North Wales Pleasure Steamers

The story in words and pictures of the steamers of the North Wales Coast, and of the Liverpool & North Wales Steamship Company.

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Pleasure steamer cruises along the scenic North Wales coast from Liverpool disappeared some fifty years ago. The outstanding beauty of North Wales and in particular the Menai Straits and Anglesey, was in its day, one of the most outstanding and scenic areas of the UK for enjoying the simple pleasure of taking a pleasure steamer cruise. It offered passengers a few hours at the seaside or enabled them to sample scenery away from that seen in everyday life of the industrial north of England. There was no finer grandstand to enjoy such a day as on one of the well-loved and stylish steamers of the Liverpool & North Wales Steamship Company of the 1950s and 1960s; St Trillo, St Seiriol and St Tudno. Services between Liverpool and North Wales had their origin as far back as 1821. North Wales like so many other areas around the UK, saw services expand and change during the Victorian era. The 1920s witnessed the entry into service of smart new steamers such as the St Tudno of 1926. The services were lost in the 1960s but the Waverley and Balmoral still ply these waters today, giving the modern day tripper an experience of times past.