Huyton

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See also Huyton (UK Parliament constituency)
Huyton
Image:dot4gb.svg
Statistics
Population: 54,766 (with Roby) (1992 census)
Ordnance Survey
OS grid reference: SJ4692
Administration
Metropolitan Borough: Knowsley
Metropolitan county: Merseyside
Region: North West England
Constituent country: England
Sovereign state: United Kingdom
Other
Ceremonial county: Merseyside
Historic county: Lancashire
Services
Police force: Merseyside Police
Fire and rescue: {{{Fire}}}
Ambulance: North West
Post office and telephone
Post town: Liverpool
Postal district: L36
Dialling code: 0151
Politics
UK Parliament:
European Parliament: North West England

Huyton is a suburban town on the eastern outskirts of Liverpool in the metropolitan county of Merseyside, England. It has close associations with its neighbour, Roby.

Contents

[edit] Local Government

Huyton was an Ancient Parish in the county of Lancashire which, in the mid 19th century, contained Croxteth Park, Knowsley and Tarbock, in addition to the township of Huyton-with-Roby. It was part of West Derby (hundred), an ancient subdivision of Lancashire, covering the south-west of the county.

Huyton-with-Roby Urban District Council crest
Enlarge
Huyton-with-Roby Urban District Council crest

In 1894 the township was included in the Huyton with Roby Urban District. Throughout the 1930s a number of Liverpool ‘overspill’ housing estates were built around Huyton-with-Roby. By 1950 the population was over 55,000, the vast majority of whom had moved to the area from the city of Liverpool. As a consequence the area was increasingly thought of as a suburb of Liverpool. In 1974 Huyton-with-Roby became part of the new metropolitan borough of Knowsley.

Huyton-with-Roby is traditionally understood to contain Huyton Park, Roby, Longview, Huyton Quarry, Page Moss, Woolfall Heath, Bowring Park, Fincham, and Court Hey.

Today this area is divided into seven local government wards: Longview, Page Moss, Roby, St. Bartholomews, St. Gabriel's, St. Michael's, and Swanside.

[edit] History

[edit] Medieval

Both Huyton and Roby are mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, Huyton being spelt Hitune.

[edit] Industrial Development

Huyton-with-Roby is situated near to the south western extremity of the former Lancashire coalfield. In the 19th century Welsh immigrants settled in the area to work in nearby colleries. A Welsh-speaking Non-conformist chapel (Calvinistic Methodists) was founded in Wood Lane, Huyton Quarry. Nearby Cronton Colliery finally ceased production in March 1984, shortly before the Great UK miners' strike (1984–1985). Both Huyton and Roby have stations on the famous Liverpool and Manchester Railway. (The station at Huyton Quarry closed in 1958 and today only the main station building remains). The railway’s construction was supervised by George Stephenson and, when it opened in 1830, it became the world’s first regular passenger train service.

[edit] Second World War

During the Second World War, Huyton suffered bombing from the Luftwaffe. Some Huytonians were killed or injured but the scale of destruction was nowhere close to that experienced by Liverpool, Bootle and Birkenhead. Unlike Liverpool, school children were not evacuated from Huyton but schools and homes were provided with air-raid shelters.

Huyton was also host to three wartime camps: an internment camp, a prisoner of war camp and a base for American service men (G.I.s).

The internment camp, one of the biggest in the country, was created to accommodate those 'enemy aliens' deemed a potential threat to national security. Churchill's demand to 'collar the lot' meant that around 27,000 people ended up being interned in the UK. Unfortunately, many internees were refugees from the Nazis, including a large number of artists attacked for their 'degeneracy' in a infamous Nazi art exhibition in 1937 (see Degenerate art). Huyton internees included artists (Martin Bloch, Hugo Dachinger, and Walter Nessler - see external link), dancers Kurt Jooss, musicians, and composers (e.g. Hans Gal - see external link). More than 40 per cent of Huyton's internees were over 50 years old.

The camp, first occupied in May 1940, was formed around several streets of new, empty council houses and flats, and then made secure with high barbed wire fencing. Twelve internees were allocated to each house, but overcrowding resulted in many sleeping in tents. Initally the camp was only meant to hold the internees until they could be shipped to the Isle of Man. However, largely in response to the torpedoing of the transport ship 'The Arandora Star', with the loss of nearly 700 people, the deportations ended. Most of the internees were released long before the camp closed in 1942. The camp was sited in and around what became known as the 'Bluebell estate' and many of the streets were given names of the great battles of the 1939 - 45 War.

The Prisoner of War camp only closed in 1948. Many of its inmates 'went native', stayed in Britain and married local women. Among those in the Huyton camp was Bert Trautmann who later went on to be goalkeeper for Manchester City F.C.

From 1944 American servicemen were temporarily stationed in Huyton. Older Huytonians still recall the tensions between black and white G.I.s which resulted in a night known as ‘the shoot out at the Eagle and Child’ (local pub) (source: The BBC).

[edit] Beatles Connection

Huyton-with-Roby has several Beatles connections. As The Quarrymen, the Fab Four played the MPTE Social Club in Finch Lane [1]. The Beatles also played 15 times in a hall in Page Moss (Hambleton Hall, St David Road - later became a Probation Office) between January 1961 and January 1962 [2]. On 21st March 1961, The Swinging Blue Jeans, fronted by Huyton-born Ray Ennis (born Raymond Vincent Ennis, 26th May 1942), introduced the Beatles to their first ever Cavern Club evening slot [3]. Paul McCartney’s auntie Jin lived in Dinas Lane. In 1963, this was the site of Paul’s eventful 21st birthday party, at which John Lennon got drunk and beat up a local DJ for intimating he was a homosexual [4]. Paul’s mother is buried at Yew Street Cemetery in Finch Lane [5] and Huyton Parish Church graveyard is the final resting place of the Beatles’ original bass guitarist, Huytonian Stuart Sutcliffe [6]. In late 1999 George Harrison survived a knife attack by an intruder in his home, which mirrored John Lennon's murder. On the evening of 30 December 1999 Michael Abram, a Huyton resident, broke into the Harrison's Friar Park home in Henley-on-Thames, and stabbed George multiple times, ultimately puncturing his lung. Harrison and his wife, Olivia, fought the intruder and detained him for the police. 35-year-old Abram, who believed he was possessed by Harrison and was on a "mission from God" to kill him, was later acquitted on grounds of insanity.

[edit] Notable music

  • Black - 7 UK Top 70 singles between 1986 and 1991 including 'Wonderful Life' (No.8) [7].
  • The Crescent - 3 UK Top 70 singles between May 2002 and Sept. 2002 including 'On The Run' (No.49) [8].
  • The La's - 4 UK Top 70 singles between 1990 and 1997 including 'There She Goes' (No.13) [9].
  • Space - 8 UK Top 30 hit singles between 1996 and 1998 including 'Avenging Angels' (No.6) [10].

[edit] Recent Events

Huyton was brought to national attention in 2005 after the racist murder of Anthony Walker in McGoldrick Park.

[edit] Transport

Huyton is just located to the west of the M57 motorway which marks its border. Liverpool city centre is six miles to the west via the M62 motorway). Huyton railway station, formerly called Huyton Gate, is served by regular City Line services to and from Liverpool, St Helens, Wigan and further afield.

[edit] Education

Huyton has one college, Knowsley Community College, four secondary schools and seventeen primary schools.

[edit] Amenities

The shopping centre of Huyton is still referred to by its people as 'the village', which dates back to the days when the centre was a rural village community. The area recently had a new Asda Walmart complex built close to "the village", which is one of the largest in Europe. It also has an Air Training Corps, 1982 (Huyton) Squadron. Huyton has a King George's Field in memorial to King George V.

[edit] Sport

Huyton has a registered cricket club (founded in the mid 19th century), located off Huyton Lane, and the town has produced at least one first class cricketer: Reginald Moss.

Huyton also had a professional rugby league club from 1968 to 1985. It was formed from Liverpool Stanley (1934-1951) and Liverpool City (rugby league) (1906-1907,1951-1968). Huyton struggled in the second division of the Rugby Football League until 1985, when they were replaced by Runcorn Highfield. This team, later renamed Highfield, struggled on near the bottom of the pro game - in 1995-1996 they gained just 1 point all season and changed their name to Prescot Panthers. Prescot finally disappeared at the end of the 1997 season (see List of defunct rugby league clubs).

(Huytonians still interested in supporting pro rugby league have the choice of either St Helens RFC and Widnes Vikings, both of whom are 6 miles away from Huyton).

Huyton has been much more successful in producing professional footballers. In recent years the town has produced two outstanding, combative and skilful, midfield England internationals: Peter Reid (Everton FC) and Steven Gerrard (Liverpool FC). Other footballers include: Joey Barton, Craig Hignett, Tony Hibbert, David Nugent, Leon Osman, John Relish, Greg Tansey, and Lee Trundle.

Despite producing so many pro footballers, Huyton has never been able to sustain a semi-pro club for long. Nearby Kirkby Town changed their name to Knowsley United F.C. in 1988 and re-located to Alt Park, the former home of Huyton Rugby League Club. In United's first five seasons they were hugely successful. In 1988-89 they finished runners-up in the North West Counties Football League. The following season they were champions and won promotion to the Northern Premier League Division One. In 1992-93 United were runners-up and promoted to the Premier Division. The following season they fought their way to the first round proper of the F.A. Cup, only to be beaten by Carlisle United at home. Unfortunately the momentum did not last and Knowsley United ended up as a senior semi-pro side in 1998.

(Huytonians wanting to support a local semi-pro outfit have Prescot Cables F.C. in the Northern Premier League (Premier Division) less than 2 miles away).

[edit] Famous people

Because Huyton does not have its own hospital, most of its famous sons and daughters will have been born elsewhere, usually in Liverpool or Whiston.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Harry, Bill (2000) The Beatles Encyclodedia, Virgin Publishing, London, p.782;
  2. ^ Harry, Bill (2000) The Beatles Encyclodedia, Virgin Publishing, London, p.474;
  3. ^ Harry, Bill (2000) The Beatles Encyclodedia, Virgin Publishing, London, p.1055;
  4. ^ Harry, Bill (2000) The Beatles Encyclodedia, Virgin Publishing, London, p.340;
  5. ^ Harry, Bill (2000) The Beatles Encyclodedia, Virgin Publishing, London, p.746;
  6. ^ Harry, Bill (2000) The Beatles Encyclodedia, Virgin Publishing, London, p.536;
  7. ^ Strong, M.C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, Edinburgh, p. 229;
  8. ^ Strong, M.C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, Edinburgh, p.692;
  9. ^ Strong, M.C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, Edinburgh, p.393;
  10. ^ Strong, M.C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, Edinburgh, p.989;

[edit] Wikipedia link

Famous People from Huyton

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 53°24′N 2°51′W

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