Template:Wp-Meols-History

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Meols was named as such by the Vikings; its original name from the Old Norse for 'sand dunes' was , becoming melas by the time of the Domesday Survey.

Impressive archaeological finds dating back to the Neolithic period suggest that the site was an important centre in antiquity. Since about 1810, a large number of artefacts have been found relating to pre-Roman Carthage, the Iron Age, the Roman Empire, Armenia, the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings. These include items as varied as coins which belonged to the Coriosolites in Brittany. Also, tokens, brooches, pins, knives, glass beads, keys, pottery, flint tools, mounts, pilgrim badges, pieces of leather, worked wood and iron tools. They came to be discovered after the beginning of large-scale dredging (to accommodate the needs of the nearby growing seaport of Liverpool) started to cause notable sand erosion along the coastline near Meols. These finds suggest that the site was used as a port as far back as the Iron Age some 2,400 years ago, and was once the most important seaport in the present-day North West England. Thus trading connections are believed to have reached far across Europe. Some of these artefacts are on display locally, at the Museum of Liverpool. In the 1890s the local authorities built the first sea wall. The rapidly eroding coastline was saved, but the sea wall changed the currents and archaeological sites at Meols were buried in the sand. The remains of a submerged forest off Dove Point have now also disappeared but they were visible until the spring of 1982.

In 1938 a Viking (Nordic clinker) boat was discovered beneath of clay when the 'Railway Inn' public house was being rebuilt. Workers at the time covered the ship over again so as not to delay the construction of the pub's new car park. The pub landlord mentioned its previous discovery to local police constable Tim Baldock, who contacted Professor Stephen Harding of the University of Nottingham. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) equipment was used to confirm its existence and precise location on 10 September 2007.

Meols was formerly called Great Meols. It was a township in West Kirby parish of the Wirral Hundred before becoming a civil parish from 1866. On 31 December 1894 it was abolished to create the Hoylake cum West Kirby civil parish. Great Meols had a population of 140 in 1801, 170 in 1851 and 821 in 1901. Between 1894 and 1974 it was within Hoylake Urban District. On 1 April 1974, local government reorganisation in England and Wales resulted in most of the Wirral Peninsula, including Meols, transfer from the county of Cheshire to the newly created county of Merseyside.

The historic name of Great Meols survives in the name of the primary school and the Anglican church. It was still in more general use up to the 1960s, for instance in postal addresses and on the destination indicators of buses from Chester. There also used to be a village called Little Meols, on Meols Drive between Hoylake and West Kirby The name Little Meols fell out of use in Victorian times, having been absorbed by Hoylake. From 123 inhabitants in 1801 and 170 in 1851, by 1901 at 2,850, its population had outstripped Great Meols.

Meols was known to be spelt as Meolse^[1] up until when the railway station was placed. The error came about at the time of the station's construction, when rail managers took the spelling of Meols from the Southport suburb of Meols Cop and used it for new signage.