View source for Storeton

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox UK place
| country                  = England
| coordinates              = {{coord|53.3564|-3.0467|display=inline,title}}
| official_name            = Storeton
| population               = 150
| population_ref           = ([[United Kingdom Census 2001|2001 Census]])<ref name=wirral2001census />
| metropolitan_borough     = [[Metropolitan Borough of Wirral|Wirral]]
| metropolitan_county      = [[Merseyside]]
| region                   = North West England
| static_image             = Storeton, Wirral - DSC04113.JPG
| static_image_caption     = Cottages on Red Hill Road, Storeton
| constituency_westminster = [[Wirral South (UK Parliament constituency)|Wirral South]]
| post_town                = WIRRAL
| postcode_district        = CH63
| postcode_area            = CH
| dial_code                = 0151
| os_grid_reference        = SJ304849
| london_distance          = {{convert|177|mi|km|abbr=on}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://boulter.com/gps/distance/?from=53.3564+-3.0467&to=51.507+-0.127&units=m|title=Coordinate Distance Calculator|work=boulter.com|access-date=6 March 2016}}</ref>
| london_direction         = SE
| iso_code                 = GB-WRL
}}

'''Storeton''' is a small village and former [[civil parish]] in the [[Metropolitan Borough of Wirral|Wirral]] district, in the county of [[Merseyside]], England, on the [[Wirral Peninsula]]. It is west of the town of [[Bebington]] and is made up of '''Great Storeton''' and '''Little Storeton''', which is classified as a [[Hamlet (place)|hamlet]]. At the [[United Kingdom Census 2001|2001 Census]] the population of Storeton was recorded as 150.<ref name=wirral2001census>{{citation|url=http://www.wirral.gov.uk/factsandfigures/census2001/oneward2recset.asp?ref=TS40|title=Wirral 2001 Census: Storeton|publisher=Metropolitan Borough of Wirral|access-date=1 September 2007}}</ref>

==History==
Storeton has [[Viking]] connections, the name deriving from the [[Old Norse]] ''Stor-tún'', meaning "great farmstead".<ref>{{citation|last=Sulley|first=Philip|title=The Hundred Of Wirral|year=1889}}</ref>

The village is mentioned in the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086 as ''Stortone''.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/cheshire2.html|title=Cheshire L-Z|publisher=The Domesday Book Online|access-date=1 September 2007}}</ref>

It has been thought that the poem ''[[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]'' refers to [[Storeton Hall]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Breeze |first1=Andrew |title=Sir John Stanley (c. 1350–1414) and the "Gawain"-Poet |journal=Arthuriana |date=Spring 2004 |volume=14 |issue=1 |page=17 |doi=10.1353/art.2004.0032 |jstor=27870572 |s2cid=162203676 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27870572 |access-date=14 Feb 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Storeton Hall dates from the 14th century.<ref>{{harvnb|Randall|1984|pp=86–88}}</ref> It was formerly in [[Wirral Hundred]].

Storeton was formerly a [[Township (England)|township]] in the parish of Bebington. It became a civil parish in its own right in 1866.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/place/5053|title=History of Storeton, in Wirral and Cheshire|publisher=[[A Vision of Britain through Time]]|accessdate=8 August 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10177248|title=Relationships and changes Storeton CP/Tn through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=8 August 2023}}</ref> In 1933 the parish was absorbed into the [[Urban district (England and Wales)|urban district]] of Bebington, which became the [[Municipal Borough of Bebington]] in 1937. Storeton remained a civil parish until 1974, but as an [[urban parish]] after 1933 it had no parish council, being directly administered by Bebington.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/wirral.html|title=Wirral Registration District|publisher=UKBMD|accessdate=8 August 2023}}</ref> The population of the parish was 180 in 1801, 233 in 1851, 265 in 1901 and 325 in 1951.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/chs/storeton.html|title=Cheshire Towns & Parishes: Storeton|publisher=GENUKI UK & Ireland Genealogy|access-date=1 September 2007}}</ref>

In October 1944 a [[USAAF]] [[B-24 Liberator|Liberator Bomber]] number 42-50347 from the [[445th Bombardment Group]] exploded without explanation over the fields between Little Storeton and [[Landican]], with the loss of all 24 servicemen on board. The dead included 15 commissioned officers who were being taxied back to [[RAF Tibenham|Tibenham]] after seeing more than 30 successful combat missions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wirralhistory.uk/liberatorcrash.html|title=19th October 1944 USAF Liberator Explosion}}</ref>  In recent years a memorial stone has been erected by a local man who witnessed the aftermath of the crash as a teenager.  The stone is coloured in the USAAF colours blue and yellow, with 24 yellow bricks each representing a life lost.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}}

==Geography==
Storeton is in the centre of the Wirral Peninsula, approximately {{convert|8.5|km|mi|abbr=on}} south-south-east of the [[Irish Sea]] at [[Leasowe]], about {{convert|6|km|mi|abbr=on}} east-north-east of the [[Dee Estuary]] at [[Heswall]] and less than {{convert|4|km|mi|abbr=on}} west-south-west of the [[River Mersey]] at [[New Ferry]]. The village is west of Storeton Hill, at around {{convert|52|m|ft|abbr=on}} above sea level.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.osola.org.uk/elevations/|title=SRTM & Ordnance Survey Elevation Data in PHP|access-date=1 November 2016}}</ref>

{{Geographic location|width=auto
|title = '''Neighbouring places'''
|Northwest = [[Landican]]
|North = [[Prenton]]
|Northeast = [[Bebington]]
|West = [[Barnston, Merseyside|Barnston]]
|Centre = Storeton
|East = [[Bebington]]
|Southwest = [[Heswall]]
|South = [[Brimstage]]
|Southeast = [[Clatterbridge]]
}}

==Storeton Woods==
On the ridge above the village Storeton Woods, owned by the Friends of Storeton Woods<ref>{{cite web |url=http://friendsofstoretonwoods.org.uk/ |title=Home page |publisher=Friends of Storeton Woods |access-date=18 March 2023}}</ref> and covering {{convert|31|acre|m2}}. The woods were purchased in 1989 after a campaign by the local [[Green Party of England and Wales|Green Party]] as there were concerns about the deteriorating condition of the woods and the possibility that the land might be bought by developers. The trust later also attempted to purchase the adjacent Hancock's Wood to extend the nature reserve by a further {{convert|25|acre|m2}}, but the deal with the [[Lord Leverhulme|Leverhulme]] estate fell through at the last minute. Although the offer remains open there is the concern that this could lead to the eventual development of the area of woodland for housing.{{fact|date=April 2022}}

Storeton Woods is also the location for [[Storeton transmitting station|Storeton Transmitting Station]], a television relay and radio transmitter and mast.<ref>[[Storeton transmitting station]]</ref>

== Storeton quarries and tramway ==
The woods have grown up on the site of a [[quarry]] present since the times of the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] occupation. The quarries were up to {{convert|200|ft|m|0}} deep at the beginning of the 20th century and, from the 19th century, a tramway (a single-track, standard-gauge railway) was used to transport stone to the quayside at [[Bromborough]]. A portion of the tramway embankment still exists as footpath and a section of the rails have been re-installed by the Bromborough Society.  Some rails were embedded at a former level crossing on Rest Hill Road until 1979 when they were buried under a new layer of tarmac. The tramway ran along the southern border of the current woods, into Hancock's Wood and through a tunnel under Mount Road. It then ran in a sweeping curve to Bromborough.<ref>{{citation|url=http://friendsofstoretonwoods.org.uk/storeton_tramway.htm|title=Storeton Tramway|publisher=Friends of Storeton Woods|access-date=1 September 2007}}</ref> 
Much of the route of the tramway can no longer be seen as it has been lost under housing development or levelled for the playing fields of [[Wirral Grammar School for Boys|Wirral Grammar School]] but the present Quarry Road and Quarry Road East in Bebington follow the track of Storeton Tramway and the original tunnel under the [[Chester and Birkenhead Railway|Chester to Birkenhead railway line]] is still in use as footpath opposite the end of Quarry Road East.

Most of the village is built from locally quarried stone from Storeton Ridge.  The stone is a creamy [[sandstone]] and, according to the [[British Geological Survey]], was also used for Roman tombstones and on [[Birkenhead Town Hall]] (in [[Hamilton Square]]), [[Liverpool Lime Street railway station|Lime Street station]], Lever House in [[Port Sunlight]], and [[Sankey Viaduct]] in [[Cheshire]]. The quarry was also the site of the discovery of prehistoric footprints. The track-makers were likely pseudosuchian archosaurs, often incorrectly referred to as dinosaurs, but they were not closely related. The species was named ''[[Chirotherium|Chirotherium storetonense]]'' after the site of discovery. Examples of these footprints can be seen in [[World Museum Liverpool]] in [[Liverpool]] and the [[Williamson Art Gallery]] in Birkenhead, and also in [[Christ Church, Higher Bebington|Christ Church, Kings Road, Higher Bebington]].

The quarry was filled in with spoil from the excavation of the [[Queensway Tunnel]] in the 1920s and the site is currently a tranquil nature reserve enjoyed by walkers.

==Transport==
===Bus===
Services operating in the Storeton area, as of 8 December 2014:

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
! Number
! Route
! Operator
! Days of Operation
|-
| '''77/77A'''
| Heswall-Woodside
| [[Avon Buses]]
| Monday-Saturday
|}

===Railway===
The [[Borderlands Line]] passes between Storeton and [[Barnston, Merseyside|Barnston]], to the west. [[Storeton railway station]] opened in 1896.<ref name=DS1>{{cite web|url=http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/s/storeton/|title=Station Name: STORETON|work=Disused Stations|access-date=24 June 2015}}</ref> However, due to its isolation, the station was closed to passengers in 1951, closed completely in 1964 and later demolished.<ref name=DS1 />

==See also==
*[[Listed buildings in Storeton]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
*{{cite book|title=The Search for Old Wirral|first=David|last=Randall|publisher=Countryvise|date=1984|isbn=9780907768807|oclc=263480984}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book|title=Storeton Tramway|first=Roger C.|last=Jermy|date=1981|publisher=Avon-Anglia Publications|isbn=9780905466439}}
*{{cite book|title=The History of the Hundred of Wirral|first=William Williams|last=Mortimer|year=1847|publisher=Whittaker & Co.|location=London|url=https://archive.org/stream/historyhundredw01mortgoog#page/n228/mode/2up|id=pp192-194}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Storeton}}
* [http://friendsofstoretonwoods.org.uk/ Friends of Storeton Woods]

{{Populated Places in Wirral Borough}}

[[Category:Towns and villages in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral]]
[[Category:Former civil parishes in Merseyside]]