Little Crosby is a small village 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 ...
,
North West England
North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...
. Despite being a suburb within 8 miles of
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 ...
it has retained its rural character by, for example, opting not to have street lights.
As part 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 ...
the village was an
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 ...
in its own right until annexed to the
Great Crosby
Great Crosby is an area of the town of Crosby, Merseyside, Crosby, in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England and is Historic counties of England, historically, part of Lancashire.
Location
In 1907, the Victoria County History d ...
urban district in 1932. This urban district was combined with other districts to form the
municipal borough
Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...
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 (UK ...
in 1937. This in turn was absorbed into the new
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 1974.
The village is perhaps the oldest extant
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
village in England, the squires being the notable
recusant
Recusancy (from la, recusare, translation=to refuse) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation.
The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign ...
Blundell family. The village character has changed little from a 17th-century description that "it had not a beggar, ... an alehouse ...
ra Protestant in it...".
Notable attractions are:
* The Courtyard café
* Crosby Hall Educational Trust (CHET) an educational, residential centre for children and young people.
* The Well Barn, an attractive courtyard which has various small shops and businesses including a jewellery shop, florist, conservationist restorer and furniture makers
The village is dominated by the
St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, inspired by
Augustus Pugin
Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( ; 1 March 181214 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and, ultimately, Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival st ...
. 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.
[''The Crosby Herald'', 3 January 1964.]
Governance
From 1950 until 2010 Little Crosby was within the boundaries of the
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 (UK ...
constituency, whose
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP)from 1997 till 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 Crosby 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 MP's 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 boundary revisions for the
2010 general election the Crosby constituency was abolished with its northern parts, including Little Crosby, being merged with the Eastern parts of
Sefton that were formerly part of the
Knowsley North and Sefton East constituency, to form the new constituency of
Sefton Central, which is currently represented by the
Labour Party MP 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 ...
.
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 ...
Little Crosby is within the
Manor
Manor may refer to:
Land ownership
*Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England
*Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism
*Man ...
electoral ward and is represented by 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 ...
. The councillors of Manor ward ar
Martyn Barberof the
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 ...
John Gibsonof the
Liberal Democrats, an
Steve McGinnityof the
Labour Party.
See also
*
Listed buildings in Little Crosby
Little Crosby is a village to the north of Great Crosby in Sefton, Merseyside, England. It contains 29 buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as designated listed buildings. Of these, one is listed at Grad ...
References
External links
''Little Crosby in Bloom''– The website of Little Crosby's villagers' entry into North West in Bloom
– website with photos of the village
– website of the parish church, with history of the village
''Little Crosby Church: St. Mary's''– Anna Tumilty's site on the church history and parish records of Little Crosby
''Township: Little Crosby''– from A History of the County of Lancaster, Vol.3, published in 1907
– An 1887 monograph on the Blundells and Little Crosby
''Little Crosby restorers''– The website of Little Crosby's traditional cabinetmakers
''Accessories Online''– the website for Little Crosby's jewellery shop set inside a converted barn
{{Metropolitan Borough of Sefton
Towns and villages in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton