Oxton is a suburb of

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 ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

, England. Administratively it is a 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 (), and encompasses of the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula. Major settlements include Birkenhead, Wallasey, Bebingt ...

. Originally a village in its own right, it became part of the

Municipal Borough A municipal borough was a type of local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of ...

of Birkenhead upon its creation in 1877. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of the County Borough of Birkenhead, within the 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 ...

History

The name ''Oxa-tún'' derives from

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was 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 ...

, meaning "a farm or enclosure where oxen are kept". By 1278, the name had been adapted into

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

as ''Oxeton'' and was recorded as ''Oxon'' in 1549. Oxton was once one of the most affluent areas in England mainly due to its proximity to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and the fact that along with various other Wirral locations, it was a favourite residential area for wealthy Liverpool merchants and tradesmen of the time. Oxton Village is a mainly early

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

settlement with fine

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

and brick built houses, many of which now form part of a conservation area designated in April 1979 and administered by the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Some of these buildings have been designated 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, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

Grade II listed 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, H ...

. A significant part of the land on which Oxton is situated was part of the Estate of the Earl of Shrewsbury. This has been commemorated over the years in many of the road names, which bear the family names and titles of the various Earls: Alton Road, Beresford Road, Chetwynd Road, Ingestre Road, Shrewsbury Road, Talbot Road, Waterford Road and Wexford Road. The oldest pub in Oxton Village is called the Shrewsbury Arms and the bar which is now known as the Oxton Bar and Kitchen was formerly the Talbot Hotel. Christ Church opened in 1849 and has a Father Willis organ, installed in 1888.

Geography

Location

The Wirral peninsula is formed of Triassic Keuper and Bunter sandstones covered by glacially deposited boulder clay. The historic settlement of Oxon-hill laid to the north-eastern side of the peninsula on the sandstone ridge near to current location of St Saviours Church and the Caernarfon Castle public house Oxton Village pre-dates the conurbation that developed around Birkenhead, of which it now forms part. It is bordered to the north by Claughton and to the south by Prenton.

town centre lies to the east. Originally an agricultural community, Oxton became a desirable residential location for the

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...

es and

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

as the economy of 19th century Birkenhead and Liverpool grew. The north east of the conservation area, at the junction of Victoria Mount, Rose Mount, Village Road and Claughton Firs developed as a commercial centre with restaurants, pubs, cafes and shops. Oxton sign on Bidston Road

Conservation Area and Oxton Village

Oxton Village Conservation Area was established in 1979 by Wirral Borough Council in order to "preserve and enhance the village's distinctive character". Soon afterwards, a registered charity was founded to promote the Conservation Area; this was named The Oxton Society. This objective of this charity is to work in partnership with the council, local businesses and the community to pursue this objective. The approximate boundary is bounded by Shrewsbury Road to the north, Fairview Road to the east, Arno Road to the south and Talbot Road to the west. Irregular in places, the boundary has a number of ‘pockets' encompassing small groups of properties or parts of streets. In 2010 Wirral Council commissioned an appraisal for Oxton Village Conservation Areas that evaluated and analysed various features which gives the conservation area its special architectural and historic interest. The appraisal made recommendations to extend the Conservation Area boundaries of Normanston Road & Derwent Road, Birch Road, Village Road & Wellington Road and Talbot Road, Mill Hill and Ingestre Road. The consultation period for the boundary extensions has now closed and the extensions are in the process of being adopted.

Post town controversy

Owing to a redefining of

post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in t ...

s by the Royal Mail in 2003, Oxton is partially identified as being within Prenton. However, whilst this was only a postal address, in its 22 May 2003 edition, the Liverpool Echo reported that "Jeremy Watson, of the Oxton Society, has called on the

Royal Mail Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...

to have a ballot"; however, the code at that time did not allow a request to ballot. A similar complaint was made on behalf of Prenton residents when the Royal Mail defined part of Prenton to be within Oxton.

Education

Independent and selective Birkenhead School was exclusively a boys' school from its founding in 1860 until 2000, when its Sixth Form became co-educational. It became fully co-educational in 2008. Birkenhead High School was formerly an independent selective school for girls but became a state-funded all-ability

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

school in 2009. Both changes were driven by falling numbers of pupils in the schools as a result of the abolition of the Assisted Places Scheme. Despite this, both schools maintain their place around the top of the Wirral A Level results. In addition Prenton Preparatory School lies in the heart of the Conservation Area and Oxton St Saviour's is the local primary school. A number of other schools lie just outside the boundary of Oxton, including St. Anselm's College (boys, RC) and Townfield Primary School.

Sport

Oxton Cricket & Sports Club
is also located here. Founded in 1875 as Oxton Cricket Club, other sports played at the club include tennis, lacrosse, squash and bowls.

Demographics

At the 2001 Census, the population of Oxton was 14,066, consisting of 6,680 males and 7,386 females. Some 2005 demographic statistics of area CH43, which encompasses the geographical area of Oxton, Claughton and parts of Bidston and Noctorum, (total CH43 population (2005): 36,443) are:

Governance

Oxton is part of the Birkenhead parliamentary constituency.

Local Councillors

After reorganisation in 2004, Oxton forms an

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

of the

, which had an electorate of 11,237 on 6 May 2010.

2019 local elections

The results of the Local Election Result for Oxton ward on 2 May 2019 were: https://democracy.wirral.gov.uk/mgElectionAreaResults.aspx?XXR=0&ID=67&RPID=508567813

Administrative history

Oxton was historically 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 ...

and

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

in the

ancient 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 ...

of Woodchurch in the Wirral Hundred of

. Part of the township was administratively absorbed into Birkenhead in 1843 when it was added to the improvement commissioners' district which covered the town. The rest of the township was made a local government district in 1863, governed by a local board. In 1866 Oxton 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 ...

. The local government district was abolished in 1877 and its area was incorporated into the new

municipal borough A municipal borough was a type of local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of ...

of Birkenhead. Oxton continued to be a

within the borough until 31 March 1898 when all the parishes within the borough were merged into a single parish named "Birkenhead St Mary" or "Birkenhead". In 1891 the parish had a population of 4429. The borough of Birkenhead was abolished in 1974, becoming part of the metropolitan borough of Wirral in the new county of Merseyside.

Notable connections

* Patrick Abercrombie (1879–1857) - town planner * Michael Chan - Baron Chan of Oxton in the County of Merseyside * Brigadier Philip Toosey - military officer * Cyril Scott - British composer (1879-1970) * Charles Whittle (1921-2001), cricketer * John Hughes, (1903-1977), Olympic gold medal-winning architect

Ron Gittins

8 Silverdale Road, Oxton, known as Ron's Place, is a former rented flat which is grade II listed because of tenant Ron Gittins'

outsider art Outsider art is Fine art, art made by Autodidacticism, self-taught individuals who are untrained and untutored in the traditional arts with typically little or no contact with the Convention (norm), conventions of the art worlds. The term ''ou ...

work on its interior. The director of The Twentieth Century Society, Catherine Croft, described the building as "the first example of outsider art to be nationally listed".

References

External links

Oxton Village Online

The Oxton Society

The Oxton Artists
** The Oxton Society: Oxton In History, by John Green (2006
Word documentAcrobat pdf file
{{Populated Places in Wirral Borough Towns and villages in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral Former civil parishes in Merseyside Birkenhead