EAW001084 ENGLAND (1946). The fire-damaged Kirkby Inland Storage Depot of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, Bickerstaffe, from the north-east, 1946

Thank you for your help with this picture - the caption will be updated to reflect the identification of the building.



Best wishes

Laura Maddison

(Britain from Above Cataloguer)

General Comments: -



Firstly this is recorded on the 1955 OS map as 'Kirkby Inland Sorting Depot'. It is mostly still intact at that date and the outline of the burnt out buildings seems to suggest they may have been rebuilt. By 1955 the number of railway tracks is somewhat reduced.



Secondly, why was it there?



Answer One - The 'Inland' part of the title suggests it was related to the Port of Liverpool, this being a safer and more spacious place to sort and store material that had arrived on the Atlantic convoys. Many of the conveys arrived in Liverpool, it being considered a safer approach than the English Channel. Much of the war materials would than be forwarded to southern England in preparation for D day and despatch from Southampton to France.



Answer Two - Just out of this picture to the left is the Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) No.7 Kirkby 1940-46 that employed 20,000 people. Clearly such an operation would have generated a large amount of the railway traffic and the ROF is connected to the sorting sidings, seen here, by one side of a triangular junction. Between this site and the water tower to the rear of this picture, and next to the wood called the Old Rough, the map shows an 'Industrial Hostel'. This was for the women workers in the ROF.



These extra details can be seen on 'Old Maps' (http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html), Kirkby or at coordinates 342070, 400170 - 1955-56.

One of the references I searched on this one stated that nearby Bickerstaffe was a centre for Quakerism in earlier times. One wonders what these peaceful souls would have made of all this activity in support of war?

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19460415&id=PkxAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=r4wMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3091,5721224

Kirkby Inland sorting depot, warehouses used by the Mersey Docks and Harbours board for storage. This would have been used to enable cargo from ships to be stored safely away from the bombing of the docks.

A World War II government supply depot, judging by the extensive site. It may be associated with a nearby Royal Ordnance factory and ammunition bunkers at Rainford