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Meols
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==History== Meols was named as such by the [[Vikings]]; its original name from the [[Old Norse]] for 'sand dunes' was ''{{lang|non|melr}}'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Cheshire/Great%20Meols |title=Key to English Place-Names: Meols|publisher=[[University of Nottingham]]|accessdate=22 September 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/-sczsteve/ |title=Wirral & West Lancs 1100th Viking Anniversary|first=Stephen|last=Harding|publisher=University of Nottingham|accessdate=17 September 2007}}</ref> becoming ''melas'' by the time of the [[Domesday Book|Domesday Survey]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/cheshire2.html|title=Cheshire (L-Z)|publisher=Domesday Book Online|accessdate=17 September 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/mol/archaeology/fieldarchaeology/meols2.asp|title=Field Archaeology: Meols, Medieval & after|publisher=National Museums Liverpool|accessdate=17 September 2007|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117062758/http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/mol/archaeology/fieldarchaeology/meols2.asp|archivedate=17 November 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Impressive archaeological finds dating back to the [[Neolithic]] period suggest that the site was an important centre in antiquity. Since about 1810, a large number of artefacts have been found relating to pre-Roman [[Ancient Carthage|Carthage]], the [[Iron Age]], the [[Roman Empire]], [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Armenia]], the [[Anglo-Saxons]] and the Vikings.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hiddenwirral.org.uk/lost-villages-of-wirral/4587687221 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617105235/http://www.hiddenwirral.org.uk/lost-villages-of-wirral/4587687221 |url-status=dead|archive-date=17 June 2015|title=Lost Villages of Wirral|work=hiddenwirral.org.uk|accessdate=28 June 2015}}</ref> These include items as varied as coins which belonged to the [[Curiosolitae|Coriosolites]] in [[Brittany]]. Also, tokens, brooches, pins, knives, glass beads, keys, pottery, flint tools, mounts, pilgrim badges, pieces of leather, worked wood and iron tools. They came to be discovered after the beginning of large-scale dredging (to accommodate the needs of the nearby growing seaport of [[Liverpool]]) started to cause notable sand erosion along the coastline near Meols. These finds suggest that the site was used as a port as far back as the [[Iron Age]] some 2,400 years ago, and was once the most important seaport in the present-day [[North West England]]. Thus trading connections are believed to have reached far across Europe.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/mol/archaeology/fieldarchaeology/meols.asp|title=Field Archaeology: Meols, An ancient port|publisher=National Museums Liverpool|accessdate=1 January 2008|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217102604/http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/mol/archaeology/fieldarchaeology/meols.asp|archivedate=17 December 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba62/feat3.shtml|title=Great Sites: Meols|publisher=British Archaeology magazine|date=December 2001|accessdate=1 January 2008}}</ref> Some of these artefacts are on display locally, at the [[Museum of Liverpool]]. In the 1890s the local authorities built the first sea wall. The rapidly eroding coastline was saved, but the sea wall changed the currents and archaeological sites at Meols were buried in the sand.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mersey Basin Campaign|url=http://www.merseybasin.org.uk/archive/assets/145/original/Before_the_Storm_-_Edwin_Colyer.pdf|accessdate=28 June 2012}} </ref> The remains of a [[submerged forest]] off Dove Point have now also disappeared but they were visible until the spring of 1982.<ref>*{{Aut|Reid, C.}}, 1913. ''Submerged Forests''. The Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature, Cambridge University Press, 129 pp.</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Hoylake & West Kirby web site - Early history |url=http://hoylakeandwestkirby.com/#/meols-early-history/4538163143 |accessdate=30 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120611024906/http://hoylakeandwestkirby.com/#/meols-early-history/4538163143 |archivedate=11 June 2012 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> In 1938, what was believed to be a Viking ([[Nordic countries|Nordic]] [[Clinker (boat building)|clinker]]) boat was discovered beneath {{convert|6|-|10|ft|m|0|abbr=in|disp=flip}} of [[clay]] when the 'Railway Inn' public house was being rebuilt. Workers at the time covered the ship over again so as not to delay the construction of the pub's new car park.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/merseyside/6986986.stm |title=Viking ship 'buried beneath pub'|publisher=BBC News|date=10 September 2007|accessdate=10 September 2007}}</ref> The pub landlord mentioned its previous discovery to local police constable Tim Baldock, who contacted [[Stephen E. Harding|Professor Stephen Harding]] of the [[University of Nottingham]]. [[Ground penetrating radar]] (GPR) equipment was used to confirm existence of the boat and precise location on 10 September 2007.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/radar-scans-reveal-viking-boat-beneath-pub-car-park-401882.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220512/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/radar-scans-reveal-viking-boat-beneath-pub-car-park-401882.html |archive-date=12 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Radar scans reveal Viking boat beneath pub car park|work=The Independent|accessdate=10 September 2007|location=London|first=Ciar|last=Byrne|date=10 September 2007}}</ref> Further archaeological work was undertaken in February 2023, by a team from Wirral Archaeology CIC, supervised by a professional archaeologist and Professor Harding.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Manning |first1=Craig |title='Viking boat' dig under Wirral pub awaits results after wood samples taken |url=https://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/23370983.viking-boat-dig-pub-awaits-results-wood-samples-taken/ |access-date=7 April 2023 |work=Wirral Globe |date=8 March 2023 |language=en}}</ref> Cores of soil were drilled and samples taken away for analysis. By using [[Carbon14]] dating, [[dendrochronology]] and wood assessment, the group aim to discover the age of the boat and where the wood it was constructed from was felled. Meols was formerly called Great Meols. It was a township in [[West Kirby]] parish of the [[Wirral Hundred]] before becoming a [[civil parishes in England|civil parish]] from 1866. On 31 December 1894 it was abolished to create the Hoylake and West Kirby civil parish. Great Meols had a population of 140 in 1801, 170 in 1851 and 821 in 1901.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/CHS/greatmeols|title=Great Meols|publisher=GENUKI UK & Ireland Genealogy|accessdate=15 October 2020}}</ref> Between 1894 and 1974 it was within [[Hoylake Urban District]].<ref name=vob>{{cite web|url=https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10114743#tab02 |title=Great Meols|publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth|work=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=15 October 2020}}</ref> On 1 April 1974, [[Local Government Act 1972|local government reorganisation]] in England and Wales resulted in most of the Wirral Peninsula, including Meols, transfer from the county of [[Cheshire]] to the newly created county of [[Merseyside]]. The historic name of '''Great Meols''' survives in the name of the primary school<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.greatmeols.wirral.sch.uk/|title=Great Meols Primary School website|accessdate=16 September 2012}}</ref> and the Anglican church. It was still in more general use up to the 1960s, for instance in postal addresses and on the destination indicators of buses from [[Chester]]. There also used to be a village called '''Little Meols''', on Meols Drive between Hoylake and West Kirby<ref>{{cite book|last=Hume|first=A.|title=Ancient Meols: or, Some Account of the Antiquities found at Dove Point on the Sea-Coast of Cheshire|year=1863|publisher=John Russell Smith|location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Sheet 79 - NE Denbigh (1840)|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/iipmooviewer/view.html?map=first_edition%252Flm_79ne&source=The%2520British%2520Library&website=www.bl.uk&publisher=Ordnance%2520Survey&series=First%2520Series&sheet=79%2520NE%2520-%2520Denbigh|work=First Series|publisher=Ordnance Survey|accessdate=16 September 2012}}</ref> The name Little Meols fell out of use in [[Victorian era|Victorian]] times, having been absorbed by Hoylake. From 123 inhabitants in 1801 and 170 in 1851, by 1901 at 2,850, its population had outstripped Great Meols.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/CHS/littlemeols|title=Little Meols|publisher=GENUKI UK & Ireland Genealogy|accessdate=15 October 2020}}</ref> Meols was known to be spelt as ''Meolse''<ref name=vob/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10007940#tab02 |title=Little Meols|publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth|work=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=15 October 2020}}</ref> up until when the railway station was placed.{{Citation needed|date=September 2007}} The error came about at the time of the station's construction, when rail managers took the spelling of Meols from the Southport suburb of [[Meols Cop]] and used it for new signage.{{Citation needed|date=September 2007}}
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