| Halewood | |
|---|---|
 St Nicholas' Church, Halewood | |
  Halewood Location withinMerseyside | |
| Population | 20,116 (2011 census) |
| OS grid reference | SD312122 |
| Civil parish |
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| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LIVERPOOL |
| Postcode district | L25, L26 |
| Dialling code | 0151 |
| Police | Merseyside |
| Fire | Merseyside |
| Ambulance | North West |
| UK Parliament | |
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Halewood is a town andcivil parish in theMetropolitan Borough of Knowsley,Merseyside,England, near the city ofLiverpool's southeastern boundary, bordered by the suburbs ofNetherley,Hunt's Cross andWoolton.[1]
Historically part ofLancashire, Halewood was originally a small village, but later developed into an overspill area of Liverpool.
At the2001 census, the population was 20,309,[2][3][4][5][6]
The township of Halewood lies between the old course of Ditton Brook in the north and Rams Brook in the south. Disputes over the manor lands of Halewood between the Ireland and Holland families began in the 13th century and were to be ongoing for some time. The Ireland family had Hale, most of Halebank and part of North End, while the Holland family who were the superior lords, controlled most of North End and a portion of Halebank. However, the Hollands were based at a Hall in Halebank, while the Irelands' main residence was the 'Hutt' within Halewood.[7]
By the 15th century, Halewood was a separate township from Hale and in 1682, the manor of Halewood became part of the dower of Charlotte, Countess of Derby.[8]
Halewood once had a workhouse for the township's poor that opened in 1723.[9] The workhouse was housed in a cottage rented from the Earl of Derby in 1722. It was run at a cost of 6d per annum, and had space for 40 people. It worked with other parts of the community to give aid to the homeless ('vagrants') and gave the poor a coal allowance and schooling.[10]
In 1839, the Chapel of St Nicholas was built. It was later enlarged in 1847 and in 1868, St Nicholas' Chapel become a rectory and a true Parish Church. A tower and bells were added to the church around 1883. St Nicholas' Church is Grade II listed and has 17 historically significant stained glass windows designed byWilliam Morris (1834–1896), the Englishtextile designer,poet,novelist,translator, andsocialist activist, andEdward Burne-Jones. The church also has a Henry Willis organ installed in 1889.[11]
William Imrie,Liverpoolshipowner who owned theWhite Star Line is buried in Halewood. Imrie died in 1906. A service was held at St Margaret's Church and his body was laid with that of his wife in the family plot in the graveyard of St Nicholas Church. The church also has war memorial, erected in 1921.[12]
Halewood railway station opened in 1988. An earlier station, a few hundred metres further east, on Baileys Lane had closed in 1951. The original Halewood station opened 1874 and first appeared in the timetable in May that year.[13] The railway line in Halewood passed on a three-arched sandstone viaduct. The station was high up on an embankment, and for this reason it was constructed from timber (unlike nearly all of the other CLC stations which were palatial brick structures).[13]
There are a few pubs in Halewood, with the oldest being The Eagle & Child (c.1750). It was renamed The Reverend Plummer in late 2018, but restored back to its original name in mid-2020. Reverend Canon F B Plummer was the vicar of St Nicholas Church from 1902 to 1926, and lost three of his seven sons during theFirst World War. His sons are memorialised on the cenotaph in St Nicholas' churchyard.
Halewood is home to the first war horse grave to be awarded heritage protection. Blackie was a war horse buried at the RSPCA Liverpool Animal Centre, Higher Road, Halewood in 1942. He served with the 275th Brigade Royal Field Artillery 'A' Battery – 55th West Lancashire Division in most of the major battles of the First World War, including Arras, the Somme Offensive and Ypres. Recognising the contribution Blackie made as a horse in service with theBritish Army during theFirst World War, his grave in Halewood became agrade II listed monument in 2017.[14]
Halewood was one of the sites of theSurvey of English Dialects. Despite being close to Liverpool, the speech of Halewood at the time was still traditionalLancashire dialect and notScouse.
Halewood body and assembly facility was originally opened byFord Motor Company in 1963, to build the then small-saloonFord Anglia, reflecting pressure on Ford of Britain's principal plant atDagenham. In March 1963, the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Alderman David John Lewis, drove the first car, an Anglia de Luxe, off the production line at the £30 million plant. The first Ford Anglia to roll of the production line at Halewood was featured as the prize in a competition in the Liverpool Echo newspaper, which was won by a Mr Taylor. Mr Taylor could not drive and sold the car on. Ford bought the car back three years later and donated it to Liverpool City Museum, as World Museum was then known. The car is now housed at theMuseum of Liverpool.[15]
Production of the Anglia ceased in 1967 and the Ford factory began work on the Escort, a car it would produce until the turn of the millennium.[16] The Halewood plant was also used for assembling theFord Corsair between the model's 1964 launch and 1969.
Female machinists at Ford, Halewood downed tools and walked out in solidarity with their southern colleagues in Dagenham in 1968. In the 1960s, the female machinists at Ford were classified within the company pay structure as grade B. That meant they were officially unskilled, despite having to pass tests in order to gain their employment. After years battling for recognition as skilled workers, they finally walked out, bringing car production to halt and becoming the focus of national news stories.[17]
Halewood contains many primary schools and one secondary school, Halewood Academy.
The Halewood plant, which is in Speke, L24 9BJ, is now home to theJaguar Land RoverBody & Assembly facility, which produces theLand Rover Discovery Sport,Range Rover Evoque and until 2009, theJaguar X-Type. On the same site is a large factory owned byFord Motor Company which produces gearboxes for amongst other theFord Transit,Ford Fiesta and theFord Focus.
There is also the Eli Lilly Factory which produces pharmaceuticals.Liverpool City Council have built a new training ground and youth academy forEverton Football Club on the edge of Halewood calledFinch Farm.
Following significant regeneration efforts since 2004, Halewood has turned a corner. Crime has reduced, the performance of local schools has drastically improved (with Halewood Centre for Learning topping the local authority league tables). New housing developments have created high quality housing which has resulted in an influx of professionals. The old sports centre, Bridgefield Forum, has been knocked down and replaced with the state of the art Halewood Leisure Centre. Other housing communities such as Okell Drive and surrounding areas and housing close to the original Halewood village are also thriving. Halewood's largest employer is theJaguar Land Rover factory. In 2012 Halewood's old Raven Court shopping centre was replaced with a 7 million pound shopping centre with new shops including Aldi, Iceland, Card Factory, Tesco Express, Barnardos, Ladbrokes and a newsagent.
Halewood Park Triangle is Halewood's main public park, securing Green Flag Award in 2011. Consisting largely of mature woodland, with ponds, meadow habitat and heathland remnants, the park is a designated Local Wildlife Site. Its layout is closely linked to its railway history. It formed part of the Liverpool Loop Line and the Transpennine Trail now follows the route leading southwards to Halewood Doorstep Green.[18]
On the abolition of theadministrative county of Lancashire in 1974, the urban district was also abolished and its former area was transferred to Merseyside to be combined with that of other districts to form the present-daymetropolitan borough ofKnowsley.[19] The Knowsley borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of,Huyton-with-Roby Urban District,Kirkby Urban District andPrescot Urban District, along with most ofWhiston Rural District (of which Halewood was part) and a small part ofWest Lancashire Rural District, all from theadministrative county ofLancashire.
The Garston and Halewoodconstituency was created in 2010 represented in theHouse of Commons of theUK Parliament since 2010 byMaria Eagle of theLabour Party.
George Harrison, who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist ofthe Beatles, lived in Halewood with his family between 1962 and 1965.
Steve McMahon, the formerEverton andLiverpoolmidfielder, was born in Halewood.[20]
Aaron Cresswell, an English professionalfootballer who plays as aleft back forPremier League clubWest Ham United and theEnglish national team was born and raised in Halewood.
Halewood bornKatarina Johnson-Thompson is an Englishtrack and field athlete specialising in theheptathlon andpentathlon.
Mary Peters was born in Halewood. In the1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Peters competing forGreat Britain and Northern Ireland won the gold medal in the women'spentathlon.
Christine Mcguinness, wife ofPaddy McGuinness, model, former Miss Liverpool, and guest star on the reality TV show The Real Housewives of Cheshire, based onThe Real Housewives franchise is from Halewood.
PlaywrightFred Lawless spent most of his childhood in Halewood and attended St. Mark's Primary School in Leathers Lane.
Edward Whitley was a solicitor andConservative politician who resided at The Grange, Halewood. Whitley was major of Liverpool in 1868.[21] He sat in theHouse of Commons from 1880 to 1892. In 1880 Whitley was elected as one of threeMembers of Parliament (MPs) forLiverpool. He was then elected MP forEverton between 1885 and 1892.[22] There is a statue of WhitleySt George's Hall, Liverpool.
In the sciences, one Halewood family produced two Fellows of the Royal Society:John Hilton Grace, a mathematician; and his nephew,Alan Robertson, an animal geneticist. The Grace family lived at Okells Farm and Court Farm.
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