Earliest meeting: Tuesday 16th June 1829
Final meeting: Saturday 18th April 1896
Racing first began at Parkgate, a village of about 3000 on the Wirral Peninsula in Cheshire on the River Dee, on Tuesday 16th June 1829 when the Wirral Cup was won by Mr Herbert’s Julia. The racecourse was an oval and covered the length of Parkgate on land known as Park Fields, extending from the area called the Leighton Boundary on one side through to Wood Lane on the northern part of the course. Racing continued intermittently for a further 50 years, but the year 1881 was important in the history of Parkgate. In that year the races took place on Saturday 9th April 1881 and were organised by the Wirral Hunt Club who established the Parkgate Steeplechase. The races were renamed Wirral Hunt Steeplechases despite taking place on the Parkgate Racecourse, but they suffered from unruly behaviour and drunkenness over time, and finally came to an end on Saturday 18th April 1896. The Wirral Hunt group then moved their races to Hooton Park for the 1897 meeting.
Wirral Hunt Club, Mr J J Houghton, Mr H Nicholson (Steward)
A substantial area of land around Parkgate came into the possession of the Mostyn family in 1672 through the marriage of Thomas Mostyn (alter Sir Thomas), of Mostyn Hall, Flintshire, to Bridget Savage of Leighton Hall. It remained in the Mostyn family for almost 2 centuries, but in June 1849 a descendant, 2nd Baron Mostyn, sold off all the land he owned in Cheshire, including the whole of Parkgate, at a 6-day public auction held at the former Mostyn Arms Hotel. He had made the wise decision to redivert his money to purchase land in Llandudno, rightly sensing that it had a brighter financial future than Parkgate.
Saturday 22nd April 1882
Wirral Hunt Steeplechase over 3 miles
1. Sir Harry, 5 year old owned by Mr T Johnson
2. Miss Martin, aged mare owned by Mr A Comerford
3. Kitten, aged mare owned by Mr A D Chambers
Betting: 6/4 Miss Martin, 3/1 Sir Harry, 3/1 Kitten
I am grateful Suzanne Dunbar and to Ordnance Survey (© Crown Copyright) for permission to use the map shown below.
The final meeting was held on Saturday 18th April 1896.
Much of the information about this course has been found using internet research and is in the public domain. However, useful research sources have been:-
London Illustrated News
Racing Illustrated 1895-1899
The Sporting & Dramatic Illustrated
Northern Turf History Volumes 1-4 by J.Fairfax-Blakeborough
The Sporting Magazine
A Long Time Gone by Chris Pitt first published in 1996 ISBN 0 900599 89 8
Racing Calendars which were first published in 1727
