Caldy is a village on the Wirral Peninsula

Wirral Peninsula

Wirral or the Wirral is a peninsula in North West England. It is bounded by three bodies of water: to the west by the River Dee, forming a boundary with Wales, to the east by the River Mersey and to the north by the Irish Sea. Both terms "Wirral" and "the Wirral" are used locally , although the...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, located to the south east of West Kirby

West Kirby

West Kirby is a town on the north-west corner of the coast of the Wirral Peninsula, England, at the mouth of the River Dee across from the Point of Ayr in North Wales. To the north-east of the town lies Hoylake, with the suburbs of Grange and Newton to the east, and the village of Caldy to the...

. It is part of the West Kirby & Thurstaston Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral

Metropolitan Borough of Wirral

The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, in North West England. It has a population of 311,200, and encompasses of the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula. Major settlements include Birkenhead, Wallasey, Bebington, Heswall, Hoylake and West Kirby. The city of...

 and is situated in the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West

Wirral West

Wirral West is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- History :...

. At the time of the 2001 Census

United Kingdom Census 2001

A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....

, Caldy had 1,290 inhabitants, of a total ward population of 12,869.

History

It was first mentioned in the Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

in 1086 as being owned by Hugh of Mere. Nearby is a large area of National Trust

National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty

The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...

 land called Caldy Hill

Caldy Hill

Caldy Hill is an area of heath and woodland on a sandstone outcrop on the Wirral Peninsula. The land was bought by Hoylake District Council between 1897 and 1974. The village of Caldy is nearby....

. Many of the houses and walls in the village centre are built from the local red sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

.

Caldy was a township

Township

The word township is used to refer to different kinds of settlements in different countries. Township is generally associated with an urban area. However there are many exceptions to this rule. In Australia, the United States, and Canada, they may be settlements too small to be considered urban...

 in the West Kirby Parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 of the Wirral Hundred. 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 here the north of England's most exclusive residential village emerged.
Between 1894 and 1933, Caldy was part of Wirral Rural District

Wirral Rural District

Wirral was a rural district in Cheshire, England from 1894 to 1933. It was created under the Local Government Act 1894 from the Wirral rural sanitary district.The parishes of Landican and Prenton became part of the county borough of Birkenhead in 1928....

, then subsequently Wirral Urban District

Wirral Urban District

Wirral 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 in the south-west of the Wirral Peninsula...

. On 1 April 1974, local government reorganisation

Local Government Act 1972

The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....

 in England and Wales resulted in most of Wirral, including Caldy, transfer from the county of Cheshire

Cheshire

Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...

 to Merseyside.

Caldy railway station

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. The station was located to the west of the village of Caldy and situated on top of a high embankment...

 was situated on the Hooton

Hooton, Cheshire

Hooton is a village in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England in the south of the Wirral Peninsula near Ellesmere Port.- History :...

 to West Kirby branch of the Chester and Birkenhead Railway

Chester and Birkenhead Railway

The Chester and Birkenhead Railway ran from Birkenhead to Chester. It opened on 23 September 1838. On the 22 July 1847 it merged with the Birkenhead, Lancaster and Cheshire Junction Railway to become the Birkenhead Railway.-Currently Working:...

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

Wirral Country Park

The Wirral Country Park is a country park on the Wirral Peninsula, England, lying both in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and the county of Cheshire...

.

Transport

The nearest railway station to Caldy is West Kirby

West Kirby railway station

West Kirby railway station is situated in the town of West Kirby, Wirral, England. It is situated at the end of one of the branches of the Wirral Line, part of the Merseyrail network.The beach can be reached easily from the station....

, on the Wirral Line

Wirral Line

The Wirral Line is one of the two commuter railway lines operated by Merseyrail that are centred around Merseyside, England, the other being the Northern Line...

 of the Merseyrail

Merseyrail

Merseyrail is a train operating company and commuter rail network in the United Kingdom, centred on Liverpool, Merseyside. The network is predominantly electric with diesel trains running on the City Line. Two City Line branches are currently being electrified on the overhead wire AC system with...

 network.

Bus

Services operating in the Caldy area, as of January 2009:

Number	Route	Operator	Days of Operation
22/22A	Caldy-Chester	Avon Buses	Monday-Saturday

Sport

Caldy Rugby Football Club

Caldy Rugby Football Club

The Caldy Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union team who play in the fourth tier of English rugby, National League 2 North...

, a Rugby Union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 club play at Patton Field in nearby Thurstaston

Thurstaston

Thurstaston is a village on the Wirral Peninsula, England. It is part of the West Kirby & Thurstaston Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral...

. The team currently compete in National League 2 North

National League 2 North

National League 2 North, is the 4th tier of the English rugby union system and provides mostly amateur competition for teams in the Northern half of England....

, the fourth tier of the Rugby Union pyramid in England.

Notable residents

Caldy is noted for having many well known residents, particularly those connected to professional football. Currently Robbie Fowler

Robbie Fowler

Robert Bernard Fowler is an English footballer who is currently player/manager for Thai Premier League club Muangthong United....

  and Rafael Benítez

Rafael Benítez

Rafael "Rafa" Benítez Maudes is a football manager, and former player. He is currently unemployed, after leaving as manager of Internazionale in December 2010....

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

Tom Hicks

Thomas Ollis Hicks, Sr. , is an American 'leveraged buyout' businessman living in Dallas, Texas. Despite Forbes Magazine estimating Hicks' wealth at USD 1 billion in 2009, Hicks was unable to pay off joint loans of circa £200 million the following year...

 and managing director Christian Purslow

Christian Purslow

Christian Mark Cecil Purslow is a British-born businessman, co-founder of private equity firm MidOcean Partners, and former Managing Director of Liverpool Football Club.-Early life:...

.