Place:Sefton (metropolitan borough), Merseyside, England

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

The Borough of Sefton is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England. Sefton was formed by the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974, by the amalgamation of the former county boroughs of Bootle and Southport, and, from the administrative county of Lancashire, the municipal borough of Crosby, the urban districts of Formby and Litherland, and part of the Rural District of West Lancashire. It also formed part of the new county of Merseyside. The borough consists of a coastal strip of land on the Irish Sea, and extends from Bootle in the south, to Southport in the north. In the south-east, it extends inland to Maghull. The district is bounded by Liverpool to the south, Knowsley to the south-east, and West Lancashire to the east.

It is named after the village and parish of Sefton, near Maghull, that had formerly served as the seat of the Molyneux family. When the borough was created in the Local Government Act 1972 a name was sought that would not unduly identify the borough with any of its constituent parts, particularly the former county boroughs of Bootle and Southport. The locality had strong links with both the Earl of Sefton and the Earl of Derby, resident of Knowsley Hall. Given the fact that the immediately adjacent borough was subsequently named Knowsley it seems equally likely that the choice of name was derived from the names of the local nobility. Sefton Rural District, which covered some of the villages in the district, existed from 1894 to 1932.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Metropolitan Borough of Sefton.

Research Tips

• A map of Lancashire circa 1888 supplied by A Vision of Britain through Time
• A map of Lancashire circa 1954 supplied by A Vision of Britain through Time