Hilbre Island may already have been a hermitage before the Norman invasion[6] or at least a place of pilgrimage[7] based around the lore of St Hildeburgh.

In about 1080 a cell and church for Benedictine monks was established on Hilbre Island as a dependency of Chester Cathedral.

At the dissolution of the monasteries two monks were allowed to remain on the islands, as they maintained a beacon for shipping in the river mouth.

[8] William Camden wrote of Hilbre in Britannia (1586), the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, as follows: "In the utmost brinke of this Promontorie lieth a small, hungrie, barren and sandie Isle called Il-bre, which had sometime a little cell of monkes in it.

Hilbre Island, the largest of the group, is approximately 11.5 acres (47,000 m2; 4.7 ha) in area, and lies about 1 mile (1.6 km) from Red Rocks, the nearest part of the mainland of the Wirral Peninsula.

[12] The island can be reached on foot from West Kirby at low tide; this is a popular activity with tourists, especially during the summer months.

Wirral Council said that they had had difficulty finding a ranger prepared to live without mains electricity or running water on the islands.