Greasby () is a large 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 ...

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. A predominantly residential area, it is contiguous with Upton to the east and

Saughall Massie Saughall Massie () is a village on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England. It is part of the Moreton West & Saughall Massie Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and the parliamentary constituency of Wallasey. A small village primarily ...

to the north. The small village of

Frankby Frankby () is a village on the Wirral Peninsula, in Merseyside, England. It is located between Greasby and Newton on the outskirts of the town of West Kirby. The hamlet of Larton is to the north west. Historically within the county of Cheshire, ...

is to the immediate 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 ...

. At the 2001 census, Greasby had 9,830 inhabitants, with the total population of the ward at 14,667. In the 2011 census the population of Greasby was not measured. However the total population of Greasby, Frankby and Irby Ward was 13,991.

History

The earliest known human settlement in Merseyside has been found at Greasby, believed to date from approximately 7000 BC. A rectangular floor of

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) ...

slabs and pebbles suggests regular use by the nomadic hunters of that period. The remains of burnt

hazelnut The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus ''Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species ''Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according t ...

shells found at the site were used for

radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was dev ...

. The results specified a time period between 8300 BC and 8500 BC, even earlier than previously thought.

National Museums Liverpool National Museums Liverpool, formerly National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, comprises several museums and art galleries in and around Liverpool, England. All the museums and galleries in the group have free admission. The museum is a non ...

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

s excavated the site between 1987 and 1990. Greasby was an

Anglo Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

settlement, as witnessed by the form of the name, ''Gravesberie'', 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 ...

. ''Gravesberie'' derives from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

''gräf'' (a grove) and ''burh'' (a fortified place). This has been recorded as meaning "grove farm/settlement", or alternatively, a "stronghold or fortification by a grove, trench, canal or wood". The name was Scandinavianised to Greas''by'', under the influence of

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 ...

speakers in Wirral (''gräf'' and ''býr'', with ''býr'' meaning "settlement" or "farmstead"). The name of the village has been variously spelt over time, including: ''Grauesberi'', ''Grauesbyri'', ''Grauisby'' (1093), ''Grauesbi'' (c.1155), ''Grauesby'' (c.1170), ''Griseby'' (1280) and ''Graysby'' (1610). Prior to the

Norman conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...

in 1066, Greasby was owned by a man named Dunning, who may have been an official (bailiff or steward) for the earls of

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era=Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ye ...

. After the invasion, all land in the area passed to

Hugh d'Avranches Hugh d'Avranches ( 1047 – 27 July 1101), nicknamed ''le Gros'' (the Large) or ''Lupus'' (the Wolf), was from 1071 the second Norman Earl of Chester and one of the great magnates of early Norman England. Early life and career Hugh d'Avra ...

. By the time of the Domesday Book (1086), Greasby was under the ownership of Nigel de Burcy and consisted of eight households. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the area expanded considerably, with significant residential development across previously agricultural land. This has resulted in Greasby becoming contiguous with the nearby settlements of

Moreton Moreton may refer to: People Given name * Moreton John Wheatley (1837–1916), British Army officer and Bailiff of the Royal Parks Surname * Alice Bertha Moreton (1901–1977), English sculptor, draughtsman and artist * Andrew Moreton, a ps ...

, Upton and Woodchurch.

Civic history

Greasby was formerly a township split between the parishes of

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 ...

and

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 ...

, within 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 Greasby 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 Greasby, transfer from the county of Cheshire to Merseyside. The population of the village was 123 in 1801, rising to 177 in 1851, 290 in 1901 and significantly increasing to 4,367 in 1951. Greasby pump (2)

Geography

Greasby is bounded by

Arrowe Brook The Birket is a tributary of the River Mersey, on the Wirral, Merseyside. The watercourse starts as lowland field drainage south of Hoylake and flows along to the south of Meols. Arrowe Brook joins at Moreton, and the Fender joins at Leasowe. ...

, at

Upton Meadow Upton is a village in the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula, England, and is situated within of Birkenhead, of the Dee Estuary, a similar distance from the River Mersey, and from Liverpool Bay. It is in the parish of Overchurch and admin ...

, and by

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 ...

which flows around the western and northern sides of Greasby. Greasby Brook merges into Arrowe Brook between Greasby and

, which becomes a tributary of

the Birket The Birket is a tributary of the River Mersey, on the Wirral, Merseyside. The watercourse starts as lowland field drainage south of Hoylake and flows along to the south of Meols. Arrowe Brook joins at Moreton, and the Fender joins at Leasowe. ...

Landmarks

Greasby Cross is an iron cross on a sandstone plinth that was placed in the centre of the village in 1862 to replicate an earlier, possibly

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

, cross on the same site. A restored late nineteenth century water pump is on Old Pump Lane. Greasby Old Hall on Frankby Road has been a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

since 1953. It is a seventeenth century sandstone house, although remnants of a possibly fifteenth century timber structure survive within. Manor Farm is a red sandstone and brick building with associated barns and are all Grade II listed buildings. Manor Farm has a date stone inscription of "IM 1680" and has been previously known as Greasby House and The Manor.

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. 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 Metropolitan 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

Schools

The village has four primary schools: Greasby Infant School, Greasby Junior School, Our Lady of Pity Primary School and Brookdale Primary School.

Churches

Greasby has three churches: St. Nicholas'

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

, the Our Lady Of Pity

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Church, and Greasby

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

Church.

Leisure

The village has a library and a community centre. They are centrally situated and close together, along with the health centre. The Greasby Centre is a purpose-built single-storey building which has two halls. This was built as Greasby Community Centre in 1984, and replaced an older building on Arrowe Road. The 2nd Greasby

Scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

Group is also within the village, having been established in 1954.

Public houses

There are five public houses in Greasby. The ''Coach and Horses'' is possibly the oldest pub, which was definitely in business by 1832, having been named on the Bryant map of that year, and possibly dating as far back as 1725. The ''Red Cat'' was built in 1964 to replace the ''New Inn'' which had stood a few metres from the site of the present building since at least 1849. The ''Twelfth Man'' opened around 1960 and was named as a result of its proximity to Upton Cricket Club. This pub has an adjoining

budget hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

which is part of the

Premier Inn Premier Inn is a British limited service hotel chain and the UK's largest hotel brand, with more than 72,000 rooms and 800 hotels. It operates hotels in a variety of locations including city centres, suburbs and airports competing with the like ...

chain. The pub was renamed ''The Gravesberie Inn'' in 2019. The ''Greave Dunning'' was an 18th-century farmhouse, and it was opened as a pub in 1981. ''Oak Bar & Bistro'' is a wine bar and restaurant.

Parks and commons

Coronation Park is situated at the eastern end of the village.

borders Greasby to the east.

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 ...

borders to the south-east.

Sport

JFC Greasby are a youth

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in Greasby, which was founded in 2009. Greasby Livery caters for

dressage Dressage ( or ; a French term, most commonly translated to mean "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrian sport defined b ...

and

showjumping Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes shows ...

. The community centre also has a

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

club. Greasby FC were a small football club, which played in the

West Cheshire League The West Cheshire Association Football League (commonly known as the West Cheshire League) is an English football league in the county of Cheshire, which also includes teams from Merseyside. Its current principal sponsor is ''Carlsberg'', also ...

between 1951 and 1958.

Economy

The village contains a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

, a branch of

The Co-operative Food Co-op Food is a brand used for the food retail business of The Co-operative Group in the United Kingdom. Prior to reintroducing the brand in 2016, the group used " The Co-operative" branding, which is still used by a number of consumers' co- ...

, a

Boots A boot is a type of footwear. Boot or Boots may also refer to: Businesses * Boot Inn, Chester, Cheshire, England * Boots (company), a high-street pharmacy chain and manufacturer of pharmaceuticals in the United Kingdom * The Boot, Cromer Stre ...

pharmacy, a branch of

Age UK Age UK is a registered charity in the United Kingdom, formed on 25 February 2009, and launched on 1 April 2009, which combined the operations of the previously separate charities Age Concern England and Help the Aged to form the UK's largest cha ...

, a William Hill bookmaker and a BP

petrol station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasoline ...

. A

Sainsbury's Local Sainsbury's Local (a trading name of Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd) is a chain of 770 convenience shops operated by the UK's second largest supermarket chain Sainsbury's. History In 1998, Sainsbury's piloted its first Local shop in Hammersmith. ...

convenience store was opened on 8 October 2014, along with a

veterinary surgery Veterinary surgery is surgery performed on animals by veterinarians, whereby the procedures fall into three broad categories: orthopaedics (bones, joints, muscles), soft tissue surgery (skin, body cavities, cardiovascular system, GI/urogenital/ ...

which opened on 6 October 2014. These were opened in new retail units, after many parts of the local community opposed the construction of the new building. Greasby also has a number of other small shops including a butchers, florist, greengrocer's, estate agents and a number of fast food takeaways.

Transport

Road

Greasby is situated on the B5139, which runs between Upton and West Kirby. The A5027 Upton bypass is along the eastern side of Greasby, at the junction with the B5139. The A5027 connects directly to Junction 2A of the

M53 motorway The M53 is an motorway in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and Cheshire on the Wirral Peninsula in England. It is also referred to as the Mid Wirral Motorway. It runs between the Kingsway Tunnel, at Wallasey in the north, and the A55 at ...

approximately from the junction with the B5139.

Rail

Upton railway station Upton railway station serves the village of Upton and the Noctorum area of Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, England. The station is situated on the Borderlands line. Transport for Wales operates the station and all trains serving it. His ...

on the Borderlands line is the closest station to the village.

Meols railway station Meols railway station is a station serving the village of Meols, in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Kirby branch of the Wirral Line, part of the Merseyrail network. History Meols was one of the original stations on the Hoylake Rail ...

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 b ...

of the

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 ...

network is several miles to the north west.

Notable people

* John Bowe, English actor, born in Greasby * Mark Head, literary critic, born in Greasby *

Craig Lindfield Craig Anthony Lindfield (born 7 September 1988) is an English semi-professional footballer who plays as a winger for Airbus UK Broughton who compete in the Cymru North. Early life Lindfield attended Brookdale Primary School from 1993 to 2000 ...

, English footballer, born in Greasby * Bill Rigby, English footballer, died in Greasby *

James Hype James Edward Lee Marsland (born 26 November 1989), known professionally as James Hype, is an English DJ and record producer. Biography James Hype was born James Edward Lee Marsland on 26 November 1989 in Wirral, Merseyside, England. He a ...

, English DJ, raised in Greasby

References

Sources

Bibliography

External links

Greasby website
{{Populated Places in Wirral Borough Towns and villages in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral