A History of Greasby

Greasby Village c1954

Greasby is in the Domesday Book of 1086 where it is spelt Gravesberie, possibly deriving from the Old English, Graefes-burh – 'the Castle of Graef' or 'stronghold at a wood or grove'. Over the centuries it has been written Greavesberi, Grausberi, Grauesbyri, Grausby, Grauesbi, Greseby, Greisbie and Gresbie. The name was Scandinavianised to Greasby under the influence of Old Norse speakers in Wirral (gräf and býr, with býr meaning 'settlement'. Liverpool Museum reports that the earliest recorded human settlement in the Merseyside area was near Greasby Copse and was established perhaps only 500 years after the melting of the immense glaciers that had covered most of Britain.

During excavations in 1987-1990, in farmland near the Arrowe Brook, evidence was found of a substantial settlement with stone floor, pits, large working hollows and a fireplace plus around 12,500 stone tools which date the site sometime between 8300 BC and 8500 BC. The Dungeon, whose impressive cave resembles a textbook prehistoric dwelling, has provided even more finds. In both cases, tools are made of chert, mined in North Wales. As James Dyer in his book 'Ancient Britain' writes, " it seems almost certainly to be the earliest dwelling found in Britain". This would make it 6,000 years older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids. According to historic-liverpool.co.uk, the Mesolithic site at Greasby Copse contains within its boundaries the 'densest concentration of finds in the county.' 

Before the Romans occupied Chester between 74AD and 383AD the Wirral peninsula, then called Kilgwri, was occupied by a Celtic tribe, the Cornavii. Evidence of a Roman road is continuous from Chester to Willaston (at Willaston it is called Street Hey Lane) and remains have been found in Barnston (behind the church). Excavations in Greasby in 1965 proved that Barker Lane was of Roman origin (official confirmation was not until around 1980) and Roman remains, such as coins, jewellery and weapons, have been found at Meols. It is likely that Greasby was on the important Roman road from Chester to Meols.
After the departure of the Romans, waves of Teutronic tribes - Saxons, Jutes and Angles - entered Britain and by the middle of the seventh century Anglo-Saxons had conquered nearly all of the Wirral peninsula. Norsemen, known today as Vikings, but at the time called Ostmen, raided between 870 and 924 and they eventually settled in the area.
At the time of the Norman invasion in 1066, Greasby was under the control of a man called Dunning, an official bailiff or steward for the landowners, the Earls of Mercia. William the Conquerer gave Cheshire to Hugh de Avranches (also called Hugh Lupus) and he gave Greasby to Nigel de Burcey. Greasby under the ownership of Nigel de Burcy consisted of just eight households. After World War II the area expanded considerably, with significant residential development across previously agricultural land. This has resulted in Greasby becoming contiguous with the nearby settlements of Moreton, Upton and Woodchurch. The population of the village was 123 in 1801, rising to 177 in 1851, 290 in 1901 and significantly increasing to 4,367 in 1951. In the 2001 Census Greasby had 9,830 inhabitants.

Pump Lane, Greasby 1903

 

The Coach and Horses is possibly the oldest pub in the village and was definitely in business by 1832, having been named on the Bryant map of that year, and possibly dating as far back as 1725. Greasby Cross is an iron cross on a sandstone plinth that was placed in the centre of the village in 1862 to replicate an earlier, possibly medieval, cross on the same site. A restored late nineteenth century water pump is on Old Pump Lane. Greasby Hall on Frankby Road is a seventeenth century sandstone house, although remnants of possibly a fifteenth century timber structure survive within and it has been a Grade II listed building since 1953. Manor Farm is a red sandstone and brick building which, with associated barns, are all Grade II listed buildings. It has a date stone inscription of 'IM 1680' and has been previously known as Greasby House and The Manor.

Thanks to community funding through the Western Link project, a £1 billion venture between National Grid and Scottish Power Transmission, in September 2017 led to a series of new boundary signs being unveiled proclaiming the fact that the township of Greasby was one of the oldest in the country. Councillor Jeff Green, chair of the Wirral West Constituency Committee, said, "After 12 years of endeavour, I’m delighted that these place-name signs have at last been realised. Greasby’s amazing history is worth celebrating both locally and nationally." It was after the proposals for boundary signs that the curator of prehistoric archaeology at the Museum of Liverpool, Ron Cowell, raised more cash to carbon date hazelnut shells found in the stone hearth and made the discovery that the remains were dated from around 8,500 BC.

see also:- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2021/04/a-history-of-west-kirby.html