshire) and Edburgh of Bicester (Oxfordshire). According to one version, she was born around 620 and for a time she was a nun at Castor in Northamptonshire under her sister, Saint Cuneburga (another daughter of Penda the pagan). However, with yet another sister, Saint Edith of Aylesbury, she built a small monastery, on land given by her father, at Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. Here, the two educated their niece, later to become Saint Osith. While originally buried at Aylesbury (or in some versions Caistor), her relics were relocated to Bicester Priory in 1182 and became a popular attractions with medieval pilgrims (other versions have her relocated to Peterborough). However, in 1500 Pope Alexander VI (the infamous Rodrigo de Borgia) ordered her remains (in both the Edburgh of Caistor and Edburgh of Bicester versions) to be removed and relocated to Flanders in Belgium, where they are presumed to remain, in an unknown location. There is nothing to connect her (or either of her) with the Wirral and it seems unlikely she is the original "Hildeburgh".



Monks
In 1066, Hilbre Island was part of the manor of Caldy, held by the Englishman Leofnoth - possibly the son of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. William the Conqueror gave Leofnoth's lands to Hugh of Avranches who passed them on to his follower Robert of Rhuddlan. Although not named directly, it is believed that the islands were mentioned in the Domesday Book in which mention is made of Chircheb (West Kirby) having two churches: one in the town and one on an island in the sea. According to Ormerod, Robert de Roelent (Robert of Rhuddlan) transferred the revenues of the Churches of West Kirkby and Hildeburgh-Eye (with lands and other Churches) to the Abbey of St. Ebrulf, now St. Evroul, at Utica in Normandy, where the bones of his ancestors reposed. This gift was confirmed by King William in 1081, in his Charter to the Abbey, in the following terms:


 * "Robertus de Rodelento, praefato Hugone Cestrensi comite domino suo concedente, dedit Sancto Ebrulfo, Cerchebiam cum duabus ecclesiis, unam scilicet quae in ipsa villa est, et aliam prope illium manerium in insula maris." (Robert of Rhuddlan, to the aforesaid Hugh, Earl of Chester, to his master's consent, has given to the Holy One of Ebrulfo, two churches in Chircheb (West Kirkby), one of which is now in the village itself, and has a different manor on the nearby island of the sea.)

In fact the abbot from Normandy was given West Kirby and Hilbre, as a result of a fund-raising appeal. He visited William I’s court in England, asking for money for his abbey, and got an odd assortment of little villages all over England. The Abbot and Convent of St. Ebrulf, however, were soon tired of managing this distant property, and in 1140 effected a transfer of their rights in respect to the Churches of St. Bridget and St. Hildeburga with that of St Peter, in Chester to the monks of St. Werburg (Chester Cathedral), subject to the payment of an annual rental, at the manor of Petheling, of £30. Lysons states that a further consideration was paid clown in the form of a palfrey and nine marks. This transaction was not final and argument about ownership apparently continued for centuries. Leyland writes of the separation in the times of Richard I:


 * "This convent released it to the Abbey of St. Werburg with that Church, under the name of Capelln de Hildburgh-eye, or the Isle of Hildburgha, from which the present name is corrupted; and William Fitz-Richard, rector of Kirkby about the time of Richard I, after Kirkby had passed to the Abbey of Basingwerk from that of St. Werburg, by a deed preserved in the Chartulary of the latter abbey, quit-claimed the isle Hildburgheye, with its chapel and appurtenances, to the monks of that house, reserving only the right of sepulture to the mother church of Kirkby. The cell which the monks of St. Werburgh established here, had a grant of £3 issuing from little Meoles by Robert de Lanoelyn about the time of Richard I. William Lancelyn, his son, quit-claimed also to the same monks for ever, the lake (meaning the fishery) of Hoyle lake adjacent, under the description of lacus de Hildburgheye. The same William Lancelyn gave also a messuage in Little Meoles, which grant was confirmed by Robert Grosvenor and Margery his wife." (Chrt of St. Werborgh, p. 33; Harl. MSS. 1865)

The monks were apparently established on the island during the lifetime of Richard of Avranches (possibly in 1119). One story tells how Richard when a young man, was performing a pilgrimage to St. Winifred's Well, in Flintshire, nearly opposite the islands, was set on by a band of "Welsh robbers", who drove him for refuge to the Abbey of Basingwerk, where, not feeling too secure, by the advice of a monk of the cell of Hilbre, he addressed himself to St. Werburgh, who is said to have instantly parted the waters of the Dee, throwing up a huge sand-bank, over which his constable, the Baron of Halton, marched his men to the rescue and that is why the sands are called "The Constable's Sands". The story is interesting because most sources claim that Basingwerk was only founded some time later by the later earl Ranulph De Gernon. In any event the protection granted by St Werburgh did not last - Richard of Avranches drowned in the wreck of the "White Ship" in 1120.

An 1870 article by Henry Ecroyd Smith (a botanist and the first curator of the Liverpool Museum) may shed further light on matters (see links below) but appears dubious in parts.

Camden mentions it briefly in his discription of Wirral (1586):


 * "In the utmost brinke of this Promontorie lieth a small, hungrie, barren and sandie Isle called Il-bre, which had sometime a little cell of monkes in it."

William Webb uses almost the same words:


 * "Here in the utmost western nook of this promontory, divided from the land, lies that little barren island called Ilbree, or Hilbree, in which it was said there was sometimes a cell of monks, though I scarce believe it ; for that kind of people loved warmer seats than this could ever be."

Leyland (1540) gives a fuller description:


 * "And half a mile lower is Hillebyri, as the very point of Wyrale. This Hillebyri at the floode is al environid with water as an isle, and then the trajectus is a quarter of a mile over, and 4 fadome depe of water, and at ebbe a man may go over the sand. It is about a mile in cumpace, and the grounde is sandy and hath conies. There was a celle of monkes at Chestre, and a pilgrimage of Our Lady of Hilbyri."

Later History


In 1538 the islands passed to the Dean and Chapter of Chester Cathedral and remained under this ownership until 1856. Two monks were allowed to remain on the island, as they apparently maintained a beacon for shipping in the river mouth. Brownbill gives the extract from the Chester Chartulary in his "History of West Kirby" thus:


 * "John, Earl of Chester, 1232-37, had given to the Chapel of Hilbre, and the monks there abiding, 10s. a year for the lamps of St. Mary, payable out of his revenues as earl."

This might refer to a beacon or to lamps in the church. The last monk left the island in about 1550.

It was no longer a place of worship but simply a piece of property which was leased to various people over the years. Since the monks left the islands have used by fishermen and as a stop-off on the voyage from Chester to Ireland. In the reign of Elizabeth I, when the Earl of Essex was pursuing his campaign in Ireland, 4,000 foot and 200 horse troops were encamped on Hilbre en route to Ireland. This would scarcely be possible today, given the size of the island. But it has been suggested that 17th century maps of Cheshire, such as Speed’s of 1610, show Hilbre as a single island roughly square in shape and about a mile long with a deep inlet on the southwest and that the island has been eroded into the three remnants since then. Bearing in mind that the islands were only separated from the mainland some 7,500 years ago, it seems fair to speculate that the next thousand years could witness the virtual disappearance of the islands. The revetment works of the past 150 years and the construction of the former Lifeboat Station have done much to prevent erosion at the north end of Hilbre Island. However, Little Eye has now been almost completely eroded away.

In 1692 there was a scheme to produce salt on Hilbre Island. This probably involved boiling inseawater quantities of Cheshire rock salt brought to the island via. the River Dee. The scheme was short-lived but may well have left some traces in the form of depressions in the ground outside the present bird observatory. In 1755 there was a proposal to establish an oyster fishery around the island but this was opposed by a combination of Liverpool Corporation, traders, shipowners, fishermen and pilots and the proposal was dropped.



A public house (The Seagull Inn) had been established by the 18th century at the latest. It was visited by dramatist Richard Ayton in 1813. Its patrons were "the crews of some small vessels which find a harbour under one side of the Island". The islands have a more dubious reputation for wrecking and smuggling and the innkeeper in the early 19th century was said to be unaccountably wealthy. Traveler Richard Ayton recorded in 1813 the local gossip about the Hilbre innkeeper and his wife that:


 * "their riches have been gained principally by wrecking, for which business their situation is said to be admirably calculated"

Richard Ayton, also refers to Hilbre being most important:


 * "as a station for two beacons which are raised upon it, as guides to vessels through the Swash, a channel between the two Hoyle Sands, leading into Hoylake".

The full text of Ayton's Voyage Round Great Britain is available online.

In the 1820's Thomas Telford and his associates produced a scheme to construct a "Floating Harbour" along the entire length of the North Wirral coast with two sea ports, one in the mouth of the Dee and one in the mouth of the Mersey. Hilbre Island would have become the pierhead of the Dee port, linked via. Middle Eye and Little Eye to the mainland by an embankment and road. A further embankment from Red Rocks to the northern tip of Hilbre Island with an opening 300 feet wide would have turned the sands between the islands and the mainland into a 50-acre tidal harbour. Needless to say this scheme and a contemporary scheme to build a ship canal from Hoylake to Wallasey Pool were never implemented.

Telegraph
In 1828 the Trustees of Liverpool Docks acquired the lease to the islands and established Hilbre Island as a telegraph station for communicating semaphore messages from Holyhead to Liverpool. The line of stations ran, from Holyhead, through Carreglwyd, Point Lynas (North Amglesey), Puffin Island, the Great Orme, Llysfaen near Abergele, Foryd, Voel Nant above Prestatyn, Hilbre Island and Bidston Hill and the final station in Liverpool.

The system enabled the sighting of a ship off Anglesey to be transmitted to Liverpool within minutes. The record, set in clear weather during a demonstration for the Trustees in 1830, was claimed to be an amazing 23 seconds, but in poor visibility and at night the system was unusable. Even today (2019) it takes over three hours to take the train from Liverpool to Holyhead, a distance of 110 miles as the crow flies. Sound travels a mile in 4.7 seconds, so even a noise which started as an incredibly loud explosion at Holyhead would take about 8.5 minutes to cover the distance: - some twenty times slower than the best working rate of the semaphore. In 1861 the semaphore system was replaced by an electrical telegraph system. The Telegraph keepers of Hilbre Island all appear to have kept a horse or pony for transport and sheep and some kept a cow, a pig and poultry. The sheep are said to have been kept in order to keep the grass short rather than for profit.

The surviving remains of the semaphore signal stations are as follows:


 * (1) Holyhead Mountain:
 * (2) Carreglwyd:
 * (3) Point Lynas:
 * (4) Puffin Island: is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and unfortunately it is not possible for visitors to land on the island without permission from the landowner. It is possible to take a boat trip around the island from which the ruins of the semaphore station can be seen.
 * (5) Great Orme: Now the "Telegraph Hotel" - the hotel was taken over by the RAF in 1939 and used as a Radar Station, The Hotel is a short walk from the upper tramway station.
 * (6) Llysfaen: Still exists as a private home.
 * (7) Foryd:
 * (8) Voel Nant: The present Foelnant building carries a stone tablet in south gable with the inscription "Voelnant Telegraph Built in 1841 by the Trustees of the Liverpool Docks". The original station was about 400 feet further up the Hill.
 * (9) Hilbre Island: The station building still exists (without the semaphore).
 * (10) Bidston Hill:
 * (11) Liverpool:

Lifeboat and Lighthouse
The lifeboat station was constructed in 1849. At that time it was operated by Liverpool Dock Board. In 1894, the Royal National Lifeboat Institute took over responsibility for the station until, in 1939, it was superceeded by the Hoylake Station. A bird-watching hide has been constructed over the beginning of the old slipway for ornithologists to observe the rare breeds that congregate on the island. Trinity House, the organisation responsible for maritime navigation, also used the island. They maintained a marker buoy store here until 1876 when it was moved to Holyhead in Anglesey.

Hilbre Island Lighthouse is a white steel tower surmounted by a red lantern, built in 1927 to provide a port land mark for the Hilbre Swash in the River Dee Estuary. It is very easy to miss being only 3m high. Originally built by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company, this small automatic lighthouse came under the jurisdiction of Trinity House as a general aid to navigation in 1973; it was converted from acetylene gas to solar powered operation in 1995. The lighthouse is now monitored and controlled from Trinity House’s Planning Centre in Harwich, Essex.

With the growth in population of Hoylake and West Kirby towards the end of the nineteenth century and more particularly the completion of the Liverpool to West Kirby railway in the 1880's Hilbre Island became a popular destination for day-trippers. The following is an extract from R Anderson's chapter on the history of the Hilbre Islands in Hilbre, The Cheshire Island, edited by J D Craggs (1982):


 * "As early as 1885, solicitors acting for an anonymous client with an eye to the new possibilities created by the railways attempted to purchase the property 'to form a Marine Establishment on Hilbre Island forthe purposes of recreation, boating and bathing, and to connect the same with Hoylake Railway bymeans of a tramway'.  A similar scheme was put forward by a Mr. Henry Summers, an Architect, adecade later; his ideas focused on the Little Eye, and involved 'the formation of a Promenade Pier constructed upon light iron stanchions or pillars starting from a station on the mainland.'   The pier was to run to the Eye, where there would be 'suitable and ornamental pavilion buildings comprising assembly room, reading and refreshment rooms... (and) well-constructed sea-water bathing accommodation'."

The Dock Board resisted these ambitious schemes and more modest ones to extract rock and mineralsfrom the islands, although it did approve another oyster-farming scheme which was short-lived.

The present buildings date from the mid-19th century when the telegraph signalling station was built on the main island. The only permanent resident now is the Dee Estuary Ranger, but there are some semi-permanent Atlantic Grey Seals. One of the most visited parts of the Island is the Lady Cave. There are several different versions of the story telling how the cave got it's name. The most popular being of a young Welsh girl who had thrown herself from a boat taking her to an arranged marriage. Her drowned body was discovered by the monks on the rocks close to the cave that bears the name "Lady Cave".



Flora and Fauna
The Dee Estuary by the Hilbre Islands ishome for a colony of Atlantic Grey Seals. Up to 500 individuals canregularly be seen in the area, especially as most haul out over low-water on the south east corner of the West Hoyle Bank near to the green buoy (HE4). Visitors to the area, sailors included, look forward to seeing them, and one can get quite close because they are tolerant of boats provided they are slow moving and not too close. '''The seals are not tolerant of people walking up to them on the sandbank. Once disturbed the seals will usually not haul out for the remainder of the tide, and so others are denied the chance to see them, also they become wary and so cannot be approached as closely by boat afterwards.'''

A Hilbre Gallery of old postcards
You can click on any image to enlarge it and you can also view a "live" webcam.

Visiting Hilbre


Hilbre Island is one of 43 (unbridged) tidal islands that can be reached on foot from the mainland of Great Britain. To stay on the island over high water it is necessary to reach the island TWO HOURS before high water. You must then stay on Hilbre Island until THREE HOURS after high water (i.e. five hours in total) before returning to the mainland. To visit the island between two successive high waters, it is advisable to follow the tide out starting from TWO HOURS after high water. Then, to return to the mainland it is necessary to leave the island TWO to THREE HOURS before the next high water (depending on the actual height of the tide on the day of interest, i.e. Springs or Neaps).

There are no shops or fresh water on the islands, and very little shelter. There are compositing toilets on the island. Always carry waterproofs, and warm clothing, and food and hot drinks in winter. Wear sensible footwear as rocks, barnacles and broken glass can cause injury. Overnight stays are not allowed.

Wrecks
One of the most famous wrecks is still visIble of Hilbre Island at low tide is the SS Nestos which foundered in 1941. Nestos started life in 1919 as the Arabian Prince owned by Prince Lines (Furness Withy and Co.) and registered in Newcastle. Her first year of service as the Arabian Prince was a year of disaster. Her propeller shaft fractured in mid-Atlantic, there was a fire in the hold in Gibraltar and then she was caught in a hurricane at Port Louis on Mauritius. In 1933 she was renamed the Zenada and owned by the Z Steamship Co., managed by Turner Brightman of London. She later passed into Greek ownership, managed by N. G. Livanos.

In 1941 she sailed under the protection of an east-bound convoy from Halifax to Liverpool. The Nestos, carrying 7,750 tons of sulphur (loaded in New Orleans), became separated from the other vessels. She met up with another convoy coming up from the south, but 33 days out of Halifax and in thick fog, this Greek steamship found herself alone once again. Bearings were taken of what was thought to be Point Lynas on Anglesey, and maintaining a course for Liverpool Bar at dead slow ahead and still in fog, she ran aground shortly after noon, Apr 2. Despite having an English mate aboard, they had probably mistaken the Great Orme Lighthouse for that on Point Lynas. A distress signal was sent, but because it was not in the correct code of the day it was ignored, since there was a possibility it had been transmitted by a German U-boat. The crew attempted to pull their ship off the sandbank by running out her anchors but with no success, and when the fog lifted, found they were just north of Hilbre Island. Her crew were rescued and attempts made to recover her cargo using lighters and 360 tons was recovered. After the coal-carrying coaster Maurita sank close at hand (12 Nov), having been mined in Hilbre Swash, all salvage ceased for fear of German aircraft attacks and further mines. The boilers/engine block of Nestos are visible under low water conditions.

Both wrecks were used for practice by the RAF with "ASV" Air to Surface Radar Guidance controlled by The "Top Secret Boeing", Boeing (type 247D) RAF serial number DZ203 (built in 1933). The American radar was developed following the secret Tizard Mission to Washington in 1940, after the Fall of France while the United States was still neutral, ordered by Winston Churchill and agreed by President Roosevelt. The mission was charged with handing over to the Americans, without pre-conditions, the latest British inventions – including the MAUD report containing early plans for the atomic bomb, the jet engine and the cavity magnetron on which radar was based.

Sources and links

 * "The Friends of Hilbre";
 * Hilbre Island Tides;
 * Planning Your Visit To Hilbre Island from the "Friends of Hilbre";
 * Hilbre Bird Blog;
 * Hilbre Island on Wikipedia;
 * Time Lapse Tide;
 * Journal of Antiquities;
 * RELIQUES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCHESOF ST. BRIDGET AND ST. HILDEBURGA, WEST KIRKBY, CHESHIRE.;
 * Camden on Cheshire;
 * Hidden Wirral (on Hilbre);
 * A description of a visit to Hilbre;
 * Hilbre "Lighthouse";
 * Conservation Plan;
 * An Archaeological Excavation on Hilbre Island, Wirral, Merseyside (2008);
 * Hilbre as described by Coward;
 * Drone footage of Hilbre (technically against the by-laws);
 * The Lifeboat;
 * The Telegraph;