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The first people to live in what is now the village of Formby, Merseyside were vagrant Viking's who wandered about in their boats and for some reason felt comfortable setting up an isolated settlement in the marsh land adjacent to the river Alt in the 9th Century. Their chief was named 'Forni' as Formby is a Viking place name meaning Forni's village. Formby village is now in the borough of Sefton, Liverpool, Merseyside. Formby is between Liverpool and Southport on the coast north of the River Mersey adjacent to the Irish Sea and it's location makes it a very desirable place to live. Finding building land in Formby is very difficult as it's boundaries are set and held in place by green belt. Formby is bounded on the west by the sea, and extensive, high sand hills, covered with a luxuriant growth of creeping willows and star grass bound the beach, the latter being systematically planted to keep the sand from drifting away. Wild life abounds on these hills, rabbits and foxes can be regularly seen, the land is strictly preserved, with The National Trust being involved in its management and only a few footpaths cross the forbidden ground in some places. The sand hills afford shelter from the sea winds for what were to the three villages of Formby, Formby-by-the-Sea, and Freshfield, which now form one village. The area consists of flat, sandy land, surrounded by fields intersected by ditches, where rye, wheat, potatoes and a variety of market produce flourish, including fields of asparagus, a specialty in the district. Fishing for shrimps and raking the sands for cockles affords employment to some of the inhabitants. Formby sand hills are famous to local botanists as the habitat of several uncommon and characteristic wild plants, among which may be mentioned the Wintergreen, Pyrola rotundifolia, var. maritima. Formby Village is now administered by Sefton Borough Council, Bootle in Liverpool, Merseyside, just a few miles down the road but a world away in lifestyle.
From 1799 the settlement of Bootle supplied clear spring water to Liverpool but in the early 19th century it began to grew as a fashionable bathing resort on the sands of the estuary, much favoured by the well-to-do.
However, with the arrival of the Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway in the 1840s, docks were soon constructed along the whole length of the riverfront and the town became heavily industrialised. So it was that the 'well to do' began to move further away and spread along to new communities along the railway line towards Southport, several villagers grew up including Formby Village.
Sir John Moors the businessman and philanthropist lived in Formby Village from 1930 and died at his home in the village in 1993. He with friends founded the 'Littlewoods Football Pools' in 1923 in a small office in Liverpool as they all put £50 in. The early period was a failure and he bought his friends out for £200 each as he kept faith with the project and in the end made a success of it. In 1932 he started 'Littlewoods Mail Order' and then his first Littlewoods store in 1937 in Blackpool. He went on to become chairman of Everton FC and owned shares in Liverpool FC. Haunted Houses and Ghost Stories for Formby Village,
There are many curious place-names in Formby. The Wicky Dales and Clovenly Dales are near the Ainsdale boundary. The banks forming the fences of the fields are called 'cops.' Dangus Lane, on the east side of the village, is sometimes called Danesgate Land, now known as Deansgate Lane, Formby Village being connected by local traditions with an incursion of the Danes. The Whams is an open space to the west of Formby Hall. Watchut or Watchyard Lane may be derived from wet-shod. Stingman's or Steeman's hook, by the moss on the east, is supposed to be derived from the vipers which formally infested the place. Brank Farm was so called from brank or buckwheat, which will grow on very poor land.
There are traditions that troops for the suppression of the rebellion of 1715 were embarked at Formby Village for Scotland, and that early in the eighteenth century a proposal was made that docks should be constructed here rather than at Liverpool.
The old roundhouse was pulled down about 1893, but remains of the stocks may still be seen. A stone cross with steps was erected in 1879 on the village green, which was then enclosed; the old cross and steps were re-erected in St. Luke's churchyard. The pedestal of another, called the Cop Cross, formerly stood west of the village Location of Formby Village
Latitude: 53.55
Longitude: -3.05
(Decimal degrees)
Latitude (DMS): 53° 32' 60 N
Longitude (DMS): 3° 2' 60 W
(Degrees, minutes and seconds)
Formby Village, Liverpool, Merseyside is bounded on one side by The Irish Sea and on its other three sides by open fields, with Hightown to the south and Ainsdale to the north. Away to the east is Ormskirk. Woodvale Airfield, now an R.A.F flight training school is on the site of the former Freshfield Golf Course between Formby Village and Ainsdale Village. There's not much to do in Formby these days. There used to be two cinemas, 'The Embassy', which was built as a roller skating ring and is now a 'Spar' supermarket. Then there was 'The Queens' which has now been pulled down and 'Ethel Austin' and 'The Village Inn' are on the site. Nowadays you have to go out of Formby Village to find entertainment. On an area called 'The Moss' in Formby live a herd of Canadian cattle introduced by John Moors . Their website is http://www.themoss.co.uk/about.htm Formby Asparagus Asparagus grown amongst the sand dunes is world famous and is used by many prominent chefs. The term 'Formby Asparagus' is actually used in the ingredients and on the menus. Have you seen a U.F.O in Formby or Freshfield? Some one has. Read More. Natterjack Toads Formby sand dunes
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Famous residents of Formby are
the red squirrels that live in the pinewoods.
Haunted Houses in Formby Village?