Moreton 1889

The book, The Hundred of Wirral, by Phillip Sulley, published in 1889, describes Moreton as this:

This was 1900 - the nearest to 1889 as I could find

The township of Moreton cum Lingham, situated 5 miles from Birkenhead, contains 1202 acres, the valuation being £3,103 10s and the population being 424. In 1801 the population was 210, and in 1845, 330, the valuation being £927. There are 88 dwelling houses, three licensed, The Plough Inn & Druids Arms; The Farmers Arms and The Coach & Horses. There is also a police station, and the Hoylake & Deeside Railway Company have a station in the township, but, unfortunately, some distance from the village.

The manor of Moreton, together with the other townships, which formed the ancient ecclesiastical parish of Bidston, formed a part of the Barony of Dunham Massey. It is not mentioned in Domesday. It passed through the possession of the Earls of Derby into that of the Vyney Family and is now the property of Robert C D'Arcy Vyner, esquire. The freeholders attended the manorial court at Bidston, but the last court was held in 1886, at Moreton. Messrs Webster, of Overchurch, also own land and freeholders have lately become very numerous. There are four farms of 100 acres and upwards.

In 1863 the townships of Moreton and Saughall Massey were formed into an ecclesiastical parish under Bidston, a church, vicarage and schools having been erected by the munificence of the late William Inman, of Upton Manor, at a cost of about £8000. The church, Christ Church, is a beautiful structure of the early english order of architecture, consisting of a nave and chancel with two small transepts, forming the vestry and organ chamber. An elegant spire, about 100 feet in height, stands at the north west end of the nave and the base forms a baptistry. There is a small organ. The chancel window of four light is filled in with representations of the nativity, baptism, last supper and crucifixion. The west window of three lights represents Christ and his Disciples. There is a memorial tablet to the founder of the church, who is burind in the churchyard, bearing the inscription:

To William Inman esq

of Upton Manor

The builder of this church

the friend and perpetual benefactor of this parish

The originator of steamship emigration

of

stainless honour

unfailing friendship

generous heart

and

open hand

This tablet is erected by grateful and attached friends

AD 1881

There is also a fine brass to Rosa (d 1879), wife of Thomas Webster, esq, and daughter of William Cliff, esq, of Liverpool - to whose memory her father erected also the Home for Aged Mariners at Egremont. There are 30 seats, of which 153 are free, 71 appropriated, and 96 subject to rent.  In the churchyard are the burial places of the late William Inman, of Upton Manor, and of the Websters, of Upton and Overchurch.

The incumbent of the parish is the Rev Matthew Fearnley M.A. to whom the tithes are paid, the representatives of the late William Inman being the patrons. The value of the living is returned to the clergy list as £208, and the population of the parish, 615. The average attendance at the schools is about 100.

The was anciently a small chapel of ease at the foot of Chapel Hill*, which was pulled down, according to Bishop Gastrell, about the year 1690. No trace of it remains, the buildings being nearly all modern. The township has been greatly improved of late, especially by the erection of the church and schools, and it no longer merits the description of it by Mortimer in 1845, which is intersting for comparison "it is situated in a dreary flat, close to the shores of the sea, with roads exceedingly bad, and a bridge as dangerous to travellers as it is disgraceful to the county. It is, in every point of view, an extremely poor village"

The changes of the last half century have been truly great and happy.

*Chapel Hill was in the region of Digg Lane.