The Hilbre Lifeboat Station was built in 1839 and used until 1939. It was built to allow the Hoylake Lifeboat crew access to Liverpool Bay during low tides, when the vast sand-banks off Hoylake prevented access to the sea. The advent of the tractor-pulled lifeboat made the station redundant. Now disused, save for a small wooden birdwatching hide, the sea is slowly reclaiming the sandstone slipway.

The Hilbre Lifeboat Station still stands like a sentinel on the exposed, seaward side of the island.

Ref: 1003E

Location: Hilbre Island, The Dee Estuary

Photographer: Tim Myers