Raby, Merseyside

Coordinates: 53°18′43″N 3°02′17″W / 53.312°N 3.038°W / 53.312; -3.038
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Raby
Hamlet
The Wheatsheaf Inn, The Green, Raby
Raby is located in Merseyside
Raby
Raby
Location within Merseyside
Population100 (2001 Census)[1]
OS grid referenceSJ309799
• London175 mi (282 km)[2] SE
Metropolitan borough
Metropolitan county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townWIRRAL
Postcode districtCH63
Dialling code0151
ISO 3166 codeGB-WRL
PoliceMerseyside
FireMerseyside
AmbulanceNorth West
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Merseyside
53°18′43″N 3°02′17″W / 53.312°N 3.038°W / 53.312; -3.038

Raby (locally /ˈrbi/) is a hamlet and former civil parish, in the Wirral district, in the county of Merseyside, England, on the Wirral Peninsula. It is located within the Clatterbridge Ward. The settlement is within the parliamentary constituency of Wirral South.

Raby is situated approximately 4 km (2.5 mi) to the north east of the town of Neston and 5 km (3.1 mi) south west of Bebington, and close to Merseyside's boundary with Cheshire. The hamlet of Raby Mere is located 3.6 km (2.2 mi) to the east.

At the time of the United Kingdom Census 2001, Raby had a total population of 100.[1]

History[edit]

The name is of Viking origin, deriving from the Old Norse Ra-byr, meaning 'boundary settlement'.[3] It is believed to be so named because it lay close to the boundary which existed in the 10th and 11th centuries between the Norse colony in Wirral to the north, centred on Thingwall, and Anglo-Saxon Mercia to the south.[4] It was part of the Wirral Hundred.

Raby was formerly a township in the parish of Neston,[5] From 1866 Raby was a civil parish in its own right. In 1933 the parish was incorporated into the urban district of Bebington and was thereafter administered as part of that town (which became a municipal borough in 1937).[6] The civil parish continued to exist until 1974, but as an urban parish it had no parish council.[7] The parish had a population of 131 in 1801, 195 in 1851, 350 in 1901 and 308 in 1951.[8] The borough of Bebington was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 and incorporated into the new metropolitan borough of Wirral and Merseyside. No successor parish was created for the former borough and so it became an unparished area, directly administered by Wirral Council.

Geography[edit]

Raby is in the central part of the Wirral Peninsula, approximately 12.5 km (7.8 mi) south-south-east of the Irish Sea at Leasowe Lighthouse, 3.5 km (2.2 mi) east-north-east of the Dee Estuary at Parkgate and about 5.5 km (3.4 mi) west of the River Mersey at Eastham. The hamlet is situated at an elevation of around 50 m (160 ft) above sea level.[9]

Community[edit]

Raby is a rural community, comprising a few houses, two farms and an old, thatched public house, the 'Wheatsheaf', which is well known in the locality. The pub is owned by the Leverhulme Estate, which owns much land locally.

Raby, along with the neighbouring villages of Brimstage and Thornton Hough, are within an Area of Special Landscape Value, a protective designation to preserve the character and appearance of the area. This is part of the Wirral Unitary Development Plan of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral.[10]

The parish church is All Saints Church, Thornton Hough. The local primary school is Thornton Hough Primary.

Transport[edit]

Road[edit]

Raby is accessible from the A540 to the south-west, the B5151 to the east and the B5136 to the north.

Bus[edit]

Services operating in the Raby Area as of 2015:

Number Route Operator Days of operation
85 Clatterbridge Hospital - Heswall Avon Buses Monday - Saturday

Rail[edit]

The nearest station to Raby is Bromborough railway station, about 3.5 km (2.2 mi) to the east. This station is on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network, with frequent services to Liverpool, Chester and Ellesmere Port.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Wirral 2001 Census: Raby". Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Retrieved 21 February 2008. [dead link]
  2. ^ "Coordinate Distance Calculator". boulter.com. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  3. ^ Sulley, Philip (1889). The Hundred Of Wirral.
  4. ^ Roberts, Stephen J. (2002). A History of Wirral. The History Press Ltd. ISBN 978-1-86077-512-3.
  5. ^ "History of Raby, in Wirral and Cheshire". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  6. ^ "Relationships and changes Raby CP/Tn through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  7. ^ "Wirral Registration District". UKBMD. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  8. ^ "Raby". GENUKI UK & Ireland Genealogy. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  9. ^ "SRTM & Ordnance Survey Elevation Data in PHP". Retrieved 1 November 2016.
  10. ^ "Brimstage, Raby & Thornton Hough: A Strategy for Change Management" (PDF). Thornton Hough Community Trust. p. 28. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2007. Retrieved 29 August 2007.

Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]