Hoylake

In 1690, William III set sail from Hoylake, then known as Hyle or High-lake,[6][nb 1] with a 10,000-strong army to Ireland, where his army was to take part in the Battle of the Boyne. The location of departure remains known as King's Gap.[8] The previous year a large force under Marshal Schomberg had also departed from Hoylake on 12 August,[9] crossing to Ireland to capture Carrickfergus.

The present day township grew up in the nineteenth century around the small fishing village of Hoose,[10] the name of which means "hollows".[11] The 1848 Topographical Dictionary of England described the inhabitants of Hoose as:

"...principally boatmen and fishermen, who have frequently evinced the greatest courage and alacrity in rescuing mariners from the horrors of shipwreck; large banks of sand, extending for miles on the northwest, being annually the scene of most fatal disasters to shipping."[12]

The name Hoylake was derived from Hoyle Lake, a channel of water between Hilbre Island and Dove Point.[13] Protected by a wide sandbank known as Hoyle Bank and with a water depth of about 20 feet, it provided a safe anchorage for ships too large to sail up the Dee to Chester.[14]

The Hoylake and West Kirby War Memorial is a notable local landmark, as it was designed in 1922 by the British sculptor Charles Sargeant Jagger who was responsible for a number of war memorials around the world, including the Royal Artillery Memorial at Hyde Park Corner in London.

The former Town Hall, on the corner of Albert Road and Market Street, is due to be converted to a new arts centre, known as The Beacon, with craft workshops, restaurant, and flats above.[17]

Kings Gap roundabout is home to a sculpture by Scottish sculptor David Annand. Called 'Knots', it consists of seabirds looping around four poles. It was commissioned by the council as part of the regeneration of Hoylake and was installed in June 2006 in time for the 2006 Open Championship.[18]

Lighthouses

Hoylake Lighthouse
High

The old upper lighthouse
Location	Hoylake Merseyside England
OS grid	SJ2146289004
Coordinates	53.392089°N 3.182614°W / 53.392089; -3.182614
Tower
Constructed	1764 (first)
Construction	brick tower
Height	17 metres (56 ft)
Shape	octagonal prism tower with balcony and lantern attached to 2-storey keeper's house
Markings	unpainted tower, black balcony, white lantern
Operator	private[19]
Heritage	Grade II listed building
Light
First lit	1865 (current)
Deactivated	1886
Lens	4th order fixed optic (azimuthal condensing)

To facilitate safe access into the Hoylake anchorage, two lighthouses were constructed in 1763,[20] at the initiative of William Hutchinson.[21] The lower light was a wooden structure that could be moved according to differing tides and shifting sands to remain aligned to the upper light, which was a permanent brick building. By the start of the 19th century each lighthouse was equipped with a single 3 ft-diameter reflector,[22] built to Hutchinson's design.[21]

Both of these structures were rebuilt a century later,[23] and in 1865 new lenses (a pair of fourth-order fixed optics) were designed and manufactured for the two towers by James Chance.[24] The upper lighthouse, consisting of an octagonal brick tower, last shone on 14 May 1886 and is now part of a private residence in Valentia Road.[23] The building was given Grade II listed status in 1988.[25] The lower lighthouse, closer to the shore in Alderley Road, was deactivated in 1908[26] and demolished in 1922.

Hoylake is at the north-western corner of the Wirral Peninsula, and is situated on the eastern side of the mouth of the Dee Estuary and adjacent to the Irish Sea. Hoylake is approximately 11 km (6.8 mi) west-south-west of the River Mersey at New Brighton. The centre of Hoylake is situated at an elevation of about 9 m (30 ft) above sea level.[29]

To the west of the town at Hilbre Point is Red Rocks, a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest. The area is an exposed sandstone outcrop consisting of sand dunes, brackish marsh and reed beds.[30][31][32]

Hoylake is within the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West. The current Member of Parliament is Margaret Greenwood, a Labour representative.

At local government level, the town is incorporated into the Hoylake and Meols Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in the metropolitan county of Merseyside. It is represented on Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council by three councillors.[33] The most recent local elections took place on 6 May 2021.

Hoylake Community Centre

Hoylake is a largely residential area and there is an active nightlife in the town centre, which is located at the original village of Hoose.[10]

The town supports a permanent lifeboat station, manned by the RNLI. Initially founded in 1803 by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, it is one of the oldest in the country.[34] In 2008, the RNLI began to raise £2 million for a new lifeboat station and new generation all-weather lifeboat, to facilitate a faster response time to emergencies and rescues in the Irish Sea and the rivers Dee and Mersey. The building was opened in November 2009.[35]

The Kings Gap conservation area has been designated by Wirral Borough Council. Bounded by the coastline and the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, it consists of large nineteenth and early twentieth century houses, Hoylake Lighthouse and St Hildeburgh's Church.[36]

Hoylake includes the independent Kingsmead School, which educates girls and boys from 2 to 16 years old. Hoylake Holy Trinity C of E Primary School is the town's main primary school, educating children from the ages of 3 to 11.

Hoylake and Manor Road railway stations serve the town. Both are on the West Kirby branch of Merseyrail's Wirral line.

• Joshua Armitage, pen-name "Ionicus" (1913–1998), the "Punch" artist and designer of covers for Penguin's editions of P.G. Wodehouse. He was born in Hoylake, where he lived and worked all his life.
• Julian Budden, Italian opera scholar and BBC radio producer (1924–2007), born in Hoylake
• The former Olympic Games cyclist Chris Boardman (1968–), born in Hoylake
• Actor Daniel Craig (1968–), grew up in Hoylake[46]
• Lieutenant Colonel Jack Armand Cunningham (1890–1966), the World War I flying ace. He retired to Hoylake and eventually died there.
• Author Helen Forrester (1919–2011), born in the town[47]
• Pianist Stephen Coombs (1960–), grew up in Hoylake
• The former actress and Labour MP Glenda Jackson (1936–2023), grew up in Hoylake
• John Lennon's first wife Cynthia (1939–2015). She grew up in Hoylake and returned there after their divorce in 1968. Their son Julian (1963–) spent much of his early life in Hoylake.[48]
• Eric Morecambe, comedian. He won a local amateur talent contest, held at Hoylake's Kingsway Cinema in 1940.[49]
• Mike Rutherford (1950–) of Genesis. He was a boarder at the Leas School, formerly on Meols Drive.
• Curtis Warren (1963–), Merseyside gangster, formerly featured in the Sunday Times Rich List. He owned a house on Meols Drive.
• Cliff Williams (1949–), bassist of AC/DC, grew up in Hoylake.
• Indie rock bands The Rascals and The Little Flames. They are from Hoylake.
• James Skelly, Ian Skelly, Bill Ryder-Jones, Nick Power, Lee Southall, Paul Duffy and John Duffy, from the band The Coral. They were also brought up there.

• Listed buildings in Hoylake
• Hoylake Holy Trinity C of E Primary School
• Hoylake Holy Trinity Church
• Hoylake Parade Community Centre

• Anon. (1951). Hoylake and West Kirby: Official Guide. Burrow. ASIN B0000CJ89L. OCLC 810774865.
• Boumphrey, Ian; Boumphrey, Marilyn (1984). Yesterday's Wirral: West Kirby and Hoylake. Ian & Marilyn Boumphrey. ISBN 9780950725529. OCLC 655410017.
• Hume, Abraham (1847). The Antiquities found at Hoylake in Cheshire. London. ASIN B0014I23CK. OCLC 47290451.
• Mortimer, William Williams (1847). The History of the Hundred of Wirral. London: Whittaker & Co. pp276-278.
• O'Neill, Jim (2006). West Kirby to Hoylake. Nonsuch Publishing. ISBN 9781845883317. OCLC 33046870.
• O'Neill, Jim (2012). Hoylake Then & Now. The History Press. ISBN 9780752467931. OCLC 766318454.
• Roberts, Charles (1986). Victorian Hoylake: Recollections of Hoylake, 1865-1915. Ceejay Publishing. ISBN 9780948805004. OCLC 15658615.
• Roberts, Stephen (1992). Hoylake and Meols Past. Phillimore & Co Ltd. ISBN 9780850338270. OCLC 30029021.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hoylake.

• Hoylake Lifeboat
• Hoylake Village Life
• Hoylake Vision Community Planning Forum