Little Sutton is a village on the
Wirral Peninsula
The Wirral Peninsula (), 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 Dee Estuary to the west, the Mersey Estuary to the east, and Liverpo ...
, in the unitary authority area of
Cheshire West and Chester
Cheshire West and Chester is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Cheshire, England. It was established on 1 April 2009 as part of the 2009 structural changes to l ...
and the ceremonial county of
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
, England. Located between
Childer Thornton and
Great Sutton, it is a suburb of the town of
Ellesmere Port
Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south-eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, on the bank of the Manchester Ship Canal. In the 2021 Unite ...
. Little Sutton is mostly residential and sits either side of the
A41 road
The A41 is a trunk road between London and Birkenhead, England. Now in parts replaced by motorways, it passes through or near Watford, Kings Langley, Hemel Hempstead, Aylesbury, Bicester, Solihull, Birmingham, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton, New ...
, linking
Birkenhead
Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...
and
Chester
Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...
.
History
Little Sutton and neighbouring Great Sutton were mentioned in a single entry 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
of 1086 as ''Sudtone'', under the ownership of the canons of
St Werburgh's Abbey.
Little Sutton was formerly a
township
A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...
in the parish of
Eastham, in the
Wirral Hundred. In 1866 Little Sutton became a separate
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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
, on 1 April 1950 the parish was abolished and merged with Ellesmere Port. The population was recorded at 166 in 1801, 432 in 1851 and rising to 1,109 in 1901. In 1931 the parish had a population of 2258. From 1974 to 2009 it was in
Ellesmere Port and Neston
Ellesmere Port and Neston was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district with borough status in Cheshire, England. It covered the southern part of the Wirral Peninsula, namely that part which is not included in the Metropolitan Borou ...
district.
Geography
Little Sutton is in the southern part of the Wirral Peninsula and a suburban area of the town of
Ellesmere Port
Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south-eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, on the bank of the Manchester Ship Canal. In the 2021 Unite ...
.
Sports facilities
Hooton Lawn Tennis Club, which was established in 1912 but significantly rebuilt in 1999 and now provides its members with four artificial grass courts.
Ellesmere Port Golf Club, part of the
Ian Woosnam Golf Academy, is an 18 hole golf course with practice facilities and a fitness suite. A former resident professional was
Dick Burton (1907-1974),
Open Championship winner 1939, renowned as the longest reigning Open Champion due to
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. The championship was not played again until 1946.
Little Sutton Bowling Club is a
crown green bowling club, situated next to the public library on the A41
Religious sites
The Church of Saint Mary of the Angels, opened in 1879, is a
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
parish church in the
Diocese of Shrewsbury. It is recorded in the
National Heritage List for England
The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...
as a designated Grade II
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
.
St Paul's Church opened in 1862. It is an
Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
parish church in the
deanery
A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...
of Wirral South, the
Archdeaconry of Chester and the
Diocese of Chester. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.
Little Sutton
Methodist Church is associated with the Wirral Methodist Circuit.
Dating from the 1830s, St George's
United Reformed Church
The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2024 it had approximately 44,000 members in around 1,250 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers.
The URC is a Trinitarian church whose theolog ...
closed in 2020. The building was sold for redevelopment in 2021.
Public houses
Pubs in Little Sutton include Alfie's Bistro & Wine Bar, the Olde Red Lion, the Traveller's Rest, the Crafty Tavern and the Cheshire Yeoman. The Olde Red Lion near the junction of Chester Road (A41) and Station Road (B5463) dates from about 1850. The original building was demolished in 1934 and re-sited further east to enable road widening.
Other nearby pubs are The Chimneys in
Hooton and The Halfway House and The White Lion in Childer Thornton.
Transport
Little Sutton Railway Station is on the
Wirral line of the
Merseyrail
Merseyrail is a commuter rail network which serves Merseyside and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire in the North West England, North West of England. Merseyrail serves 69 Railway station, stations, 67 of which it manages, across two lin ...
network. Trains run every 30 minutes to
Ellesmere Port
Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south-eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, on the bank of the Manchester Ship Canal. In the 2021 Unite ...
and
Liverpool Central.
Seven bus routes serve Little Sutton:
See also
*
Sutton Hall, Little Sutton
References
{{authority control
Villages in Cheshire
Areas of Ellesmere Port
Former civil parishes in Cheshire