Mersey Places

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crosby,_Merseyside


Crosby Sunset

Description: sunset at Crosby Beach (Blundellsands)
Date 20 April 2012 Source Own work Author RodCrosby

Crown Buildings, Crosby. Crosby takes its name from the Old Norse for village of the cross, settled in 900AD by Norsemen who came from the Isle of Man and Ireland. This ancient village was merely a cluster of cottages until the growth of industry and commerce in the 18th century encouraged many Liverpool businessmen to look to the coast north of the city to build their homes. Crosby shopping centre stands at the top of Liverpool Road, a mish-mash of architectural styles not all as pleasing to the eye as Crown Buildings.
The copyright on this image is owned by Sue Adair and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.

Crosby is a coastal town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, in Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it is situated north of Bootle, south of Southport and Formby and west of Netherton.
Contents

1 History
2 Governance
3 Administration
4 Twin towns and sister cities
5 Geography
6 Demography
7 Education
8 Places of interest
9 Transport
10 Sport
11 Notable people
12 See also
13 References
14 External links

History

The town has Viking roots in common with the other -by suffixed settlements of Formby to the north and Kirkby to the east. Crosby was known as Krossabyr[2] in Old Norse, meaning "village with the cross".[3] The settlement was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Crosebi, and by the year 1212 had become Crosseby.[3] Local people are known as Crosbeians and were referred to as such in the local press but the term is little used today.

The opening of the Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway in 1848 resulted in the growth of Crosby as suburb of Liverpool.
Governance

Crosby formed part of the Crosby parliamentary constituency from 1950 until 2010. The MP for Crosby from 1997 until 2010 was Claire Curtis-Thomas, a member of the Labour Party; prior to her election the seat was generally considered to be a safe Conservative Party stronghold with Tory MPs elected at every election barring the 1981 Crosby by-election where Shirley Williams of the Social Democratic Party was elected to represent the constituency. As a result of boundary revisions for the 2010 general election the Crosby constituency was abolished and Crosby town was divided between two constituencies, with the two electoral wards of South Crosby, Church and Victoria, containing the urbanised bulk of the town which includes the areas of Great Crosby, Waterloo and Seaforth, being absorbed into the expanded Bootle constituency, represented by the Labour MP Peter Dowd, and the two electoral wards of northern Crosby, Blundellsands and Manor, which contains residential suburban areas such as, Blundellsands, Brighton-Le-Sands, Little Crosby, Thornton, and Hightown, forming part of the new Sefton Central constituency represented by Bill Esterson, also a Labour MP.
Administration

Crosby became part of the municipal borough of Crosby in 1937 by the merger of the urban districts of Great Crosby and Waterloo with Seaforth, both in the administrative county of Lancashire. This borough was succeeded by the new Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside on 1 April 1974.

For elections to Sefton Council Crosby is covered by a range of council wards as detailed above: the Victoria ward, covers Great Crosby and North Waterloo, and is represented by three councillors. They are now all Labour Party councillors Michael Roche, Leslie Byrom CBE FRCIS, and Jan Grace.
Twin towns and sister cities

Crosby, Merseyside is twinned with

Italy Capri, Italy

Geography

Crosby as an area was composed of a string of settlements along the Irish Sea coast. These areas were part of the urban districts of Great Crosby and Waterloo with Seaforth and the Municipal Borough of Crosby before it to was abolished and became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton. These areas are:

Great Crosby - The main area which gave the town and the old municipal borough its name, despite the confusion that exists, Great Crosby is not the actual town itself but is the largest area of it which was an urban district in its own right which merged with Waterloo with Seaforth urban district to form the Municipal Borough of Crosby and defined the town of Crosby in its present borders.
Little Crosby - A small village considered to be the oldest existent Roman Catholic village in England.
Blundellsands - An area to the north west of Great Crosby. It abuts the northern section of Crosby Beach, the location of Antony Gormley's Another Place.
Waterloo - An area situated southwest of Great Crosby, originally known as Crosby Seabank. It includes Crosby Civic Hall and Library, and the Plaza Community Cinema. It abuts the southern section of Crosby Beach, the location of Antony Gormley's Another Place.
Brighton-le-Sands - An area situated between Blundellsands to the north, Waterloo to the south and Great Crosby to the east.
Thornton - A village situated to the northeast of Great Crosby.

Demography
Crosby compared
2001 UK census Crosby[4] Sefton (borough)[5] England
Total population 51,789 282,958 49,138,831
White 98.4% 98.4% 91.0%
Asian 0.5% 0.4% 4.6%
Black 0.1% 0.2% 2.3%

At the 2001 UK census, Crosby had a population of 51,789. The 2001 population density was 12,502 inhabitants per square mile (4,827/km2), with a 100 to 89.2 female-to-male ratio.[6] Of those over 16 years old, 31.2% were single (never married), 43.2% married and 8.2% divorced.[7] The proportion of divorced people was above that of Sefton and England (both 6.6%), and the incidences of those who were single and married differed significantly from the national and Sefton averages (Sefton: 43.1% single, 35.5% married; England: 44.3% single, 34.7% married).[8] Sefton's 21,250 households included 32.7% one-person, 35.7% married couples living together, 6.6% were co-habiting couples, and 11.3% single parents with their children.[9] Of those aged 16–74, 28.1% had no academic qualifications, similar to 28.9% in all of England and slightly lower than the 31.0% for the Sefton borough.[10][11]
Population growth in the town of Crosby since 1801
Year Population ±%
1801 1,391 —
1811 1,504 +8.1%
1821 1,805 +20.0%
1831 2,462 +36.4%

Year Population ±%
1841 3,194 +29.7%
1851 3,669 +14.9%
1871 7,628 +107.9%
1881 10,717 +40.5%

Year Population ±%
1891 14,625 +36.5%
1901 31,877 +118.0%
1911 39,513 +24.0%
1931 50,569 +28.0%

Year Population ±%
1939 53,135 +5.1%
1951 58,414 +9.9%
1961 59,166 +1.3%
2001 51,789 −12.5%
Source: ,[4] Crosby Historical Population, Crosby mid-20th century population
Education

Independent schools in the area include Merchant Taylors' Boys School, Merchant Taylors' Girls' School, St Mary's College and Streatham Arts School. There are also several comprehensive schools, including Chesterfield High School, Holy Family Catholic High School, St. Michael's Church of England High School (formerly Manor High Secondary School) and Sacred Heart Catholic College (formerly Sacred Heart Catholic High School).
Sacred Heart Catholic College
Places of interest
Antony Gormley's Another Place on Crosby Beach

Crosby Beach is home to Antony Gormley's art installation Another Place . The sea views were described in the 19th Century by a First Lord of the Admiralty as second only to the Bay of Naples.[12] Crosby's environs include several miles of beach, a marina, a number of parks and a large area of woodland known as Ince Woods. Crosby is home to a Carnegie Library built with donations from the American steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. Distinctive buildings in Crosby Village include the art nouveau-inspired Crown Buildings and ten pubs - The Crows Nest, The Birkey, The George, Blues Bar, Frankies, Stamps, Gambino's, Corkscrew, Hampsons and The Village.

In recent years Crosby has featured in The Sunday Times "Best Places to Live" list.[13][14]
Transport

Crosby is served by the railway stations of Hall Road, Blundellsands and Crosby, and Waterloo, on the Northern Line of the region's commuter rail network, Merseyrail. Trains run between Southport and Hunts Cross via Liverpool Central. Bus services run by Arriva and Stagecoach link the town to Liverpool, Southport and Preston.
Sport

Marine AFC (association football) and Waterloo RUFC (rugby union) are both based in the area. Crosby is also home to Crosby Swimming Club, a member of the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA). Who are also in m and d division one and headed by head coach Lee Martin and supported by many other experienced coaches such as Nigel Forshaw, Damien Lyons and Ben Gilbertson

The Northern Club, a multi-sport club featuring cricket, hockey, crown green bowls, squash, racketball and snooker, is situated in the Moor Park area of Crosby.

Crosby Marina is the home of Crosby Sailing Club and is open to all dinghy sailors of any ability or experience. The marina is also a venue for the Crosby Scout and Guide Marina Club, who offer dinghy and kayak sailing to local youngsters.

Blundellsands Bridge Club [1], affiliated to the English Bridge Union, provides facilities for both learning and playing Rubber Bridge and Duplicate Bridge, an intellectual sport recognised by the International Mind Sports Association.
Notable people
Crosby sunset

Martyn Andrews
Cherie Blair
Kenny Everett
J. Bruce Ismay
Vincent Nichols
Anne Robinson
Robert Runcie
Laurie Taylor
Johnny Wheeler

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Great Crosby

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Crosby

Great Crosby is an area of the town of Crosby, in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England and is historically, part of Lancashire.
Contents

1 Location
2 History
3 Amenities
4 Transport
5 Disasters
6 Notable residents
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

Location

In 1907, the Victoria County History described Great Crosby's location thus: 'The ancient township of Great Crosby, which includes Waterloo, lies on the northern shore of the estuary of the Mersey, with a level sandy beach extending over three miles (5 km) from north-west to southeast; it stretches inland some two miles (3 km), and has an area of 2,168 acres (8.77 km2), of which 1,907 acres (7.72 km2) belong to the present diminished township. The village, which lies more than a mile inland, is becoming modernized and growing quickly, especially along the principal road, that from Liverpool to Southport, which crosses the township in a northerly direction, with roads branching off to the shore and to Thornton. The Liverpool and Southport line of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, opened in 1848, with stations at Waterloo and Blundellsands, also passes through the township. An electric tramway connects Great Crosby with the Seaforth terminus of the Liverpool Overhead Railway.' [1]

History

Great Crosby was a small village of Viking origin until the arrival of the railway in the 1840s. The village grew rapidly during the late 19th and early 20th century and merged with a number of distinct areas with their own character, to form the Great Crosby urban district. These areas included:

Crosby Village, the main area for shopping, pubs and restaurants
Blundellsands, a middle class residential area close to the seafront
Brighton-le-Sands
Thornton, a residential area of semi-detached and detached housing which dates mainly from the 1930s.

The Great Crosby urban district annexed Little Crosby in 1932. In 1937, the district was combined with the Waterloo with Seaforth urban district to form the municipal borough of Crosby which was, in turn, absorbed into the new Metropolitan Borough of Sefton on 1 April 1974. These boundary changes defined the town of Crosby in its modern borders and shrank down the modern area of Great Crosby from the old urban district, making it an area of the modern town of Crosby which today is a separate area of Crosby to Blundellsands, Brighton-le-Sands, and Thornton.
Amenities

Great Crosby has four fee-paying schools (Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Merchant Taylors' Girls' School, St Mary's College and Streatham House School), a number of state schools (including Sacred Heart Catholic College) and parks facing the sea. In nearby Waterloo there is a cinema, the Plaza Community Cinema, which is run by volunteers.

In the past, Crosby had five cinemas: the Corona, and the Regent were in the northern part of the district. The Corona, almost opposite the Library, in College Road, was part of the Gaumont chain, and after merging with the Rank Organisation became a second-run house, as Rank already had taken over the Plaza in Waterloo, which became an Odeon and had the first run policy. The Corona played the Bill Hayley film 'Rock Around The Clock' just before the cinema closed in 1957 and demolished before the end of that decade. Waterloo had two independent cinemas, the Queens on South Road and the Winter Gardens in Church Road. The Queens closed in the late fifties, and the Winter Gardens closed nearly ten years later.

Another cinema in the Great Crosby area, was the Regent on Liverpool Road at the junction of Endbutt Lane; it became part of the ABC group, and closed in 1967 to become a bingo hall, and has since become part of St. Mary's College. Land had been purchased in Crosby Village, across the road from the Crown Buildings, to be redeveloped into a Super Cinema. This never happened due to the onset of World War II. By the time building restrictions were lifted in the mid-1950s, cinema admissions were in decline. The land remained derelict until the 1960s when the Midland Bank and Satterthwaite's shop, amongst others, were built on the site.

Above the College Road shops, from the Corona Cinema to the corner with Brompton Avenue, was the Corona Ballroom, mostly used for ballroom dancing. The entrance to the ballroom was in Brompton Avenue. Another musical venue was St. Lukes Church Hall on Liverpool Road, where regular Saturday night dances were held.

Alexandra Hall, situated at the junction of Mersey Road, College Road and Coronation Road was originally the Town Hall for the Crosby Urban District Council. When the Great Crosby and Waterloo with Seaforth Urban Districts were merged into the Borough of Crosby, the council offices were transferred to Waterloo Town Hall. The frontage of the red brick Alexandra Hall had an ironwork and glass canopy, which was removed in the late 1950s because of rust erosion. Alexandra Hall played host to The Beatles, before they became superstars. The Crosby Flower Show and local drama groups used the Main Hall upstairs each year. In the 1970s the building was converted into Law Courts, and survived to the Millennium. In 2004 the building was demolished and replaced by residential apartments.

A private park, known locally as the 'Key Park', consists of 60 acres (240,000 m2) of unspoilt land in Warren Road, Blundellsands. Members pay a subscription, and are given a key.

Set in the Moor Park area, close to the heart of the old village, is the Northern Club, a multi-sporting club.

In College Road is the ground and club house for Marine Football Club. Also worthy of note is Waterloo R.F.C., with their ground in St. Anthony's Road.
Transport

Residents can commute to Liverpool or Southport either by car, by bus or by train from Blundellsands & Crosby and Hall Road stations, located on the Northern Line of the Merseyrail network.

The Liverpool Overhead Railway opened in 1893, and to attract more custom, built a street tramway from their terminus at Seaforth Sands railway station, along Crosby Road South, Crosby Road North and Liverpool Road to terminate at the junction of Cooks Road and Victoria Road in the centre of Great Crosby. The tramway started in 1900 and had a 25 years lease; when this was due to expire Liverpool Corporation had shown interest in operating a service into Crosby; talks broke down at a late stage, and the Waterloo and Crosby Motor Services took on the route for bus operation, later taken over by Ribble Motor Services to become the L9.

Before 1932, Ribble Motor Services acquired the small local bus operators, including Waterloo and Crosby Motor Services (Ribble Timetables Area 4 1932). In 1936 Ribble opened a bus station on Little Crosby Road; this was very basic being a plot of land with a turning circle - passengers waited for their bus in a central waiting area which was open to the elements. Buses operated anti-clockwise round the waiting area.

Ribble monopolised the services in the district and their L1, L2, L3, L4, L5, L6, L7, L8, L9, L11, L15, L20, L30, L50, L60, L80, L90, S1, S2 and S3 services served the district. The L3 was Ribble's most frequent service linking Great Crosby with Liverpool Skelhorne Street; the service was also used for trials of new vehicles, and demonstrators. Once a year the S23 operated from Crosby Bus Station to Aintree Old Roan in connection with the Grand National; this service fell into decline and ceased in the early sixties. As traffic congestion grew in the early 1960s, the Ribble services began to suffer reliability problems. Ribble introduced two local services C1 and C2 using single deck vehicles in 1968. In 1974 all Ribble services in Crosby came under the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive, and Ribble operated them under an agency agreement.

The Liverpool to Southport railway line provided a link to Liverpool Exchange railway station, serving the business sector of the city. The line was listed in Dr. Beeching's Report for closure in 1962, as requiring extra sets of trains for peak hour use only was costly. Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive recognised the needs of the line, and supported improvements to the service and stations, including diverting the line under the city centre (and so closing Liverpool Exchange, replaced by Moorfields railway station) and onward to Hunts Cross, and the line has survived.

The Southport to Liverpool line also had a through service to London Euston on weekdays, when a steam hauled train, generally of two or three carriages, would call at selected stations on the line including Blundellsands & Crosby and Waterloo. The train would leave the line after Bootle Oriel Road, to take the line round the city to join the main line into Lime Street. The through coaches were discontinued in 1966 when the Liverpool Lime Street to London Euston line converted to electric powered locomotives from steam power.

To compensate for this loss of amenity, British Rail introduced a diesel multiple unit service between Southport Chapel Street and Liverpool Lime Street. Generally five trains a day ran on weekdays. This service operated until Liverpool Exchange Station closed in 1977, when the trains from Southport were diverted, proceeding under the city to Liverpool Central Low Level.
Disasters

In 1926 the erosion of the sand dunes near The Serpentine, brought the sides of several large houses down. The River Alt at Formby and Hightown were a major cause to the erosion of the banks of the River Mersey at Crosby. The sea moving ever closer, brought about the total demolition of the residences. Over the years since the erosion, the site has become a promenade for walkers, with a car park with a view.
Notable residents

Famous residents of Crosby have included:

Performer and Broadcaster Martyn Andrews
Titanic Captain Edward Smith
Sociologist and Broadcaster Laurie Taylor
Academic, Writer and Egyptologist Thomas Eric Peet
Composer Simon Rattle
Writer Helen Forrester
Broadcaster Kenny Everett
TV Presenter Anne Robinson
Mezzo Soprano Danielle Louise Thomas
Footballer Kenny Dalglish
Footballer Steve McManaman