Notes: The first railway to reach Birkenhead was the ‘Chester and Birkenhead Railway’ who opened a temporary terminus at Grange Lane on 23/09/1840. Four years later the line was extended to a new terminus on the Mersey river bank called Monks Ferry which opened on 23/10/1844. The station was located at the end of a single track tunnel that ran to the site of Grange Lane where a new station ‘Birkenhead Town’ was provided.

Monks Ferry Station was Merseyside’s first riverside station and it was connected to Liverpool by a ferry service. The station was originally provided with two platforms which were protected from the elements by an overall roof. On the 22nd July 1847 Monks Ferry became part of the Birkenhead, Lancashire and Cheshire Railway who doubled the track between Birkenhead Town and Chester. On the 1st of August 1859 the company simplified its name to the Birkenhead Railway. The following year it was taken over by the GWR and LNWR as a joint line.   

By the 1870s Monks Ferry had become far to small for the traffic levels that the line was carrying and it was replaced on the 31st March 1878 by a new terminus that was opened at Birkenhead Woodside. From this date Monks Ferry closed as a passenger station.

The station was not closed completely however as it was used for many years as goods depot.

To see other closed stations on the Birkenhead Woodside to Chester line click on the station name: Birkenhead Woodside, Birkenhead Town, Tranmere,
Rock Lane, Ledsham, Mollington & Upton-by-Chester