William Leece discovers the links that bind Merseyside tightly to North Wales and its people

IN THEORY, the capital of Wales is Cardiff. But, up north, the big city that everyone looks to as a gateway to the world is Liverpool – or Lerpwl, to Welsh-speakers.

Even the arrival of devolution and the Welsh Assembly Government in Cardiff has not severed the links, given the easier communications to Liverpool and a certain wariness among North Walians of all things South.

They are links that have been forged over the centuries, from a time when the easiest way of travelling was by sea to the fast A55 Expressway of today.

Time was when as many as 10% of Liverpool’s population was Welsh-speaking, and Welsh store magnates like Owen Owen and TJ Hughes created their own little empires.

Now the links between Liverpool and North Wales have been commemorated both in a new book and an exhibition at St George’s Hall, which runs to the end of July.

Author Lorna Jenner, herself Liverpool-born and now living in North Wales, has spoken to countless people either of Welsh extraction who have moved to Liverpool, or have travelled in the opposite direction.

Typical of them was Mary Bartley, from Huyton, who took her first holiday in North Wales in a chalet on a farm in Cilcain in 1957, when she was 15.

“My uncle’s car got stuck in a ditch, and the farmer sent his son, Ralph, to fetch the tractor to pull us out.

“During the week’s holiday, Ralph chatted me up, and we went for walks together when he came home from work.”

One thing led to another and the teenage sweethearts were married in 1966, settling in Pantymwyn.

“We must have started a trend as two of Ralph’s brothers later married girls from Liverpool themselves.”

In the 1920s, the trend was given a massive push by Crosville Motors, who ran bus services across North Wales and the North West of England.

Crosville bought 74 acres of land at Loggerheads to set up their own tea rooms and recreation gardens. Buses ran every half hour to Woodside, and, if there were still people waiting when the last bus had gone, the company simply put on an extra bus until everyone had been shipped off home.

“We all loved going to the tea gardens where we played in the river and climbed up the crags,” recalls Betty Earps, of Loggerheads in the 1930s. “There were swing boats on there then and they were my favourite. I remember being told off for swinging too high!”

The Crosville Tea Rooms were sold to Clwyd County Council in 1974 as the basis for the modern Loggerheads Country Park.

From day trips by bus to striking out on one’s own was just a small step.

Back in the 1920s, John Morris, the resident miller at Rhydymwyn, near Mold, allowed visitors from Liverpool to camp on land he owned at Nant Alyn.

“It was very popular with cyclists coming to race at Rhydymwyn,” recalls his grandson Ian Morris, “or using it as a base for touring.

“My grandfather used to go round with his pony and trap, collecting the camping fees.

“They stored campers’ equipment in an old tram, and the site gradually evolved into something more permanent as huts, a railway carriage, buses and a gipsy caravan were added.”

The site is now the Leete Valley Caravan Park, with no facilities for casual campers, but most of the mobile homes are Merseyside-owned, with some now in their fourth generation.

A new wave of Liverpudlians arrived in September, 1939, with the outbreak of the Second World War.

In just six days, evacuation trains left Liverpool with places for 150,000 children and adults to escape the expected air raids. Not every place was taken, but an estimated 44,000 Merseyside evacuees went to North Wales.

It was a new and often terrifying experience. “At times, it seemed like a cattle auction, being picked out in ones and twos to join a family,” recalls Laurence Lloyd.

Some had traumatic times – refused service in shops, and derided as “bomb dodgers” – but others found it an enthralling experience.

Harry Moffit ended up spending 10 years in all in North Wales. He had arrived, aged just five, and became a fluent Welsh speaker at Pentre Celyn School.

“I’d assumed I’d go home at 14 when I finished school, but the headmaster wanted me to sit exams for Wrexham Tech as I was top of the class – even in Welsh.

“I passed the exams and studied at Wrexham for two years with a view to training as an engineer.”

In truth, there is much beautiful countryside within easy reach of Liverpool, from the west Pennine moors north of Manchester to the Trough of Bowland, the southern edge of the Lake District and the tranquillity of Cheshire and Shropshire.

But North Wales, above all, holds a special place in Liverpool affections, and vice versa.

Lorna Jenner has her own theory that it is as much as anything the fact that North Wales is so visible from Liverpool.

“The North Wales coast is clearly visible cross the water and the iconic shape of Moel Famau, crowned by the castle-like ruins of the Jubilee Tower, can be seen from many parts of Liverpool, and the Wirral.

“Conversely, the Liverpool skyline is visible from Moel Famau and the North Wales coast on a clear day.”

The days have gone when one in 10 Liverpudlians was a Welsh-speaker, and the importance of the Liverpool Welsh has declined.

“But the strong economic and cultural links they established between North Wales and Merseyside is their lasting legacy,” Lorna Jenner declares.

LIVERPOOL to Loggerheads, by Lorna Jenner, is published by Alyn Books. Paperback, 144pp, £11.95. The Liverpool to Loggerheads exhibition is at the Community Exhibition Room at St George’s Hall, until July 26.

williamleece