Claughton | |
---|---|
Village | |
The A5027 Upton Road seen from the junction with Shrewsbury Road. St Bede's Chapel and Community Centre is across the road. | |
Location within Merseyside | |
Population | 14,705 (2011 census Ward population) |
OS grid reference | SJ297891 |
• London | 180 mi (290 km) [1] SE |
Metropolitan borough | |
Metropolitan county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | BIRKENHEAD |
Postcode district | CH41 |
Dialling code | 0151 |
ISO 3166 code | GB-WRL |
Police | Merseyside |
Fire | Merseyside |
Ambulance | North West |
UK Parliament | |
Claughton ( /ˈklɔːtən/ KLAW-tən) is a village and suburb of Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England. It is situated approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) to the west of Birkenhead town centre, adjacent to Birkenhead Park. Administratively, Claughton is a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of the County Borough of Birkenhead, within the county of Cheshire.
At the 2001 census, the population of Claughton was 13,723. [2] For the 2011 census the total population of Claughton Ward, which also included Noctorum, was 14,705. [3]
The name is of Viking origin, deriving from the Old Norse Klakkr-tun, meaning "hamlet on a hillock". [4] [5]
Claughton Manor House was built in about 1850 by local benefactor Sir William Jackson, with its gardens designed by Sir Joseph Paxton. It occupied a site between Egerton Road and Manor Hill until it was pulled down in the 1930s. [6]
Recalling his childhood in Claughton in the 1860s, the artist Harry B. Neilson wrote:
"My father still wore half-Wellington top boots and the old fashioned stocks. The ladies wore poke bonnets, crinolines, Paisley shawls, and many-flounced, voluminous skirts, while young men of fashion affected peg-top trousers, little pork-pie hats with fluttering ribbons, and Dundreary whiskers. Policemen still wore top hats. Croquet was practically the only outdoor game played by ladies." [7]
The Birkenhead Institute was founded in 1889 by a local philanthropist, George Atkin, who established the school as a commercial company with shareholders and directors. [8] Originally situated in Whetstone Lane, Birkenhead, it was relocated in the 1970s to premises on Tollemache Road in Claughton. The school closed in 1994 [9] and was subsequently demolished. Wilfred Owen, the World War I poet, attended the school at its original location. [10] A residential road has been named after him on the Tollemache Road site.
Claughton with Grange was historically a township in the ancient parish of Bidston, which formed part of the Wirral Hundred of Cheshire. The township was administratively absorbed into Birkenhead in 1843 when it was added to the improvement commissioners' district which covered the town. [11] After 1843 the township therefore had only limited administrative uses, primarily being used as an area for electing poor law guardians. All such townships were declared to be civil parishes in 1866, but with no change in their functions. [12]
The Birkenhead improvement commissioners' district was enlarged and incorporated to become a municipal borough in 1877. [13] All the civil parishes in the borough were united into a single parish in 1898. [11]
The population of the township was recorded at 67 in 1801, 714 in 1851 [14] and 733 in 1898. [15]
On 1 April 1974, local government reorganisation in England and Wales resulted in most of the Wirral Peninsula, including Claughton, transfer from Cheshire to the new county of Merseyside.
Claughton is in the north-eastern part of the Wirral Peninsula, approximately 4 km (2.5 mi) south-south-east of the Irish Sea at Wallasey, 8.5 km (5.3 mi) east-north-east of the Dee Estuary at Caldy and 3 km (1.9 mi) west of the River Mersey at Woodside. Claughton is situated on the eastern side of Bidston Hill, with the shops and college on the A5027 road at an elevation of 25–36 m (82–118 ft) above sea level. [16]
Claughton is within the parliamentary constituency of Birkenhead. The current Member of Parliament is Mick Whitley, a Labour representative. He has been the MP since 2019.
At local government level, the area is incorporated into the Claughton Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in the metropolitan county of Merseyside. It is represented on Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council by three councillors. [17] The most recent local elections took place on 6 May 2021.
The village has a large number of shops, as well as cafes, bakery, florist, post office, and local pubs such as the 'Claughton Hotel', the 'Heather Brow' and 'Houlihan's Variety Club'.
Claughton is the location of Birkenhead Sixth Form College, which was established by the local education authority in 1988. [18]
Claughton Village lies on the A5027 road, which continues on westbound to Saughall Massie and joins the A553 road towards Birkenhead.
Birkenhead Park railway station is located approximately 1.4 km (0.87 mi) to the east of Claughton. This station is on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network.
The artist Harry B. Neilson grew up in Claughton, living in a house in Forest Road called Airliewood which his father had built in 1863. [7]
War artist Edgar Downs was born in Claughton in 1876, as was Cecil Arthur Lewis, the First World War fighter ace and BBC executive, in 1898. [19]
Birkenhead is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 88,818.
Bidston is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England.
Bromborough is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England, and the historic county of Cheshire, on the Wirral Peninsula southeast of Bebington and north of Eastham.
West Kirby is a coastal town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is located close to the mouth of the River Dee, in the historic county of Cheshire. At the 2011 Census, the population was 12,733.
Pensby is a large village on the Wirral Peninsula, in Merseyside, England. It is located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the north of the town of Heswall and approximately 0.5 miles (0.80 km) to the south west of Thingwall. Historically within Cheshire, the area is part of the Pensby and Thingwall Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and is in the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West.
Oxton is a suburb of Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. Administratively it is a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Originally a village in its own right, it became part of the Municipal Borough of Birkenhead upon its creation in 1877. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of the County Borough of Birkenhead, within the county of Cheshire.
Moreton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is located approximately 3 mi (4.8 km) to the west of Wallasey. Historically part of Cheshire, it is now within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. The town was divided in 2004 between the local government wards of Leasowe & Moreton East and Moreton West & Saughall Massie. Moreton is also part of the parliamentary constituency of Wallasey.
Tranmere is a suburb of Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, England. Administratively, it is within the Birkenhead and Tranmere Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of the County Borough of Birkenhead, within the geographical county of Cheshire.
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 the traditional county of Cheshire. At the 2011 census, the population was 16,130.
Thingwall is a village on the Wirral Peninsula, in Merseyside, England. The village is situated approximately 8 km (5.0 mi) to the south west of Birkenhead and 3 km (1.9 mi) north east of Heswall. Historically part of Cheshire, the area is within the Pensby and Thingwall Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West.
Irby is a village on the Wirral Peninsula, in Merseyside, England. The village covers an area of 20 square kilometres. To the north of Irby lies the associated hamlet of Irby Hill. It is part of the Greasby, Frankby and Irby Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and is within the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West.
Birkenhead is a constituency in Merseyside represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Mick Whitley of the Labour Party.
Prenton is a suburb of Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. Administratively, it is also a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of the County Borough of Birkenhead, within the county of Cheshire. Situated in the east of the Wirral Peninsula, the area is contiguous with Oxton to the north, Tranmere and Rock Ferry to the east and Higher Bebington to the south east. The M53 motorway marks the western boundary.
Woodchurch is an area of Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula, in England. Administratively, Woodchurch is within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, its parliamentary constituency is Wirral West, and its local council ward is Upton. At the 2001 Census, it had a population of 8,400. Woodchurch is dominated by a large housing development, known as the Woodchurch Estate. The district is served by several schools and has the major Arrowe Park Hospital just outside its boundary, which was built on 15 acres (61,000 m2) of the park itself and opened in 1982.
Saughall Massie is a village on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England. It is part of the Moreton West & Saughall Massie Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and the parliamentary constituency of Wallasey. A small village primarily made up of large fields owned by local farmers, it is bordered by Greasby, Meols, Moreton and Upton. At the 2001 census Saughall Massie had a population of 1,260.
Noctorum is a suburb of Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. Administratively it is within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral as part of Claughton Ward. Noctorum is in the north east of the Wirral Peninsula, bounded by the Beechwood estate to the north, Claughton and Oxton to the east and south east, and the River Fender and M53 motorway to the west.
Frankby is a village and former civil parish, in the Wirral district, in Merseyside, England. It is located on the Wirral Peninsula between Greasby and Newton on the outskirts of the town of West Kirby and south of Hoylake. The hamlet of Larton is to the north west. Historically within the county of Cheshire, it is part of the Greasby, Frankby and Irby Ward and is in the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West.
Landican is a hamlet and former civil parish on the outskirts of Birkenhead, in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The hamlet is on the Wirral Peninsula, near to Woodchurch and the M53 motorway. Historically part of the county of Cheshire, it is within the local government ward of Pensby and Thingwall and the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West.
Beechwood is a housing estate in the west of Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, in Merseyside, England. Administratively it is within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral as part of Bidston and St James Ward. The area is bounded by Bidston to the north, Upton to the west and Noctorum to the south. The elevation of Bidston Hill is immediately to the east.