Caldy (historically spelled Calday[3]) is a small, affluent village on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England, south-east of West Kirby. It is part of the West Kirby & Thurstaston Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, and is in the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West. At the time of the 2001 Census, Caldy had 1,290 inhabitants,[1] of a total ward population of 12,869.[4]
| Caldy | |
|---|---|
| Village | |
.jpg) The village green in Caldy | |
  Caldy Location within Merseyside | |
| Population | 1,290 (2001 Census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SJ226854 |
| • London | 181 mi (291 km)[2] SE |
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | WIRRAL |
| Postcode district | CH48 |
| Dialling code | 0151 |
| ISO 3166 code | GB-WRL |
| Police | Merseyside |
| Fire | Merseyside |
| Ambulance | North West |
| UK Parliament | |
History
editIt was first mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086 as being owned by Hugh of Mere and being named ‘Calders’. Nearby is a large area of National Trust land called Caldy Hill. Many of the houses and walls in the village centre are built from the local red sandstone.
Caldy was a township in the West Kirby parish[5] of the Wirral Hundred. The population was 92 in 1801, 142 in 1851, 202 in 1901 and 607 in 1951.[6] Until the twentieth century, Caldy was effectively a farming and agricultural village. However, The Caldy Manor Estates Company divided the land into smaller building plots, and from this one of the north of England's most exclusive residential villages emerged.[7][dubious – discuss] In 1866 Caldy became a separate civil parish,[8] between 1894 and 1933, Caldy was part of Wirral Rural District, then subsequently Wirral Urban District. On 1 April 1974 the parish was abolished[9] and local government reorganisation in England and Wales resulted in most of Wirral, including Caldy, transfer from the county of Cheshire to Merseyside.
Caldy railway station was on the Hooton to West Kirby branch of the Chester and Birkenhead Railway. The station closed in 1954 and the trackbed is now the 'Wirral Way' of Wirral Country Park.
Geography
editCaldy is on the western side of the Wirral Peninsula, on the eastern side of the Dee Estuary. The village is approximately 3.5 km (2.2 mi) south-south-east of the Irish Sea at Hoylake and about 11 km (6.8 mi) west-south-west of the River Mersey at Woodside. The centre of the village has an elevation of about 44 m (144 ft) above sea level.[10]
Education
editCalday Grange Grammar School is between Caldy and West Kirby, with West Kirby Grammar School and Hilbre High School nearby.
Sport
editCaldy Rugby Football Club, a rugby union club, play at Paton Field in nearby Thurstaston. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the rugby union pyramid in England.
Caldy Cricket Club play at Paton Field in nearby Thurstaston in the summer months. They currently field four Saturday teams in the Liverpool and District Cricket Competition.
Transport
editRoad
edit.jpg)
Caldy is at the junction of the B5140 and B5141 roads, and is near to the A540.
Rail
editThe nearest railway station to Caldy is West Kirby, on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network after Caldy railway station was closed in 1954.
Notable residents
editCaldy is noted for having many well-known residents, particularly those connected to professional football, such as Robbie Fowler[11] and Rafael Benítez. Rafael Benitez in a press conference referred to "John the milkman" in the Wirral while launching a cryptic attack on previous Liverpool club owner Tom Hicks and managing director Christian Purslow.[12]
The poet and novelist Malcolm Lowry lived in Caldy as a child, as did his brother the England rugby player Wilfrid Lowry, and the science fiction author Olaf Stapledon lived in Caldy from 1940 until his death in 1950.
Sir Cyril Clarke KBE, FRCP, FRCOG, (Hon) FRC Path, FRS, physician, geneticist and lepidopterist, lived in Caldy for many years until his death in November 2000.[citation needed]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Wirral 2001 Census: Caldy, Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, archived from the original on 29 September 2007, retrieved 10 May 2007
- ^ "Coordinate Distance Calculator". boulter.com. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
- ^ Great Caldy & Little Caldy, Caldy Hundred, Survey of English place names, retrieved 6 August 2023
- ^ 2001 Census: West Kirby & Caldy (Ward), Office for National Statistics, retrieved 10 May 2007
- ^ "History of Caldy, in Wirral and Cheshire". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
- ^ Cheshire Towns & Parishes: Caldy, GENUKI UK & Ireland Genealogy, retrieved 26 April 2008
- ^ Hughes, Mark, Caldy, Village of Dreams (draft)
- ^ "Relationships and changes Caldy CP/Tn through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
- ^ "Wirral Registration District". UKBMD. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
- ^ "SRTM & Ordnance Survey Elevation Data in PHP". Archived from the original on 27 June 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
- ^ Fowler admits phone drive offence, BBC Merseyside, 20 March 2009, retrieved 20 March 2009
- ^ "Former Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez attacks former owner and Anfield hierarchy". The Daily Telegraph. London. 19 October 2010.
Bibliography
edit- Mortimer, William Williams (1847). The History of the Hundred of Wirral. London: Whittaker & Co. pp270-273.
External links
edit