107-653: Upton is a village in the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula , England, and is situated within 4 miles (6.4 km) of Birkenhead , 4 miles (6.4 km) of the Dee Estuary , a similar distance from the River Mersey , and 2 miles (3.2 km) from Liverpool Bay . The village is a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in the metropolitan county of Merseyside . Upton was in
214-532: A runestone , attributed to the 7th or 8th centuries, was discovered in the ruins. It has been interpreted as a memorial to Æthelmund, perhaps a local leader or missionary. The stone is now kept at the Grosvenor Museum in Chester . "..though now only a small village, Upton was formerly considered the metropolis of the lower mediety of Wirral, and had two annual fairs of considerable importance, and also
321-434: A £4.5bn development around the docklands to be called Wirral Waters . The development is a mixture of industrial, office, residential and leisure facilities. Planning permission was granted in 2010 and work began on the site in 2011, with development work potentially lasting for 30 years. The Wirral can be defined both as a geographical peninsula and as a socio-cultural area. The current Metropolitan Borough of Wirral has
428-775: A benign environment. The opening of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894, with its outfall at Eastham, led to further port-side and industrial development beside the Mersey at Ellesmere Port. In 1886, the Mersey Railway tunnel was opened, linking the Wirral and Liverpool. This led to the further rapid growth of suburbs in the Wirral, particularly in Wallasey, Hoylake and West Kirby, and later Bebington and Heswall. Wallasey's population grew to over 53,000 by 1901, and
535-655: A charter from Edward III. At this time, large areas of Wirral were owned by Chester Abbey. In 1278 the Abbey was granted the right to hold an annual three-day fair at Bromborough, but the fair declined after the Black Death in 1349. Another fair was established in 1299 at Burton . Meanwhile, Meols continued as an important port, and the eroded coastline there has provided what is described as "the largest collection of medieval domestic items to have come from any single site outside London" . A Subsidy Roll of 1545 shows that
642-456: A community hall rebuilt in 1963, was originally sited in a large Victorian villa , which had been purchased by public subscription. Upton Library was opened in 1936 and built in the Art Deco style of architecture. The village's war memorial is located within its grounds. The Village Youth Project, known as The Bank , is a youth club set up in 1999. This provides a range of activities for
749-541: A hearth used by a hunter-gatherer community. Other evidence from about the same period has been found at Irby , Hoylake and New Brighton . Later Neolithic stone axes and pottery have been found in Oxton , Neston , and Meols . At Meols and New Brighton there is evidence of occupation through to the Bronze Age , around 1,000 BC, and funerary urns of the period have been found at West Kirby and Hilbre . Before
856-487: A mantle of glacial till , a legacy of the last ice age . Wind-blown sands cover the northern coastal margin. Low ground behind these sand are reclaimed tidal flat deposits which also extend into the heavily modified Birket which occupies a buried bedrock channel. This channel and others beneath the Dee and Mersey estuaries were formed in part by the southeasterly movement of Irish Sea Ice during successive ice ages. Low cliffs of
963-604: A mile away, in Arrowe Park , in 1929. The village has two historic public houses which are close to the centre. These are Eagle and Crown , built around 1840, and the Horse and Jockey . Built around 1850, the Horse and Jockey used to be situated opposite the Eagle and Crown and was owned by William Inman until 1875. The old Horse and Jockey building was demolished in the 1960s, before moving to new premises nearby. Meanwhile,
1070-423: A new oil dock was built at Stanlow near Ellesmere Port, and in 1934 oil refining began there. A large chemical and oil refining complex still dominates the area. In 1929, the 3rd World Scout Jamboree was held at Arrowe Park and this celebrated the 21st Anniversary of the publication of Scouting for Boys . Thirty-five countries were represented by 30,000 Scouts , plus another 10,000 British Scouts who took
1177-474: A pond which contains a good population of invertebrates and some amphibians, with a significant colony of common toad . The meadow is 15 hectares (37 acres) and the habitat is rare, within the local area. Upton has a temperate maritime climate ( Köppen : Cfb), similar to much of the rest of the United Kingdom. Being close to the sea and sheltered from the prevailing south-westerly wind by Snowdonia ,
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#17327805997201284-472: A population of 312,293 (according to the 2001 census ), and covers an area of 60.35 sq mi (156.3 km ), bounded by the Cheshire Plain , the Dee and the Mersey. The Irish Sea lies to its north west side. The peninsula is formed almost wholly from sedimentary bedrock of Triassic age, being sandstone , mudstones and siltstones . Strata exposed at or near the modern surface include
1391-477: A significant degree of indoor space. Vacant space, at the business park, has been utilised quite rapidly, since the closure of the Champion's business. Businesses, at the site, now include a furniture retailer, a recording studio and rehearsal room, a hydroponics store and a self-storage facility amongst others. Upton Retail Park is a small retail park which was developed in the early 1990s. The development
1498-458: A similar fate. Upton is also home to Wirral's only bilingual day nursery, Habla which caters for children aged 6 months to 5 years. St. Mary's Church is Upton's Church of England parish church. This is a large church, which was consecrated on 28 April 1868. The church had its own office and meeting room, situated in Holmleigh, which was next door to the church hall, on Church Road. Holmleigh
1605-461: A strong service economy which is based primarily around healthcare and retail, with a variety of places nearby, and within the village, to pursue sport and leisure activities. The name Upton is from the Old English upp , meaning up, high or a hill, and tūn , meaning a farmstead or settlement. Upton therefore could be explained as meaning Hill Farm. This is still recognisable today, as Upton
1712-474: A supermarket in the village, in the building which is now used as the fitness centre. Spar has also operated a supermarket in the village, firstly following Lipton's in the same building, and then at the bottom of Arrowe Park Road. Clarks has previously had a shoe shop , in the building currently used by Ladbrokes. A former major employer was the Champion spark plug factory on Arrowebrook Road. The factory
1819-567: A weekly market that was discontinued in 1620, the village having been recently almost entirely rebuilt, contains several good houses, among which may be particularly mentioned Upton Hall ..." —said of Upton in the History of the Hundred of Wirral by William Williams Mortimer, 1847. A major contributor to the village was William Inman , owner of the Inman Line , who donated money for
1926-547: Is 32 metres (105 ft) above sea level, just off the junction with the A551 and the B5139, at Moreton Road, in the centre of the village. A further prominence of 26 metres (85 ft) above sea level is at Upton Manor, 0.8 kilometres (870 yd) from the centre of the village. Most of the populated area is more than 10 metres (33 ft) above sea level, and most of the ground is on a gentle hillside. Consequently, Upton has avoided
2033-400: Is a figure that is also higher than England as a whole. Of the adult population, aged between 16 and 74 years of age, 34.7% of people are economically inactive, whilst 5.4% are economically active, but unemployed. This gives a combined non-employment rate of 40.1% of the adult population. 59.9% of adults are, therefore, occupied with work, training or education, in one form or another. 95.3% of
2140-663: Is about 15 miles (24 km) long and 7 miles (11 km) wide, and is bounded by the Dee Estuary to the west, the Mersey Estuary to the east, and Liverpool Bay to the north. Historically, the Wirral was wholly in Cheshire ; in the Domesday Book , its border with the rest of the county was placed at "two arrow falls from Chester city walls". However, since the Local Government Act 1972 , only
2247-571: Is also seen as an east–west divide between the affluent and developing areas of the Wirral. Despite containing urban and industrial areas, the Wirral still has picturesque villages, sandy beaches, large areas of land owned by the National Trust , as well as views across the two estuaries and out into the Irish Sea. Wirral Council has identified over 130 public access points within its administrative area to beaches and to open water. Among
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#17327805997202354-511: Is also served by several residential, care and nursing homes, one of which is situated at Upton Manor and another on Ford Road, as well as a recently built care home on Salacre Lane. Upton has its own Police station , which is a branch of Merseyside Police , and a Fire station which is a branch of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service , as well as an ambulance station , operated by the North West Ambulance Service , at
2461-406: Is also within the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West . The current member of parliament is Margaret Greenwood , a Labour MP who is the fourth representative for the constituency. The previous incumbent of the post, the third representative for the constituency, was Esther McVey , a Conservative politician who was MP from 2010 until 2015. The second representative, Stephen Hesford , who
2568-620: Is designated as a listed building . Just prior to World War II , the War Department requisitioned a large amount of land to the northern side of Arrowe Farm, next to the Police station. This was used for military weapons storage. The camp was known as 64 Anti-Aircraft Ordnance Depot. The site had three reinforced bunkers for storage of ordnance, in the area which is now occupied by the Sainsbury's building. The site eventually came into
2675-421: Is lost to history, this has raised the possibility that the site was once a stone circle and, therefore, a pre-Christian, Neolithic religious site. Greenbank Church was built in 1813 and was situated closer to the centre of the village, next to Greasby Road. This church reused material from the former Norman church, though was of much simpler design. This church was used until the construction of St. Mary's and
2782-639: Is on a low hill. As the name Upton is relatively common, it was sometimes known historically as Upton in Wyrhale (in 1307) or Upton by Birkenhead. The name Overchurch may translate as "shore church", from the Old English ofer meaning a shore and cirice , a church. This implies that, during the Anglo-Saxon era, the shoreline of the Irish Sea was much closer to the centre of the village. Upton
2889-585: Is supposed that the land was once overgrown with bog myrtle, a plant no longer found in the area, but plentiful around Formby , to which the Wirral would once have had a similar habitat . The name was given to the Hundred of Wirral (or Wilaveston) around the 8th century. The earliest evidence of human occupation of the Wirral dates from the Mesolithic period, around 12,000 BC. Excavations at Greasby have uncovered flint tools, signs of stake holes and
2996-621: Is the Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust at Arrowe Park Hospital . Other significant employers include J Sainsbury PLC , Homebase , Argos , McDonald's and the Royal Mail . The village had a branch of one of the United Kingdom's major banks, Barclays Bank , in a building formerly occupied by Martins Bank . The Post Office also operates banking services. Other banks and building societies have operated in
3103-596: The Backford gap, and the town of Ellesmere Port began to develop. The excavation of the New Cut of the Dee, opened in 1737, to improve access to Chester, diverted the river's course to the Welsh side of the estuary and took trade away from the Wirral coastline. Although plans were made to overcome its gradual silting up, including one in 1857 to cut a ship canal from a point between Thurstaston and Heswall to run along
3210-592: The Blitz , parts of the Wirral, especially around the docks, suffered extensive bomb damage. There were 464 people killed in Birkenhead and 355 in Wallasey, and 80% of all houses in Birkenhead were either destroyed or badly damaged. During the Second World War, the Wirral held two RAF sites, RAF West Kirby (which was a camp, not an airfield) and RAF Hooton Park and a number of anti-aircraft sites to protect
3317-552: The Lady Lever Art Gallery at Port Sunlight and the Williamson Art Gallery in Birkenhead. The historical sites include Birkenhead Priory , Leasowe Lighthouse , Hadlow Road railway station and the buildings and ancient carvings on Bidston Hill . For reasons that are both social and geographical, accents on the east side of the Wirral tend to show a stronger Merseyside influence than those on
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3424-665: The Norsemen and the Scots , and thus historians consider it the birthplace of England. The battle site covered a large area of the Wirral. Egil's Saga , a story which tells of the battle, may have referred to the Wirral as Wen Heath, Vínheíþr in Icelandic . After invading England in 1066 and subduing Northumbria in 1069–1070, William the Conqueror invaded and ravaged Chester and its surrounding area, laying waste to much of
3531-598: The Overchurch Hotel and the Stirrup are situated away from the centre of the village. Upton also used to have a beer house known as The Traveller's Rest . This beer house closed in 1903, although the building remains. Wirral Peninsula The Wirral Peninsula ( / ˈ w ɪr əl / ), known locally as the Wirral , is a peninsula in North West England . The roughly rectangular peninsula
3638-772: The Quaternary Ice Age , between Bidston Hill and Thurstaston Hill . The underlying bedrock is Triassic bunter sandstone of the Helsby Sandstone Formation and the Sidmouth Mudstone Formation . This is overlain with boulder clay from the Quaternary Ice Age, similar to the nearby Dee Cliffs , and clay soil. The bedrock is not usually visible, as it is on the nearby Bidston Hill. The highest point in Upton
3745-465: The Woodland Trust on a 99-year lease, from Wirral Borough Council, in the same year. The woodland contains a mixture of species such as oak , ash , hazel , birch , blackthorn and hawthorn . Additional plantations by the local council, in 1980, have also included maple , grey alder , grey willow and guelder rose . Other plants include holly , English elm and sycamore . The area has
3852-418: The traditional county of Cheshire . At the 2011 census , the population was 16,130. Upton was originally settled as an Anglo-Saxon farming community, and remained as a farming community until the village's rapid urbanisation and expansion from the mid-19th century. This was brought about by the development of Liverpool as a major port, with rail and road links across the Mersey estuary. The village now has
3959-514: The turnpike . These were situated at the junction of Saughall Massie Lane and Old Greasby Road, at the top of Moreton Road, and the Arrowe Park Road junction with Arrowe Brook Road. This final toll house is the only surviving example. Upton has a number of schools. These include Overchurch Primary School and St. Joseph's Primary School, which are both on Moreton Road, and Hayfield School on Manor Drive. These all cater for children between
4066-528: The 18th century the Wirral side of the Mersey had five ferry houses, at Seacombe , Woodside , the Rock , New Ferry and Eastham. Other communications were also improving. Turnpike roads linking Chester with Eastham, Woodside, and Neston were built after 1787. In 1793, work began on the Ellesmere Canal , connecting the Mersey with Chester and Shropshire through the fluvioglacial landform known as
4173-469: The Arrowebrook telephone exchange is situated on Church Road and serves approximately 25,000 residential premises and 686 non-residential premises. The exchange is operated by BT . This provides ADSL and SDSL services, among others. The village once had several toll houses , only one of which now remains. The toll houses were used by passing travellers, during the 19th century, to pay for use of
4280-579: The Deathly Hallows – Part 1 during the scene where Harry and Hagrid escape on a flying motorcycle and pass through the tunnel. The scene was filmed while the tunnel was closed for repairs. The 2013 film Fast & Furious 6 tunnel chase scene was filmed in the Queensway Tunnel. The unused Birkenhead Dock branch of the Queensway Tunnel was filmed as a New York underpass in the 2014 movie Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit . In October 2017,
4387-568: The Dee Estuary nature reserve. Places of architectural interest include Hamilton Square , Rock Park and Port Sunlight . The view of the buildings on Liverpool's Pier Head when crossing on the Mersey Ferry is famous. Many villages of the Wirral such as Burton are also well preserved with their characteristic red sandstone buildings and walls. The old port of Parkgate also attracts many visitors. The arts are well represented by
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4494-684: The Dee and Mersey estuaries, Irish Sea and... the route of the Shropshire Union Canal between Ellesmere Port and Chester". This definition extends the original hundred slightly further east, to the River Gowy. The Shropshire Union Canal joins the Mersey at Ellesmere Port and the Dee at Chester. This canal technically makes the peninsula an island. In the north of the peninsula, the River Fender , Arrowe Brook and Greasby Brook drain into The Birket , which itself flows into
4601-571: The Hiberno-Scandinavian settlement of the Wirral peninsula in its account of the immigration of Ingimundr near Chester. This Irish source places this settlement in the aftermath of the Vikings' expulsion from Dublin in 902, and an unsuccessful attempt to settle on Anglesey soon afterwards. Following these setbacks, Ingimundr is stated to have settled near Chester with the consent of Æthelflæd , co-ruler of Mercia . The boundary of
4708-537: The Kinnerton Sandstone at Burton Point are part of a relict shoreline, the Dee estuary having silted up during the post-glacial period. The former coast can be traced from Blacon northwest to Burton Point and thence to Parkgate where spring tides still reach the historic coastline. A well developed glacial drainage channel , known as the Deva Spillway cuts across the base of the peninsula between
4815-594: The River Mersey via Wallasey Pool (Birkenhead Docks). Further south, the Clatter Brook and Dibbinsdale Brook drain into the Mersey at Bromborough Pool . Two approximately parallel sandstone ridges run down the length of the peninsula. The western ridge is made up of Grange and Caldy Hills at 256 feet in height, then Thurstaston Hill (298 ft), Poll Hill in Heswall (350 ft, the highest point on
4922-403: The River Mersey. Upton Meadow Millennium Wood is an ancient, semi-natural woodland, a community forest and a county wildlife site which has informal public access. The area has 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) of footpaths and a bridleway along the western boundary. The area is one of the last remaining unbuilt, natural areas in Upton. Parts of the site were planted in 1997 and the site was leased to
5029-510: The Romans founded Chester . Evidence of their occupation on the Wirral has been found, including the remains of a road near Mollington , Ledsham and Willaston . This road may have continued to the port at Meols, which may have been used as a base for attacking the north Wales coast. Storeton Quarry may also have been used by Romans for materials for sculpture. Remains of possible Roman roads have also been found at Greasby and at Bidston . By
5136-555: The Viking colony is believed to have passed south of Neston and Raby , and along Dibbinsdale . Evidence of Norse speech on the Wirral can still be seen from place name evidence – such as the common -by (meaning "village" in Scandinavian languages) – suffixes and names such as Tranmere , which comes from trani melr (" cranebird sandbank"). Viking Age sculpture corroborates this. Recent Y-DNA research has also revealed
5243-416: The Wirral is Cilgwri . In Welsh mythology , the ouzel (or blackbird ) of Cilgwri was one of the most ancient creatures in the world. The Anglo-Saxons under Æthelfrith , king of Northumbria , laid waste to Chester around 616. Æthelfrith withdrew, leaving the area west and south of the Mersey to become part of Mercia , and Anglo-Saxon settlers took over the Wirral except the northern tip. Many of
5350-514: The Wirral's Mersey coast for industrialisation. The 1820s saw the birth of the area's renowned shipbuilding tradition when William Laird opened his shipyard in Birkenhead , later expanded by his son John Laird . The Lairds were largely responsible for the early growth of Birkenhead, commissioning the architect James Gillespie Graham to lay it out as a new town modelled on Edinburgh . In 1847, Birkenhead's first docks and its municipal park ,
5457-477: The Wirral's villages, such as Willaston, Eastham and Sutton , were established and named at this time. Towards the end of the 9th century, Vikings began raiding the area. They settled along the Dee side of the peninsula, and along the sea coast, giving their villages names such as Kirby , Greasby and Meols. They introduced their own local government system with a parliament at Thingwall . The pseudo-historical Fragmentary Annals of Ireland appears to record
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#17327805997205564-454: The Wirral) and Burton (222 ft). The less continuous eastern ridge consists of Bidston Hill (231 ft), Prenton (259 ft) and Storeton Hill (229 ft). The shallow Fender valley runs between these ridges. The Wirral features a temperate maritime climate ( Köppen : Cfb ) with mild summers, cool winters and rainfall spread evenly throughout the year. A weather station
5671-518: The Wirral. James Atherton and William Rowson developed the resort of New Brighton , and new estates for the gentry were also built at Egremont , Oxton , Claughton and Rock Ferry. Arrowe Hall was built for the Shaw family in 1835. In the mid-19th century docks were established at Birkenhead and in the Wallasey Pool, and continuing development for a wide range of industry both there and along
5778-685: The Wirral. The Domesday survey of 1086 shows that the Wirral then was more densely populated than most of England, and the manor of Eastham , which covered most of the east of the peninsula from Bidston to the River Gowy , was the second largest in Cheshire. Of the 28 former lords of the Wirral manors listed, 12 bore Norse names. By 1086, most of the area was in the hands of Norman lords such as Robert of Rhuddlan , his cousin Hugh d'Avranches , and Hamo de Mascy . The survey shows 405 family heads living in
5885-719: The Wirral: notably, Ellesmere Port is often described as one of its "border towns". For regional economic planning, the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral is considered part of the Liverpool City Region . There are many towns and villages on the Wirral. Those administered by the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral are listed in List of towns and villages in Wirral (borough) . Those also on the Wirral but administered by Cheshire West and Chester include: The M53
5992-440: The ages of four and eleven. Overchurch Primary School is separated into two parts. These are Overchurch Infants' School, which is for children between the ages of 4 and 8 years, and Overchurch Junior School, which is for children from 9 to 11 years old. Upton Hall School FCJ , a grammar school for girls, is situated near to the centre of the village, with entrances on Moreton Road and Saughall Massie Lane. The original school in Upton
6099-402: The area has relatively warm summers. The winters are generally mild and wet, mornings with light frost are common, and there are few days of snow. The nearest official weather station , as the crow flies , is at Hall Road in Crosby , which is about 12.1 kilometres (7.5 mi) away. The population was 141 in 1801, 227 in 1851, 622 in 1889 and 788 in 1901. At the 2001 census , the population
6206-410: The areas of open land are Bidston Hill , Caldy Hill , Eastham Country Park , including the Victorian Pleasure Gardens, Hilbre Island , North Wirral Coastal Park , Thurstaston Common and Thor's Stone and the Wirral Way . Ness Botanical Gardens are part of the University of Liverpool and have won many awards. The visitor centre at RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands provides birdwatching facilities in
6313-464: The banks of the Mersey. The New Chester Road was opened in 1833. The Wirral's first railway was built in 1840, planned by George Stephenson and connecting Birkenhead with Chester . In 1852 Price's Patent Candle Company built a factory and model village at Bromborough. This was followed in 1888 by William Lever 's establishment of the much larger Sunlight soap factory and Port Sunlight garden village, designed to house its employees and provide them with
6420-608: The construction of St. Mary's Church. Inman resided at Upton Manor, within the grounds of Upton Park. Both Upton Manor and St. Mary's Church were designed by John Cunningham . Few buildings remain in Upton from before the mid-19th Century. Two notable examples are the Stone House at the top of the village, on Ford Road, and the Old Smithy on Rake Lane. These buildings are both built of local red sandstone, hewn into large blocks. They are both of similar material and style to many old buildings which are found throughout Cheshire and Lancashire farming communities. Neither of these buildings
6527-431: The county of Cheshire to the newly created county of Merseyside. Upton lies at the geographic centre of the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula, 3.7 kilometres (2.3 miles) from the Irish Sea at Leasowe Lighthouse , 6.4 kilometres (4 mi) north-east of the Dee Estuary and a similar distance south-west of the River Mersey. Upton sits on a low-lying hill, in a wide and shallow glacial U-shaped valley , formed during
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#17327805997206634-406: The docks of Birkenhead and Liverpool. After the Second World War , economic decline began in the older industries in the area which had started to become known as Merseyside. However, there continued to be industrial development along the Mersey between Birkenhead and Ellesmere Port, including the large Vauxhall Motors car factory on the site of RAF Hooton Park. Plans were announced in 2006 for
6741-407: The end of the Roman period, pirates were a menace to traders in the Irish Sea , and soldiers may have been garrisoned at Meols to combat this threat. Although Roman rule ended with the departure of the last Roman troops in 410, later coins and other material found at Meols show that it continued to operate as a trading port. Evidence of Celtic Christianity from the 5th or 6th centuries is shown in
6848-472: The first in Britain and the inspiration for New York's Central Park , were opened, and the town expanded rapidly. Bolstered by migration from Ireland, Wales and rural Cheshire, Birkenhead's population of less than one thousand in 1801 rose to over 33,000 by 1851, and to 157,000 by 1901. The town became a borough in 1877, incorporating within it Oxton and Tranmere. The improved communications also allowed Liverpool merchants to buy up and develop large estates on
6955-447: The following (in stratigraphic order i.e. uppermost/youngest at top): A small outcrop of Carboniferous rocks occurs around Little Neston, being an extension of the Flintshire Coalfield across the Dee estuary. These Coal Measures rocks were formerly exploited by a small mining operation . The strata have a slight, generally easterly dip and are cut by numerous extensional faults most of which are aligned broadly north–south. For
7062-461: The forest laws was a chief forester who was appointed with a ceremonial horn , and the position soon became a hereditary responsibility of the Stanley family . However, after complaints from minor Wirral landowners about the wildness of the area and oppression by the Stanleys, Edward the Black Prince as Earl of Chester agreed to a charter confirming the disafforestation of the Wirral, shortly before his death from amoebic dysentery . The proclamation
7169-442: The founder of Lever Brothers . The area is also a local government ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral . Upton is represented on Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council by three councillors. These are Jean Robinson, Tony Smith and Stuart Whittingham, who are all Labour councillors. The most recent local elections took place on 2 May 2019. The major employment sectors, in Upton, are healthcare and retail. The major employer
7276-414: The genetic trail left by Scandinavians on the Wirral, specifically relatively high rates of the haplogroup R1a , associated in Britain with Scandinavian ancestry. Bromborough on the Wirral is also one of the possible sites of an epic battle in 937, the Battle of Brunanburh , which confirmed England as an Anglo-Saxon kingdom. This is the first battle where England united to fight the combined forces of
7383-408: The latter having a branch of The Co-operative Food . Arrowe Park Hospital is barely a mile from the centre of the village, and includes an Accident and Emergency department . Upton is served by Upton Group Practice , a dentist and two opticians . Pharmacies in the village include Boots Pharmacy and Numark , as well as further pharmacies at Upton Group Practice and Arrowe Park Hospital. Upton
7490-451: The length of the Wirral to Chester, this and other schemes came to nothing, and the focus of general trade moved irrevocably to the much deeper Mersey. However, from the late 18th century there was coal mining near Neston, in tunnels stretching up to two miles (three kilometres) under the Dee, and a quay at Denhall was used for coal exports. The first steam ferry service across the Mersey started in 1817, and steam-powered ships soon opened up
7597-406: The most part the bedrock is poorly exposed being covered by superficial deposits of Quaternary age. Notable exposures of the Helsby Sandstone occur at Bidston Hill and at Red Rocks at the northwestern tip of the Wirral along with the tidal islands at Hilbre . Elsewhere Mercia Mudstone rocks outcrop prominently at Caldy Hill, Thurstaston Common and Heswall Dales. Much of the Wirral is covered by
7704-502: The nearby Arrowe Park Hospital. The village has a Jobcentre Plus , as well as a postal sorting office . There is also a driving test centre on Arrowe Park Road and two MOT test centres, one of which is on Manor Drive and the other being on Arrowe Park Road, next to the fire station. There are two petrol stations in the village, these being operated by Shell , which is a 24-hour business, as well as Sainsbury's. Both of these are situated next to Upton Bypass at Arrowe Park Road. Meanwhile,
7811-712: The opportunity to camp in the vicinity. The rail tunnel under the Mersey was supplemented by a vehicle tunnel in 1934, the Queensway Tunnel . A third tunnel opened in 1971, the Kingsway Tunnel , connecting with the M53 motorway which now runs up the centre of the peninsula. These new roads contributed to the massive growth of commuting by car between Liverpool and the Wirral, and the development of new suburban estates around such villages as Moreton , Upton, Greasby, Pensby , and Bromborough. In 1940–1941, as part of
7918-452: The originally circular shape of churchyards at Bromborough , Woodchurch and elsewhere, and also in the dedication of the parish church at Wallasey to a 4th-century bishop, Hilary of Poitiers . The Celtic names of Liscard and Landican (from Llandecwyn ) both suggest an ancient British origin. The name of Wallasey, meaning "Welsh (or foreigners') island", is evidence of British settlement. The Welsh name, both ancient and modern, for
8025-537: The parish of Bebington) and Liscard, and were the same size as small rural villages. The Wirral's proximity to the port of Chester influenced the history of the Dee side of the peninsula. From about the 14th century, Chester provided facilities for trade with Ireland, Spain, and Germany, and seagoing vessels would "lay to" in the Dee awaiting favourable winds and tides. As the Dee started to silt up, harbouring facilities developed at Shotwick, Burton, Neston, Parkgate , Dawpool , and "Hoyle Lake" or Hoylake . However, there
8132-566: The peninsula, suggesting a total population of 2,000–3,000. The Earls of Chester ruled the whole of the County Palatine , including the Wirral, almost as "a kingdom within a kingdom" for about 250 years. Between 1120 and 1123, Earl Ranulph le Meschin made several edicts that converted the Wirral into a hunting forest . This made the area subject to Forest Law which made the hunting of game, such as deer and boar , by unauthorised persons subject to harsh penalties. To enforce
8239-399: The population is White British , with the remainder being of other ethnicities. With regards to religion, are that 73.4% of people are Christian , 18.7% of people have no religion and 6.7% of people did not state their religion, with the remaining 1.2% of people have other religions. The village is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral , in the metropolitan county of Merseyside. It
8346-417: The population of the Wirral was no more than 4,000. The peninsula was divided into 15 parishes (Wallasey, Bidston, Upton , Woodchurch, West Kirby, Thurstaston , Heswall , Bebington , Bromborough, Eastham, Neston , Burton, Shotwick , Backford and Stoke ). Most parishes were subdivided into smaller townships, of which the largest in terms of population were Neston, Burton, Wallasey, Tranmere (then within
8453-403: The proposal. St. Joseph's Church, the local Roman Catholic parish church, was opened on 31 August 1954. Upton's United Reformed Church was opened on 11 May 1900, with the final service held on 26 July 2015. The original Norman church was a steepled church, of decorative design, and was situated opposite Upton Manor on Moreton Road. The earliest reference to the church is in 1347. The steeple
8560-534: The significant flooding which can happen in the nearby low-lying Fender valley. Due to its inland location and elevation Upton is not prone to coastal flooding , which can happen at West Kirby, Hoylake, Meols and New Brighton. Upton is bounded by Arrowe Brook , at Upton Meadow, and the River Fender which is alongside the M53 motorway. Both are tributaries of the Birket , which discharges into West Float and then into
8667-454: The southern third has been in Cheshire, with almost all the rest lying in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral , Merseyside . An area of saltmarsh and reclaimed land adjoining the south-west of the peninsula lies in the Welsh county of Flintshire . The name Wirral literally means " myrtle corner", from the Old English wir , a myrtle tree, and heal , an angle, corner or slope. It
8774-669: The time of the Romans , the Wirral was inhabited by a Celtic tribe, the Cornovii . Artefacts discovered in Meols suggest it was an important port from at least 500 BC. Traders came from Gaul and the Mediterranean localities to seek minerals from North Wales and Cheshire. There are remains of a small Iron Age fort at Burton , for which the town was named ( burh tūn being Old English for "fort town"). Around AD 70,
8881-479: The town also achieved borough status soon after the turn of the century. The dockland areas of Wallasey and Birkenhead continued to develop and prosper in the first half of the century, specialising in trade with Africa and the Far East. A host of other port-related industries then came into existence, such as flour milling, tanning, edible oil refining and the manufacture of paint and rubber-based products. In 1922
8988-493: The tunnel branch was used for the filming of the drama, Bulletproof , starring Noel Clarke and Ashley Walters . Scenes for the 2016 film Florence Foster Jenkins , starring Hugh Grant and Meryl Streep , were filmed around New Brighton. In television, sitcom Watching , produced by Granada Television between 1987 and 1993, was partly set and filmed at various Wirral locations, particularly Meols . More recently, Mike Bassett: Manager , starring Ricky Tomlinson
9095-468: The two estuaries on either side of the Wirral and is interpreted as having played a major part in the deglaciation of the region in late-glacial/post-glacial times. Although it has been stated that "it is difficult to find any work in which there is a written description of the exact area defining the Wirral Peninsula", historian Stephen Roberts defines it as "the peninsula which is bounded by
9202-596: The use of the Territorial Army and part of the area is currently in use by army and air force cadets. During this period, RAF West Kirby was also situated just under 2 miles (3.2 km) west the centre of the village, along Saughall Massie Road, and backed on to Larton . Upton was a township in the ancient parish of Overchurch in the Wirral Hundred , which became a civil parish in 1866 named Upton by Birkenhead . Between 1894 and 1933 Upton
9309-663: The village include NatWest , the Midland Bank (which was latterly HSBC ), the Abbey National , Birmingham Midshires , Lloyds Bank and TSB . The village has newsagents , food retailers including a branch of Domino's Pizza , three restaurants, which provide Mediterranean , Kerala and Balti cuisine , a cafe and an award-winning fish and chip shop . The village has two bookmakers, branches of Ladbrokes and William Hill . The British Red Cross and Age UK charity shops, and Sayers bakery all have premises within
9416-524: The village. The village also has, amongst other businesses, hairdressers, a sweet shop, a butcher, a photographer, an estate agent , a travel agent, a fitness centre , a tattooist, a florist and a launderette. A building, constructed following demolition of the old Horse and Jockey pub, has been used by branches of the Co-op supermarket and the Ethel Austin clothing retailer. Lipton's used to have
9523-707: The west side. Neston once had a distinctive dialect derived from the migrant workers at the Denhall Colliery. The Wirral has hosted a variety of different films and television programmes. Chariots of Fire was filmed at various locations on the Wirral including the Oval Sports Centre, Bebington , the Woodside Ferry Terminal, and Bridge Cottage in Port Sunlight village, while the 1950 Ealing comedy The Magnet
9630-480: The youth of Upton. The club runs various events for the community, including a popular annual fair, situated at Overchurch Primary School each summer. The club also organises many residential visits to various parts of the United Kingdom . Overchurch Upton Scout Group was formed in 1924, and is situated on Salacre Lane. The site of the scout hut was acquired after the 3rd World Scout Jamboree , held less than
9737-557: Was a Labour MP and had a constituency office in the village. He was MP from 1997 until 2010. In 1983, the first representative of the newly formed constituency was David Hunt , a Conservative MP, who was elected at a by-election for the former Wirral constituency , from 1976. Earlier MPs have included Selwyn Lloyd , a former Foreign Secretary , Chancellor of the Exchequer and Speaker of the House of Commons , as well as William Lever ,
9844-467: Was administered as part of Wirral Rural District . The civil parish was disbanded on 1 April 1933 and mergd with Birkenhead St Mary and Wallasey and became part of the county boroughs of Birkenhead and Wallasey. In 1931 the parish had a population of 2564. On 1 April 1974, local government reorganisation in England and Wales resulted in most of the Wirral Peninsula, including Upton, transferring from
9951-455: Was built on 5.7 ha (14 acres) of Upton Meadow, adjacent to Arrowe Park Road and Upton Bypass. There was local protest to the new development on a green space. The original businesses to open on the site were J Sainsbury PLC and Homebase , which still operate. McDonald's opened shortly after the retail park was opened to the public, and Argos opened around 2010. Other small shopping areas are located on Royden Road and along Manor Drive,
10058-421: Was damaged by a storm in 1709 and, by 1813, the church was in such poor condition that it was petitioned to be demolished. The church is understood to have been built on the site of at least one previous Saxon church. The 1837 tithe map of the area indicates a half-circle of standing stones, around a wooded hollow which was situated next to the church, at a diameter of 350 metres (380 yd). Although much detail
10165-537: Was filmed in Wallasey and New Brighton. The 51st State was partly filmed around the docks in Birkenhead. Awaydays , based on a novel of the same name by Kevin Sampson , was filmed extensively on the Wirral. In 2012 the movie Blood , starring Paul Bettany and Stephen Graham was filmed on the Wirral. The Queensway Tunnel in Birkenhead is also featured in the Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and
10272-419: Was issued by his father Edward III on 20 July 1376. At the end of the 12th century, Birkenhead Priory stood on the west bank of the Mersey at a headland of birch trees, from which the town derives its name. The ruined priory is Merseyside's oldest surviving building and its Benedictine monks provided the first official Mersey ferry service around 1330, having been granted a passage to Liverpool by
10379-512: Was later demolished. During which time, the Overchurch runic stone was discovered. The priory was originally known as The Parsonage. This building was situated on Ford Road, was constructed before 1850, and was used as the vicarage until 1911. The building was quite large, with seven bedrooms. The building no longer stands, having been demolished in the 1950s. However, the wall and the walled-in gateway still remain, on Ford Road. Victory Hall,
10486-448: Was maintained on the peninsula, at Bidston , between 1845 and 2002. The major urban centres of the Wirral are to its east: these include Birkenhead and Wallasey . To the west and south, the Wirral is more rural. Two-thirds of the population of the Wirral live on one third of the land in Birkenhead and Wallasey, according to Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council. Other towns to the south and west of this area are usually considered part of
10593-517: Was not a gradual progression of development, and downstream anchorages such as that at Hoyle Lake (which replaced Meols) were in occasional use from medieval times, depending on the weather and state of the tide. The main port facilities were at Neston and Parkgate. At the same time, larger ships and economic growth in Lancashire stimulated the growth of Liverpool . The first wet dock in Britain
10700-490: Was opened in 1968. At its peak, the business employed over 1,000 people in Upton. The factory was closed in 2006 with production transferred to Italy . After the business withdrew from the area, the buildings were allowed to remain and the site is now operated as the Wirral Business Park and, informally, as the Champion's Business Park. The site is now primarily intended for the use of small businesses which need
10807-457: Was opened in Liverpool in 1715, and the town's population grew from some 6,000 to 80,000 during the 18th century. The need to develop and protect the port led to a chain of lighthouses being built along the north Wirral coast. The commercial expansion of Liverpool, and the increase in stage coach traffic from Chester, also spurred the growth of ferries across the River Mersey . By the end of
10914-460: Was originally built by William Inman, for his estate bailiff, in 1869. The building was given to the church, in 1884, by another owner and became the vicarage in 1911. A new vicarage was built in 1928, further down Church Road, and the building was sold. However, the church repurchased Holmleigh in 1985, when the building acquired its present use. St. Mary's Church replaced Holmleigh and the church hall, with modern housing. This led to some opposition to
11021-599: Was originally settled as a farming community, during the Anglo-Saxon period. In Norman times, Upton was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Optone and was written as being in the possession of William Malbank . The manor passed to the Orrebies under the family of Praers, and then through the Arderne family, and by marriage to Baldwin of Bold in 1310. His descendants owned the manor for six generations, before it
11128-442: Was recorded as 15,731 (7,268 males, 8,463 females). At the 2011 census , the population had increased to 16,130 (7,529 males, 8,601 females). (Source: 2011 census ) In 2011 there were 31.7 persons per hectare and 7,127 occupied households in Upton. 17.2% of people aged 16 or older have five or more grade A-C GCSEs or equivalent. This figure is higher than England as a whole. Whilst 29.2% have no formal qualifications, which
11235-484: Was situated on Rake Lane, before moving to the building which is now part of St. Mary's church hall, and then onto Overchurch Primary School. The original school building still stands in Rake Lane and was used as a church hall for teenagers, prior to the opening of "The Bank". Other former schools include St. Benedict's High School which has now been closed and demolished, as well as Kingsley Nursery School, which suffered
11342-683: Was sold in 1614. Subsequent owners have included the Earls of Derby . Notably, as a likely consequence of the 8th Earl of Derby who lived at nearby Bidston Hall . From Elizabethan times, the manor was associated with Upton Hall , which passed hands along with the manor. Upton Hall was sold by the Webster family to the Society of the Faithful Companions of Jesus (FCJ) who turned it into a school (currently Upton Hall School FCJ ). Upton
11449-417: Was the primary economic centre of northern Wirral until the industrial development of Birkenhead during the mid-19th century. Five important local roads converged on the village, and its main thoroughfare was the place of a weekly market , recorded as being held from 1662. Fairs were also held in the village at Michaelmas and Easter . When the original parish church at Overchurch was pulled down in 1813,
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