Population 3,140 (2001 Census) Sovereign state United Kingdom Dialling code 0151 | OS grid reference SJ270850 Post town WIRRAL Local time Thursday 11:02 AM | |
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Weather 13°C, Wind S at 14 km/h, 91% Humidity ISO 3166 code | ||
Thingwall is a village on the Wirral Peninsula, England. The village is situated to the south west of Birkenhead and north east of Heswall. It is part of the Pensby & Thingwall Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and is situated within the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West. At the 2001 Census, Thingwall had 3,140 inhabitants (1,450 males, 1,680 females).
Contents
Map of Thingwall, Birkenhead, Wirral, UK
History
From the Old Norse þing vollr, meaning 'assembly field', the name indicates that it was once the site of a Germanic thing (or þing). Similar place names in the British Isles include Tynwald, Dingwall, and Tingwall; see also Thingvellir in Iceland and Tingvoll in Norway.
The settlement was recorded in the Domesday Book as Tuigvelle, and has been variously known as Fingwalle (1180); Thingale (circa 1250); Thynghwall (1426). Previously a township in Woodchurch Parish, Wirral Hundred, and the county of Chester it was added to Birkenhead county borough in 1933. The population was 52 in 1801, 96 in 1851 and 156 in 1901.
Traditional buildings/walls in the area are constructed of locally quarried yellow sandstone. Several small sandstone quarries once existed in the area including one at the top of the appropriately named Quarry Lane. Little evidence of these quarries now exists as the land has been redeveloped for housing or for the construction of a second above ground fresh water reservoir.
Thingwall Mill was constructed in the eighteenth century on the site of a much older medieval mill. Damaged in a storm in 1897 and subsequently disused, the mill was demolished in 1900. However, remnants of the building, including the original mill stone, can still be found on Mill Road.
Thingwall Hall was built in 1849 for a Liverpool merchant and demolished in 1960. It was part of the Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital from 1917, providing care for long-term patients.
Geography
Thingwall lies on the western side of the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula, 4.7 miles (7.5 km) from the Irish Sea at Hoylake, 2.3 miles (3.7 km) from the Dee Estuary and about 4.1 miles (6.6 km) from the River Mersey at Rock Ferry. Thingwall sits at the western side of the wide and shallow glacial U-shaped valley, formed during the Quaternary Ice Age, between Thurstaston Hill and Storeton Ridge. The underlying bedrock is Triassic sandstone of the Helsby Sandstone Formation and the Wilmslow Sandstone Formation, and Triassic siltstone of the Tarporley Siltstone Formation. This is overlain with boulder clay from the Quaternary Ice Age, similar to the nearby Dee Cliffs, and clay soil. The bedrock is not usually visible, as it is at the summit of Thurstaston Hill.
Government
Thingwall is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in the metropolitan county of Merseyside. The village is part of the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West. The current Member of Parliament is Esther McVey, a Conservative representative.
The village is also part of a local government ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, this being Pensby and Thingwall Ward. Thingwall is represented on Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council by three councillors. These are Phillip Brightmore, Louise Reecejones and Michael Sullivan, who are all Labour councillors. The most recent local elections took place on 22 May 2014.
The electorate numbered 10,520, there was a turnout of 39% and the majority is 162. The result was declared at 12:06.