Hooton, Cheshire

Hooton

The Hooton public house
Hooton
Hooton shown within Cheshire
OS grid reference SJ363784
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town ELLESMERE PORT
Postcode district CH66
Dialling code 0151
Police Cheshire
Fire Cheshire
Ambulance North West
EU Parliament North West England
UK Parliament

Hooton is a village near the town of Ellesmere Port within the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England.

History

In 1070 William the Conqueror granted the lands of Hooton to Adam de Aldithly. The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Hotone in the hundred of Wilaveston[1] (later called the Wirral Hundred) and under the ownership of Richard de Vernon.[2] Eventually the lands passed to the Stanley family through a series of marriages. After the Battle of Bosworth, Hooton had a new hall and the first Lord Derby in Lancashire.

Sir William Stanley obtained a licence to crenellate in 1487 but built a half timbered manor house in 1488 which survived until 1788 when it was demolished. The old house was replaced by a mansion called "Hooton Hall", built from local stone from the quarries at Storeton. Hooton Hall was designed by the architect James Wyatt in the Italian Palladian style for the fifth Baronet, Sir William Stanley. The family sold the estate in the nineteenth century after Sir Massey Stanley had gone bankrupt due to his high living. It was used during the First World War as a military hospital, but was demolished in 1935.

In 1917 RAF Hooton Park airfield was built with 3 double Belfast Hangars to train pilots for World War I from Canada and the United States. The Second World War saw the airfield utilised as a military base, and three RAF auxiliary squadrons were based there until disbandment in 1957. Much of the airfield (including the site of the Hall) was transformed in 1962 into a factory for Vauxhall Motors which as of 2015 is home to the Vauxhall Astra range of cars. In 1990 the former RAF base was leased by Vauxhall to a charity called The Griffin Trust which managed the site until 2000 when The Hooton Park Trust was formed and tasked with restoring the Grade II* listed hangars.

Until 1933, Hooton was part of the parish of Eastham in the Wirral Hundred. The population was 91 in 1801, 110 in 1851 and 200 in 1901.[3]

Transport

Hooton railway station lies on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network with frequent electric trains to Liverpool, Chester and Ellesmere Port, and is the junction of the lines to Chester and Ellesmere Port. The trackbed of the former GWR/LM&SR Joint branch line from Hooton to West Kirby now forms the Wirral Country Park.

Hooton is near the M53 motorway and the A41 trunk road, between Birkenhead and Chester, passes through the area.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Place: Hooton". Open Domesday. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  2. ↑ Cheshire A-K: Hooton, Domesday Book Online, retrieved 3 February 2009
  3. ↑ Cheshire Towns & Parishes: Hooton, GENUKI UK & Ireland Genealogy, retrieved 9 June 2008
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