This article is about the village in the United Kingdom. For the suburb in Melbourne, Australia, see
Aintree, Victoria
.
Village in England
Aintree
is a village and
civil parish
in the
Metropolitan Borough of Sefton
,
Merseyside
, England.
Historically
in
Lancashire
, it lies between
Walton
and
Maghull
on the
A59 road
,
5
+
1
⁄
2
miles (9 kilometres) northeast of
Liverpool city centre
, in
North West England
.
It is best known as the site of
Aintree Racecourse
, which since the 19th century has staged the
Grand National
horserace. In the 1950s and 1960s, there was also a three-mile-long international Grand Prix
motor racing circuit
on the site, which used the same grandstands as the horserace. A shorter form of the racing circuit is still used for various motorsport events.
The northern terminus of the Aintree district is commonly referred to by the local populace as "Old Roan." This nomenclature is a colloquial moniker employed by residents and lacks formal legal recognition as a distinct geographical location.
History
[
edit
]
The name Aintree, thought to be of
Saxon
origin, means "one tree" or "tree standing alone." It is first recorded in 1226, also as Ayntre (the usual mediaeval spelling) in 1292. Eyntre occurs; Ayntree and Ayntrie, 16th century.
[3]
Local legend held that an oak tree on Bull Bridge Lane (removed in 2004) was "the Ain tree"
[4]
though the antiquity of the name excludes the possibility.
The historic core of the village was a small linear settlement near the junction of School Lane, Bull Bridge Lane and Wango Lane.
[5]
Much of the nearby flat, wet and boggy land was reclaimed for agriculture following the Alt Drainage Act of 1779.
Today
[
edit
]
The village itself has two
primary schools
, Aintree Davenhill and Holy Rosary and a
Music School
; five churches,
St. Giles
(
Anglican
), Holy Rosary (
Roman Catholic
), Old Roan
Methodist
Church, Old Roan Baptist Church (which met in Davenhill Primary School until recently and now meets at the former site of Holy Rosary Infants School) and Aintree Village Family Church (a Baptist church, meeting at Old Roan Methodist Church Hall, Altway); two small local shopping areas (on Altway and at the Old Roan); and three public houses, the Blue Anchor (which backs onto the
Leeds and Liverpool Canal
), The Valentine, named after a fence on the racecourse, and the Old Roan (now closed), which gives its name to a railway station in the village. The village also had a public library (now closed). A
retail park
along Ormskirk Road on former industrial land has brought a significant number of major out-of-town shops to the area.
Aintree Davenhill Primary School has a large field with a metal building that was built in the 1950s (since been rebuilt). The building was going to be a hospital building, but was turned into a school. The classrooms were along corridors that were originally going to be hospital wards.
Holy Rosary Primary School was a split-site school until 2008 with an approximate
1
⁄
2
mile (800 metres) between the schools. The reception and infant classes were based at a site at the Old Roan end of the village between Altway and Aintree Lane, and the junior classes based at the Valentine end of the village in the Oriel Drive site. After substantial building work to extend the Oriel Drive school, the Aintree Lane/Altway site was closed as a school at the beginning of the 2008?09 academic year, was taken over by Old Roan Baptist Church and is now called the Hope Centre, providing various services for the local community. The school has a large field used for events such as their sports day and an all-weather sports pitch. The original building was built in the 1970s and 1980s.
Transport
[
edit
]
The main road from
Liverpool
to Aintree is the
A59
(known as
Ormskirk Road
as it passes through Aintree) - with the road passing through Aintree's retail parks. The
M57
,
M58
, A59, and
A5036
meet at a complex junction called
Switch Island
, between Aintree and
Maghull
.
Although
Aintree railway station
is convenient for the racecourse, the village itself is closer to
Old Roan railway station
. Both are on the
Merseyrail
Northern Line
's Ormskirk branch, with regular service between
Liverpool Central
and
Ormskirk
.
In the past, it was also served by
Aintree Central railway station
on the
North Liverpool Extension Line
, located behind Aintree railway station. The
North Mersey Branch
also ran through, close to the station, and had
Aintree Racecourse railway station
.
Bus services are regular: a bus every 20 minutes to
Liverpool
runs through the village, while various other routes to Liverpool and destinations to the north—including
Maghull
, Ormskirk, and
Southport
—stop near the Old Roan.
The
Leeds and Liverpool Canal
runs through the village.
Notable residents
[
edit
]
- Ted Sagar
, the former
Everton
goalkeeper, ran a pub in Aintree after retiring as a player in 1952.
[6]
- Phil Thompson
, former Liverpool captain and now Sky Sports pundit, lived on Bull Bridge Lane.
[
citation needed
]
- Andy Burnham
, a leading
Labour Party
MP from 2001 to 2017, and currently
Mayor of Greater Manchester
, was born in Old Roan in Aintree in 1970,
[7]
- Richard Crawshaw, Baron Crawshaw of Aintree OBE
, known as Dick Crawshaw, lived for most of his life on Aintree Lane.
- Ronald Sugden
(1896?1971), first-class cricketer and Royal Air Force officer
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Aintree
.