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Mission Statement

Dedicated to encouraging interest in local history and beyond by annual programmes of lectures, discussions and visits to locations of historical significance.

About Us

The society has been in existence for more than 50 years,the inaugural meeting being held in October 1956 under the guidance of the late Mr.J.J. Bagley MA well known local historian and author, who gave the very first lecture to the society entitled Elizabeth I and the Elizabethans.

Over the years the various committees have guided the society through a series of lectures,events,day visits and holidays which members have obviously enjoyed and which have helped to forge a friendly and happy society.

We celebrated the 50th anniversary with a two day exhibition at Edge Hill University in which a variety of other groups from the area took part,and a wonderful lunch at Knowsley Hall thus keeping contact with one of our local stately homes.

We welcome new members, visitors and students alike and hope that they enjoy being part of a friendly local group of people. If you only want to attend selected lectures then the fee per lecture is £3.00 (free for students), the annual subsciption is £16.00 the first lecture of the session is on 03 October 2011 in room M40 at Edge Hill commencing at 7.30pm

12 March 2012, John Virgoe, Dying in North Meols in the late 18th Century

The parish of Meols was 9 miles in length covering Meols to Birkdale. Mr Virgoe researched the parish registers for 1770 – 1803 for details of local occupations which included fishing, subsistence farming and smuggling. However, for a period of 10 years from 1790 the causes of death are shown. The ages at death reveal [...]

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27 February 2012, John Dickinson, Misericords of the North West

Mr Dickinson began by explaining that his interest in misericords began when he saw the one in Ripon Minster depicting a rabbit and griffin which was the inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice books. Since then he has done a vast amount of research for Lancaster University and published a book on the subject. Misericords are [...]

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13 February 2012 Mr John Quirk, Nicholas Blundell – Reluctant Churchwarden

Mr Quirk has transcribed the parish registers from 1600 and studied the gravestones in Sefton Parish Church. He detailed the family tree of the Blundell family of Little Crosby who became Lords Sefton in 1800. In particular he told of Nicholas Blundell who was elected Churchwarden in 1714 and was reluctant to take office as [...]

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Teenage Memories

On several occasions recently I have seen the remarkable photograph taken in the summer of 1937 by the renowned Liverpool photographer E Chambre Hardman. It was the perfect shot as he looked down a side street in Dingle and across the Mersey to the Birkenhead shipyard where the aircraft carrier Ark Royal resplendent in its [...]

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A Most Distasteful Naval Action

As the war clouds were gathering over Europe in the summer of ’39, the pride of the French navy, the battleships Strasbourg and Dunkerque paid a courtesy visit to Liverpool berthing in the Gladstone Dock.
At this time the battleship had not been replaced by the aircraft carrier as the supreme example of naval power, so [...]

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12 March 2012, John Virgoe, Dying in North Meols in the late 18th Century27 February 2012, John Dickinson, Misericords of the North West13 February 2012 Mr John Quirk, Nicholas Blundell – Reluctant ChurchwardenTeenage MemoriesA Most Distasteful Naval Action