Litherland is a town in the

Metropolitan Borough of Sefton The Metropolitan Borough of Sefton is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England. It was formed on Local Government Act 1972, 1 April 1974, by the amalgamation of the county boroughs of Bootle and Southport, the municipal borough of Crosby, ...

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 ...

. Until 1899 it was within the historic county of Lancashire. It was an urban district, which included Seaforth and Ford. It neighbours Waterloo to the north, Seaforth to the west, and

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. It is pa ...

to the south and is approximately north of

Liverpool city centre Liverpool city centre is the administrative, commercial, cultural, financial and historical centre of Liverpool and the Liverpool City Region, England. There are different definitions of the city centre for urban planning and local government; ...

History

The name Litherland derives from two elements,

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

''hlið''/''hlith-ar'', which means "slope", and

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''land'', "land". Litherland was 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 ...

'' of 1086 as ''Liderlant'', however there was no mention of Liverpool at that time. The first manor of Litherland consisted of one half and two quarters, the areas being Litherland including what is now Seaforth (the half) and present day Orrell and Ford (the two quarters). Litherland remained a poor area until the arrival of the

Leeds and Liverpool Canal The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...

in 1774, this brought the area into the modern world, originally providing a safe route through

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

from Liverpool to

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

, and eventually in 1816 through to

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

. The route became very busy primarily for goods and later for the transportation of passengers. The outcome of all this activity was to bring prosperous businessmen from the city to the countryside, where they had a desire to live. The canal was crossed by a mechanical lifting bridge built in 1934 (replacing an earlier swing bridge) which was demolished in 1974. The area was the northern extremity of the Bootle and North Docks lines of Liverpool's tramway network. From the boundary with Bootle, it ran for ¾ of a mile along Linacre Road to a terminus at the junction with Bridge Road. This short stretch was the last horse drawn service in Liverpool, switching to electric operation in August 1903, eight months after the rest of the system converted. The Litherland Gala was staged every year and was famous for the procession of shire horses and floats from the docks. The gala procession ended at the Bryant and May sports field. Litherland Town Hall was officially opened in February 1941:

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

played some of their earliest gigs there in 1961.

Governance

For

parliamentary elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

, Litherland is within the

constituency. The town is currently represented by the Labour Party MP

Peter Dowd Peter Christopher Dowd (born 20 June 1957) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bootle since 2015. From 2017 to 2020, he served as the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Early life and educ ...

. Litherland returns six members to Sefton Council from two

electoral wards The wards and electoral divisions in the United Kingdom are electoral districts at sub-national level, represented by one or more councillors. The ''ward (subnational entity), ward'' is the primary unit of English electoral geography for civil pa ...

, each with three representatives. As of May 2023, the Litherland ward is represented by Patricia Hardy, John Kelly, and Paul Tweed; and the Ford ward's representatives are Liz Dowd, Paulette Lappin and Ian Moncur. All six are members of the Labour Party.

Education

Primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

s in the area include Beach Road primary school, Hatton Hill Primary School, English Martyrs' Catholic Primary School, Litherland Moss Primary School, Lander Road Primary School, Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Primary School, St Elizabeth's Catholic Primary School and St Philip's Church of England Controlled Primary School. Litherland High School is the main

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

in the area, while Rowan Park School is a

special school Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual d ...

for 2 to 19 year-olds. South Sefton College is a

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

which serves students in Litherland as well as the wider southern part of the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton.

Media

Local news and television programmes are provided by

BBC North West BBC North West is the BBC English Regions, BBC English Region serving Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, as well as parts of North Yorkshire (western Craven District, Craven), Derbyshire (western High Peak, Derbyshire, High ...

and

ITV Granada ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

, the local television station TalkLiverpool also broadcasts to the area. Television signals are received from the Winter Hill TV transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Merseyside, Heart North West, Capital Liverpool,

Hits Radio Liverpool Hits Radio Liverpool, formerly Radio City, is an Independent Local Radio station, owned and operated by Bauer Radio, Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Merseyside, Cheshire and parts of north Wales. As of ...

Smooth North West Smooth North West is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global as part of the Smooth network. The station broadcasts to the North West of England from studios at Spinningfields in Manchester. History GMG Radio ...

, and Greatest Hits Radio Liverpool & The North West. The town is served by the local newspaper, ''

Liverpool Echo The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St. Paul's Square, Liverpool, England. It is published Monday through Sunday, and is Liverpool's da ...

''.

Transport

Litherland is served by Seaforth & Litherland railway station on the Hunts Cross to

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

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. The main road is the A5036 road, which connects to Switch Island and the A565 road at Seaforth Dock.

References

External links

Liverpool Street Gallery - Liverpool 21

Litherland & Ford Digital Album

The Litherland Picture Post
{{Authority control Towns in Merseyside Towns and villages in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton Unparished areas in Merseyside Former civil parishes in Merseyside Liverpool Urban Area