Thornton Hough () is a village in the Wirral district of

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. The village lies in the more rural inland part of 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 ...

and is of pre-

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 Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

origins. The village grew during the ownership of Joseph Hirst into a small

model village A model village is a mostly self-contained community, built from the late 18th century onwards by landowners and business magnates to house their workers. "Model" implies an ideal to which other developments could aspire. Although the villages ...

and was later acquired by

William Lever William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (; 19 September 1851 – 7 May 1925) was an English industrialist, philanthropist, and politician. Educated at a small private school until the age of nine, then at church schools, he joined his f ...

, founder of

Lever Brothers Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and su ...

, the predecessor of

Unilever Unilever PLC () is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company headquartered in London, England. It was founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie with British soap maker Lever B ...

. Thornton Hough is roughly from

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 from

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 ...

. It is part of the Clatterbridge ward and is in the parliamentary constituency of Wirral South. At the 2001 census, Thornton Hough had 770 inhabitants.

History

The name Thornton means "thorn-tree farm/settlement" and likely derives from the

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 ...

words ''þorn'' (hawthorn tree) and ''tūn'' (a farmstead or settlement). It is mentioned 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 ''Torintone'', under the ownership of

Robert of Rhuddlan Robert of Rhuddlan (died 3 July 1093) was a Norman adventurer who became lord of much of north-east Wales and for a period lord of all North Wales. Robert was the son of Humphrey de Tillieul (or Bigod) and Adeliza de Grentemesnil, brother of Ar ...

. The present name of the village was established when the daughter of local landowner Roger de Thorneton, married Richard de Hoghe during the reign of

Edward II Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also known as Edward of Caernarfon or Caernarvon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir to the throne follo ...

. By the beginning of the 19th century, Thornton Hough formed part of the Neston Estate owned by

Baron Mostyn Baron Mostyn, of Mostyn in the Flintshire, County of Flint, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. History The title was created in 1831 for Edward Lloyd, 1st Baron Mostyn, Sir Edward Lloyd, 2nd Baronet, who had earlier represented Fl ...

of Mostyn, Flintshire. The population of the parish was recorded as 165 in 1801, 164 in 1851, 547 in 1901 and 506 in 1951. Joseph Hirst, a Yorkshire woollen millowner, bought farmland land in 1866 and began the development of a small model village, building a church, a school and 'Wilshaw Terrace'. The village was bought and expanded by

who developed housing for family, estate workers and company staff in a similar way to

Port Sunlight Port Sunlight is a model village in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is located between Lower Bebington and New Ferry, on the Wirral Peninsula. Port Sunlight was built by Lever Brothers to accommodate workers in ...

, building another shop, the school, a social club and the Congregational church. Development continued in the early 20th century.

Geography

Thornton Hough is in the central part of the Wirral Peninsula, approximately south-south-east of the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

Leasowe Lighthouse Leasowe Lighthouse is an historic lighthouse in Moreton on the Wirral Peninsula in Merseyside, England. The lighthouse was built in 1763 by The Mersey Docks and Harbour Company to guide shipping safely to the Port of Liverpool and is the oldest ...

, north-east of the

Dee Estuary The Dee Estuary () 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 miles wide forming t ...

at Parkgate and about west-south-west of the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is a major river 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 h ...

Bromborough Bromborough ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England, on the Wirral Peninsula south-east of Bebington and north of Eastham. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, and became part of Merseysi ...

. The centre of the village is situated at an elevation of between above sea level.

Landmarks

Thornton Hough and the villages of Brimstage and Raby are in an Area of Special Landscape Value, a protective designation to preserve the character and appearance of the area There are 22

listed buildings 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 ...

in the village which was made a conservation area in 1979. Hirst employed Kirk and Sons of Huddersfield to design

All Saints Church All Saints Church, or All Saints' Church or variations on the name may refer to: Albania * All Saints' Church, Himarë Australia * All Saints Church, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory * All Saints Anglican Church, Brisbane, Queensland *All ...

and its vicarage, a school and school master's house and Wilshaw Terrace before 1870.

All Saints All Saints' Day is a Christian holiday. All Saints, All Saints Day or Feast of All Saints may also refer to: Art and entertainment * ''All Saints'' (film), a 2017 Christian drama film * ''All Saints'' (TV series), an Australian hospital drama * ...

, the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

, is a grade II listed building built in 1867, it has a

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

and tower displaying five clock faces. The north transept window, designed by H. Gustave Hiller is a memorial to Joseph Hirt. Lever's architects used a wide variety of building materials including red and buff sandstone, brick, timber framing, render and pebbledash with roofs made of clay tiles or thick stone slates which creates the impression that the village appears to be older than it is. Lever used several architects, including John Douglas. The firm of Grayson and Ould designed the Village Club and Post Office, Weald House, several houses in The Folds and rebuilt Thornton House in 1895 and designed its lodges and stables. Jonathon Simpson built the Lever School and his son, James Lomax-Simpson, rebuilt the Smithy, designed D’Arcy Cottages and extensions to Thornton House. He also designed Saint George's United Reformed Church, a reproduction Romanesque style church in 1906. William and Segar Owen designed various houses including Thicketford. Thornton Hall, once the home of wealthy shipping merchants, the Bamford Brothers of Liverpool, is believed to have been built in the mid-1800s. It was transformed into a hotel in 1954 and many of its original features remain intact including oak carvings and the ornate mother of pearl embossed ceiling in the Italian Room.

Thornton Manor Thornton Manor is a large country house in the village of Thornton Hough, Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade II* listed building. The house was built in the middle of the 19t ...

, built in an

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...

style dates from the 1840s, and was once the home of

Lord Leverhulme William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (; 19 September 1851 – 7 May 1925) was an English industrialist, philanthropist, and politician. Educated at a small private school until the age of nine, then at church schools, he joined his f ...

. From 2005 the house and gardens underwent extensive renovation. The building is now a wedding venue and provides facilities for corporate functions. Thornton House, a grade II listed building built by Douglas & Fordham in 1893 is a two-storey timber-framed house in a mock-Tudor style on a stone base. Thicketford built in 1892 is preserved in a largely unaltered condition. Hesketh Grange, a grade II listed building, was built in 1894 for Leverhulme's father.

Governance

Thornton Hough was 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 parish of

Neston Neston is a market town and civil parish in Cheshire, England. It is within the part of the Wirral Peninsula that belongs to the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester. The built up area (as defined by the Office for National Statistic ...

, 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, Cheshire West, Willaston, which was an important asse ...

. It 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in 1866.

Historically History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

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 ...

, it was part of the

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 Wirral Rural Sanitary District. From the beginning of the twentieth centu ...

between 1894 and 1933. In 1933 the parish was absorbed into the

urban district An urban district is a division generally managed by a local government. It may also refer to a city district, district, urban area or quarter Specific urban districts in some countries include: * Urban districts of Denmark * Districts of Germa ...

of Bebington, which subsequently became the

Municipal Borough of Bebington Bebington was a local government district on the Wirral Peninsula, in Cheshire, England. It was the local authority for the towns of Bebington and Bromborough. New Ferry and Port Sunlight were also within its boundaries. The district included ...

in 1937. After 1933 Thornton Hough was therefore an

urban 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 ...

and so had no parish council, instead being directly administered as part of Bebington. Further changes occurred on 1 April 1974, when local government reorganisation resulted in most of Wirral, including Thornton Hough, being transferred from Cheshire to

metropolitan borough A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of districts of England, local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan distr ...

of Wirral in the newly formed county of

, No

successor parish Successor parishes are Civil parishes in England, civil parishes with a parish councils in England, parish council, created in England in 1974. They replaced, with the same boundaries, a selected group of Urban district (England and Wales), urban d ...

was created for the former borough of Bebington. As of , Thornton Hough is within the Clatterbridge 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 ...

. The village is represented nationally through the parliamentary constituency of Wirral South.

Community

Thornton Hough's central feature is the

village green A village green is a commons, common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common pasture, grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for ...

with its cricket pitch and pavilion, tennis courts, and a children's play area. The local

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

is Thornton Hough Primary School located on St George's Way and is the catchment school for children living in Thornton Hough, Raby Mere, Raby and Brimstage. This school building was originally built to serve as a military building, but was turned over for school usage after the

Second World War 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 original playground has been reduced in size due to the building extensions of decking and garden areas. The Parish Hall was the original village school until it closed in 1953, it has a

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

exterior, although its interior has been updated. The Village Hall is a large extension to the original wooden hall belonging to St George's Church and was built in the 1970s by Collins Construction. It is referred to as the New Village Hall to set it apart from the Parish Hall which is used for the fortnightly youth club. Since it opened, the hall has been used for a variety of local events and as a venue for parties. The hall is used by the badminton club, play-school, Cubs,

Scouts Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

Rainbows A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

, Brownies and

Guides A guide is a person who leads travelers, sportspeople, or tourists through unknown or unfamiliar locations. The term can also be applied to a person who leads others to more abstract goals such as knowledge or wisdom. Travel and recreation Exp ...

. The village has a number of shops and a post office next to which is the

British Legion The Royal British Legion (RBL), formerly the British Legion, is a British Charitable organization, charity providing financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants. ...

, known as "the Men's Club" as women were barred except for on two days per year. The Village Stores struggled to compete with the bigger and cheaper supermarkets before its closure in 2007. It is now Jennifer O'Neill Cakes and Dragonfly Couture Stationery, 'The Seven Stars', is a traditional public house established in the 1840s on what was once a turnpike route between

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 Neston. In 1905 the smithy moved from its original site into a

half timbered Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs. If the struc ...

building and was extant in 2009. Just outside the village is 'The Red Fox', a public house and restaurant on the border of Thornton Hough and Neston.

Culture

The Thornton Hough

Scarecrow A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin that is often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops. ...

Festival was held between 1999 and 2006. Residents participating made scarecrows of varying designs and quality, which were judged at the end of a week-long open season. The festival also included a

fête In the United Kingdom and some of its former colonies, a fête or fete is a public festival organised to raise money for a charity, typically held outdoors. It generally includes entertainment and the sale of goods and refreshments. Fetes are ty ...

on the village green. By 2006, when the festival attracted over 35,000 visitors, it had raised £75,000 for village projects. In 2017 the village green was used as a location for the film

Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

Notable people

William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (; 19 September 1851 – 7 May 1925) was an English industrialist, philanthropist, and politician. Educated at a small private school until the age of nine, then at church schools, he joined his ...

, industrialist, lived at Thornton Manor *

William Lever, 2nd Viscount Leverhulme William Hulme Lever, 2nd Viscount Leverhulme, Deputy Lieutenant, DL (25 March 1888 – 27 May 1949), was the son of William Hesketh Lever and Elizabeth Ellen, daughter of Crompton Hulme of Bolton. He was educated at Eton College and graduated ...

, co-founder of

, born and raised in Thornton Hough

Gallery

File:Benkid77 Thornton Hough 1 240709.JPG, The village green File:The Seven Stars, Thornton Hough 240709.JPG, The Seven Stars public house File:Parish Hall, Thornton Hough.jpg, The Parish Hall File:Thornton Hough War Memorial 2.jpg, The War Memorial, by

Ernest Prestwich Ernest Prestwich (29 August 1889 – 4 November 1977) was an English architect, working his own interpretation of Classical architecture, via the Streamline Moderne, Style Moderne, Modernism, Modernist and Brutalism, Brutalist styles. He speci ...

. File:Thornton Manor.jpeg, An open day at Thornton Manor in 2005 File:Punch and Judy Thornton Hough.jpg, A

Punch and Judy Punch and Judy is a traditional puppet show featuring Mr Punch and his wife Judy. The performance consists of a sequence of short scenes, each depicting an interaction between two characters, most typically the anarchic Mr Punch and one other ...

show on the village green

References

Bibliography

External links

All Saints Church, Thornton Hough
{{Authority control Towns and villages in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral Former civil parishes in Merseyside