Raby, Merseyside

infobox UK place
country= England
official_name= Raby
latitude= 53.312
longitude= -3.038
population= 100 (2001 Census)
metropolitan_borough= Wirral
metropolitan_county= Merseyside
region= North West England
constituency_westminster= Wirral South
post_town= WIRRAL
postcode_district= CH63
postcode_area= CH
dial_code= 0151
os_grid_reference= SJ309799
map_type= Merseyside

Raby is a small village located in the centre of the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England. Since local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it has been situated administratively within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. At the time of the 2001 Census, Raby had a total population of 100.citeweb|url=http://www.wirral.gov.uk/factsandfigures/census2001/oneward2recset.asp?ref=TS34|title=Wirral 2001 Census: Raby|work=Metropolitan Borough of Wirral|accessdate=21 February|accessyear=2008]

Geographically, the village is very near to the boundary of its historical county, Cheshire. ( [http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?client=public&GridE=-3.03800&GridN=53.31200&lon=-3.03800&lat=53.31200&search_result=Raby%2C%20Merseyside&db=freegaz&keepicon=true&lang=&place=Raby%2C%20Merseyside&pc=&advanced=&client=public&addr2=&quicksearch=raby&addr3=&scale=100000&addr1= Map] )Separated from Raby by the M53 motorway, the village of Raby Mere is located about three miles to the east and is now nearly contiguous with the town of Bromborough.

History

The name is of Viking origin, deriving from the Old Norse "Ra-byr", meaning 'boundary settlement'. [citebook|last=Sulley|first=Philip|title=The Hundred Of Wirral|date=1889] It is believed to be so named because it lay close to the boundary which existed in the 10th and 11th centuries between the Norse colony in Wirral to the north, centred on Thingwall, and Anglo-Saxon Mercia to the south.citebook|title=A History of Wirral|first=Stephen J.|last=Roberts|date=2002|publisher=The History Press Ltd|isbn=978-1-86077-512-3]

Raby was a township in Neston Parish of the Wirral Hundred with a population of 131 in 1801, 195 in 1851, 350 in 1901 and 308 in 1951. [citeweb|url=http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/chs/raby.html|title=Cheshire Towns & Parishes: Raby|work=GENUKI UK & Ireland Genealogy|accessdate=19 August|accessyear=2007]

Community

Raby is a rural community, comprising of a few houses, two farms and an old, thatched public house, the 'Wheatsheaf', which is well known in the locality. The pub is owned by the Leverhulme Estate, which owns much land locally.

Raby, along with the neighbouring villages of Brimstage and Thornton Hough, are within an Area of Special Landscape Value, a protective designation to preserve the character and appearance of the area. This is part of the Wirral Unitary Development Plan of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. [citeweb|url=http://www.scarecrowfestival.co.uk/Thornton%20Hough%20Final.pdf|title=Brimstage, Raby & Thornton Hough: A Strategy for Change Management|page=28|work=Thornton Hough Community Trust|accessdate=29 August|accessyear=2007]

References