Caldy (historically spelt Calday) is a small, affluent village on the

Wirral Peninsula The Wirral Peninsula (), known locally as the Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide, and is bounded by the Dee Estuary to the west, the Mersey Estuary to the east, and Liverpo ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

, England, south-east of

West Kirby West Kirby () is a coastal town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. In the north west of the Wirral Peninsula and at the mouth of the River Dee, the town is contiguous with Hoylake. It lies within the historic county bo ...

. It is part of the West Kirby & Thurstaston

Ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

of the

Metropolitan Borough of Wirral The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, in North West England. It has a population of (), and encompasses of the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula. Major settlements include Birkenhead, Wallasey, Bebingt ...

, and is in the parliamentary constituency of

Wirral West Wirral West is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Matthew Patrick of the Labour Party since 2024. Constituency profile The constituency is one of four covering the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. It in ...

. At the time of the 2001 Census, Caldy had 1,290 inhabitants, of a total ward population of 12,869.

History

It was first mentioned in the ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

'' in 1086 as being owned by Hugh of Mere and being named ‘Calders’. Nearby is a large area of

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

land called Caldy Hill. Many of the houses and walls in the village centre are built from the local red

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

. Caldy was a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in the West Kirby

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of the

Wirral Hundred The Hundred of Wirral is the ancient administrative area for the Wirral Peninsula. Its name is believed to have originated from the ''Hundred of Wilaveston'', the historic name for Willaston, Cheshire West, Willaston, which was an important asse ...

. The population was 92 in 1801, 142 in 1851, 202 in 1901 and 607 in 1951. Until the twentieth century, Caldy was effectively a farming and agricultural village. However, The Caldy Manor Estates Company divided the land into smaller building plots, and from this one of the north of England's most exclusive residential villages emerged. In 1866 Caldy became a separate

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, between 1894 and 1933, Caldy was part of

Wirral Rural District Wirral Rural District was a rural district on the Wirral Peninsula in Cheshire, England from 1894 to 1933. It was created under the Local Government Act 1894 from the Wirral Rural Sanitary District. From the beginning of the twentieth centu ...

, then subsequently

Wirral Urban District Wirral Urban District was an urban district in Cheshire, England from 1933 to 1974. It was created from part of the disbanded Wirral Rural District and covered an area on the south-west side of the Wirral Peninsula. The largest settlement was ...

. On 1 April 1974 the parish was abolished and local government reorganisation in England and Wales resulted in most of Wirral, including Caldy, transfer from the county of

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

to Merseyside.

Caldy railway station Caldy railway station was a station on the single track Hooton to West Kirby branch of the Birkenhead Railway, on the Wirral Peninsula, England. History The Birkenhead Railway, owned jointly by the Great Western Railway (GWR) and London and N ...

was on the Hooton to West Kirby branch of the

Chester and Birkenhead Railway Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West and Chester. It is ...

. The station closed in 1954 and the trackbed is now the 'Wirral Way' of

Wirral Country Park Wirral Country Park lies on the Wirral Peninsula, England; it is split between the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in the county of Merseyside and in the borough of Cheshire West & Chester in Cheshire. It was the first designated country park in ...

Geography

Caldy is on the western side of the Wirral Peninsula, on the eastern side of the

Dee Estuary The Dee Estuary () is a large estuary by means of which the River Dee flows into Liverpool Bay. The estuary starts near Shotton after a five-mile (8 km) 'canalised' section and the river soon swells to be several miles wide forming t ...

. The village is approximately south-south-east of the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

Hoylake Hoylake () is a coast, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is at the north west of the Wirral Peninsula, near West Kirby and where the River Dee, Wales, River Dee meets the Irish Sea. At the 2021 United K ...

and about west-south-west of the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is a major river in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it h ...

at Woodside. The centre of the village has an elevation of about above sea level.

Education

Calday Grange Grammar School Calday Grange Grammar School, initialised as CGGS and commonly known as Calday, is a non-denominational, Selective school#United Kingdom, selective Single-sex education, boys' Grammar schools in the United Kingdom, grammar school situated on Ca ...

is between Caldy and West Kirby, with

West Kirby Grammar School West Kirby Grammar School (abbreviated to WKGS) is a non-denominational selective state grammar school, founded in 1913, with academy status in West Kirby on the Wirral Peninsula, England. The school admits girls from age 11 to 18, with boys ...

and

Hilbre High School Hilbre High School is a co-educational secondary school and sixth form with academy status located in Newton, a suburb of West Kirby on the Wirral Peninsula, England. It is named after the small Hilbre Islands archipelago in the nearby Local N ...

nearby.

Sport

Caldy Rugby Football Club Caldy Rugby Club is an England, English rugby union club which play in the RFU Championship, the English rugby union system, second tier of English rugby, following their promotion from National League 1 at the end of 2021–22. Their home stadi ...

, a

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

club, play at

Paton Field Paton Field is located on Telegraph Road, in Thurstaston, Wirral Peninsula, England. The stadium is the home of Caldy RFC. External links Official Caldy RFC website
Buildings and structures in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral Rugby ...

in nearby

Thurstaston Thurstaston ( ) is a village and former civil parish, in the Wirral district, in Merseyside, England, on the Wirral Peninsula. It is part of the West Kirby and Thurstaston Ward and the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West. The village l ...

. The team currently compete in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

, the second tier of the rugby union pyramid in England. Caldy Cricket Club play at

in nearby

in the summer months. They currently field four Saturday teams in the

Liverpool and District Cricket Competition The Love Lane Liverpool and District Cricket Competition is regarded as the top level of competition for recreational club cricket in the Liverpool area and since 2000 has been a designated ECB Premier League. The Competition operates a three d ...

Transport

Road

Caldy is at the junction of the B5140 and B5141 roads, and is near to the A540.

Rail

The nearest railway station to Caldy is

, on the Wirral Line of the

Merseyrail Merseyrail is a commuter rail network which serves Merseyside and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire in the North West England, North West of England. Merseyrail serves 69 Railway station, stations, 67 of which it manages, across two lin ...

network after

was closed in 1954.

Notable residents

Caldy is noted for having many well-known residents, particularly those connected to

professional football Professional football may refer to: *Professionalism in association football *Professional gridiron football *National Football League *Canadian Football League *Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-emine ...

, such as

Robbie Fowler Robert Bernard Fowler (born 9 April 1975) is an English football coach and former player. He most recently managed Saudi First Division League side Al-Qadsiah. As a player, he was a striker, and is the ninth-highest goalscorer in the histor ...

and

Rafael Benítez Rafael Benítez Maudes (born 16 April 1960) is a Spanish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player. He was most recently the manager of La Liga club RC Celta de Vigo, Celta Vigo. Beníte ...

. Rafael Benitez in a press conference referred to "John the milkman" in the Wirral while launching a cryptic attack on previous Liverpool club owner

Tom Hicks Thomas Ollis Hicks Sr. (born February 7, 1946), is an American private equity investor and sports team owner living in Dallas, Texas. ''Forbes'' magazine estimated Hicks' wealth at $1 billion in 2009, but it dropped to $700 million in 2010 ...

and managing director

Christian Purslow Christian Purslow (born 14 December 1963) is a British businessman who was most recently the chief executive officer of the Premier League club Aston Villa Football Club. He was the co-founder of private equity firm MidOcean Partners and was the ...

. The poet and novelist

Malcolm Lowry Clarence Malcolm Lowry (; 28 July 1909 – 26 June 1957) was an English poet and novelist who is best known for his 1947 novel ''Under the Volcano'', which was voted No. 11 in the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels list.

lived in Caldy as a child, as did his brother the England rugby player

Wilfrid Lowry Wilfrid Malbon Lowry (; 14 July 1900, Wallasey – 4 July 1974, Heswall) was a rugby union wing who played for Birkenhead Park FC and for England national rugby union team, England in 1920. Personal life Lowry was born on Sandrock Road, in Wal ...

, and the science fiction author

Olaf Stapledon William Olaf Stapledon (10 May 1886 – 6 September 1950) was an English philosopher and author of science fiction.Andy Sawyer, " illiamOlaf Stapledon (1886-1950)", in Bould, Mark, et al, eds. ''Fifty Key Figures in Science Fiction''. New York ...

lived in Caldy from 1940 until his death in 1950. Sir

Cyril Clarke Sir Cyril Astley Clarke (22 August 1907 – 21 November 2000) was a British physician, geneticist and lepidopterist. He was honoured for his pioneering work on prevention of Rh disease of the newborn, and also for his work on the genetics of the ...

KBE, FRCP, FRCOG, (Hon) FRC Path, FRS, physician, geneticist and lepidopterist, lived in Caldy for many years until his death in November 2000.

References

Bibliography

External links

Caldy Cricket Club Website

Merseytravel
{{Populated Places in Wirral Borough Towns and villages in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral Former civil parishes in Merseyside