FRANKBY VILLAGE
Frankby Village Conservation Area was designated in October 1974. It focuses on the open area of Frankby Green and the roads and lanes that immediately surround it. It contains a number of vernacular buildings of which five are Grade II listed: Yew Tree Farm, Old Post Office, The Half Inn House & 4 The Nook (one building, now divided into two residences) and Well House Farm.
The name Frankby derives, like many Wirral villages, from the Old Norse and means Frankis-byr, (Frenchman’s farm). A comparison of maps dating from 1844 to the present show that little change has occurred over that period. A few buildings have been built since the mid-20th century and a number of agricultural buildings have been converted to residential use.
The rural setting of the historic village has survived due to the continued agricultural use of Manor Farm and Well House Farm situated close to Frankby Green. The large working fields of Manor Farm and Wirral’s Green Belt policy have helped to keep the village isolated from the developing townships of Greasby and Newton. The open fields act as a frame around the village and help maintain its agricultural character. Gill Chitty, in her ‘Wirral Rural Fringes Survey Report’ observed that Frankby Village ‘is surrounded by one of the best preserved open field enclosure patterns that remain in the district.’
Frankby has links with several generations of the Royden family. Immediately abutting the conservation area is Frankby Cemetery, formerly the grounds of Frankby Hall, built in 1846-1847 for Thomas Royden, shipbuilder and now housing the Cemetery chapels. Sir Thomas Bland Royden, 1st Baronet, succeeded his father, living at Frankby and becoming a Liverpool MP. When he died the estate passed to his eldest son, Thomas Royden, MP who became Baron Royden of Frankby in 1944. Thomas’s sister, Dr Maud Royden (1876–1956), well known as a writer, preacher, suffragette and campaigner is buried in Frankby church yard, consecrated in 1861. The village war memorial is situated in the grounds of the church.
Nearby Royden Park was named after the last of the Frankby Roydens, Thomas’s brother, Sir Ernest Bland Royden. The park, which lies adjacent to Thurstaston Common, is now jointly owned by the National Trust and Wirral Borough Council and is a popular place for walkers.
Until the mid-19th century its site was still largely farmland. However, by 1844 there were areas of ‘plantation’ which were to form the basis of the parkland landscape which still exists today. The land was purchased in 1865 by Septimus Ledward Esq. J.P. who built Hillbark, a sandstone house on the site where an ancient tithe barn once stood.
The house was erected between 1868 and 1870 and the surrounding grounds laid out with gardens and glasshouses, a dovecote and a bowling green. The park was acquired in 1961 by Hoylake Urban District Council for use as ‘public open space’ and then passed to Wirral Council in 1974. Royden Park, a holder of the coveted Green Flag award, now comprises over 26 hectares of mixed deciduous and conifer woodlands, meadows, a fishing and a wetland mere.
Within the grounds of the Park is the new ‘Hillbark’, a large Mock Tudor house, designed by the architect, Edward Ould, who was also responsible for houses in Port Sunlight. Originally standing in Vyner Road South and known as Bidston Court, the house was built for the soap manufacturer Robert Hudson. In 1921 it was sold to Sir Ernest Royden and in 1928 was dismantled and moved to its present site, brick by brick, finally being completed in 1931.
The house contains a 16th century fireplace (once part of a house belonging to Sir Walter Raleigh), a set of William Morris stained glass windows and a pair of 13th century church screen doors. The library was originally in a stately home in Gloucestershire and the Yellow Room restaurant contains a magnificent 1795 Robert Adam fire surround. It now operates as a luxury hotel and conference centre. To view a map of the Frankby Conservation Area click here.
