CALDY
Caldy was one of a series of settlements on the west side of Wirral, strung out along the Dee shore. It was designated a Conservation Area with the aim of preserving the principle features of the old village as well as conserving the character of its later development as a low density, maturely landscaped suburb with substantial houses set in large grounds. The aim was also to retain its characteristic high walls and fences and protect, wherever practicable, its views of the Dee Estuary and of the North Wales coast beyond.
The manor of Caldy was first mentioned in Domesday. For centuries it remained a small rural settlement, its inhabitant’s dependent on farming and fishing for their livelihood. As late as 1819 it was described by the Cheshire historian, George Ormerod, as ‘a scatter of straggling fishermen’s huts scattered over an eminence near the estuary’
In 1834 all this changed when the Caldy estate was put up for sale. Advertised as consisting of six farmhouses, a public house and some smaller tenements and nearly 600 acres of land it was bought in its entirety by the wealthy Manchester calico printer, Richard Watson Barton (1798 -1861) of Springwood, Pendlebury in Lancashire.
Using the architect Robert Bushell Rampling (1806 – 1854) and the Walker builders of Birkenhead, Barton set about the complete renovation or rebuilding of the village. Retaining its old layout, but with picturesque properties, faced in ashlar sandstone, Caldy was transformed.
Central to the village was a late C17th sandstone farmhouse. This is now the Grade II listed Caldy Manor, an imposing collection of buildings in neo-Tudor style, currently used as a residential home and apartments. It became the home of Richard Watson Barton’s son, Richard (d. 1881) and his wife Elizabeth, who in 1864 commissioned the architects W. and J. Hay to design additions to the
house. (It was remodelled again, perhaps by Briggs, Wolstenholme and Thornley, when in the possession of the cotton broker, Alexander Percy Eccles and datestones over the main door bear the dates 1698, 1704 and 1907)
The Bartons were philanthropic landlords and carried out work to improve their estate. In 1868 a village school was constructed to a Gothic revival design by G. E. Street (1824 – 1881). In 1882 part of the Manor outbuildings were converted to a chapel. Fitted out by C.E. Kempe and with a bell-tower, it served both the Bartons and the village as their place of worship for over 20 years. (The manor clock turret marks its location). In 1883 a black and white Reading Room was added. This is now used as the Church Hall.
On the green to the west of the church stands a memorial cross, erected in 1894 in memory of the last of the Bartons, Richard’s brother Alfred. (d. 1891). Alfred’s dow, Ellen, (d. 1894) left money for the construction of a church and her wishes were carried out when in 1906–07 the Chester architects, Douglas and Minshall, converted the school to a church, adding a chancel, an additional aisle and a saddleback tower. Items from the former manor chapel were incorporated in the new church including Charles Kempe’s stained glass windows and other fittings and a doorway with the inscription ‘Domus Dei 1882’. As the Church of the Resurrection and All Saints, it was consecrated in 1907 and today is Grade II listed and forms the focal point of the old village.
In 1905 the bulk of the Caldy estate was sold and a new phase in its development began. In 1906 a company, Caldy Manor Estate Limited, was formed.
New roads were laid out across the fields and a series of large detached Arts and Crafts style houses were built, their development controlled by a series of covenants which limited the use and density of the properties and the materials used in their construction. (the plot size had to be at least an acre). At the same time land was set aside for the creation of a 9-hole golf course, thought to be an attraction for the better class of resident. An additional facility for the growing settlement was Caldy station, which opened on the Hooton to West Kirby line, now the Wirral Way, in 1909.
Apart from the Manor, the Church and the Church Hall, a number of the buildings in the old village are listed. These are Little Dene, Dee Haven and Corner Cottage, all C17th in origin, but rebuilt or restored and Manor Farmhouse, dated 1683, Sunnyfold, dated 1689 and Banks Farmhouse, dated 1702, all renovated in the 1830s and with their datestones incorporated in the later build. Though time has not stood still for Caldy there is still sufficient of the past for the visitor to enjoy. To view a map of the Conservation Area click here.
