Freshfield is an area of
Formby
Formby is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 22,419 at the 2011 Census.
Historically in Lancashire, three manors are recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 under "For ...
, in the
Metropolitan Borough of Sefton
The Metropolitan Borough of Sefton is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England. It was formed on Local Government Act 1972, 1 April 1974, by the amalgamation of the county boroughs of Bootle and Southport, the municipal borough of Crosby, ...
,
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
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 northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, situated at the northern end of the town. It has no local political distinction or representation and is included as part of the two council
wards
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 priso ...
which make up Formby (
Harington and
Ravenmeols), nor is it any longer separated in a physical sense from the town.
The area is often considered to be affluent with local celebrities, footballers, politicians and businessmen making it their home (see
people from Formby
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of propert ...
). Shireburn Road in Freshfield is the most expensive road in Merseyside, house prices on the exclusive road averaged £1,159,831 in 2009.
History
The name did not exist until Formby's second railway station,
Freshfield, was built in 1854. The name was chosen, as the local landowner,
Thomas Fresh
Thomas Fresh (3 September 1803 – 3 April 1861) was a pioneer in British environmental health. In 1844, he became Liverpool's first public health officer.
Life and career
Thomas Fresh was born on 3 September 1803 at the family farm 'Newbarns', ...
, owned the adjacent model farm and fields. Fresh was
Inspector of Nuisances
Nuisance (from archaic ''nocence'', through Fr. ''noisance'', ''nuisance'', from Lat. ''nocere'', "to hurt") is a common law tort. It means that which causes offence, annoyance, trouble or injury. A nuisance can be either public (also "common") ...
in Liverpool and was one of the celebrated trio of pioneering officers appointed in 1847 by the Borough of Liverpool's Health of the Town Committee; the others being
William Henry Duncan
William Henry Duncan (27 January 1805 – 23 May 1863), also known as Doctor Duncan, was an English doctor who worked in Liverpool as its first Medical Officer of Health.
Early life and career
Duncan was born on Seel Street, Liverpool on 27 J ...
, the UK's first medical officer of health, and
James Newlands
James Newlands (28 July 1813 – 15 July 1871) was a Scottish civil engineer who worked in Liverpool as the first Borough Engineer appointed in the United Kingdom, and is credited with designing and implementing the first integrated sewerage sy ...
, borough engineer (though Fresh had been in a similar post for more than two years previously).
A process of reverse naming seems to have occurred with some people referring to the area of Formby around this station as "Freshfield". The title originally proposed was "Freshton".
Governance
Until 1974, Freshfield was part of the
urban district
Urban district may refer to:
* District
* Urban area
* Quarter (urban subdivision)
* Neighbourhood
Specific subdivisions in some countries:
* Urban districts of Denmark
* Urban districts of Germany
* Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...
of Formby within the
administrative county
An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until either 1973 (in Northern Ireland) or 2002 (in the Republic of Ireland). They are now abolished, although mos ...
of
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
. Since 1 April 1974, it has formed part of the
Metropolitan Borough of Sefton
The Metropolitan Borough of Sefton is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England. It was formed on Local Government Act 1972, 1 April 1974, by the amalgamation of the county boroughs of Bootle and Southport, the municipal borough of Crosby, ...
, 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 ...
.
From 1950 until 2010 Freshfield like the rest of Formby formed part of the
constituency
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger State (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...
of
Crosby Crosby may refer to:
Places
;Canada
*Crosby, Ontario, part of the township of Rideau Lakes, Ontario
*Crosby, Ontario, a neighbourhood in the city of Markham, Ontario
;England
*Crosby, Cumbria
*Crosby, Lincolnshire
*Crosby, Merseyside
** Crosby (U ...
, The
MP for Crosby from 1997 until 2010 was
Claire Curtis-Thomas
Claire Curtis-Thomas (formerly Curtis-Tansley; born 30 April 1958) is a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Crosby (UK Parliament constituency), Cr ...
, a member of the
Labour Party, prior to her election the seat was generally considered to be a safe
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
stronghold with Tory MPs elected at every election barring the
1981 Crosby by-election
The 1981 Crosby by-election was a by-election held in England on 26 November 1981 to elect a new Member of Parliament (MP) for the House of Commons constituency of Crosby on Merseyside. It followed the death of Crosby's MP Sir Graham Page, of the ...
where
Shirley Williams
Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, (' Catlin; 27 July 1930 – 12 April 2021) was a British politician and academic. Originally a Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP), she served in the Labour cabinet from ...
of the
Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
For ...
was elected to represent the constituency. As a result of the Crosby constituency being abolished for the
2010 general election, Freshfield like the rest of Formby is part of the newly created
Sefton Central constituency represented by
Bill Esterson
William Roffen Esterson (born 27 October 1966) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sefton Central since 2010. He has been Shadow Minister for International Trade since 2016. He was Shadow Min ...
, a member of the Labour Party.
For elections to
Sefton Council
Sefton Council is the governing body for the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in the county of Merseyside, north-western England. The council was under no overall control from the 1980s until 2012 when the Labour Party took control. It is a cons ...
, Freshfield is divided between two electoral wards with three
councillors
A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries.
Canada
Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...
each:
Harington ward, whose councillors are Gillian Cuthbertson, Alf Doran, and Denise Dutton, all members of the Conservative Party, and
Ravenmeols ward, whose councillors are Barry Griffiths, Anne Ibbs, David Mcivor, again all Conservative Party members.
Community
The area contains The Freshfield and The Grapes pubs, Victoria Hall and Victoria Road (a long avenue on which several famous English sportsmen have lived).
RAF Woodvale
Royal Air Force Woodvale or RAF Woodvale is a Royal Air Force Station located next to the towns of Formby and Ainsdale in an area called Woodvale which is located to the south of Southport, Merseyside. Woodvale was constructed as an all-weathe ...
is nearby.
Transport
Freshfield railway station
Freshfield railway station serves the Freshfield district of Formby, Merseyside, England. The station is located on the Southport branch of the Merseyrail network's Northern Line.
History
Freshfield opened in 1854 as an intermediate station o ...
is situated on the
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
to
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England.
Southport lies on the Irish ...
branch of
Merseyrail
Merseyrail is a 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 and Wirral Line, which are dedicated electri ...
's
Northern Line
The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, two ...
.
Formby Woods
Located nearby is a section of the Mersey Forest, known as Formby Woods, a
community forest
Community forestry is an evolving branch of forestry whereby the local community plays a significant role in forest management and land use decision making by themselves in the facilitating support of government as well as change agents. It involv ...
known for being a habitat of rare
red squirrel
The red squirrel (''Sciurus vulgaris'') is a species of tree squirrel in the genus ''Sciurus'' common throughout Europe and Asia. The red squirrel is an arboreal, primarily herbivorous rodent.
In Great Britain, Ireland, and in Italy numbers ...
s, with a reserve managed 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 ...
.
References
Further reading
# Yorke, B. & Yorke, R. (2008) "Pine Trees and Asparagus: The Development of a Cultural Landscape", in: Lewis, J., Stanistreet, E. (eds.) ''Sand And Sea, Sefton's Coastal Heritage''. Bootle: Sefton Council.
# Yorke, R. (2009) "Thomas Fresh: Inspector of Nuisances". ''Journal of the Liverpool History Society'' 8, pp. 16–24.
External links
{{Metropolitan Borough of Sefton
Towns and villages in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton
Formby