Everything about Formby totally explained
Formby is a town in the
Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in
Merseyside,
England.
Historically a part of
Lancashire, but now considered to be an affluent suburb of Liverpool, Formby was built on the plain adjoining the
Irish Sea coast. Largely a residential town, Formby becomes a tourist hot spot during the summer months, with
day trippers attracted to its
beaches,
sand dunes, and wildlife.
History
Erosion of sand on the beach at Formby is revealing layers of mud and sediment, laid down and covered in the late
Neolithic/early
Bronze Age, approximately 4,000 - 3,500 years ago. These sediments often contain the footprints of humans, animals (most commonly
aurochs) from that period.
The common place-name ending
-by is from the Scandinavian
abyr meaning "homestead", "settlement" or "village". The village of Formby was originally spelt
Fornebei and means "village belonging to Forni". At that time
Fornibiyum was a well-known
Norse family name. He could have been the leader of the invading expedition which took possession of this coast. In Norway, until its closure in 1998,
Oslo Airport was situated in a town called
Fornebu. It was from Ireland in about
960 AD that these Norsemen or
Vikings first came to the west coast of Lancashire, first trading or raiding and then settling. Tradition says that the Viking invaders failed to defeat the native Anglo-Saxons on the coast of Formby, so they sailed inland, up the
River Alt, and attacked from the rear. It is more probable that the Viking invaders simply found that the area was thinly populated and took control without any blood being shed. It is thought that the Romans used Formby as a major pass through for their troops during the time of their settlement.
Formby Hall is a
Grade II listed building dating back to 1223. It has traditionally been the home of the
Lords of the Manor.
Formby beach is the location of an early
lifeboat station. Established perhaps as early as 1776 by William Hutchinson, Dock Master for the Liverpool Common Council. It was the first lifeboat station in the
United Kingdom, and possibly the world. The foundations of the last of the lifeboat station buildings remain on the beach. The last launch took place in 1916. Remarkably a film survives of this event.
Formby is home to
RAF Woodvale, a small RAF station on the outskirts of the town. It is used by
RAF light aircraft as well as civilian aircraft. The station is also home to
Merseyside Police's helicopter, known as 'Mike One-One'.
Governance
Until 1974, Formby was an
urban district (Formby Urban District) within the
administrative county of
Lancashire. Since
1 April 1974, it has formed part of the
Metropolitan Borough of
Sefton, in
Merseyside.
Formby forms part of the
constituency of
Crosby not Southport, Sefton being split into the constituencies of Crosby,
Bootle and
Southport. Crosby is represented in the
House of Commons by
Labour Member of Parliament Claire Curtis-Thomas.
In the last
local election in 2006, the Labour Party won with 48.2% share of the vote, some 17,000 votes, while the
Conservatives' share was 32.1% and the
Liberal Democrats receiving 17.4% of the vote. There is also small support for the
United Kingdom Independence Party in Formby; with 1.3% of the votes.
Geography
Formby is a coastal town roughly 17 km², part of Sefton in the north west of
Merseyside. The town is built upon the west of a large flat area of land called the
West Lancashire Coastal Plain the town is 0.5 metres below
sea level at its lowest point. Formby’s highest point is within the
sand dunes that separate the
Irish Sea from Formby, sand dunes are ever changing in shape and formation so there's no fixed point. The
River Alt runs in to the Irish Sea just south of Formby at
Hightown.
The town is rurally
landlocked; the land between Formby and the areas of
Southport,
Ormskirk and
Liverpool is
green belt land and is used for
arable agricultural purposes. The areas around the
urban fringe are drained by
irrigation ditches are open areas get
boggy in the winter months. Earth in urban areas is well drained, very loose and sandy.
The section of land between Formby and the coast is varied in
vegetation, wildlife and
terrain. This area includes
pine forests: natural and
man-made, sand dunes,
marram grass,
deciduous woodland, seasonal
ponds and
lakes. Large areas of this land are protected by the
National Trust.
Formby is in a
temperate climate zone, with mild winters and warm summers. Formby’s biggest threat is
global warming as the town is built on a
flood plain, being situated next to the coast and being below sea level.
Economy
The main
shopping area is locally known as The Village; here the town upholds an impressive array of shops including a
Boots,
Dorothy Perkins and a
New Look. These shops are located around the main shopping street of Chapel Lane and Brows Lane, and, unusually for a major shopping street in England, it isn't
pedestrianised. The tree lined
Avenue runs for about a third of a mile with shops either side. There are several other smaller shopping areas around Formby and Freshfield mostly
convenience stores and some specialist outlets like independent Opticians Silver & Rose with both qualified Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians. There are several other smaller shopping areas around Formby and
Freshfield. Formby also has a main
post office and three smaller post offices.
The town also has a several
supermarkets including a
Tesco, an M&S
Simply Food and more recently,
Waitrose, previously a
Safeway.
Formby has no major
industries; however there's a small
industrial estate on the outskirts of the town.
The most recent building to Formby is the new
swimming pool and
leisure centre.
Tourism
Formby has a significant tourist industry most notably between the warmer months of May and September. In particular it’s popular with day trippers from Liverpool and other industrial towns in Merseyside and West Lancashire. There are two main spots along the Formby Coast which are particularly popular with the public.
The Lifeboat Road site is about 1½ miles from the town centre; there are three linked unpaved car parks with several routes cascading out in to the sand dunes and woods. The car parks are about 900 yards from the beach.
Victoria Road is north of Lifeboat Road and is busier due to the red squirrel reserve being here. From the junction of Larkhill Lane and Victoria Road is where the reserve begins and there's a charge to park from this point onwards. Parking is available adjacent to the reserve and at the end of the road there's a large unpaved car park for easier beach access, the beach from the car park is about 100 yards.
There is a privately run
caravan park called Formby Point on Lifeboat Road, open between March and October. There are around 300 caravans on the park and 20 plots for touring caravans. There is a phone box on site, public toilets, a play area and until 1995 there was a small convenience store.
Notable residents
Due to its proximity to the city of Liverpool, various current and former
Liverpool and
Everton Football Club players have lived in the town, including
Steven Gerrard,
Alan Stubbs (who owns a
bar in the Village)
Neil Ruddock,
Emlyn Hughes,
John Toshack,
Stig Inge Bjørnebye,
Ray Clemence, as well as
Alan Shearer, during his time at
Blackburn Rovers. Footballer
Wayne Rooney also lived there. Former Liverpool F.C. players
David Fairclough and
Phil Neal still live in the area. Other famous Formby residents include
snooker player
John Parrott. St Lukes Parish Church in Formby is the burial place of the Irish songwriter and entertainer
Percy French. Past residents include the novelist
Beryl Bainbridge and
John Birt the former Director General of the
BBC along with
Sir John Moores, the founder of
Littlewoods.
Transport
The Formby
Bypass (
A565) was built over fifty years ago to take the major
Liverpool to
Southport route out of Formby and cut alongside the fringe of the town. The
bypass is a
dual carriageway with two
roundabouts and two sets of
traffic lights. It has been the scene of many accidents, some fatal and there are calls from some for the scrapping of a proposed motorway link as a result The B5195 links Formby with
Ormskirk and
Maghull.
Motorway access is easily accessible, the
M58 and
M57 are both 8 miles from Formby.
With the town’s major growth period around the early 20th century and Formby never really having any major industry, the road system followed an
American style method of road building. Major roads in the town are wide and in an almost block formation with
housing estates being built in to those blocks. The vast majority of
residences have drive-ways for parking. Thus traffic congestion is rare in the town and usually only experienced in the town centre locally known as The Village.
There are two
railway stations, the first being
Formby railway station and the second less than a mile north,
Freshfield railway station. Both are on the
Northern Line of the
Merseyrail network, which runs from Liverpool to Southport. Trains are frequent and are a popular way of
commuting, especially to Liverpool.
The nearest airport is
Liverpool John Lennon Airport which is 25 miles away.
Manchester Airport seconds that, which is 43 miles away.
In addition to motorized transport, Formby is served by excellent cycle routes, mainly centring around the pinewoods along the coast leading to both Southport and Liverpool. There are also many cycle lanes on the roads leading to the larger conurbations to the north and south and indeed Formby is situated very close to the famous Cheshire Lines Inn
public house.
Education
There are seven primary schools in Formby; Woodlands, Redgate CP, Our Lady’s, St Jerome’s, Trinity St Peters, Freshfield CPS and
St Luke's C. of E. Trinity St Peters in Formby is the amalgamation of two former primary schools - Holy Trinity and St Peters - which closed down in July 2006. The school was formed as part of a major reorganisation of primary education in Sefton. In 2006 Our Lady’s performed has the best results with a Key Stage 1 and 2 combined averages of 289, way above the national average of 242.
Formby has two large high schools,
Formby High School and
Range High School, both schools are high performers. With a national average of 45.8% of students gaining five or more A*-C at GCSE, Range scored 74% and Formby scored 76% in 2006. Formby High School saw one of the biggest increases in grades in the country in 2006. After years of hovering around 50-60% mark the school increased 20% outdoing their rival Range.
Wildlife
To the west of the town lie pinewoods and sand dunes. The whole of the coastline here's managed as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) for its important wildlife reserves by Sefton Coast Partnership. The pine woods at Victoria Road have been established as a National Trust reserve for the
red squirrel, listed on the
endangered species list. Formby is one of several sites in Britain were the red squirrel can still be found although it's now being threatened by the
grey squirrel. The red squirrels may not be native to Britain but possibly accidentally introduced from Scandinavia in the 20th century.
Formby is also famous for the presence of
natterjack toads. Formby is only one of a few sites in England where that'll breed. Later in the evening the male’s distinctive song can be heard and is known locally as the ‘
Bootle Organ’. In spring the males gather at the edge of shallow pools in the dune slacks and sing to attract a mate. The
Sefton Coast and Countryside Service are working hard to keep these pools from growing over so that that they're ready each spring for this annual event.
Sport
This stretch of coast is famous for links golf courses such as
Southport & Ainsdale,
Hillside, West Lancashire, Hesketh and
Royal Birkdale. Formby is home to another championship quality golf course -
Formby Golf Club. However, the club, unlike its neighbour Royal Birkdale, doesn't have the capacity to host large events such as The Open Championship. It also has a cricket club based down Cricket Path in Freshfield this also has squash courts and a large
AstroTurf hockey pitch. Formby has a football team called
Formby F.C. who play in the
North West Counties Football League Division One. They play at Altcar Road, behind Tesco just off the A565 Formby Bypass. In the summer of 2002, the club left their previous home at Brows Lane. The site is now occupied by Formby Pool which opened on
January 27,
2007.
In addition a variety of youth sporting groups are based in Formby. These include Formby Junior Sports Club (FJSC) known locally as "Rourke's League" after Jim Rourke
MBE who founded the club in 1959. Over 600 children ranging in age from 5 to 16 years meet at Deansgate Lane Playing Fields to play football at various times throughout Saturday mornings during the football season. The club welcomes children of all abilities, there are no trials or criteria to meet; every member plays every week. The club also fields numerous representative teams in local junior leagues (for example the Craven Minor League). Formby is also home to Deansgate Rovers and Redgate junior football clubs.
In 2007, Formby Vikings Rugby Union Team was established to include a wide range of ages including a colts first 15 team.
References
Further Information
Get more info on 'Formby'.
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