Frankby () is a 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 t ...

, in

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

, England. It is located between

Greasby Greasby () is a large village on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England. A predominantly residential area, it is contiguous with Upton to the east and Saughall Massie to the north. The small village of Frankby is to the immediate west. Hist ...

and

Newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film * Newton ( ...

on the outskirts of the town 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, Wales, River Dee. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Cheshire, to th ...

. The

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

Larton Larton is a hamlet near the town of West Kirby, on the Wirral Peninsula, in Merseyside, England. Administratively it is part of the local government ward of Greasby, Frankby and Irby in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and is within the parl ...

is to the north west.

Historically History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

within the county of

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, it is part of the Greasby, Frankby and Irby Ward 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, Be ...

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 ...

. According to the 2001 census, of a total ward population of 14,667, 310 people live in Frankby. In the 2011 census, population figures specific to Frankby were not available. However, the total population of Greasby, Frankby and Irby Ward was 13,991.

History

The name Frankby come from the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

''Frankis-býr'', likely referring to "Frank's/Franki's ( Frenchman's) farm or settlement". Although it could also be interpreted as a personal name. The ''"býr"''

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry ...

, included in neighbouring place names such as

Irby Irby may refer to: * Irby (surname), a list of people * Irby, Merseyside, England, a village * Irby, Virginia, United States, an unincorporated community * Irby, Washington, United States, an unincorporated community * Irby in the Marsh, Lincol ...

and

Pensby Pensby () is a large village on the Wirral Peninsula, in Merseyside, England. It is located to the north of the town of Heswall and approximately to the south west of Thingwall. Historically within Cheshire, the area is part of the Pensby an ...

, applies to settlements believed to be

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

in origin. The settlement of Frankby was supposedly 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 manusc ...

entry for neighbouring Greasby. Eight households are recorded: "3 villagers. 1

smallholder A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technology ...

. 2 slaves. 2 Frenchmen." The name has been variously spelt over time as ''Frankeby'' (1230), ''Fraunkbi'' (1346) and ''Fraunkeley'' (1421).

Civic history

Frankby was formerly a township in the West Kirby parish 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 ...

. It held

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

status between 1866 and 1974. From 1866 Frankby was part of Wirral Rural Sanitary District, which was replaced in 1894 by

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 Sanitary district, Wirral Rural Sanitary District. From the beginning of th ...

. In 1933 the village transferred to

Hoylake Urban District Hoylake Urban District was an urban district in Cheshire, England. It was formerly known as West Kirby and Hoylake Urban District (1894–97), then Hoylake and West Kirby Urban District (1897–1933). It was the local authority for the towns of ...

. On 1 April 1974, local government reorganisation in England and Wales resulted in most of the Wirral Peninsula, including Frankby, transfer from the county of Cheshire to Merseyside. The population of the village was 90 in 1801, 138 in 1851, 248 in 1901 and 413 in 1951.

Geography

Frankby is in the north-western part of the Wirral Peninsula, 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 ...

Meols Meols (sometimes known as Great Meols) is a village on the northern coast of the Wirral Peninsula, England. It is contiguous with the town of Hoylake immediately to the west. Historically in Cheshire, since 1 April 1974 it has been part of th ...

, east 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 ...

and 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 part ...

Seacombe Seacombe () is a district of the town of Wallasey, on the Wirral Peninsula, England. Administratively, Seacombe is a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part o ...

. Frankby is situated to the north of Thurstaston Hill, with the centre of the village at an elevation of above sea level.

Newton Brook Newton Brook is a tributary of Greasby Brook, in Wirral, Merseyside. The brook starts as two branches, one of which is in the same system of lowland field drainage, south of Hoylake, as the Birket. The other branch begins in Caldy. The two bra ...

joins with

Greasby Brook Greasby Brook is a tributary of Arrowe Brook, in Wirral, Merseyside. The brook starts near to Dawlish Road in Thurstaston. The brook flows through Thurstaston Common and around the western side of Greasby, before converging, firstly, with Newt ...

to the north of the village.

Governance

The village is within the parliamentary constituency of

. The current Member of Parliament is

Margaret Greenwood Margaret Greenwood (born 14 March 1959) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wirral West since 2015. She is a member of the Labour Party. Biography A former teacher and community activist, Greenwood later ...

, a

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

representative who has held the seat since 2015. At

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

level, Greasby is incorporated into the Greasby, Frankby and Irby

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

, in the

metropolitan county The metropolitan counties are a type of county-level administrative division of England. There are six metropolitan counties, which each cover large urban areas, with populations between 1 and 3 million. They were created in 1974 and are each di ...

of Merseyside. It is represented on

Wirral Borough Council Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council, or simply Wirral Council, is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in Merseyside and one of 36 in the metropolit ...

by three councillors. The most recent

local elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

took place on 6 May 2021.

Community

Frankby contains part of

Royden Park Royden Park is a park in Frankby, Wirral, England, managed by Wirral Council. The grounds of the park were originally part of an estate owned by Ernest Royden which comprised the park, Hill Bark house and Thurstaston Common. Upon his death th ...

with its

miniature railway A ridable miniature railway (US: riding railroad or grand scale railroad) is a large scale, usually ground-level railway that hauls passengers using locomotives that are often models of full-sized railway locomotives (powered by diesel or petrol ...

and meres. Named after local landowner Sir Ernest Royden, the park is jointly owned by the

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 ...

and

. Frankby's local

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, dating back to at least 1865, is known as the 'Farmer's Arms'. In the village of Frankby lies 1st Frankby Greasby Scout headquarters. In 1929, the year of the

3rd World Scout Jamboree The 3rd World Scout Jamboree was held in 1929 at Arrowe Park in Upton, near Birkenhead, Wirral, United Kingdom. As it was commemorating the 21st birthday of ''Scouting for Boys'' and the Scouting movement, it is also known as the Coming of Age ...

held at

Arrowe Park Arrowe Park is an area to the west of Birkenhead, within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is situated on the Wirral Peninsula, adjacent to the Woodchurch housing estate and to the south of the large village of Upto ...

, the Royden family donated a strip of land to the group (then known as 1st Frankby). The group amalgamated with 1st Greasby in May 1946 to become 1st Frankby Greasby.

Landmarks

Bidston Court, fig 17 (Modern Homes, 1909)

Within the grounds of Royden Park is a large

Mock Tudor Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

house known as '

Hill Bark Hill Bark (also known as Bidston Court) is a large country house to the south of the hamlet of Frankby, Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. The a ...

', which was re-erected between 1929 and 1931 by Sir Ernest Royden. Originally named 'Bidston Court', it was initially sited near

Bidston Hill Bidston Hill is of heathland and woodland containing historic buildings and ancient rock carvings, on the Wirral Peninsula, near the Birkenhead suburb of Bidston, in Merseyside, England. With a peak of , Bidston Hill is one of the highest poi ...

in 1891, but moved brick by brick to its present position in Frankby to replace an earlier dwelling. The house contains a 16th-century fireplace, once part of a house belonging to

Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellion ...

. The building was given Grade II* listed status in 1963. As of it is known as the 'Hillbark Hotel'.

Notable people

Sir Thomas Royden was an English shipowner and Conservative Party politician. He was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in 1905 and lived at 'Hill Bark' whilst his wife's parents lived at Frankby Hall. His daughter, the writer, preacher,

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

and former local inhabitant

Maude Royden Agnes Maude Royden (23 November 1876 – 30 July 1956), later known as Maude Royden-Shaw, was an English preacher, suffragist and campaigner for the ordination of women. Early life and education Royden was born in Mossley Hill, Liverpool, the ...

(1876–1956) is buried in the local Church of St John the Divine.

References

Sources

Bibliography

External links

Hillbark Players1st Frankby Greasby
{{Populated Places in Wirral Borough Towns and villages in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral