Bidston is a suburb of Birkenhead

Birkenhead

Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...

, on the Wirral Peninsula

Wirral Peninsula

Wirral or the Wirral is a peninsula in North West England. It is bounded by three bodies of water: to the west by the River Dee, forming a boundary with Wales, to the east by the River Mersey and to the north by the Irish Sea. Both terms "Wirral" and "the Wirral" are used locally , although the...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Administratively, it is also a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral

Metropolitan Borough of Wirral

The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, in North West England. It has a population of 311,200, and encompasses of the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula. Major settlements include Birkenhead, Wallasey, Bebington, Heswall, Hoylake and West Kirby. The city of...

. Before local government reorganisation

Local Government Act 1972

The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....

 on 1 April 1974, it was part of the County Borough

County borough

County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in...

 of Birkenhead, within the geographical county of Cheshire

Cheshire

Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...

. At the 2001 Census

United Kingdom Census 2001

A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....

, the population of Bidston was 10,446, consisting of 4,725 males and 5,721 females.

Description

Located close to the M53 motorway

M53 motorway

The M53 is a motorway in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and Cheshire on the Wirral Peninsula in England. It can also be referred to as the Mid Wirral Motorway...

, the village of Bidston is situated on a hill, with an elevation of approximately 60 metres above sea level. Bidston is a mixture of the well-preserved Bidston Village, Bidston Hill, the industrial estate Bidston Moss and a modern housing estate.

The area has one of the largest Tesco

Tesco

Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...

 supermarkets on the Wirral, situated at Bidston Moss.

Landmarks and open spaces

Bidston Hill

Bidston Hill

Bidston Hill is of heathland and woodland that contains historic buildings and ancient rock carvings. It is located on the Wirral Peninsula, near the Birkenhead suburb of Bidston, in Merseyside, England...

 comprises 100 acre (0.404686 km²) of heathland and woodland maintained by Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council as a nature reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

 and public park. The land was purchased in stages from 1894 to 1908 by Birkenhead Corporation from local landowner Lord Vyner. It is the site of Bidston Windmill

Bidston Windmill

Bidston Windmill is situated on Bidston Hill, near Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, England.It is believed that there has been a windmill on this site since 1596.The mill was ideally placed to catch the wind, but difficult to access by cart...

, built around 1800 and Bidston Observatory, owned by the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory

Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory

The former Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory is based in Brownlow Street, Liverpool, England. In April 2010, POL merged with the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton to form the National Oceanography Centre National Oceanography Centre...

. The hill also contains a number of ancient rock carvings, including that of a Sun Goddess

Solar deity

A solar deity is a sky deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it, usually by its perceived power and strength. Solar deities and sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms...

 thought to have been carved by the Norse-Irish

Norse-Gaels

The Norse–Gaels were a people who dominated much of the Irish Sea region, including the Isle of Man, and western Scotland for a part of the Middle Ages; they were of Gaelic and Scandinavian origin and as a whole exhibited a great deal of Gaelic and Norse cultural syncretism...

 around 1000 AD

Anno Domini

and Before Christ are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars....

.

Tam O'Shanter Cottage was believed to be built about 300 years ago. Its name derives from a stone carving of the poem Tam O'Shanter

Tam o' Shanter (Burns poem)

"Tam o' Shanter" is a poem written by the Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1790. Many consider it to be one of the best examples of the narrative poem in modern European literature....

by Robert Burns

Robert Burns

Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...

, which adorns a wall on the site. In 1950, the building was recognised as having special historical interest for preservation. Despite two fires and threats of demolition in 1954 and 1975, the cottage was rebuilt and restored in the mid 1970s. Four acres around the cottage were developed as a city farm

City farm

City farms are usually community-run projects in urban areas, which involve people interacting and working with animals and plants. They aim to improve community relationships and offer an awareness of agriculture and farming to people who live in built-up areas.They vary in size from small plots...

 in 1986, known as the Tam O'Shanter Urban Farm.

Opposite the cottage is Flaybrick Memorial Gardens

Flaybrick Hill Cemetery

Flaybrick Hill Cemetery was a municipal cemetery situated in Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, England. It has been designated a conservation area by Wirral Borough Council, who own the site....

, Birkenhead's first municipal cemetery

Cemetery

A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...

.
The grounds encompass an arboretum

Arboretum

An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...

 and nature trails.

Bidston Moss was originally low-lying wetland marsh

Marsh

In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....

 at the head of Wallasey Pool

Wallasey Pool

Wallasey Pool was a natural tidal inlet of water that separated the towns of Wallasey and Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula, England. Originally flowing directly into the River Mersey, it was converted into the sophisticated Birkenhead Dock system from the 1820s onwards by land reclamation, with...

. In 1936 most of the land was given over to residential, commercial and industrial landfill

Landfill

A landfill site , is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial and is the oldest form of waste treatment...

. Since the cessation of waste disposal operations in 1995, Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority and the charitable trust

Charitable trust

A charitable trust is an irrevocable trust established for charitable purposes, and is a more specific term than "charitable organization".-United States:...

 Groundwork Wirral have undertaken environmental restoration works to landscape

Landscape architecture

Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor and public spaces to achieve environmental, socio-behavioral, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic investigation of existing social, ecological, and geological conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of interventions...

 the site.

Transport

The locality is served by Bidston railway station

Bidston railway station

Bidston railway station is a railway station in Bidston, Birkenhead, on the Wirral, England. It is situated at the junction of the West Kirby branch of the Wirral Line with the Borderlands Line from Wrexham Central .-History:The station was originally built by the Hoylake Railway in 1866 as an...

. Trains operate to Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 and West Kirby

West Kirby

West Kirby is a town on the north-west corner of the coast of the Wirral Peninsula, England, at the mouth of the River Dee across from the Point of Ayr in North Wales. To the north-east of the town lies Hoylake, with the suburbs of Grange and Newton to the east, and the village of Caldy to the...

 on the Wirral Line

Wirral Line

The Wirral Line is one of the two commuter railway lines operated by Merseyrail that are centred around Merseyside, England, the other being the Northern Line...

 of the Merseyrail

Merseyrail

Merseyrail is a train operating company and commuter rail network in the United Kingdom, centred on Liverpool, Merseyside. The network is predominantly electric with diesel trains running on the City Line. Two City Line branches are currently being electrified on the overhead wire AC system with...

 network and to Wrexham

Wrexham

Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, and the largest town in North Wales, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England...

 on the Borderlands Line

Borderlands Line

The Borderlands Line is the railway line between Wrexham, Wales, and Bidston, Wirral, England.Passenger train services are operated by Arriva Trains Wales between Wrexham Central and Bidston. Trains run every hour Monday to Saturday daytime, every two hours after 18:45 and on Sundays...

.