Heswall, United Kingdom

The speedy development of Heswall has seen the once separate towns and villages of Gayton, Heswall, Pensby and Thingwall become joined by continuous housing.

Designated a conservation area in 1979, Heswall’s Lower Village, the original centre of the settlement, was once just a small fishing village. After the arrival of the railway in the late 1800s, a dramatic suburban expansion shifted the landscape across Heswall. The Lower Village conservation area includes the old village centre itself. This area and its immediate surroundings form an area, known locally as Lower Heswall.

In contrast to the town centre around Telegraph Road, Lower Heswall is characterised by its steep, narrow lanes, views across the Dee Estuary towards North Wales, open spaces, and period architecture. It is mainly residential and within walking distance to Heswall’s town centre and commuter links.

The oldest structure is the tower of St Peter's Parish Church, in the Lower Village which is about 500 years old. The present church was built in 1879, and is the third to have been built on the site. The previous church was destroyed by a violent thunderstorm on 19 September 1875; the organist and the boy who pumped the bellows for the organ were both killed.

The remains of Gayton's windmill, which stopped operating in 1860 and has now been converted into a house, can be seen close to the Devon Doorway pub-restaurant on the Gayton Roundabout, which lies a short distance from Heswall, back up Telegraph Road.

The Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital originally opened in Heswall as Liverpool Country Hospital for Children in 1909. The hospital was situated on a 3.5-hectare (9-acre) site purchased in 1900. It stood on the opposite side of Telegraph Road from The Puddydale and had a clock tower and grounds with views over the Dee estuary. The hospital closed in 1985 and there is now a Tesco supermarket on the site. The supermarket was extended in the early 2000s, then refurbished during 2011.