Sefton is a village and

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 ...

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 ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Located to the south west of

Maghull Maghull ( ) is a town and civil parish in Sefton, Merseyside, England. The town is north of Liverpool and west of Kirkby. The town is also the location of Ashworth Hospital. Maghull had a population of 20,444 at the 2011 Census. Housing in th ...

and to the north east of

Great Crosby Great Crosby is an area of the town of Crosby, in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England and is historically, part of Lancashire. Location In 1907, the Victoria County History described Great Crosby's location thus: 'The a ...

, it is on the

flood plain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

of the

River Alt The River Alt is an urban river that flows across Merseyside in England. The river has suffered from heavy pollution from industry and sewage upstream and run-off from farmland in its lower reaches. It empties into the River Mersey, near to whe ...

. The village is bisected by the B5422, Brickwall Lane, which cuts also through the site of the moat of Sefton Old Hall, a recognised National Monument. At the 2001 Census the population was recorded as 772, increasing to 855 at the 2011 Census.

Historically History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

a part of

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 ...

, the name Sefton is thought to be derived from the

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 ...

''sef'', meaning "sedge" or "rushes" and ''tún'' meaning "farmstead". In the past ''Sephton'' was an alternative spelling. The Parish Church of St Helen (Church of England) - the only Grade I listed building in the Borough - was first built around 1170 as the private chapel of the Molyneux family. This village is home to Sefton Parish Church, Saint Helen's Well, a pre-Reformation shrine, a plague pot, the Grade II listed 'Punch Bowl Inn' and the site of Sefton Mill dating back to the Middle Ages. Local folklore has it that Sefton Hall, a Royalist stronghold, was the scene of a skirmish in the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

. The Georgian Rectory to nearby Sefton Parish Church was demolished in the 1970s, however the gate piers still stand at the entrance to Glebe End. The curate's house, Lunt House, was situated in the nearby hamlet of

Lunt Lunt is a small village in the civil parish of Sefton, in the borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England, close to Sefton Village and to the west of Maghull and is in the L29 postcode. History The name derives from either the Old Norse word ''L ...

Governance

From 1997 until 2010 the village and

of Sefton was part of the Knowsley North and Sefton East constituency represented by

George Howarth Sir George Edward Howarth (born 29 June 1949) is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Knowsley until 2024. He also served the seat's predecessors since being elected in a by-election in 1986, fi ...

, a Labour Party MP. As a result of boundary revisions for the 2010 general election the village now forms part of the new Sefton Central constituency which is represented by the Labour MP

Bill Esterson William Roffen Esterson (born 27 October 1966) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sefton Central since 2010. He was Shadow Minister for Roads from 2023 to 2024, and was Shadow Minister for Sm ...

. For elections to

Sefton Council Sefton Council, or Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council, is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It is a metropolitan borough council and provides the majority of local government services in the borou ...

the village and

of Sefton is within the Park electoral ward and is represented by three

councillors A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or regi ...

In Art and Literature

In Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1834, an engraving of a picture by

Thomas Allom Thomas Allom (13 March 1804 – 21 October 1872) was an English architect, artist, and topographical view, topographical illustrator. He was a founding member of what became the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). He designed many bui ...

of the interior of the church, with a bridal couple, is accompanied by a short sketch by

Letitia Elizabeth Landon Letitia Elizabeth Landon (14 August 1802 – 15 October 1838) was an English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L. Landon's writings are emblematic of the transition from Romanticism to Victorian literature. Her first major b ...

in which the arrival of the groom is patiently awaited until it is learnt that he has taken fright and absconded, whereupon a young lieutenant bravely steps in and takes his place.

References

External links

British History Online - Sefton
{{Authority control Towns and villages in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton Civil parishes in Merseyside

Governance

In Art and Literature

See also

References

External links