129-563: Neston is a market town and civil parish in Cheshire , England. It is situated on the part of the Wirral Peninsula that belongs to the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester . The civil parish and wider suburban area includes Parkgate to the north west and Little Neston , Ness , Burton and Puddington to the south. At the 2001 census the population of Neston ward was recorded as 3,521, increasing to 4,329 at
258-522: A London borough . (Since the new county was beforehand a mixture of metropolitan boroughs , municipal boroughs and urban districts, no extant parish councils were abolished.) In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 retained rural parishes, but abolished most urban parishes, as well as the urban districts and boroughs which had administered them. Provision was made for smaller urban districts and boroughs to become successor parishes , with
387-434: 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
516-515: A Special Expense, to residents of the unparished area to fund those activities. If the district council does not opt to make a Special Expenses charge, there is an element of double taxation of residents of parished areas, because services provided to residents of the unparished area are funded by council tax paid by residents of the whole district, rather than only by residents of the unparished area. Parish councils comprise volunteer councillors who are elected to serve for four years. Decisions of
645-475: A William Fitznigel, with a population of eight households. A royal charter was granted to Neston in 1728 in support of its status as a market town . Historically, the current settlement was known as Great Neston , in order to be distinct from the smaller nearby hamlet of Little Neston. Before the rise of Birkenhead in the 1820s, it was the largest village in the Wirral Hundred . Created in 1866,
774-775: 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
903-576: A boundary coterminous with an existing urban district or borough or, if divided by a new district boundary, as much as was comprised in a single district. There were 300 such successor parishes established. In urban areas that were considered too large to be single parishes, the parishes were simply abolished, and they became unparished areas . The distinction between types of parish was no longer made; whether parishes continued by virtue of being retained rural parishes or were created as successor parishes, they were all simply termed parishes. The 1972 act allowed
1032-655: 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
1161-477: A city council (though most cities are not parishes but principal areas, or in England specifically metropolitan boroughs or non-metropolitan districts ). The chairman of a town council will have the title "town mayor" and that of a parish council which is a city will usually have the title of mayor . When a city or town has been abolished as a borough, and it is considered desirable to maintain continuity of
1290-462: A city council. According to the Department for Communities and Local Government , in England in 2011 there were 9,946 parishes. Since 1997 around 100 new civil parishes have been created, in some cases by splitting existing civil parishes, but mostly by creating new ones from unparished areas. Parish or town councils have very few statutory duties (things they are required to do by law) but have
1419-559: A city was Hereford , whose city council was merged in 1998 to form a unitary Herefordshire . The area of the city of Hereford remained unparished until 2000 when a parish council was created for the city. As another example, the charter trustees for the City of Bath make up the majority of the councillors on Bath and North East Somerset Council. Civil parishes cover 35% of England's population, with one in Greater London and few in
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#17327909280421548-440: A civil parish is usually an elected parish council (which can decide to call itself a town, village, community or neighbourhood council, or a city council if the parish has city status). Alternatively, in parishes with small populations (typically fewer than 150 electors) governance may be by a parish meeting which all electors may attend; alternatively, parishes with small populations may be grouped with one or more neighbours under
1677-481: A civil parish which has no parish council, the parish meeting may levy a council tax precept for expenditure relating to specific functions, powers and rights which have been conferred on it by legislation. In places where there is no civil parish ( unparished areas ), the administration of the activities normally undertaken by the parish becomes the responsibility of the district or borough council. The district council may make an additional council tax charge, known as
1806-586: A common parish council. Wales was also divided into civil parishes until 1974, when they were replaced by communities , which are similar to English parishes in the way they operate. Civil parishes in Scotland were abolished for local government purposes by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 ; the Scottish equivalent of English civil parishes are the community council areas established by
1935-541: 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
2064-487: 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
2193-529: A new code. In either case the code must comply with the Nolan Principles of Public Life . A parish can be granted city status by the Crown . As of 2020 , eight parishes in England have city status, each having a long-established Anglican cathedral: Chichester , Ely , Hereford , Lichfield , Ripon , Salisbury , Truro and Wells . The council of an ungrouped parish may pass a resolution giving
2322-423: 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
2451-431: A new smaller manor, there was a means of making a chapel which, if generating or endowed with enough funds, would generally justify foundation of a parish, with its own parish priest (and in latter centuries vestry ). This consistency was a result of canon law which prized the status quo in issues between local churches and so made boundary changes and sub-division difficult. The consistency of these boundaries until
2580-741: A parish (a "detached part") was in a different county . In other cases, counties surrounded a whole parish meaning it was in an unconnected, "alien" county. These anomalies resulted in a highly localised difference in applicable representatives on the national level , justices of the peace , sheriffs, bailiffs with inconvenience to the inhabitants. If a parish was split then churchwardens, highway wardens and constables would also spend more time or money travelling large distances. Some parishes straddled two or more counties, such as Todmorden in Lancashire and Yorkshire. Wirral Peninsula The Wirral Peninsula ( / ˈ w ɪr əl / ), known locally as
2709-416: A parish council, and instead will only have a parish meeting : an example of direct democracy . Alternatively several small parishes can be grouped together and share a common parish council, or even a common parish meeting. A parish council may decide to call itself a town council, village council, community council, neighbourhood council, or if the parish has city status, the parish council may call itself
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#17327909280422838-472: 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
2967-503: A population of between 100 and 300 could request their county council to establish a parish council. Provision was also made for a grouped parish council to be established covering two or more rural parishes. In such groups, each parish retained its own parish meeting which could vote to leave the group, but otherwise the grouped parish council acted across the combined area of the parishes included. Urban civil parishes were not given their own parish councils, but were directly administered by
3096-1079: A range of discretionary powers which they may exercise voluntarily. These powers have been defined by various pieces of legislation. The role they play can vary significantly depending on the size, resources and ability of the council, but their activities can include any of the following: Parish councils have powers to provide and manage various local facilities; these can include allotments , cemeteries, parks, playgrounds, playing fields and village greens , village halls or community centres , bus shelters, street lighting, roadside verges, car parks, footpaths, litter bins and war memorials. Larger parish councils may also be involved in running markets , public toilets and public clocks, museums and leisure centres . Parish councils may spend money on various things they deem to be beneficial to their communities, such as providing grants to local community groups or local projects, or fund things such as public events, crime prevention measures, community transport schemes, traffic calming or tourism promotion. Parish councils have
3225-409: A role in the planning system; they have a statutory right to be consulted on any planning applications in their areas. They may also produce a neighbourhood plan to influence local development. The Localism Act 2011 allowed eligible parish councils to be granted a " general power of competence " which allows them within certain limits the freedom to do anything an individual can do provided it
3354-598: A set number of guardians for each parish, hence a final purpose of urban civil parishes. With the abolition of the Poor Law system in 1930, urban parishes became a geographical division only with no administrative power; that was exercised at the urban district or borough council level. In 1965 civil parishes in London were formally abolished when Greater London was created, as the legislative framework for Greater London did not make provision for any local government body below
3483-558: A small extension of the Flintshire Coalfield occurring on its southern edge. There were two periods during which coal seams within these coal measures rocks were mined. Between 1759 and 1855 Ness Colliery worked using shafts largely clustered around the Harp Inn in today's Little Neston. It was opened by John Stanley Massey, a member of the leading Stanley family of Hooton , in partnership with four others. Because of
3612-943: A small village or town ward to a large tract of mostly uninhabited moorland in the Cheviots, Pennines or Dartmoor. The two largest as at December 2023 are Stanhope (County Durham) at 98.6 square miles (255 km ), and Dartmoor Forest (Devon) at 79.07 square miles (204.8 km ). The two smallest are parcels of shared rural land: Lands Common to Axminster and Kilmington (Devon) at 0.012 square miles (0.031 km ; 3.1 ha; 7.7 acres), and Lands Common to Brancepeth and Brandon and Byshottles (County Durham) at 0.0165 square miles (0.043 km ; 4.3 ha; 10.6 acres). The next two smallest are parishes in built up areas: Chester Castle (Cheshire) at 0.0168 square miles (0.044 km ; 4.4 ha; 10.8 acres) (no recorded population) and Hamilton Lea (Leicestershire) at 0.07 square miles (0.18 km ; 18 ha; 45 acres) (1,021 residents at
3741-521: A spur to the creation of new parishes in some larger towns which were previously unparished, in order to retain a local tier of government; examples include Shrewsbury (2009), Salisbury (2009), Crewe (2013) and Weymouth (2019). In 2003 seven new parish councils were set up for Burton upon Trent , and in 2001 the Milton Keynes urban area became entirely parished, with ten new parishes being created. Parishes can also be abolished where there
3870-436: A territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes , which for centuries were the principal unit of secular and religious administration in most of England and Wales. Civil and religious parishes were formally split into two types in the 19th century and are now entirely separate. Civil parishes in their modern form came into being through
3999-463: Is a ward within Cheshire West and Chester. The most recent local elections took place on 2 May 2019. The residents of Neston, Little Neston and Parkgate have also been represented by an elected town council , who meet at Neston Town Hall . Citations Sources Civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government . It is
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4128-571: Is also based on the same site. Club members have access to a clubhouse, tennis courts, bowls, squash, racketball and fitness classes including yoga and pilates. Neston Nomads Football Club, established 1983, play their home games at the fields adjacent Neston High School that are part of the school premises. The first team currently play in the West Cheshire 3rd Division. Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North West and ITV Granada . Television signals are received from
4257-571: 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
4386-507: Is at present the only part of England where civil parishes cannot be created. If enough electors in the area of a proposed new parish (ranging from 50% in an area with less than 500 electors to 10% in one with more than 2,500) sign a petition demanding its creation, then the local district council or unitary authority must consider the proposal. Since the beginning of the 21st century, numerous parish councils have been created, including some relatively large urban ones. The main driver has been
4515-539: Is evidence that this is in response to "justified, clear and sustained local support" from the area's inhabitants. Examples are Birtley , which was abolished in 2006, and Southsea , abolished in 2010. Every civil parish has a parish meeting, which all the electors of the parish are entitled to attend. Generally a meeting is held once a year. A civil parish may have a parish council which exercises various local responsibilities prescribed by statute. Parishes with fewer than 200 electors are usually deemed too small to have
4644-405: Is not prohibited by other legislation, as opposed to being limited to the powers explicitly granted to them by law. To be eligible for this, a parish council must meet certain conditions such as having a clerk with suitable qualifications. Parish councils receive funding by levying a " precept " on the council tax paid by the residents of the parish (or parishes) served by the parish council. In
4773-585: 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
4902-504: The 'Standards Board regime' with local monitoring by district, unitary or equivalent authorities. Under new regulations which came into effect in 2012 all parish councils in England are required to adopt a code of conduct with which parish councillors must comply, and to promote and maintain high standards. A new criminal offence of failing to comply with statutory requirements was introduced. More than one 'model code' has been published, and councils are free to modify an existing code or adopt
5031-532: The 2011 census . The Neston built-up area had a population of 15,162 in 2001, increasing to 15,221 in 2011. The name is of Viking origin, deriving from the Old Norse Nes-tún , meaning 'farmstead or settlement at/near a promontory or headland'. Another Nesttun town can be found near Bergen , Norway . It is also mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Nestone under the ownership of
5160-596: 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
5289-592: 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
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5418-532: The First World War . The pit subsequently returned to private ownership after the war, but increasing competition from larger mines brought about its closure in 1927 with a loss of 180 jobs. Neston is at the southern end of the Wirral Peninsula , on the eastern bank of the Dee Estuary . The A540 road links Neston to Heswall and West Kirby to the north, and Cheshire, Chester and North Wales to
5547-552: 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
5676-761: The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 , which have fewer powers than their English and Welsh counterparts. There are no equivalent units in Northern Ireland . The parish system in Europe was established between the 8th and 12th centuries, and an early form was long established in England by the time of the Norman Conquest . These areas were originally based on the territory of manors , which, in some cases, derived their bounds from Roman or Iron Age estates; some large manors were sub-divided into several parishes. Initially, churches and their priests were
5805-1010: The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) to become the smallest geographical area for local government in rural areas. The act abolished the civil (non-ecclesiastical) duties of vestries . Parishes which straddled county boundaries or sanitary districts had to be split so that the part in each urban or rural sanitary district became a separate parish (see List of county exclaves in England and Wales 1844–1974 ). The sanitary districts were then reconstituted as urban districts and rural districts , with parishes that fell within urban districts classed as urban parishes, and parishes that fell within rural districts were classed as rural parishes. The 1894 act established elected civil parish councils as to all rural parishes with more than 300 electors, and established annual parish meetings in all rural parishes. Civil parishes were grouped to form either rural or urban districts which are thereafter classified as either type. The parish meetings for parishes with
5934-411: The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73), which established elected parish councils to take on the secular functions of the parish vestry . A civil parish can range in size from a sparsely populated rural area with fewer than a hundred inhabitants, to a large town with a population in excess of 100,000 . This scope is similar to that of municipalities in continental Europe, such as
6063-678: The Local Government Act 1972 , only 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
6192-665: 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
6321-641: The University of Liverpool . Neston hosts a weekly market every Friday, offering local produce including fruit and vegetables, meat, fish, cheese and baked goods. On the first Thursday of June, Neston annually celebrates Ladies Club Day (known colloquially as Ladies Club or Club Day). This is a unique marching day that has links to the Neston Female Friendly Society during the Napoleonic War . Neston High School serves
6450-527: The Winter Hill TV transmitter. With its close proximity to North Wales , BBC Wales and ITV Cymru Wales can also be received from the Moel-y-Parc TV transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Merseyside on 95.8 FM, Capital North West & Wales on 97.1 FM, Heart North West on 105.4 FM, Smooth Radio North West on 100.4 FM, and Dee Radio on 106.3 FM. The town is served by
6579-472: The break with Rome , parishes managed ecclesiastical matters, while the manor was the principal unit of local administration and justice. Later, the church replaced the manor court as the rural administrative centre, and levied a local tax on produce known as a tithe . In the medieval period, responsibilities such as relief of the poor passed increasingly from the lord of the manor to the parish's rector , who in practice would delegate tasks among his vestry or
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#17327909280426708-571: The civil parish of Great Neston included the hamlets of Clayhill , Hinderton , Moorside and part of Parkgate. The population of Great Neston was 1,486 in 1801 and 1,524 in 1851. In 1894, both Great Neston and Little Neston were combined to create the Neston-cum-Parkgate civil parish and by 1901, the population had risen to 2,201. Between 1894 and 1974 Neston was governed by its own urban district council . On 1 April 1974, local government reorganisation in England and Wales created
6837-692: The communes of France . However, unlike their continental European counterparts, parish councils are not principal authorities , and in most cases have a relatively minor role in local government. As of September 2023 , there are 10,464 parishes in England, and in 2020 they covered approximately 40% of the English population. For historical reasons, civil parishes predominantly cover rural areas and smaller urban areas, with most larger urban areas being wholly or partly unparished ; but since 1997 it has been possible for civil parishes to be created within unparished areas if demanded by local residents . In 2007
6966-470: The (often well-endowed) monasteries. After the dissolution of the monasteries , the power to levy a rate to fund relief of the poor was conferred on the parish authorities by the Poor Relief Act 1601 . Both before and after this optional social change, local (vestry-administered) charities are well-documented. The parish authorities were known as vestries and consisted of all the ratepayers of
7095-528: 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
7224-564: The 19th century is useful to historians, and is also of cultural significance in terms of shaping local identities; reinforced by the use of grouped parish boundaries, often, by successive local authority areas; and in a very rough, operations-geared way by most postcode districts. There was (and is) wide disparity in parish size. Writtle , Essex traditionally measures 13,568 acres (21 sq mi) – two parishes neighbouring are Shellow Bowells at 469 acres (0.7 sq mi), and Chignall Smealy at 476 acres (0.7 sq mi) Until
7353-591: The 2011 census, Newland with Woodhouse Moor and Beaumont Chase reported inhabitants, and there were no new deserted parishes recorded. Nearly all instances of detached parts of civil parishes (areas not contiguous with the main part of the parish) and of those straddling counties have been ended. 14 examples remain in England as at 2022, including Barnby Moor and Wallingwells , both in Nottinghamshire. Direct predecessors of civil parishes are most often known as "ancient parishes", although many date only from
7482-511: The 2021 census). The 2001 census recorded several parishes with no inhabitants. These were Chester Castle (in the middle of Chester city centre), Newland with Woodhouse Moor , Beaumont Chase , Martinsthorpe , Meering , Stanground North (subsequently abolished), Sturston , Tottington , and Tyneham (subsequently merged). The lands of the last three were taken over by the Armed Forces during World War II and remain deserted. In
7611-579: 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,
7740-568: 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
7869-684: 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
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#17327909280427998-571: 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
8127-537: 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
8256-594: 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
8385-510: 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
8514-555: 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
8643-594: The Wirral , is a peninsula in North West England . The roughly rectangular peninsula 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
8772-416: 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
8901-514: 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 ,
9030-477: 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
9159-454: 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
9288-518: 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
9417-629: 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
9546-719: 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
9675-738: The administration of the poor laws was the main civil function of parishes, the Poor Law Amendment Act 1866 , which received royal assent on 10 August 1866, declared all areas that levied a separate rate or had their own overseer of the poor to be parishes. This included the Church of England parishes (until then simply known as "parishes"), extra-parochial areas , townships and chapelries . To have collected rates this means these beforehand had their own vestries, boards or equivalent bodies. Parishes using this definition subsequently became known as "civil parishes" to distinguish them from
9804-548: 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
9933-464: 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
10062-455: The borough of Ellesmere Port and Neston . This remained until 2009, when it became part of Cheshire West and Chester. Neston was a major port before the River Dee silted up. The port was then shifted further downstream to the nearby village of Parkgate, although by early nineteenth century, most traffic had ultimately transferred to Liverpool . Neston is also a former mining village with
10191-399: The charter, the charter may be transferred to a parish council for its area. Where there is no such parish council, the district council may appoint charter trustees to whom the charter and the arms of the former borough will belong. The charter trustees (who consist of the councillor or councillors for the area of the former borough) maintain traditions such as mayoralty . An example of such
10320-537: The council are carried out by a paid officer, typically known as a parish clerk. Councils may employ additional people (including bodies corporate, provided where necessary, by tender) to carry out specific tasks dictated by the council. Some councils have chosen to pay their elected members an allowance, as permitted under part 5 of the Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003. The number of councillors varies roughly in proportion to
10449-464: The council of the urban district or borough in which they were contained. Many urban parishes were coterminous (geographically identical) with the urban district or municipal borough in which they lay. Towns which included multiple urban parishes often consolidated the urban parishes into one. The urban parishes continued to be used as an electoral area for electing guardians to the poor law unions . The unions took in areas in multiple parishes and had
10578-466: The council will an election be held. However, sometimes there are fewer candidates than seats. When this happens, the vacant seats have to be filled by co-option by the council. If a vacancy arises for a seat mid-term, an election is only held if a certain number (usually ten) of parish residents request an election. Otherwise the council will co-opt someone to be the replacement councillor. The Localism Act 2011 introduced new arrangements which replaced
10707-459: The creation of town and parish councils is encouraged in unparished areas . The Local Government and Rating Act 1997 created a procedure which gave residents in unparished areas the right to demand that a new parish and parish council be created. This right was extended to London boroughs by the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 – with this, the City of London
10836-463: The desire to have a more local tier of government when new larger authorities have been created, which are felt to be remote from local concerns and identity. A number of parishes have been created in places which used to have their own borough or district council; examples include Daventry (2003), Folkestone (2004), Kidderminster (2015) and Sutton Coldfield (2016). The trend towards the creation of geographically large unitary authorities has been
10965-472: 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
11094-439: The ecclesiastical parishes. The Church of England parishes, which cover more than 99% of England, have become officially (and to avoid ambiguity) termed ecclesiastical parishes . The limits of many of these have diverged; most greatly through changes in population and church attendance (these factors can cause churches to be opened or closed). Since 1921, each has been the responsibility of its own parochial church council . In
11223-515: 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
11352-534: The established English Church, which for a few years after Henry VIII alternated between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England , before settling on the latter on the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558. By the 18th century, religious membership was becoming more fractured in some places, due in part to the progress of Methodism . The legitimacy of the parish vestry came into question, and
11481-527: 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
11610-447: 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
11739-632: 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
11868-467: 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
11997-645: The gift and continued patronage (benefaction) of the lord of the manor , but not all were willing and able to provide, so residents would be expected to attend the church of the nearest manor with a church. Later, the churches and priests became to a greater extent the responsibility of the Catholic Church thus this was formalised; the grouping of manors into one parish was recorded, as was a manor-parish existing in its own right. Boundaries changed little, and for centuries after 1180 'froze', despite changes to manors' extents. However, by subinfeudation , making
12126-455: The government at the time of the Local Government Act 1972 discouraged their creation for large towns or their suburbs, but there is generally nothing to stop their establishment. For example, Birmingham has two parishes ( New Frankley and Sutton Coldfield ), Oxford has four, and the Milton Keynes urban area has 24. Parishes could not however be established in London until the law was changed in 2007. A civil parish can range in area from
12255-476: The late 19th century, most of the "ancient" (a legal term equivalent to time immemorial ) irregularities inherited by the civil parish system were cleaned up, and the majority of exclaves were abolished. The census of 1911 noted that 8,322 (58%) of "parishes" in England and Wales were not geographically identical when comparing the civil to the ecclesiastical form. In 1894, civil parishes were reformed by
12384-451: 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
12513-516: The local geology most working was carried out under the Dee Estuary. The mine was remarkable in using canals deep underground for boats to haul coal. It was also remarkable for blatant acts of sabotage committed by the Stanleys against a rival, neighbouring mine established in about 1820 by the Cottingham family; their mine went out of business in the 1840s. Due to exhaustion of many of the coal seams, and difficulty in transporting coal, Ness Colliery
12642-483: The local newspapers Wirral News and Chester and District Standard . Neston is part of the parliamentary constituency of Ellesmere Port and Neston . The current Member of Parliament is Justin Madders , a Labour representative. At local government level, the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester replaced Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council and Cheshire County Council on 1 April 2009. Neston
12771-487: The local secondary age students. From 2006, Neston underwent an assessment to attract more income and tourists, in the form of the Neston Market Initiative (NMTI). The project also included the launch of a new community website. The NMTI involved improving the 'look' of the town centre (including new shop fronts) and controversial plans for a new supermarket on the site of Brook Street car park. Work for
12900-465: The mid 19th century. Using a longer historical lens the better terms are "pre-separation (civil and ecclesiastical) parish", "original medieval parishes" and "new parishes". The Victoria County History , a landmark collaborative work mostly written in the 20th century (although incomplete), summarises the history of each English "parish", roughly meaning late medieval parish. A minority of these had exclaves , which could be: In some cases an exclave of
13029-473: 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
13158-465: The new district councils (outside London) to review their parishes, and many areas left unparished in 1972 have since been made parishes, either in whole or part. For example, Hinckley , whilst entirely unparished in 1974, now has four civil parishes, which together cover part of its area, whilst the central part of the town remains unparished. Some parishes were sub-divided into smaller territories known as hamlets , tithings or townships . Nowadays
13287-613: The new supermarket began in March 2009 with a full archaeological dig being carried out on the car park site before construction work began. Work to excavate the site began in August 2009, resulting in the removal of 28,000 cubic metres of earth to allow for the construction of a multi storey car park. The new Sainsbury's store was opened on 1 December 2010. On 31 March 2008 the Neston Market Town Initiative project
13416-712: 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
13545-452: 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
13674-488: The other conurbations. Civil parishes vary greatly in population: some have populations below 100 and have no settlement larger than a hamlet , while others cover towns with populations of tens of thousands. Weston-super-Mare , with a population of 71,758, is the most populous civil parish. In many cases small settlements, today popularly termed villages , localities or suburbs, are in a single parish which originally had one church. Large urban areas are mostly unparished, as
13803-537: 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
13932-401: The parish the status of a town, at which point the council becomes a town council . Around 400 parish councils are called town councils. Under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 , a civil parish may be given one of the following alternative styles: As a result, a parish council can be called a town council, a community council, a village council or occasionally
14061-404: The parish. As the number of ratepayers of some parishes grew, it became increasingly difficult to convene meetings as an open vestry. In some, mostly built-up, areas the select vestry took over responsibility from the entire body of ratepayers. This innovation improved efficiency, but allowed governance by a self-perpetuating elite. The administration of the parish system relied on the monopoly of
14190-562: The parish; the church rate ceased to be levied in many parishes and became voluntary from 1868. During the 17th century it was found that the 1601 Poor Law did not work well for very large parishes, which were particularly common in northern England. Such parishes were typically subdivided into multiple townships , which levied their rates separately. The Poor Relief Act 1662 therefore directed that for poor law purposes 'parish' meant any place which maintained its own poor, thereby converting many townships into separate 'poor law parishes'. As
14319-566: 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
14448-499: The perceived inefficiency and corruption inherent in the system became a source for concern in some places. For this reason, during the early 19th century the parish progressively lost its powers to ad hoc boards and other organisations, such as the boards of guardians given responsibility for poor relief through the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 . Sanitary districts covered England in 1875 and Ireland three years later. The replacement boards were each entitled to levy their own rate in
14577-417: 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
14706-411: The population of the parish. Most rural parish councillors are elected to represent the entire parish, though in parishes with larger populations or those that cover larger areas, the parish can be divided into wards. Each of these wards then returns councillors to the parish council (the numbers depending on their population). Only if there are more candidates standing for election than there are seats on
14835-518: The possibility of linking up the Bidston – Wrexham line to the electrified Merseyrail system. Neston is considered a desirable place to live, with its many independent shops, cafes and bars. It is also within walking distance to nearby Parkgate, as well as links to countryside walks and the Wirral Way. One of the main local attractions is Ness Botanic Gardens , opened in 1898 and administered by
14964-438: The right to create civil parishes was extended to London boroughs , although only one, Queen's Park , has so far been created. Eight parishes also have city status (a status granted by the monarch ). A civil parish may be equally known as and confirmed as a town, village, neighbourhood or community by resolution of its parish council, a right not conferred on other units of English local government. The governing body of
15093-594: The south. Neston is also close to the M53 and M56 motorways, giving it access to Liverpool, Manchester, and the larger M6 motorway. Neston railway station is situated on the Borderlands Line , providing direct services southbound to Flintshire and Wrexham , and northbound to Bidston , with connecting services to the Merseyrail network between West Kirby and Liverpool . In 2008, Merseytravel investigated
15222-669: 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,
15351-479: 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
15480-493: 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
15609-468: 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
15738-707: 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
15867-532: Was closed in 1855. The later period of mining started in 1875 with the establishment of Neston Colliery (later becoming Wirral Colliery). By this time the Chester and Birkenhead Railway had come to nearby Parkgate ; a branch line to the colliery enabled coal to be shifted in bulk. The mine worked seams further north than those worked by Ness Colliery. Wirral colliery was taken over by the British government during
15996-537: 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
16125-419: 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
16254-448: 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
16383-403: 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
16512-581: Was officially completed. The community regeneration was to have been continued by CH64Inc, a new local community association, but it was not supported by Ellesmere Port and Neston Council or the successor authority, Cheshire West and Chester Council and was closed. The Neston Club is located in Parkgate and is home to Neston Cricket Club, who play in the Cheshire County Cricket ECB Premier League. Neston Hockey Club
16641-517: 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
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