Bidston Hill in Winter

In no particular order…

In print

• “Lighthouses of Liverpool Bay”, by John and Diane Robinson, The History Press, 2007. Available on Amazon.
• “Bidston Observatory: The Place and the People”, by Joyce Scoffield, 2006. Available on Amazon.
• “Faster Than the Wind: A History of and a Guide to the Liverpool to Holyhead Telegraph”, by Frank Large, edited by David Roberts, 1998. Available on Amazon.
• “History of the Liverpool Privateers and Letters of Marque with an Account of the Liverpool Slave Trade 1774-1812”, by Gomer Williams. Reprinted 2004, with a new introduction by David Eltis, of the edition first published in 1897 by William Heinemann (London) and Edward Howell (Liverpool). McGill-Queen’s University Press (Canada), Liverpool University Press (European Union).
• “The Windmills and Watermills of Wirral: A Historical Survey”, by Rowan Patel, 2016. Privately published, following the failure of Countyvise Ltd.
• “Wrecks of Liverpool Bay”, by Chris Michael, 1994 . Available from Liverpool Marine Press.
• “Wrecks of Liverpool Bay Volume 2”, by Chris Michael, 2008. Available from Liverpool Marine Press.
• “The Liverpool Hurricane of 1839”, by Chris Michael, 2014, e-book (pdf). Available from Liverpool Marine Press.
• “Lelia”, by Chris Michael, 2004. Available from Liverpool Marine Press.

Out of print

• “Auld-lang-syne: recollections and rural records of Old Claughton, Birkenhead and Bidston with other reminiscences”, by Harry B. Neilson, Wilmer Bros, 1935.
• “Bidston Hill Preserved: A Great Boon to the Populations on the Mersey”, by Edward Quaile, D. Marples & Co., Liverpool, 1894.
• “Notes on the Ancient Parish of Bidston”, by Wm. Fergusson Irvine, Thomas Brakell Limited, Liverpool, 1894.
• “History of the Liverpool Pilotage Service, Mentioning the Local Lighthouses and Lightships”, by John S. Rees, Southport Guardian, 1949.
• “A Treatise on Practical Seamanship”, William Hutchinson, 1777. Re-printed 1979 by Scolar Press, London, with an introduction by Morin Scott, as ISBN 0 85967 566 1.
• “Lighthouses: Their History and Romance”, William John Hardy, F.S.A., pub. Religious Tract Society, London, 1895. Available to read on-line at the Internet Archive.
• “British Lighthouses: Their History and Romance”, J. Saxby Wryde, pub. T. Fisher Unwin Ltd, London, 1913,
• “Lighthouse construction and illumination”, Thomas Stevenson, London, 1881. Available as an e-book from California Digital Library.
• “English Lighthouse Tours 1801 1813 1818”, Robert Stevenson, edited by D. Alan Stevenson,  Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, Edinburgh, 1946.
• “The World’s Lighthouses Before 1820”, D. Alan Stevenson, Oxford, 1959.
• “Watson’s general telegraphic list of ships’ names, for vessels of all nations”,
  Barnard Lindsay Watson, 1840, William Stephenson publ. Available on Google Books.
• “The Old Telegraphs”, Geoffrey Wilson, Phillimore and Co. Ltd, 1976.
• “Marine Art & Liverpool: Painters, Places & Flag Codes 1760-1960”, A. S. Davidson, Waine Research Publications, 1986, ISBN 0 905184 10 6.
• “A description and list of the lighthouses of the world”, Alexander George Findlay, 1861. Available as an e-book from Google Play.
• “Sailing Directions from Point Lynas to Liverpool”, Henry Mangles Denham F.R.S., 1840. Available as an e-book from Google Play.
• “The Navigation of the Irish Sea”, Graham H. Hills, 1851.

In fiction

• “The Wyrm of Kilgwry” by Brian Mitchell, 2005. Published by Countyvise. Ric and Lena’s adventures take them all over Kilgwry (an ancient name for Wirral, used by the Cornovii, a Celtic tribe) culminating on Bidston Hill. The horse carving will seem that little bit more magical from now on.
• “The struggles and adventures of Christopher Tadpole at home and abroad”, by Albert Richard Smith, 1848. Available on-line as an e-book.
• “The Dock Road: A seafaring tale of Old Liverpool”, J. Francis Hall, 1939.
• “A Romance of Bidston Hill: or, Love and Fortune. A Christmas Story.” By F. A.
• “One day I went a-walking: a ghostly tale from Bidston Hill”, by Robert Hughes, 2016.

Film, TV and video

• “Bidston Hill: A Wirral Heritage Site“, short video by Paris James, 2019.
• Coast, Series 7, Episode 5: “The Riddle of the Tides”, featuring the Doodson tide predicting machine.
• Coast, Series 2, Episode 2: “Holyhead to Liverpool”, featuring the Holyhead to Liverpool optical telegraph.
• Episode of Inside Out featuring Hilbre Island and Bidston Observatory
• One O’Clock – A Liverpool Cameo, 1932 footage featuring Bidston Observatory and the firing of the one o’clock gun, from British Pathé
• Tide and Time – a history of tidal science in Liverpool, a short film made for the Time & Tide exhibition at the National Oceanography Centre, Liverpool.
• Where’s Fred? Fred goes to Bidston. Broadcast on ITV Granada on 25 Sep 2012.

Archives

• Merseyside Maritime Museum – Maritime Archives and Library
• Williamson Art Gallery and Museum
• Wirral Archives Service
• Archives of the Association of Lighthouse Keepers
• The J. Candace Clifford Lighthouse Research Catalogue by the United States Lighthouse Society

On the web

• Lighthouses: Guiding Ships To Safety
• The Ultimate Chart of 100 Lighthouses of the United States
• allertonOak‘s page on Bidston and thereabouts
• Mycetes Lighthouse Compendium: Bidston Lighthouse
• “From Astronomy to Oceanography – A brief history of Bidston Observatory”, by J. Eric Jones (download pdf from the history section of the National Oceanography Centre’s web site)
• About tides – The Doodson-Légé Tide Predicting Machine
• Insight into marine science | Observatory history | Bidston Lighthouses
• Photographer’s Resources on Lighthouse: Bidston Hill Lighthouse
• Lighthouse personnel in England, Wales and the Channel Islands, c1790-1911 on GENUKI
• Liverpool’s Lighthouse Keepers. John and Diane Robinson’s list of Liverpool’s Lighthouse Keepers has disappeared from the website of the Family History Society of Cheshire, but can still be found on the Association of Lighthouse Keepers’ website.
• “From Lighthouses to Cemeteries“,  J Carmen Smith interviews John and Diane Robinson.
• John Thompson Francis, keeper of New Brighton Lighthouse, in uniform, on the Rake Lane Cemetery website.
• Russ Rowlett’s Lighthouse Directory page for Lighthouses of Northwest England
• Lighthouse Facts from the United States Lighthouse Society
• Lighthouse Digest Magazine
• Encyclopaedia Brittanica’s article on lighthouses
• The Stevenson Maps and Plans of Scotland covers the works of the Stevenson dynasty of lighthouse engineers
• Liverpool – Holyhead Semaphore Telegraph, an article by Bill Glover
• Liverpool – Holyhead Electric Telegraph, damages caused by Royal Charter’s anchor
• Distant Writing: A History of the Telegraph Companies in Britain between 1838 and 1868, especially Chapter 8: Non-Competitors, by Steven Roberts, 2012. Retrieved 12 Nov 2015.
• Ken Trethewey’s website on Pharology
• How does the Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society define a “Lighthouse“?
• ARLHS World List of Lights (WLOL)
• International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend, an annual amateur radio event
• The genealogy of the Urmsons and Wildings of Bidston Lighthouse (chart, web cards)
• Wyre Heal: A Local History of the Wirral Peninsula, Chapter 5, Wirral Lighthouses
• William Hutchinson, Privateer and Liverpool Dockmaster (broken link to Brock University website)
• William Hutchinson, biography on the Tide and Time Exhibition (by NOC Liverpool) website
• Women in Maritime Records Information Sheet, on the Merseyside Maritime Museum’s website.
• “High Seas Duel“, an article by Don Hollway about the battle between the CSS Alabama and the USS Kearsarge and the events leading up to it.

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