OS grid reference SJ227867 Country England Post town WIRRAL Local time Saturday 11:39 AM Dialling code 0151 | Region North West Sovereign state United Kingdom Postcode district CH48 Metropolitan county Merseyside | |
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Weather 12°C, Wind W at 32 km/h, 87% Humidity ISO 3166 code Metropolitan Borough of Wirral | ||
Grange is a small suburb on the Wirral Peninsula, England. Contiguous with West Kirby and Newton, it is part of the West Kirby & Thurstaston Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral.
Contents
Map of Grange, Birkenhead, Wirral, UK
History
According to the Domesday Book, Grange (also called Great Caldy, or Caldy Grange) was one of the estates owned by Robert de Rodelent. It later passed into the hands of Basingwerk Abbey, until the dissolution of the Monasteries. In the seventeenth century it became the property of William Glegg who also founded Calday Grange Grammar School, and it remained the property of the Gleggs until 1785, when it was bought by John Leigh, a Liverpool solicitor and property speculator, who refounded the grammar school. He passed it on to his son John Shaw Leigh who later went on to buy Luton Hoo. By the twentieth century the area was in the hands of the trustees of Madame de Falbe, his son John Gerard Leigh's widow, who had remarried to Christian de Falbe, the Danish ambassador.
Until 1 April 1974, Grange, along with the rest of the Wirral, was part of the county of Cheshire.
Geography
Grange is in the north-western part of the Wirral Peninsula, approximately 2.5 km (1.6 mi) south-east of the Irish Sea at Hoylake, less than 2 km (1.2 mi) east of the Dee Estuary at West Kirby and 10 km (6.2 mi) west-south-west of the River Mersey at Seacombe. Grange is situated on the eastern side of the ridge which includes Grange Hill, with the area at an elevation of between 13–54 m (43–177 ft) above sea level.
Education
Founded in 1636 local landowner William Glegg founded Calday Grange Grammar School on the present site on Grammar School Lane off Column Road. It was established as a free grammar school is Wirral’s oldest surviving grammar school. Glegg’s vision that it should have ‘continuance and endure for evermore’ has certainly been fulfilled and over the years, his little 12 pupil school has been transformed into a dynamic establishment of over 1300 students – which includes over 400 male and female students in the Sixth Form.
Shooting
Grange Rifle and Pistol Club is located in an old quarry, next to the Grange Water Works on Column Road. The private members club was established over 50 years ago and offers many types of shooting including air rifle/pistol, black powder pistol, gallery rifle, smallbore rifle, long barreled revolver, fullbore rifle and archery.
Swimming
Near the grammar school on Gourley's Lane is Calday Grange Swimming Pool which is home to West Kirby Amateur Swimming Club.
Road
The B5139 passes around and through Grange to the north. The B5139 has junctions with the B5192 Saughall Massie Road and the A540 Column Road, the latter of which runs along the western side of Grange.
Rail
West Kirby railway station is the nearest to Grange, less than 1 km (0.62 mi) to the west. This station is on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network, with frequent services to Liverpool.