Saughall Massie () 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 ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wir ...

, England. It is part of the Moreton West & Saughall Massie 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, ...

and the parliamentary constituency of

Wallasey Wallasey () is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England; until 1974, it was part of the historic county of Cheshire. It is situated at the mouth of the River Mersey, at the north-eastern corner of the Wirra ...

. A small village primarily made up of large fields owned by local farmers, it is bordered by Greasby,

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 ...

, Moreton and

Upton Upton may refer to: Places United Kingdom England * Upton, Slough, Berkshire (in Buckinghamshire until 1974) * Upton, Buckinghamshire, a hamlet near Aylesbury * Upton, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough * Upton, Huntingdonshire, a location in Cambridg ...

. At the 2001 census Saughall Massie had a population of 1,260.

History

The ''Saughall'' part of the name has been recorded as deriving from ''salh'' and ''halh'', meaning a place where sallows or willow shrubs grew or "Willow tree nook of land". Over the years the name has been spelt as: ''Saligh'' (1249); ''Salghale'' (1309); ''Salgham'' (1385); ''Saughoughe'' (1546). The name de Massie, de Massey or de Mascy has been connected to the Wirral since the time of the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conq ...

. Baron Hamon de Mascey, whose family came from the settlement of Mascey near

Avranches Avranches (; nrf, Avraunches) is a commune in the Manche department, and the region of Normandy, northwestern France. It is a subprefecture of the department. The inhabitants are called ''Avranchinais''. History By the end of the Roman period ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, established

Birkenhead Priory Birkenhead Priory is in Priory Street, Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. It is the oldest standing building on Merseyside. The site comprises the medieval remains of the priory itself, the priory chapter house, and the remains of St Marys chu ...

in 1150. His relations, the Masseys of Sale, settled on the Wirral during the reign of King John were supposed to have given their name to the village. Formerly a township in the

Bidston Bidston is a village, a parish and a suburb of Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, in the modern county of Merseyside. The area is a mixture of the well-preserved Bidston Village, Bidston Hill, a modern housing estate, and the Bidston Moss nat ...

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 ...

, Saughall Massie became a

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 authorit ...

in 1866. The population of Saughall Massie and the nearby hamlet of Carr Houses was 98 in 1801, 176 in 1851 and 186 in 1901. The parish was abolished in 1933 and divided between the County Borough of Wallasey and

Grange Grange may refer to: Buildings * Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906 * Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682 * Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to a monastery Geography Australia * Grange, South Austr ...

, near

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 1 April 1974, local government reorganisation in England and Wales resulted in most of Wirral, including Saughall Massie, transfer from 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 tow ...

to Merseyside. As with several other agricultural settlements on the Wirral Peninsula, a timber peg mill once existed nearby. Saughall Massie's windmill was built circa 1580 to grind grain. It was demolished by 1875.

USAAF plane crash

On January 9, 1944 Lieutenant Jay Frederick Simpson, an American pilot from Gillett, Wisconsin was killed whilst test flying a

Republic P-47 Thunderbolt The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bomber ...

(serial no. 42-75584) over Moreton. The plane had taken off from the US Burtonwood Airbase in Lancashire earlier. It flew out to sea and on its return over Hoylake he reported that the plane was on fire. It circled over the

RAF West Kirby RAF West Kirby was a Royal Air Force basic training camp near West Kirby, Cheshire, later Merseyside, England. Location The camp at Larton, then in Cheshire, was actually located from West Kirby village, from which it took its name. The c ...

and was seen to lose height and flip over, and crash in a field near the Arrowe Brook south of the village. Pieces were dug up in 1974 and now reside in the museum of the War Plane Wreck Investigation Group at

Fort Perch Rock Fort Perch Rock is a former defence installation situated at the mouth of Liverpool Bay in New Brighton. Built in the 1820s to defend the Port of Liverpool, its function has changed from defensive, to tourist attraction and museum. It has bee ...

, New Brighton. A small memorial plaque was unveiled on 21 March 2005 on the bridge across the Arrowe Brook on Saughall Massie Road overlooking the crash site.

Geography

Saughall Massie is in the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula, approximately 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 C ...

, about 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 mile ...

and about 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 ...

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 pa ...

. The hamlet is situated at an elevation of around above sea level. Greasby Brook converges with Arrowe Brook to the south-west of Saughall Massie.

Governance

Saughall Massie is part 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. The settlement is part of the parliamentary constituency of

. The current Member of Parliament is

Angela Eagle Dame Angela Eagle DBE (born 17 February 1961) is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wallasey since 1992. Eagle was born in Yorkshire and studied PPE at the University of Oxford, before working for ...

, a Labour representative, who has been the MP since 1992. The area is also part of a

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-loc ...

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, this being Moreton West and Saughall Massie Ward. Saughall Massie 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

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

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 v ...

took place on 6 May 2021.

Landmarks

The village consists of a number of historic buildings dating from the seventeenth century. In order to help preserve its historic and agricultural characteristics, Saughall Massie was designated a

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

in January 1974. Saughall Massie Bridge is a single span, single carriageway bridge over Arrowe Brook. It was built from

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 silicat ...

for £200 in 1829. This was the first bridge constructed by notable Victorian civil engineer Sir Thomas Brassey at the beginning of his career. The bridge was awarded

Grade II listed 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 I ...

status by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

in 2006.

Transport

Road

The B5192 Saughall Massie Road, which heads west to

, is the main thoroughfare through Saughall Massie. The B5192 also connects to the A5027 Upton Bypass bordering to the east, the latter joining Junction 2 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 C ...

just to the north-east of Saughall Massie.

Rail

Saughall Massie is equidistant to both Moreton and

railway stations 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, wi ...

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 el ...

network. Saughall Massie is also a similar distance from

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. Hi ...

on the Borderlands Line, operated by

Transport for Wales Transport for Wales (TfW; cy, Trafnidiaeth Cymru; cy, TrC, label=none) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) cons ...

References

Bibliography

External links

BBC News: 'Villagers win pub hours campaign' (5 April 2006)
{{Populated Places in Wirral Borough Towns and villages in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral