The view from the ridge

The ridge is higher than the surrounding countryside because it is formed of a harder sandstone and has resisted erosion. The dry sandstone ridges have always been good places to settle, and traces of a Mesolithic (middle Stone Age) hunter-gatherer camp have been found less than a mile to the south, perhaps hunting some of the animals we mentioned. So just think, all those thousands of years ago a family could have stood on this very spot looking at the same view as you can see now, though with much more woodland rather than fields, golf courses and houses.

On the ridge

Tracks of animals and people from this time have been found preserved in the mud off the north Wirral and Sefton coasts. Later settlers cleared the trees from the ridge to create grazing for their livestock, and so the lowland heath of the Common came into existence.

Down below is the village of Thurstaston with its church and ancient hall. Another hall, Dawpool, was the home of the Ismay family, owners of the White Star Line and 'Titanic'. The hall has gone, but many of the outbuildings and farm remain.