Hoylake

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Hoylake


Hoylake beach, looking towards Hilbre Island.
Hoylake (Merseyside)
Hoylake

Hoylake shown within Merseyside
Population 5,710 (2001 Census)[1]
OS grid reference SJ215888
Metropolitan borough Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
Metropolitan county Merseyside
Region North West
Constituent country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town WIRRAL
Postcode district CH47
Dialling code 0151 632
Police Merseyside
Fire Merseyside
Ambulance North West
European Parliament North West England
UK Parliament Wirral West
List of places: UK • England • Merseyside

Coordinates: 53°23′25″N 3°10′51″W / 53.3903, -3.1808

Hoylake is a seaside town on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England. It is located at the north western corner of the peninsula, near to the town of West Kirby and where the River Dee estuary meets the Irish Sea. As of the 2001 Census, the population of Hoylake was 5,710[1] of a total population of 13,042, as part of the Hoylake & Meols local government ward.[2]

Contents

[edit] History

In 1690, William III set sail from Hoylake with a 10,000-strong army to Ireland, where his army was to take part in the Battle of the Boyne. The location of departure remains known as Kings Gap.[3]

The present day township grew up in the nineteenth century around the small fishing village of Hoose.[4] The name Hoylake was derived from Hoyle Lake, a channel of water between Hilbre Island and Dove Point.[5] Protected by a wide sandbank known as Hoyle Bank and with a water depth of about 20 feet, it provided a safe anchorage for ships too large to sail up the Dee to Chester.[6]

To facilitate safe access into the Hoylake anchorage, two lighthouses were constructed in the 1760s. The lower light was a wooden structure that could be moved according to differing tides and shifting sands to remain aligned to the upper light, which was a permanent brick building. Both of these structures were rebuilt a century later.[7] The upper lighthouse, consisting of an octagonal brick tower, last shone on 14 May 1886 and is now part of a private residence in Valentia Road.[7] The lower lighthouse, closer to the shore in Alderley Road, was deactivated in 1908[8] and demolished in 1922.

The Royal Hotel was built by Sir John Stanley in 1792, with the intention of developing the area as a holiday resort. The numerous steam packet vessels sailing between Liverpool and North Wales which called at the hotel provided valuable patronage. By the mid-nineteenth century a racecourse was laid out in the grounds of the hotel. The hotel building was demolished in the 1950s.[9]

Hoylake's lido, located on the promenade, was opened in June 1913 and rebuilt in the late 1920s. In 1976, the Hoylake Pool and Community Trust took over the running of the facility from Wirral Borough Council.[6] The baths finally closed in 1981.[10]

The Hoylake and West Kirby War Memorial is a notable local landmark, as it was designed in 1922 by the British sculptor Charles Sargeant Jagger who was responsible for a number of war memorials around the world, including the Royal Artillery Memorial at Hyde Park Corner in London.

[edit] Civic history

The township of Hoose was part of the West Kirby Parish, Wirral Hundred. It became part of Hoylake cum West Kirby civil parish in 1894. The population was 60 in 1801, 589 in 1851 and 2,701 in 1901. [11]

Hoylake had its own urban district council and mayor, until 1 April 1974 when it was absorbed into the newly created Metropolitan Borough of Wirral when local government reorganisation took place across the UK. At that point, Hoylake ceased to be in Cheshire, and became part of the nascent county of Merseyside. This did not please some Wirral residents who have since campaigned unsuccessfully for a return to Cheshire, although some have been mollified by the more recent change in postcode district from L47 to CH47.

[edit] Community

Hoylake is a largely residential area and there is an active nightlife in the town centre, which is located at the original village of Hoose.[4]

The town supports a permanent lifeboat station, manned by the RNLI. Initially founded in 1803 by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, it is one of the oldest in the country.[12] There are also sailing and sand yachting clubs.

Due to the silting up of the Dee estuary, the traditional industry of fishing is no longer economically viable and has largely died out.[citation needed]

[edit] Transport

[edit] Railways

Hoylake has two railway stations: Hoylake and Manor Road, both of which are situated on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network.

[edit] Sport

[edit] Golf

Hoylake is the home of the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, built in 1869 on the site of the Royal Hotel racecourse.[4] It is the second oldest golf links in England, predated only by the Royal North Devon Golf Club, in Westward Ho!, Devon.[13] It has hosted many major tournaments such as The Open Championship and the Walker Cup. The club is often referred to as "Hoylake". It hosted the Open again in July 2006, after a gap of almost 40 years, with Tiger Woods earning the Claret Jug for the second year in a row.

Hoylake-born amateur golfer John Ball Jnr. won the Open in 1890, becoming the first Englishman to do so. Another local amateur, Harold Hilton became Open champion two years later. He won again in 1897 at his home club of Royal Liverpool.

[edit] Rugby Union

Hoylake RFC rugby club was founded in 1922. Its predecessor, connected with the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, had been founded in the 1890s. British Open golf champion Harold Hilton was also captain of the rugby team for the 1890/91 season. [9]

[edit] Sand Yachting

Hoylake is one of the premier sites for Sand Yachting in Britain[13], with banks around a quarter of a mile offshore. The town's beach was the venue for the European Sand Yacht Championships, which officially opened on 16 September 2007.[14].

[edit] Notable people

The former Olympic Games cyclist Chris Boardman (1968- ) was born in Hoylake. Helen Forrester (1919- ), author of Twopence to Cross the Mersey was also born in the town.[15]

Former actress and current (as of 2007) Labour MP Glenda Jackson (1936- ), James Bond actor Daniel Craig (1968- ) and pianist Stephen Hough (1961- ) grew up in Hoylake. James Skelly, Ian Skelly, Bill Ryder-Jones, Nick Power, Lee Southall, Paul Duffy, and John Duffy, from the band The Coral, were also raised there.

John Lennon's first wife Cynthia moved from Liverpool to Hoylake after their divorce in 1968. Cynthia had also grown up in Hoylake as a child. Their son Julian Lennon (1963- ) spent much of his early life in Hoylake.[16]

In 1939, comedian Eric Morecambe won a local amateur talent contest, held at Hoylake's Kingsway Cinema. His prize was an audition before impresario Jack Hylton and subsequently where he first met his future comedy partner Ernie Wise.[17]

Mike Rutherford (1950- ) of Genesis was a boarder at The Leas School, formerly on Meols Drive.

Curtis Warren (1963- ), well-known Merseyside figure and formerly featured in the Sunday Times Rich List, owns a house on Meols Drive.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Wirral 2001 Census: Hoylake. Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Retrieved on 23 December 2007.
  2. ^ 2001 Census: Hoylake & Meols Ward. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved on 20 February 2007.
  3. ^ Walker Art Gallery (Frieze of King William III setting sail to Ireland from Hoylake). International Centre for Digital Content. Retrieved on 22 February 2007.
  4. ^ a b c Hoylake. Merseyside Views. Retrieved on 1 May 2007.
  5. ^ Young, D., & Young, M. Pictures From The Past: Hoylake, Meols & West Kirby'
  6. ^ a b Hoylake History. HoylakeAndWestKirby.com. Retrieved on 23 December 2007.
  7. ^ a b Hoylake Lighthouse. Retrieved on 23 December 2007.
  8. ^ Hoylake Low Light. lighthousedepot.com. Retrieved on 23 December 2007.
  9. ^ a b Hoylake RFC History. Hoylake RFC. Retrieved on 8 May 2007.
  10. ^ Hoylake's lido life discovered. BBC Liverpool. Retrieved on 23 December 2007.
  11. ^ Cheshire Towns & Parishes: Hoose (Hoylake). GENUKI UK & Ireland Genealogy. Retrieved on 1 May 2007.
  12. ^ History. Hoylake Lifeboat website. Retrieved on 23 December 2007.
  13. ^ a b A-Hoylake!. BBC Sport. Retrieved on 15 April 2008.
  14. ^ Sand yacht championships to start. BBC News (16 September 2007). Retrieved on 23 December 2007.
  15. ^ Helen Forrester. Fantastic Fiction. Retrieved on 29 August 2007.
  16. ^ Julian Lennon Biography. lennon.net. Retrieved on 1 May 2007.
  17. ^ Morecambe, Gary (2001). Morecambe & Wise - Behind The Sunshine. Robson Books, p19. ISBN 1-86105-462-9. 

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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