Thingwall
Template:About Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox UK place Thingwall is a village on the Wirral Peninsula, in Merseyside, England. The village is situated approximately Template:Convert to the south west of Birkenhead and Template:Convert north east of Heswall. Historically part of Cheshire, the area is within the Pensby and Thingwall Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West.
At the 2001 census, Thingwall had 3,140 inhabitants.<ref name=2001census>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref> The 2011 census registered the total ward population at 13,007.<ref>Template:NOMIS2011</ref>
History
From the Old Norse Template:Lang, meaning 'assembly field',<ref name=liverpoolmuseums-placename> Template:Cite web</ref> 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.Template:Sfn A place called "Tingvalla" can also be found in the swedish town Karlstad where it can be dated back to the viking age as a councel- and marketplace.
The settlement was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Tuigvelle,<ref> Template:Cite web</ref> and has been variously known as Fingwalle (1180); Thingale (circa 1250); Thynghwall (1426).<ref name=liverpoolmuseums-placename /> Thingwall was formerly a township in the parish of Woodchurch,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> in Wirral Hundred, in 1866 Thingwall became a separate civil parish, on 1 April 1933 the parish was abolished and merged with Birkenhead St Mary<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and became part of Birkenhead county borough. The population was 52 in 1801, 96 in 1851, 156 in 1901<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and 652 in 1931.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref name=liverpoolmuseums-placename /> However, remnants of the building, including the original millstone, can still be found on Mill Road.
Thingwall Hall was built in 1849 for a Liverpool merchant and demolished in 1960.<ref name=liverpoolmuseums-placename /> It was part of the Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital from 1917, providing care for long-term patients.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
On 1 April 1974, local government reorganisation in England and Wales resulted in most of Wirral, including Thingwall, being transferred from the county of Cheshire to Merseyside.
Geography
Thingwall lies on the western side of the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula, Template:Convert from the Irish Sea at Hoylake, Template:Convert from the Dee Estuary and about Template:Convert 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.
Governance
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 Margaret Greenwood, a Labour Party (UK) representative.
At local government level, the village is part of the Pensby and Thingwall Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Thingwall is represented on Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council by three councillors.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The most recent local elections took place on 6 May 2021.
Notable people
- Alan Gill and David Balfe, English musicians with the late 70s/early 80s bands Radio Blank, Dalek I Love You and The Teardrop Explodes, both raised in Thingwall. David Balfe went on to run his own record labels, to one of which he signed Blur, and later became the inspiration behind their 1995 number one song, "Country House".
- Marty Willson-Piper, English guitarist and songwriter with Australian band The Church, was raised in Thingwall.
- Septimus Francom, English athlete, born in Thingwall.
- George Payne, English footballer, died in Thingwall.