Editing Kirkby (section)

==History==
[[File:Entrance to Kirkby Market - geograph.org.uk - 345576.jpg|thumb|alt=White arch reading Market Square|Entrance to Kirkby Market]]
Archaeological evidence of [[Bronze Age Britain|Bronze Age]] settlement indicates that Kirkby was founded around 870 AD.<ref name="bronzeage">{{Cite web |title=What's in a name: Kirkby |url=http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/exhibitions/magical/placenames/kirkby.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080107183518/http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/exhibitions/magical/placenames/kirkby.asp |archive-date=7 January 2008 |access-date=24 October 2007 |website=[[National Museums Liverpool]]}}</ref>
[[Historic counties of England|Historically]], it has been part of [[Lancashire]].<ref name="timeline">{{Cite web |title=Kirkby Timeline |url=http://history.knowsley.gov.uk/information/print_text.msql?name=Kirkby&ref=kbtime |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070814123544/http://history.knowsley.gov.uk/information/print_text.msql?name=Kirkby&ref=kbtime |archive-date=14 August 2007 |access-date=24 October 2007 |website=[[Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley]]}}</ref> [[Kirk]]-by derives from the [[Northumbrian Old English|Northern dialect of Old English]] word ''Kirk'' ('church') and ''by'' (settlement or village; cognate with Old Norse ''byr''). Settlers arrived via Ireland around 900. The first direct evidence of a settlement dates from 1086 and the [[Domesday Book]], with a reference to "Cherchebi" (population 70).<ref name="timeline" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=The National Archives – Document Search for "Cherchebi, Knowsley" |url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=7581709&queryType=1&resultcount=50 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926224943/http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=7581709&queryType=1&resultcount=50 |archive-date=26 September 2007 |access-date=24 October 2007 |website=[[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]]}}</ref> Ownership of present-day Kirkby (established as the [[West Derby (hundred)|West Derby hundred]] in the 11th century) passed through a number of hands until 1596, when the Molyneux family purchased the [[Hundred (county division)|hundred]]. After a brief loss of patronage in 1737 (when the head of the family took [[holy orders]]), in 1771, [[Charles Molyneux, 1st Earl of Sefton|Charles Molyneux]] became the 1st Earl of Sefton and regained the land.<ref>{{Cite web|title=History - Kirkby|url=http://archives.knowsley.gov.uk/kirkby/history-of-kirkby/|access-date=2020-12-22|website=Knowsley Local History|date=20 January 2018 |language=en-GB|archive-date=29 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929223810/http://archives.knowsley.gov.uk/kirkby/history-of-kirkby/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:The Smith Memorial Garden, Kirkby.jpg|thumb|alt=Green space with benches|The Smith Memorial Garden, commemorating the first parish priest]]
Although it remained largely farmland until the mid-20th century, transport links to the region began in 1848 with the building of the [[Liverpool and Bury Railway]] through Kirkby.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Liverpool and Bury Railway - Graces Guide|url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Liverpool_and_Bury_Railway|access-date=2022-02-21|website=www.gracesguide.co.uk|archive-date=3 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803181732/https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Liverpool_and_Bury_Railway|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[A580 road|East Lancashire Road]] (the A580) added a road connection in 1935,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/environment/historichighways/eastlancs/index.asp|title=Early Highways Liverpool-East Lancashire Road A580|access-date=21 February 2022|archive-date=29 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071229070048/http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/environment/historichighways/eastlancs/index.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref> and industrial development was considered before the [[Second World War]]. [[ROF Kirkby]], a [[Royal Ordnance Factory]], was established in 1939 and completed in 1941. At its peak, the factory employed over 20,000 workers.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Knowsley Local History: Kirkby Royal Ordnance Factory. Archived copy|url=http://history.knowsley.gov.uk/show_photo.msql?reference=KB98&from=time&bt=KBtime5|access-date=21 February 2022|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303173449/http://history.knowsley.gov.uk/show_photo.msql?reference=KB98&from=time&bt=KBtime5|url-status=live}}</ref>

Liverpool had [[Liverpool Blitz|received much damage]] by the end of the war, and much of the remaining housing stock were [[slum]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Spirit of the Blitz|url=https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/whatson/merseyside-maritime-museum/exhibition/spirit-of-blitz|access-date=2022-02-21|website=National Museums Liverpool|archive-date=20 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220111003/https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/whatson/merseyside-maritime-museum/exhibition/spirit-of-blitz|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Liverpool Corporation]] began a policy of buying land in surrounding areas and moving industry (and people) to newly developed "overspill" estates. This process culminated with the purchase of {{convert|4070|acre|km2}} of land, including Kirkby, from the [[Earl of Sefton]] in 1947 for £375,000 (£{{Formatprice|{{Inflation|UK|375000|1947}}|0}} adjusted for inflation{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}}). Kirkby became [[Merseyside]]'s largest over-spill estates. A 1949 Liverpool proposal to have Kirkby designated a [[new town]] was rejected.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ravetz |first=Alison |title=Council Housing and Culture: The History of a Social Experiment |publisher=Routledge |year=2001 |isbn=0-415-23945-1 |page=101}}</ref> Large-scale development began in February 1950 with the construction of the Southdene neighbourhood; the first houses were finished in 1952, the 5,000th in 1956, and the 10,000th in 1961. A population of 3,000 in 1951 grew to over 52,000 by 1961.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A vision of Britain through time |url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_table_page.jsp?data_theme=T_POP&data_cube=N_TPop&u_id=10368900&c_id=10001043&add=N |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022173144/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_table_page.jsp?data_theme=T_POP&data_cube=N_TPop&u_id=10368900&c_id=10001043&add=N |archive-date=22 October 2012 |access-date=1 June 2008 |website=A Vision of Britain Through Time |publisher=[[Great Britain Historical GIS]]}}</ref> The [[Kirkby Urban District]] was created in 1958. Its population grew between the 1950s and the 1970s due to over-spill housing for [[Liverpool]].

Growth caused a number of problems, including a lack of local amenities. Although occupation of Southdene's [[Public housing in the United Kingdom#Council housing estates|council estates]] had begun in 1952, its first shops were not completed until 1955 and its first [[pub]] did not open until 1959. The people who were being moved into Kirkby during this period came from Liverpool's poorest areas. Kirkby Industrial Estate expanded to become one of England's largest; at its peak in 1971, the estate employed over 26,000 people.

Kirkby became an [[Districts of England|Urban District]] in 1958. This status was later abolished, and on 1 April 1974 Kirkby was combined with [[Huyton with Roby Urban District|Huyton with Roby]] and [[Prescot Urban District]] and parts of [[Whiston Rural District|Whiston]] and [[West Lancashire Rural District]]s to form the [[Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley]].<ref>Arnold-Baker, C., ''Local Government Act 1972'', (1973)</ref>

{{anchor|Governance}}