Crosby, Lancashire

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Crosby
Lancashire
Carnegie Library in Crosby, Merseyside.jpg
The Carnagie Librarie in Crosby
Location
Grid reference: SJ320999
Location: 53°29’14"N, 3°2’3"W
Data
Population: 51,789
Post town: Liverpool
Postcode: L23
Dialling code: 0151
Local Government
Council: Sefton
Parliamentary
constituency: 		Bootle
Sefton Central

Crosby is a town in Lancashire found to the north of Bootle and south of Southport and Formby. It is effectively within the conurbation of towns stretching out from Liverpool.

Crosby as an area has been drawn together out of a string of settlements along the Irish Sea coast.

Parts of the town

Great Crosby

Great Crosby is the main area which gave the town. There was formerly a municipal borough which bore the name of Great Crosby.

In 1907, the Victoria County History described Great Crosby's location thus:

'The ancient township of Great Crosby, which includes Waterloo, lies on the northern shore of the estuary of the Mersey, with a level sandy beach extending over three miles from north-west to southeast; it stretches inland some two miles, and has an area of 2,168 acres, of which 1,907 acres belong to the present diminished township. The village, which lies more than a mile inland, is becoming modernized and growing quickly, especially along the principal road, that from Liverpool to Southport, which crosses the township in a northerly direction, with roads branching off to the shore and to Thornton. The Liverpool and Southport line of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, opened in 1848, with stations at Waterloo and Blundellsands, also passes through the township. An electric tramway connects Great Crosby with the Seaforth terminus of the Liverpool Overhead Railway.' [1]

Little Crosby

Little Crosby is a small village. Though within 8 miles of Liverpool, it has retained its rural character by, for example, opting not to have street lights.

The village is perhaps the oldest extant Roman Catholic village in England, the squires being the notable recusant Blundell family.[2] The village character has changed little from a 17th-century description that "it had not a beggar, ..an alehouse ..[or] a Protestant in it..." In 2009 Protestants reside in the village as old values change - Protestant inhabitants however must be 'vetted' by the local Squire before occupation of one of the 50 or so dwellings. In 1986 a senior member of the hamlet was quoted in the Liverpool Echo as saying "Protestants are discouraged from settling in our village". There is no Church of England church in Little Crosby though it is ringed by them and is on the boundary of three parishes (Hightown, Great Crosby and Blundellsands).

The Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described the place in 1870-72 as:

CROSBY (Little), a township in Sephton parish, Lancashire; on the coast, 7½ miles NNW of Liverpool. Acres, 6, 241; of which 4, 430 are water. Real property, £4, 190. Pop., 418. Houses, 62. Crosby Hall is the seat of the Blundells. There is a Roman Catholic chapel.[3]

The village is dominated by the St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, inspired by Pugin.

Notable attractions are:

  • The Courtyard café
  • Little Crosby museum, a museum housed in former farm buildings with exhibits focusing on village life and history. There are artefacts ranging from petrol pumps and bits of machinery to toys and magic lanterns as well as a number of displays of old farm tools.
  • Crosby Hall Educational Trust. an educational, residential centre for children and young people.
  • The Well Barn Stableyard, an attractive courtyard which has various small shops and businesses

Opposite the church is St. Mary's Roman Catholic School, a single storey 1960s building. The first school for the village was established by the Squire, William Blundell, at Boundary Cottage in 1843, next to the brook that then ran between Great Crosby and Little Crosby. In 1859 the school moved to a new building next to the presbytery of the church, opposite the current site. The current school building replaced that in 1964. The school takes pupils from the village and neighbouring villages of Hightown and Ince Blundell.[4]

Others

  • Blundellsands - An area to the north west of Great Crosby. It abuts the northern section of Crosby Beach, the location of Antony Gormley's Another Place.
  • Waterloo - An area situated southwest of Great Crosby, originally known as Crosby Seabank. It includes Crosby Civic Hall and Library, and the Plaza Community Cinema. It abuts the southern section of Crosby Beach, the location of Antony Gormley's Another Place.
  • Brighton-le-Sands - An area situated between Blundellsands to the north, Waterloo to the south and Great Crosby to the east.
  • Thornton - a village northeast of Great Crosby.

History

The town has Norse roots in common with the other -by suffixed settlements of Formby to the north and Kirkby to the east. Crosby was known as Krossabyr[5] in Old Norse, meaning "village with the cross".[6] The settlement was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Crosebi, and by the year 1212 had become Crosseby.[6]

The opening of the Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway in 1848 resulted in the growth of Crosby as suburb of Liverpool.

History

Great Crosby was a small village until the arrival of the railway in the 1840s. The village grew rapidly during the late 19th and early 20th century and merged with a number of distinct areas with their own character, to form the Great Crosby urban district, which annexed Little Crosby in 1932, and lasted iuntil 1974.

Places of interest

Antony Gormley's Another Place on Crosby Beach

On Crosby Beach is Antony Gormley's art installation Another Place. The sea views were described in the 19th Century by a First Lord of the Admiralty as second only to the Bay of Naples.[7]

Crosby's environs include several miles of beach, a marina, a number of parks and a large area of woodland known as Ince Woods. Crosby is home to a Carnegie Library built with donations from the American steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. Distinctive buildings in Crosby Village include the art nouveau-inspired Crown Buildings and three pubs, The Crow's Nest, the George, and The Village.

A private park, known locally as the 'Key Park', consists of 60 acres of unspoilt land in Warren Road, Blundellsands. Members pay a subscription, and are given a key.

Transport links

Crosby is served by the railway stations of Hall Road, Blundellsands and Crosby, and Waterloo, on the Northern Line of the region's commuter rail network, Merseyrail. Trains run between Southport and Hunts Cross via Liverpool Central.

Sport

  • Football: Marine AFC
  • Rugby: Waterloo RUFC
  • Swimming: Crosby Swimming Club
  • Multi-sports: Northern Club, with cricket, hockey, crown green bowls, squash, racketball and snooker, situated in the Moor Park area of Crosby.
  • Sailing at Crosby Marina
    • Crosby Sailing Club
    • Crosby Scout and Guide Marina Club, who offer dinghy and kayak sailing to local youngsters.
Crosby Sunset

Outside links

References

  1. ↑ 'Townships: Great Crosby', A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3 (1907), pp. 91-95. Date accessed: 13 May 2009
  2. ↑ Little Crosby
  3. ↑ Vision of Britain - Little Crosby
  4. ↑ The Crosby Herald, 3 January 1964.
  5. ↑ "Wirral & West Lancashire 1100th Viking Anniversary". University of Nottingham. http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~sczsteve/. Retrieved 14 February 2008. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Formby Civic Society: Vikings In Lancashire". Stephen Harding. http://www.formbycivicsociety.org.uk/learning/full_article.asp?storyid=14. Retrieved 14 February 2008. 
  7. ↑ Forwood, William Bower (1910). Recollections of a busy life. Liverpool: Henry Young & Sons. p. 166. http://www.archive.org/stream/recollectionsofb00forw#page/166/mode/2up. 
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