Prenton

For the steamship, see SS Prenton.
Prenton
Prenton
 Prenton shown within Merseyside
Population 14,488 (2011 CensusWard)
OS grid referenceSJ310866
Metropolitan boroughWirral
Metropolitan county Merseyside
RegionNorth West
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town PRENTON
Postcode district CH43
Dialling code 0151
Police Merseyside
Fire Merseyside
Ambulance North West
EU Parliament North West England
UK ParliamentBirkenhead
List of places
UK
England
Merseyside

Coordinates: 53°22′20″N 3°02′19″W / 53.3721°N 3.0385°W / 53.3721; -3.0385

Prenton is a suburb of Birkenhead, Merseyside, on the Wirral Peninsula, England and a 'post town' in the CH postcode area. Administratively, it is also a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of the County Borough of Birkenhead, within the county of Cheshire. At the 2001 Census, the population of Prenton was 14,429, consisting of 6,787 males and 7,642 females,[1] increasing slightly to 14,488 at the 2011 Census (male=6,954:female=7,534).[2]

History

Prenton appears as Prestune in the Domesday Book of 1086, with the name Pren- ton persisting despite the Norman-French accented spelling. Domesday describes Prenton as having a one-league square woodland - which is nine square miles, if the 'League' is taken in its Old English measurement of x3 miles. The size and importance of the wood may reflect the name of the settlement. Pren is Welsh (British) for the material 'wood' and in the name Prenton there is the Saxon suffix tún for a settlement, which suggests a settlement in a wood. The Welsh/British name for Prenton would thus be Prentre which could easily have changed into Prenton following Anglian penetration of the area in the early seventh century. Note that Landican (one mile distant from Prenton) retained its Welsh/British name even through Anglian and subsequent Norse occupation. Domesday also records the presence of a water mill at Prenton, and this has been provisionally identified at Prenton Dell.

Previously a township in Woodchurch Parish, Wirral Hundred, Prenton was added to Birkenhead civil parish in 1933. The population was 81 in 1801, 99 in 1851 and 412 in 1901.[3]

In August 1940, during the Second World War, a house maid working in Prenton became the first fatality of a bombing raid on the Merseyside area.[4][5]

Geography

Prenton Brook merges with the River Fender, at Prenton, within the North Cheshire Trading Estate.

Community

Housing is mostly private, and ranges from terraced properties nearer Birkenhead, to large detached villas in the Mountwood conservation area. The major roads were mostly laid out in the early part of the 20th century. Much of the housing is from the Edwardian era and the 1930s, though there are some late Victorian buildings and some modern property.

The main shopping area is on Woodchurch Road (A552), which includes the Sainsbury's, Aldi, Home Bargains and Rightway supermarkets. However there are many small shops in other locations such as The Dell housing estate or in nearby Oxton. Sited on the junction of Woodchurch Road and Storeton Road is the 'Halfway House' public house, dating back to at least 1879[6] when the area was a rural hamlet.

Prenton's main claim to fame is Prenton Park, which is the ground of Tranmere Rovers Football Club.

Prenton Golf Club is to the south of the suburb.

Famous Prenton residents include Jonathan Taylor the 2011 Cheshire Table Tennis champion.

Education

Prenton includes the all-girls' secondary Prenton High School for Girls and the mixed primary Prenton Primary School.

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ↑ 2001 Census: Prenton, Office for National Statistics, retrieved 2 July 2007
  2. ↑ "Ward population 2011". Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  3. ↑ Cheshire Towns & Parishes: Prenton, GENUKI UK & Ireland Genealogy, retrieved 2 July 2007
  4. ↑ Port Cities: Liverpool 'Blitz' timeline, E. Chambré Hardman Archive, retrieved 17 March 2008
  5. ↑ Boumphrey, Ian (2001), Birkenhead at War: 1939-45, ISBN 1-899241-16-7
  6. ↑ Boumphrey, Ian & Marilyn (1992), Yesterday's Wirral (No.7), ISBN 0-9507255-7-9

Bibliography

External links

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