One of the oldest recorded places in Merseyside, West Derby lies in the east of Liverpool and carries a history that predates the city itself. The name comes from an Old Norse phrase meaning “place of the wild beasts” or “wild deer park”, a reference to a deer park established on the site by King Edward the Confessor – the land that is now Croxteth Park. At the 2011 Census, the population of West Derby stood at 14,382.
A History Older Than Liverpool
West Derby appears in the Domesday Book and was the main administrative centre for the Norman Conquest in what is today’s Liverpool, sitting within the West Derby Hundred which covered much of south-west Lancashire. In 1835 and again in 1895, Liverpool expanded its boundaries to absorb West Derby. West Derby was briefly an urban district between 1894 and 1895, and by 1921 the civil parish had a population of 168,915. On 1 April 1922 the parish was abolished and merged with Liverpool. A motte-and-bailey castle once occupied a site at Castlesite Road and Meadow Lane, though by 1327 it was already recorded as ruined. Excavations in the mid-1930s uncovered remnants of a wooden castle on the plot, which is now a small public park whose shape closely resembles a Roman barracks.
The Courthouse and the Stocks
A West Derby Courthouse built in 1586, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, still stands in the area. Restored and conserved in 2005, it is the only freestanding post-medieval courthouse in Britain and holds a Grade II* listing. The building is open to the public between 2 pm and 4 pm every Sunday from April to October, except Easter, with free admission. Directly opposite stands a set of Victorian cast iron stocks, moved to their current position in 1902 to mark the coronation of Edward VII. Temporarily removed during site renovations in 2008, the stocks have since been returned. The area was also the seat of the Earls of Sefton, whose family name was Molyneux. Their former country house, Croxteth Hall, along with the surrounding estate, now forms Croxteth Park – a public space open to visitors. West Derby is covered by the Liverpool West Derby Parliamentary constituency.