rock ferry waterfront

Our vision is to create a “go to leisure destination” to build on the tremendous maritime, commercial and residential heritage of Rock Ferry. royal mersey yacht club

The Royal Mersey Yacht Club was founded in 1844 under the Royal Patronage of Queen Victoria. In the early years the club held major national regattas but the club yachts also prided themselves in forming an escort fleet for the Queen whenever the Royal Yacht visited this region.

With its base in the City of , most members maintained their yachts at the Club’s Marine Station at Rock Ferry, a location that remains the racing centre for the club to today. Queen Victoria presented many fine trophies for the Club regattas – the so-called “Queen’s Silver” and this attracted competitors from most other Royal Yacht Clubs to race at Royal Mersey. During the American Civil War, the club was particularly active on behalf of the Confederate Navy.

The ship-builder John Laird, a prominent club member at the time, was instrumental in constructing warships for the Confederates and when the most famous of these, the CSS Alabama, was sunk in battle it was a Royal Mersey Yacht that just happened to be there in time to rescue the officers and crew and carry them back to . Later in the nineteenth century, Charles Dickens was entertained by the Club; an event that he recorded most favourably in his diaries. In the golden years of the large yachts as the twentieth century approached, many famous yachts from around the world competed at the Royal Mersey Regattas. One of the most striking was the record-breaking Britannia, raced by the Prince of Wales, which won one of the annual regattas at Rock Ferry. Two world wars changed the social and sporting face of Britain, but keel-boat racing under the club burgee continued to flourish.

In 1935 the Royal Mersey Mylne class was introduced and this fleet is still very active today. In the 1970’s a smaller contemporary class was added in the shape of the fibre-glass hulled National Squib. Again to answer the call of competitive contemporary yachting, a fleet of International Etchells was adopted in 2002 and this continues to expand.

Under the patronage of HRH the Duke of Edinburgh the Club maintains a strong national and international profile. In 2009 the Club hosted the European Championships for the International Etchells. rock ferry - heritage

Maritime Commercial

In the days of sailing ships the waterfront at Rock Ferry was known as The Sloyne, In Victorian times commercial activity was centred on the Royal Rock Hotel a famous a recognised mooring for ships sailing into the Mersey well before the Liverpool and landmark which was popular not only with local residents but also attracted the wealthy docks were built. The moorings around Rock Ferry were so safe and secure merchants from Liverpool, and even Royal patronage. Adjoining the Royal Rock Hotel was that this was the permanent mooring for the famous HMS Conway a three masted fully the Olympian gardens, a popular venue for music hall and vaudeville entertainment. rigged, 90 gun sailing ship of the line, the first merchant navy training ship of its kind in the . Ferries have operated at Rock Ferry since 1709 and at their height of their Looking at some of the Victorian photographs of the area, Rock Ferry was a thriving popularity, at the turn of the 1900’s, they carried over one million passengers a year. neighbourhood not only because of the hotel but also the prestigious Royal Mersey Yacht Club one of the oldest Yacht Clubs in the country, founded in 1844 with Queen Victoria as its Residential Patron. The Queen visited the club and presented a magnificent trophy, and the Clubs Royal connections continue even today with The Duke of Edinburgh as Patron and King Harold of With the benefit of regular Ferry access from the pier the area became so popular that Rock Norway as a member. Park was developed as an exclusive estate, providing grand villas for the influential and wealthy merchants of Liverpool. Notable residents included Nathaniel Hawthorne a famous And so we paint a picture of Rock Ferry as a vibrant and bustling community based on its American writer and the American Consul and the Norwegian Consul. proximity and ease of access to the and Liverpool. rock ferry - the vision Attractive waterfront locations are a magnet for the public and building on the facilities of the two yacht clubs already at Rock Ferry, our development proposals will give visitors much improved access to the river for a wide range of water related and other recreational activities.

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marina pier & slipway watersport centre the refreshment room Central to our waterfront concept is the construction of A permanent base for other marine related activities The Admiral Pub has now been renovated and returned a new 100 berth marina with floating pontoons giving - sailing, and other water sports training etc and give to its original name “The Refreshment Room”. It provides 24/7 hour access to the river coupled with refurbishment the opportunity for both the Royal Mersey Yacht Club an attractive waterside facility with excellent food and a and improvements to the pier and slipway. and the Liverpool/Tranmere Alliance to improve their range of range of real ales. own club facilities and to take advantage of other joint facilities such as boat yard, storage, maintenance etc.

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public car park residential access The lower part of the former Royal Rock hotel site will The Bath Cottages site already has planning consent To give the necessary prominence to this Waterfront be transformed into a waterfront park leading down to for 21 apartments and the main part of the former Royal destination and to avoid any possible conflict or the esplanade which would also be refurbished as part Rock hotel site would be suitable for Rock Park style nuisance to local residents we see it as essential to of this project. and it is proposed that the completed villas or additional waterfront apartments. improve access to the site and our final proposal public space will be known as the Olympian Park in therefore is to improve the access directly off the Rock recognition of the Victorian history of the site. Ferry bypass on to Bedford Road East and to the waterfront car parks and other facilities. public pier rock ferry waterfront regeneration - masterplan

public pier

public pier new café bar PIER TO BE MIXED USE RETAINED Marina bar RMYC and Tranmere / Liverpool YC with residential apartments over emergency access route workshops and for shell storage sheds slipway tomarina be rebuilt to allow launching & dry sailing zoned car parking and 2 public access boat storage for the whole scheme viewing platform 1 master plan marina COMMERCIAL/ 3 hard landscaping public pier and shared surface watersport COMMUNITY COMMERCIAL/ centre USE public realm access lane COMMUNITY proposed marina USE and pontoon with ater visitor berthing w new landscaped eak position br of public space and new 6 picnic area 4 new decelerate and accelerate bypass road relocated with access lane public car parking esplanade retain 5 and renewed rock ferry marina

RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL residential site with existing planning consent commercial access lane /community new gated access 5 useto Rock Park

1 marina pier & slipway

esplanade 2 watersport centre

3 the refreshment rooms

4 public car park

5 residential

6 access to bypass the wirral

rock ferry

rock ferry waterfront trust

A Not for Profit company promoted by Royal Mersey Yacht Club

"to preserve, enhance and support the regeneration of the historic Rock Ferry Waterfront"

Images used throughout this design are for visual purposes only and do not constitute an accurate representation of the finished development

Designed and produced by Wodehouse Direct, Manchester - tel 0161 875 2486