Thurstaston
Thurstaston | ||
---|---|---|
Village | ||
Metropolitan county | ||
Region | ||
Country | England | |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom | |
Post town | WIRRAL | |
Postcode district | CH61 | |
Dialling code | 0151 | |
ISO 3166 code | GB-WRL | |
Police | Merseyside | |
Fire | Merseyside | |
Ambulance | North West | |
UK Parliament | ||
Thurstaston (/ˈθɜːstəstən/ THUR-stə-stən) is a village and former civil parish, in the Wirral district, in Merseyside, England, on the Wirral Peninsula. It is part of the West Kirby and Thurstaston Ward and the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West. The village lies on the A540 road between Heswall and Caldy, although it extends some distance down Station Road to the Wirral Way and the River Dee estuary.
At the time of the 2001 census, the village itself had only 160 inhabitants,[1] although the national census included Caldy and parts of Irby, bringing the total population to 15,548.[3]
History
Thurstaston means "village of a man called Thorsteinn/Þorsteinn", from the
A
The village is centred on the
The earliest mention of a Church occurs around 1125 but other evidence suggests that one may have existed in Saxon times. The Norman church endured for many hundreds of years but was eventually taken down in 1820 and a second edifice, a plain stone building, was completed in 1824. In 1871, the executors of Joseph Hegan of Dawpool set apart £4,500 for a new church to be erected in his memory. This was designed in late-13th-century mid-gothic style by John Loughborough Pearson, also the architect of Truro Cathedral, and was built entirely of local sandstone. It was consecrated in 1886. Although nothing remains of the earlier Norman church, the tower of the second one still stands in the churchyard and the sandstone of the building was used to construct a wall enclosing the new churchyard.
In 1882 the Liverpool shipowner
Civic history
Thurstaston, including the hamlet of Dawpool, was a parish within the Wirral Hundred, in the county of Cheshire. It became a civil parish in 1866. The population was 112 in 1801, 98 in 1851, 141 in 1901 and 151 in 1951.[11]
From 1894 Thurstaston was part of Wirral Rural District, then Wirral Urban District from 1933. On 1 April 1974, local government reorganisation in England and Wales resulted in most of Wirral, including Thurstaston, transfer from the county of Cheshire to Merseyside. The parish was also abolished on 1 April 1974.[12]
Geography
Thurstaston is notable for the large areas of parkland and heathland. Thurstaston Common is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a local nature reserve. Nearby is Thurstaston Hill, a 298-foot (91 m) Triassic sandstone ridge and one of the highest points on the Wirral. On the eastern side of the hill is Thorstone Rock, a large sandstone mound which was reputed, in early times, to have been thrown by the Norse god Thor. The offices and a visitor centre of Wirral Country Park are near the site of Thurstaston railway station. The former trackbed of part of the Birkenhead Railway has been converted into a public footpath – the 'Wirral Way'. The visitor centre contains displays relevant to the local ecology.
Governance
Thustaston is part of the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West. The current Member of Parliament is Margaret Greenwood, a Labour representative, who has been the MP since 2015.
At
Transport
Road
To the east of the village is the A540 road, which runs from Hoylake to Chester. The section between Caldy and Heswall is named Telegraph Road. It intersects at a roundabout with Thurstaston Road, which heads north-easterly towards Irby.
Rail
Since the closure of the Chester and Birkenhead Railway branch line in 1962, West Kirby railway station on the Wirral line of the Merseyrail network and Heswall railway station on the Borderlands line are the nearest stations to the village.
See also
References
- ^ a b "Wirral 2001 Census: Thurstaston". Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Retrieved 16 July 2007.
- ^ "Coordinate Distance Calculator". boulter.com. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
- ^ "2001 Census: Thurstaston". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 16 July 2007.
- ^ "Key to English Place Names: Thurstaston". University of Nottingham. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ "Cheshire: L-Z". Domesday Book Online. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ a b "History of the Parish". St Bartholomew's & St Chad's, Diocese of Chester. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
- ^ "Lost Villages of Wirral". hiddenwirral.org.uk. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ Coward, Thomas Alfred (1903). "X: Western Wirral". Picturesque Cheshire. London & Manchester: Sherratt and Hughes.
- ^ "Dawpool". Lost Heritage. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ "Thurstaston". Disused Stations. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ "Thurstaston". GENUKI UK & Ireland Genealogy. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ "Wirral Registration District". UKBMD. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
- ^ "Your Councillors by Ward". Wirral Council. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
Bibliography
- Beazley, Frank Charles (1924). Thurstaston in Cheshire: An Account of the Parish, Manor and Church. Liverpool: Howell. OCLC 27298559.
- Boumphrey, Ian; Boumphrey, Marilyn (1991). Yesterday's Wirral 6 : Neston, Parkgate, Heswall including Thurstaston, Irby & Greasby. Eaton Press. OCLC 656102143.
- Mortimer, William Williams (1847). The History of the Hundred of Wirral. London: Whittaker & Co. pp262-265.