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| The Harvest Mouse, Heswall. |
Bebbington.
Bebbington was named after an Anglo Saxon tribal chief called Bebba and the name means Bebba's town.
Birkenhead.
There are two given forms as to where the name Birkenhead comes from.
One is that it comes from the name of Wirral's longest river, the River Birket, on which the town was built.
It could also come from the Saxon word birchen, which meant birch forest, of which the area was completely surrounded during medieval times.
Bromborough
Comes from the word Brunanburh. Brunnr was the Viking word for spring or well and burh was the Saxon word for settlement or town.
By.
Several place names on the Wirral end in the suffix by, which is Norse or Viking for settlement or town.
The Vikings called each of their settlements -
Frankby - French town.
Greasby - From the Old English Gravesberie, meaning settlement near a wooded area.
Irby - Irish town.
Pensby - Town on a hill.
Raby - Town on a boundary.
West Kirby - Town with a church situated to the west.
Whitby - White town.
Caldy.
Caldy comes from the Anglo Saxon word calders, which was the name given to a nearby hill which meant cold arse.
Clatterbridge.
This unusual placename comes from an area which was once the home of a bridge that spanned the Clatter Brooke.
Eastham.
East Ham means home in the east in Anglo Saxon. The village of Eastham is situated at the southern most tip of the Wirral Peninsula and local historians believe that it is the oldest, permanently inhabited settlement on the peninsula.
Egremont.
In 1835 a large house was built in what is now Egremont by the harbour master of Liverpool Docks, Captain Askew, who named his house and then the village that grew up around it, Egremont, after his birthplace of Egremont in Cumberland.
Ellesmere Port.
This River Mersey, port town, originally known as Netherpool, was built at the end of the Ellesmere Canal, an arm of the Manchester Ship Canal, and was built as the canal's main port and docklands area.
The word Ellesmere comes from the British peerage title Earl of Ellesmere,of which there were five men who held the title between 1800 - 1963. The title was superceded by that of the Duke of Sutherland.
The instigation of the building of the canal was an industrious project originally planned to link the Rivers Dee, Mersey and Severn by way of the Shropshire Union, Manchester Ship, Llangollen and Chester canals by industrialist Francis Egerton, first Duke of Bridgewater, known in engineering circles as the father of inland navigation.
Francis Egerton was unmarried and died in 1803 without issue, thereby entrusting the canal to his second cousin, another Francis Egerton, first Earl of Ellesmere.
The name Egerton is synonomous with canal building and the family name is remembered by way of Egerton Wharf, Egerton Bridge and Egerton Dock in Birkenhead and ten street / road names found in various parts of the peninsula.
Ferry.
There was once eleven ferry crossing sites along the Wirral side of the River Mersey and some of their names still live on in the placenames of Monks Ferry - the very first Mersey Ferry crossing - New Ferry and Rock Ferry.
Heswall.
The estuary town of Heswall received it's name from one Patrick de Haselwall former Sheriff of Cheshire, who bought the land the town now stands on in 1277.
Hilbre.
Several places on the peninsula have been named after the tiny island of Hilbre, situated off the peninsula's coast between Hoylake and West Kirby.
Hilbre is a corruption of the name Hildeberg, a 17th century Anglo Saxon holy woman.
Hoylake.
Situated about a mile out to sea off the seaside town of Hoylake, was once a large sand bank known as Hoyle Bank that protected a pool of sea water known as Hoyle Lake.This lake was used by the Port of Liverpool as a holding bay for waiting ships coming into port and as an anchorage for larger ships to be loaded and unloaded, which were too large to sail into Chester along the River Dee. The town was subsequently named after this lake.
Landican.
Landican comes from the Celtic word Landechene.
Leasowe.
Leasowe is an Anglo Saxon word which means meadow pastures.
Liscard.
The word Liscard comes from the Old Irish - lios na carraige - which meant hall on the rock.
Meols.
Meols - pronounced mells - is of Viking origin and means sand dunes.
Mockbeggar.
There are several references to the name mockbeggar between the coastal towns of Moreton through to New Brighton.
The word mockbeggar is an Old English word for derelict building, and the derelict building in this case pertained to Leasowe Castle.
Moreton.
Moreton is an Anglo Saxon name that meant town by the lake.
Ness / Neston.
Ness is a Viking word for promontory and neston is Old English for town on the promontory.
New Brighton.
This once thriving, Regency holiday resort was named after the other thriving, Regency holiday resort on the south coast of England, Brighton.
Noctorum.
This most unusual name comes from the Old Irish - Cnocc Tirim - which meant dry hill.
Prenton.
Prenton is an Old English name which meant town in the woods.
Saughall Massie.
Sau Hall is Old English for hall built near willow trees. The suffix Massie probably pertains to Hamon de Mascey, a rich, medieval, land owner whose family originated from Auranches in Normany, and whose name is synonomous with the medieval history of the peninsula.
Spital.
The word spital is the end of the word hospital, suggesting that there was once a hospital or leper colony in the area.
Storeton.
Storeton comes from the Viking word for large farm.
Thingwall.
This unusual name has Viking roots and comes from the term bing volir, which meant meeting place, suggesting this area was once a very important administration area.
Thornton Hough.
The land that now contains the village of Thornton Hough was given to the daughter of Rojer de Thornton upon her marriage to the son of Richard de Hoghe.The couple named their new settlement by combining each of their family names.
Tranmere.
Comes from the Viking words trani meir, which meant sandbank of the cranes.
Thurstaston.
Upon the Vikings expulsion from Ireland in 902, the Norsemen first made their way to the Isle of Anglesey, but were driven out by the King of Gwynedd, Anarwd ap Rhodri.
The Norwegian refugees pleaded with the Anglo Saxon Queen, Aethelflead, daughter of Alfred the Great and widow of King Aethelred, for permission to come to England.
The queen duly granted them the right to stay on the Wirral Peninsula under the proviso that they did not venture into the City of Chester.
The Vikings landed on the Wirral peninsula sometime between 912 - 913 under the leadership of one Ingimund Thorsteinsson, where they made their very first Wirral settlement at present day Thurstaston, then called Turstanetone, Thorstein's settlement.
Within months the Norseman had made the Wirral Peninsula a self governing Viking state, which saw hundreds of former Viking refugees from Ireland, who had previously fled to the Isle of Man and the Scottish Western Isles, come and make their permanent home on the Wirral Peninsula.
Wallasey.
Walha meant stranger or foreigner in the ancient Saxon language and ey meant island. The land that is now the town of Wallasey was once seperated from the rest of the peninsula by the Wallasey Pool, which was made into the Birkenhead Docks in 1820. Today there are four bridges that link the island with the rest of the peninsula across this vast pool.
Willaston.
Comes from the Old English word Wilavaston, which suggests the town - ton - is named after someone called Wilav. Local historians believe that Willaston was once the largest Anglo Saxon settlement in the ancient area known as the Wirral Hundred and was an important, administration area.
