Storeton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Storeton is a small village on the Wirral Peninsula in England. It is made up of Great Storeton and "Little Storeton" which is classified as a hamlet. There are viking connections with Storeton and it is alledged that the Nephew of King Arthur resided at Storeton Hall. It is thought that the poem Sir Gerwain and the Green Knight refers to Storeton Hall. Most of the village is built from locally quarried stone from Storeton ridge. The stone is a creamy sandstone and was also used for cladding The Empire State building in New York. During world war 2 an american transporter plane crashed in the fields surrounding Storeton with the loss of life.
[edit] Storeton Woods
On the ridge above the village of Storeton are Storeton Woods that are owned by the Friends of Storeton Woods and cover 31 acres.
The woods have grown up on the site a quarry that was present since the times of the Roman occupation. The quarry were up to 60m deep at the begining of the 20th centuary and, from the 19th centuary, a tramway was used to transport stone to Birkenhead docks. A portion of the tramway embankment still exists as footpath and a section of the rails have been re-installed by the society. The quarry was filled with with spoil from the excavation of the Queensway Tunnel in the 1920s and the site is currently a tranquil nature reserve enjoyed by walkers.
The quarry was also the site of the discovery of dinosaur footprints, the species was named Cheirotherium storetonia after the site of discovery.
