Yesterday S Wirral

In this, a companion volume to his definitive history of Yorkshires pleasure piers, Martin Easdown turns his expert attention westward to the Lancashire coast. His highly illustrated survey of the piers constructed at famous resorts like Blackpool, Morecambe, Southport and St Annes-on-Sea celebrates structures that are among the most exuberant and evocative of the Victorian age. Each of these historic piers has its own character and story, yet all of them represent the optimistic style of the British seaside resort at the peak of its popularity. In those days the Lancashire coast, and Blackpool in particular, became the principal holiday destination for the workers of the nearby industrial towns during their Wakes Weeks. The piers that survive are fascinating relics of that lost age.In this meticulously researched account, Martin Easdown describes how these extraordinary buildings came to be constructed, how they were designed and financed, how they were used, and how hazards beset them fire, storm, ship collision, war damage and ever-present threat of insolvency. His entertaining book reveals and records a neglected aspect of the history of Lancashire and the northwest.

From optical remote-sensing technology (lidar) to more traditional forms of landscape analysis and documentary research, this volume brings together the work of both amateur and professional historians and archaeologists, united in their enthusiasm for the landscape of north-west England and north-east Wales.

On Leap Year Day in 1964, an attractive teenager called Carole Jeffries was strangled in a Liverpool park. The killing caused a sensation: Carole came from a prominent political family and her pop musician boyfriend was a leading exponent of the Mersey Sound. When a neighbour confessed to the crime, the case was closed. Now, more than thirty years later, Ernest Miller, an amateur criminologist, seeks to persuade lawyer Harry Devlin that the true culprit escaped scot free. Although he suspects Miller's motives, Harry has a thirst for justice and begins to delve into the past. But when another death occurs, it becomes clear that someone wants old secrets to remain buried - at any price...