Saughall Massie is a village on the Wirral Peninsula, England. It is bordered by Moreton, Upton, Meols and Greasby. The conservation area is located in the heart of the village and was designated in January 1974 by the Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council. Saughall Massie was one of the four ancient townships in the parish of Bidston. The surrounding area is rural and within the conservation boundary there are two farms and six listed buildings, some of which date back to the 17th century and earlier.

(For information about holiday accommodation in the village please see our Useful Links page)

The Conservation Area Society exists to promote the well-being of the inhabitants and the village within the conservation area. It is non political and inclusive, having an open membership to every householder who resides within the conservation area boundary. It acts as a consultee to the local authority on matters of planning, traffic, conservation, environment, security and heritage.

Our new village noticeboard

We have at last installed a dedicated village notice board. This has been on your Society Committee's wish list for some time and thanks to our Treasurer, Tracy, one was purchased from a seller on Ebay. Following some extensive 'TLC' and a new coat of paint from Peter Bolt, Phil Broster gave it some new legs and Waites Construction kindly undertook the installation. With information about our village history and key buildings, but with space for current notices, we hope that residents and visitors will find it useful.

The Saughall pub

The Saughall pub has been a centre piece of the village for many years. However, there was a "brewhouse" in the village from medieval times. In 1850 William Bagshaw recorded Beerhouse keepers as William Ashcroft and William Whitesides. Initially the current pub was an hotel and the Licensee for the Saughall (Arms) Hotel in 1864 is listed as a Thomas Langley, followed by a William Mealor in 1878 with others following on since then. The Saughall road was part of the old Toll Road from Upton through to Meols so there would have been a demand for food, drink and accommodation in those days.

The extensive land at the back of the pub was once a market garden and grew flowers for sale. These were collected on a regular basis from several families in the village as well as the pub tenants and taken over to Covent Garden market in Liverpool to be sold to the restaurants, hotels and city dwellers.

OBJECTIONS LODGED TO THE NEW THREAT TO OUR GREEN BELT

The Green Belt Consultation on Wirral Borough Council's Local Plan has now closed (26 October 2018). The Saughall Massie Village CA Society has submitted a very full document, objecting to the release from the Green Belt of any of the land parcels around our village as development on any of these fields would impact upon our Conservation Area and the agricultural reasons for designating the village in the first place. Loss of the land would also have a huge impact upon Reeds farming business at Diamond Farm and the people employed there. Given that the Government's figures of projected housing need now seem to be in some disarray - we await their new figures which should be out in early December. Whether this will mean that Wirral Council have to do another consultation is unsure at present although it would be a real waste of tax payers money, to be honest.

DIAMOND FARM APPLICATION REFUSED

You will be pleased to know that the Planning Application to close Diamond Farm as a working farm and build houses on the site has been rejected. See our News & Events page for the full details.

Remembering World War 1

Our Chairman and his father recently visited Ypres and Thiepval - With 2016 being the Somme anniversary read the account of their trip which is very moving. You can also see on our Gallery the picture of local men marching through the village in September 1914. To commemorate World War 1 the Society hosted two talks in the Saughall Pub. The first was about the Wirral Pals regiment and the second about Battlefield Remains. To read more see our News & Events page click here for more information.

Local painter brings early Saughall Massie to life

Throughout the website you will also see paintings by local artist, Grace Horne. Grace visited the village as a child and has happy memories of picking blackberries in the local hedgerows. As an accomplished artist, she painted many views of the village in the 'sixties and 'seventies which she has kindly allowed us to photograph for the website. Some of these views no longer exist but others have hardly changed at all but you are unlikely to see geese wandering around in front of the Saughall pub these days! See our Gallery for more views of the village, both old and new including more paintings by Grace Horne and also works by Harold Hopps and Mavis Blackburn (courtesy of the Williamson Art Gallery.

Memories of old Saughall Massie page now added to our website

For reminiscences about old Saughall Massie which includes pictures and memories of years gone by, captured by some of our residents - see our new Memories tab on the left of this page.

Where is Saughall Massie?

POST CODE CH46 5ND

N 53° 23•369"

W 3° 07•438"

OS grid reference SJ247882

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