Caldy is a small, affluent village on the
Wirral Peninsula
Wirral (; ), known locally as The Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide and is bounded by the River Dee to the west (forming the boundary with Wales), the River Mersey to ...
, England, south-east of
West Kirby
West Kirby is a resort town on the north-west corner of the Wirral Peninsula in Merseyside, England, at the mouth of the River Dee. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Cheshire, to the north-east lies Hoylake, to the east Grange ...
. It is part of the West Kirby & Thurstaston
Ward
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
of the
Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, in North West England. It has a population of 321,238, and encompasses of the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula. Major settlements include Birkenhead, Wallasey, ...
and is in the parliamentary constituency of
Wirral West
Wirral West is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Margaret Greenwood of the Labour Party since 2015.
Constituency profile
The constituency is one of four covering the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. It ...
. At the time of the
2001 Census, Caldy had 1,290 inhabitants,
of a total ward population of 12,869.
History
It was first mentioned in the ''
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...
'' in 1086 as being owned by Hugh of Mere. Nearby is a large area of
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
land called
Caldy Hill. Many of the houses and walls in the village centre are built from the local red
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...
.
Caldy was a
township
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...
in the West Kirby
Parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...
of the
Wirral Hundred
The Hundred of Wirral is the ancient administrative area for the Wirral Peninsula. Its name is believed to have originated from the ''Hundred of Wilaveston'', the historic name for Willaston, which was an important assembly point in the Wirral ...
. The population was 92 in 1801, 142 in 1851, 202 in 1901 and 607 in 1951. Until the twentieth century, Caldy was effectively a farming and agricultural village. However, The Caldy Manor Estates Company divided the land into smaller building plots, and from this one of the north of England's most exclusive residential villages emerged.
Between 1894 and 1933, Caldy was part of
Wirral Rural District
Wirral Rural District was a rural district on the Wirral Peninsula in Cheshire, England from 1894 to 1933. It was created under the Local Government Act 1894 from the Wirral Rural Sanitary District.
From the beginning of the twentieth centur ...
, then subsequently
Wirral Urban District
Wirral Urban District was an urban district in Cheshire, England from 1933 to 1974. It was created from part of the disbanded Wirral Rural District and covered an area in the south-west of the Wirral Peninsula. The civil parishes of Barnston, ...
. On 1 April 1974,
local government reorganisation in England and Wales resulted in most of Wirral, including Caldy, transfer from the county of
Cheshire to Merseyside.
Caldy railway station was on the
Hooton to West Kirby branch of the
Chester and Birkenhead Railway
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Local ...
. The station closed in 1954 and the trackbed is now the 'Wirral Way' of
Wirral Country Park
The Wirral Country Park is a country park on the Wirral Peninsula, England, lying both in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in the county of Merseyside and in the borough of Cheshire West & Chester in the county of Cheshire. It was the first de ...
.
Geography
Caldy is on the western side of the Wirral Peninsula, on the eastern side of the
Dee Estuary
The Dee Estuary ( cy, Aber Dyfrdwy) is a large estuary by means of which the River Dee flows into Liverpool Bay. The estuary starts near Shotton after a five-mile (8 km) 'canalised' section and the river soon swells to be several miles ...
. The village is approximately south-south-east of the
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...
at
Hoylake
Hoylake is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is at the north west of the Wirral Peninsula, near West Kirby and where the River Dee meets the Irish Sea. Historically part of Cheshire, the Domesday ...
and about west-south-west of the
River Mersey
The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed par ...
at
Woodside. The centre of the village has an elevation of about above sea level.
Education
Calday Grange Grammar School
Calday Grange Grammar School (abbreviated to CGGS; also known as Calday Grange, Calday Grammar or simply Calday due to the difference in spelling to the nearby village of Caldy) is a non-denominational, academically selective grammar school, f ...
is between Caldy and West Kirby, with
West Kirby Grammar School and
Hilbre High School nearby.
Sport
Caldy Rugby Football Club
Caldy Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union team which play in the Championship, the second tier of English rugby, following their promotion from National League 1 at the end of 2021-22. Their home stadium is Paton Field in Thurstaston ...
, a
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
club, play at
Paton Field
Paton Field is located on Telegraph Road, in Thurstaston, Wirral Peninsula, England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies ...
in nearby
Thurstaston
Thurstaston is a village on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England. It is part of the West Kirby and Thurstaston Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West. The village lies on the A540 roa ...
. The team currently compete in
the
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
, the second tier of the rugby union pyramid in England.
Caldy Cricket Club play at
Paton Field
Paton Field is located on Telegraph Road, in Thurstaston, Wirral Peninsula, England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies ...
in nearby
Thurstaston
Thurstaston is a village on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England. It is part of the West Kirby and Thurstaston Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West. The village lies on the A540 roa ...
in the summer months. They currently field four Saturday teams in the
Liverpool and District Cricket Competition
The Love Lane Liverpool and District Cricket Competition is regarded as the top level of competition for recreational club cricket in the Liverpool area and since 2000 has been a designated ECB Premier League. The Competition operates a three ...
.
Transport
Road
Caldy is at the junction of the
B5140 and
B5141 roads, and is near to the
A540.
Rail
The nearest railway station to Caldy is
West Kirby
West Kirby is a resort town on the north-west corner of the Wirral Peninsula in Merseyside, England, at the mouth of the River Dee. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Cheshire, to the north-east lies Hoylake, to the east Grange ...
, on the
Wirral Line
The Wirral line is one of two commuter rail routes operated by Merseyrail and centred on Merseyside, England, the other being the Northern line.
The Wirral line connects Liverpool to the Wirral Peninsula via the Mersey Railway Tunnel, with ...
of the
Merseyrail
Merseyrail is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, commuter rail network serving the Liverpool City Region and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire. Merseyrail operates 66 railway stations across two lines – the Northern Line (Merseyrail ...
network after
Caldy railway station was closed in 1954.
Notable residents
Caldy is noted for having many well-known residents, particularly those connected to
professional football
In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larg ...
, such as
Robbie Fowler and
Rafael Benítez
Rafael Benítez Maudes (born 16 April 1960) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who most recently managed club Everton.
Benítez joined Real Madrid's coaching staff at the age of 26, going on to work as the under- ...
.
Rafael Benitez in a press conference referred to "John the milkman" in the Wirral while launching a cryptic attack on previous Liverpool club owner
Tom Hicks
Thomas Ollis Hicks Sr. (born February 7, 1946), is an American private equity investor and sports team owner living in Dallas, Texas. ''Forbes'' magazine estimated Hicks' wealth at $1 billion in 2009, but it dropped to $700 million in 2010 ...
and managing director
Christian Purslow
Christian Purslow (born 14 December 1963) is a British businessman who is the chief executive officer of the Premier League club Aston Villa Football Club. He was the co-founder of private equity firm MidOcean Partners and was the former managing ...
.
The poet and novelist
Malcolm Lowry lived in Caldy as a child, as did his brother the England rugby player
Wilfrid Lowry, and the science fiction author
Olaf Stapledon
William Olaf Stapledon (10 May 1886 – 6 September 1950) – known as Olaf Stapledon – was a British philosopher and author of science fiction.Andy Sawyer, " illiamOlaf Stapledon (1886-1950)", in Bould, Mark, et al, eds. ''Fifty Key Figures ...
lived in Caldy from 1940 until his death in 1950.
Sir
Cyril Clarke KBE, FRCP, FRCOG, (Hon) FRC Path, FRS, physician, geneticist and lepidopterist, lived in Caldy for many years until his death in November 2000.
See also
*
Listed buildings in Hoylake
References
Bibliography
*
External links
Caldy Cricket Club WebsiteMerseytravel
{{Populated Places in Wirral Borough
Towns and villages in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral