Routes & Maps – The Smugglers Way
The Perch and New Brighton Lighthouse
The curved breakwater reaches towards New Brighton Lighthouse, while the smaller structure in the foreground is the surviving Perch that preceded its modern replacement. For centuries this exposed corner of Wirral marked the meeting of river and sea — a hazardous approach of shifting channels, shoals and sandbanks familiar to sailors, smugglers and wreckers alike.
Following the Old Ways Across Wirral
Three Ways Through a Hidden Wirral
The Smugglers Way brings together three routes through a landscape shaped by the Mersey, the Irish Sea and centuries of change. The Smugglers’ Route follows the old way inland from Mother Redcap’s and Maddock’s Slipway towards Liscard, St Hilary’s, Bidston Moss and the Ring O’ Bells. The Wreckers’ Route keeps to the coast, passing New Brighton and Perch Rock before turning west along the North Wirral shore and eventually inland towards Bidston. A third journey, the Mermaid Trail, explores another strand of Wirral’s maritime folklore and history.
Smugglers, Wreckers & Caves
Much of the country crossed by these routes would have looked very different when smugglers, sailors and wreckers became part of local tradition. Creeks have been filled, marshes drained, sandstone quarried away and old lanes absorbed into the modern townscape. The interactive maps reconnect surviving places with that earlier landscape, allowing each route to be followed across the Wirral of today while revealing traces of the Wirral that has disappeared.
The Smugglers Route
From Mother Redcap’s on the Mersey shore, the old route turns inland through Liscard towards St Hilary’s and the Breck, before crossing the once-treacherous wastes of Bidston Moss to reach the Ring O’ Bells. Follow the route through a landscape where old lanes, lost marshes and fragments of an earlier Wirral still survive.
The Wreckers Route
Following the Mersey shore north to New Brighton, the route turns west past Perch Rock and along the North Wirral coast, where vast offshore sandbanks emerge as the tide retreats. From the Red and Yellow Noses it heads inland towards St Hilary’s and the Breck, tracing a coast long associated with shipwreck, danger and tales of wrecking.
The Mermaid Trail
The Mermaid Trail follows a different thread through Wirral’s maritime story, drawing together places where the sea, local folklore and memories of an older coastline meet. From the Mersey shore, it explores tales and landmarks shaped by generations who lived beside the water — a journey into the more mysterious side of Wirral’s past.
