History of Greasby village
Greasby village has a long history - Liverpool Museum (link) reports that the earliest recorded human settlement in the Merseyside area was near Greasby Copse.
Evidence such as a fireplace and stone tools found during excavations (1987 - 1990) date the site at around 7000 BC (during the Mesolithic period).
In his book 'Ancient Britain' (published in 1997) James Dyer describes the structure found at Greasby and states his belief that it "seems almost certainly to be the earliest dwelling found in Britain". He dates it at around 8000 BC.
Before the Romans occupied Chester (74AD to 383AD) the Wirral peninsula (which was then called Kilgwri) was occupied by a Celtic tribe, the Cornavii.
Evidence of a Roman road is continuous from Chester to Willaston (at Willaston it is called Street Hey Lane) and remains have been found in Barnston (behind the church).
Excavations in Greasby in 1965 proved that Barker Lane was of Roman origin (official confirmation was not until around 1980) and Roman remains such as coins, jewellery and weapons, have been found at Meols.
At the time of the occupation, Wirral was woodland and marshes and may have had little attraction to the Romans.
It provided a refuge for Celts retreating from the Roman invasion.
After the departure of the Romans, waves of Teutronic tribes - Saxons, Jutes and Angles - entered Britain and by the middle of the seventh century Anglo-Saxons had conquered nearly all of the Wirral peninsula.
Norsemen, known today as Vikings but at the time called Ostmen, raided between 870 and 924 and they eventually settled in the area.
At the time of the Norman invasion (1066), Greasby was owned by a man called Dunning. He was an official (bailiff or steward) for the earls of Mercia.
William the Conquerer gave Cheshire to Hugh de Avranches (also called Hugh Lupus) and he (Lupus) gave Greasby to Nigel de Burcey.
At that time the name of the village was Gravesberie.
Nigel de Burcey is shown as the owner in the Domesday Book (1086).
Soon after, the tithes (rent or tax paid for use of the land) were given to the Church.
Complete ownership of the village was given to the Church - the monks of St. Werburgh's abbey - between 1150 and 1160.
In 1538, following the dissolution of the monasteries, Henry VIII gave ownership of the village to Chester Cathedral.
In 1556, it was passed to Sir Richard Cotton.
Ownership changed as follows:-
Richard Harpur - date unknown
John Harpur - 1579
William Arrowesmith - 1583
Thomas Leighe of Irby - 1602
William Rathbone - 1627
Edward Glegg of Irby - 1656, later to his son, also named Edward
John Glegg of Neston - 1801
Robert Peacock of Upton - 1816
John Ralph Shaw - date around 1844
Birkenhead Glegg - last lord of the manor at the start of the 20th century
The name of the village has changed over the years - Grausberie, Gravesberie, Greavesberi, Grauesbyri, Grausby, Grauesbi, Greseby, Greisbie, Gresbie.
The First World War (1914 to 1918) had a devastating effect on the village.
Before the war there were around fifty young men living there; twenty-seven of them did not return from the fighting.