For boats that is.
These are the remains of Mersey Flats, a type of double bowed barges firmly used on the River Mersey for transporting goods.
There have always been a few bits sticking up out of the mud at low tide.
However the creation of three islands mid stream for the legs of the new Mersey Gateway Bridge, has greatly affected the flow of the river.
In some parts it is dumping huge piles of mud and silt, elsewhere it is scouring out massive areas of its banks.
Here it is cutting a long way back in shore and has uncovered, what looks like a very old graveyard for a large number of redundant Mersey Flats.
They were normally made of Oak and Pitched Pine, and in common use between the 1730s till around the 1890s.
@vignouse Well, I would think they must be over a hundred years old, possibly a lot more.
Most of these were buried deep in the mud underneath the grass and only appeared when the river started ripping the bank away. It must have taken a few years for them to be buried in the first place once they were abandoned.
There are more, behind where I was stood taking the photograph.
Most of these were buried deep in the mud underneath the grass and only appeared when the river started ripping the bank away. It must have taken a few years for them to be buried in the first place once they were abandoned.
There are more, behind where I was stood taking the photograph.