[citation needed] Subsequently, even more substantial mansions were built for prosperous manufacturers, shipowners and merchants working in Liverpool, among which The Grange, The Manor House, Ravenswood, Saxonhurst, Thorncote, The Hursts, Westgarth, Larchwood and Stoneleigh.

These pleasure gardens were considered a great attraction and customers travelled from the whole of Wirral and, using the nearby ferry terminal, from Liverpool.

The gardens hosted classical piano concerts and also slapstick comedy shows, with performers including Arthur Askey and Tommy Handley.

Shows were held in a large tent set amongst the trees and shrubs of land owned by Charles Boult.

In what was one of the first residential park developments in Britain, the houses were built between 1837 and 1850, and were the first early Victorian properties to be designated listed buildings.

The property was subsequently owned by astronomer Isaac Roberts, who installed a seven-inch refractor in a revolving dome on the top floor.

Immediately after the building of the bypass, the remainder of Rock Park was quickly designated a conservation area in 1979, although that year also saw the demolition of the Lodge, which had become derelict.

Other areas of architectural significance include Egerton Park, an oasis of late nineteenth-century villas in a leafy setting, and the Byrne Avenue Baths, a 1930s swimming pool with plenty of Art Deco features, which closed in February 2009.

Highfield United Reformed Church, completed in 1871, is a sizeable place of worship within Rock Ferry and a Grade II Listed building.

Rock Ferry was home to a number of boat builders including the yard of Samuel Bond and the Enterprise Small Craft Company.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel's SS Great Eastern was beached at New Ferry for breaking up in 1889, which took eighteen months to complete.

Rock Ferry railway station is on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail commuter rail network.

There are also several scheduled bus routes that run along New Chester Road into Birkenhead and central Liverpool The first municipal motorbus transport started at from Rock Ferry Pier on 12 July 1919.

Birkenhead Corporation Transport department continued to expand and completely replaced the municipal 1901 electric tramway system in 1937.

On 1 December 1969 the fifty year old bus operation of the Corporation was amalgamated with the fleets of Wallasey and Liverpool to become Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive.

[21] The area was previously served by Rock Ferry High School, which became an Associate College of Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) from 2006.

Liverpool band Deaf School released the song Rock Ferry on their 1977 album Don't Stop the World.