Manchopper in…Heswall

Result: Heswall 3-0 Ellesmere Port Town (West Cheshire League Division 1)

Venue: Gayton Park (Saturday 6th May 2023; 3pm)

Att: 135 (approx.)

As we enter the final few weeks of the season, the last chance saloon was being entered by many clubs around the country. In this very game on Coronation Day, there would be no titles being awarded…instead, there would be a scrap to avoid the drop. At least this one wasn’t from a gallows, but instead from the top table of the West Cheshire League. Who would remain within the league’s elite? Well, if you have somehow avoided the scoreline above, let’s go on and see…

I’d actually originally decided upon a visit to nearby Capenhurst Villa for this day, until Paul pointed out this clash was a relegation decider. As such, this took precedence for me and I soon found myself heading into Liverpool, from where I’d avoid using the Merseyrail and, latterly, TfW lines on this occasion. Paul had again been a fountain of knowledge for this trip and let me know that there was a bus that headed straight into Heswall from not far outside of Lime Street and that this would be the far better option. And for a £2 single ticket each way, you couldn’t really go all that wrong…aside from the banging music emanating from the Eurovision welcoming stage!

After a trip under the Mersey and through the shadow of Prenton Park, we eventually arrived in Heswall at a little before midday. Now, we know that train station platform pubs aren’t all that rare…but how about an effective bus station one?! Yes, upon arrival, you are immediately met by the visage of a hostelry by the name of the Johnny Pye and this came complete with a very royal charicature drawn upon its outdoor blackboard. Paul wasn’t quite as keen as I about this and hoped that the TV’s inside may have avoided that lark. He wasn’t to be so lucky!

Arriving in Heswall

The Johnny Pye (and KIIIING!!!)

I was kind enough to allow him to mostly avoid having to witness the scenes around Westminster (which I was quite happy to point out were also on the adjoining table’s mini-screens!), as we settled in over a pint of San Miguel (£5.50) each to begin our tour of Heswall’s pubs. We were intrigued by the pubs window blinds near to our bench, which carried some old-school scorelines from what looked to be a former Football League Division 1 day. Whether or not they were factual is unknown to me – but it seemed someone there was either a Manchester United fan or just really didn’t like Leeds, as the Yorkshire side’s victory had been scrubbed out (but the 2-1 could just about be seen).

Exiting here and heading around a small back road, we eventually got our bearings about us and found our way to the second stop of our day:- Barcode. I did like the name – it’s a pun, and I like puns – and the place was empty upon our entrance, allowing for a quick service. I also took the decision to pay in here also, as they preferred cash and so were definitely my type of place. No cashless nonsense for me, please…Greene King, you’re put on notice! Anyway, we had a pint of Mahou (£4.90) each, although were sans of advertised free glass of Pimms on arrival to celebrate the Coronation. How very dare they!!

Barcode

Arriving at the Beer Lab.

We moved on once more and this time made our way slightly out of the centre and more towards the ground. After grabbing a couple of pics, I eventually caught up with Paul just outside our next port of call, the Beer Lab. This was the modern-type crafty-style place, but had Paulaner (£4.80) on too which suited ourselves that bit more. A nice pint and at a decent price too, what’s not to like? Anyway, with time continuing to tick on towards 3pm, it was time to head to the area around the roundabout just a couple of minutes walk from the ground, where another two pubs awaited to round off our pre-match tour.

Heswall is a town on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside. Historically a part of Cheshire, Heswall is located on the eastern side of the Dee Estuary and lies a similar distance from both the cities of Liverpool and Chester. Indeed, following on from their own noted histories, in the years prior to the Norman Conquest, Heswall has been cited as a possible location of Dingesmere, a settlement mentioned in regard to the Battle of Brunanburh, as mentioned in Egil’s Saga.

Coming back to the Normans, Heswall was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 under the name of Eswelle and was owned by Robert de Rodelent, who owned most of the lands around the eastern side of the River Dee. In 1277, it fell under the ownership of the Sheriff of Chester, Patrick de Haselwall. Heswall – known as Hestlewelle or Hesselwelle until 1897 – remained not much more than a small village right into the 1800’s, with it being noted as having only 168 people living there in 1801.

Heswall

By the 1841 census, however, Heswall’s population had swelled to 398, the growth began by wealthy merchants from Liverpool who had originally chosen it as a retreat, before moving permanently when the arrival of the railways allowed for an easy commute into the surrounding cities. The railways also saw Heswall continue to see growth and this eventually saw the once separate villages of Heswall, Gayton, Pensby and Thingwall become conjoined due to the continuous housing projects between them.

There were two railway lines connected to Heswall, one being the Borderlands line from Wrexham to Bidston and the other linking West Kirby to Hooton. Only the former is still in use today, although ‘Heswall Station’ now carries the name of its demolished neighbour, having previously been known as Heswall Hills. The latter was closed in 1956 and later turned into a footpath known as the Wirral Way.

Heswall

The town’s church, St. Peter’s, dates from 1879, although its tower is closer to 500 years old. The previous church on the site was destroyed by a violent thunderstorm in 1875 – the storm claiming the lives of the church organist and the boy who pumped the bellows for the instrument. The town also saw the Liverpool Country Hospital for Children, later the Royal Liverpool Children’s Hospital, opened in 1909 and it remained in situ until its closure in 1985. The site is now a Tesco.

The old Gayton windmill, which stopped operating in 1860, is located just around the corner from the football ground, though is now a private residence. Another nearby one has been incorporated into a pub entrance! Indeed, Heswall is known to be an affluent area, even being listed as the seventh richest neighbourhood in the UK back in 2001. In 2022, it was still the most expensive area on the Wirral.

Heswall

The town is also home to the Heswall Golf Club and its championship 18-hole course, as well as the Heswall Dales – a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Local Nature Reserve. Within the SSSI lies the ‘Dungeon’…though this is only a small river valley cut into the hillside. A pathway links the Dales to the aforementioned Wirral Way footpath and out onwards to the coast. The Beacons, Whitfield Common and Poll Hill, the highest point of the Wirral peninsula are also located in the area and offer views across the River Dee towards Wales.

Notable people to have come out of Heswall include the late TV presenter Jim Bowen, England footballer and former Fulham player and manager Paul Bracewell (also Everton, Sunderland, Stoke City, Newcastle Utd), artist Christian Furr (best known for being the youngest artist to paint the late Queen Elizabeth II), pianist Stephen Hough, musicians Ian Astbury (The Cult), Andy McCluskey (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark), legendary DJ John Peel, John Williams – a successful motorcycle racer ( 5x North West 200, 4x IoM TT and 1976 500cc Belgian GP winner) who was killed at the 1978 Ulster GP at age 32, having won the previous day) and cricketing legend Lord Ian Botham (yes, really!).

The first of these final two was the old-looking Devon Doorway. Inside was a bit different, with it still being largely wooden-clad, but having been modernised also. Still, it was a nice and comfortable place to waste away a good 20-odd minutes in, whilst a pint of Asahi (£5.25-ish) went down a treat. After finishing up, I reckoned we had just enough time to nip across to the Beefeater chain pub just across the way which went by the name of the Glegg Arms, where a swift bottle of Bud (£3.95) apiece was had in another seemingly pretty old watering hole. A good little mix of pubs so far.

Devon Doorway

Across the roundabout to the Glegg Arms

From here, it was a short two or three minute walk to the gates of Gayton Park, where the game had just kicked off as we wandered in via the car park entrance lane. As you head through the car park, the smart clubhouse building, complete with all the usual facilities, stands right in front of you. Lying just below it is the pitch itself, which is railed off – bar a small area down the far end – and features a small seated/covered terrace stand to the immediate right hand side, towards the clubhouse end. The rest of the ground is open standing, with trees hemming in the far end especially, with a bit of raised standing and a patio area behind the near end and in front of the club building. That’s the ground in short and this is Heswall’s story…

History Lesson:

Heswall Football Club was founded in 1891 and competed out of the West Cheshire Association Football League from 1894. Originally playing in the league’s Division 2, Heswall would win the divisional title in 1907, though were not promoted to Division 1 despite this success. After eventually finding themselves in the First Division, Heswall made up for lost time pre-WWII, winning a hat-trick of titles between 1936 and 1938. 1958, when the Heswall name returned to the West Cheshire League ranks, again playing out of the Second Division.

Heswall would finish at runners-up at the end of their return season, but this again wasn’t enough to secure a promotion to Division 1. Indeed, the club would remain in the Division 2 until 1969 when they would win the Second Division title and finally attain promotion to the First Division. The club moved to their current Gayton Park home in 1971 and continued playing Division 1 football there until 1982, as well as competing in the FA Vase during this period (first appearing in 1979 and achieving a best of a 3rd Round spot on three occasions). At the end of the 1981-’82 season, Heswall would depart the league once again.

Arriving at Gayton Park

Heswall would return to the West Cheshire League once again in 1988, retaking a spot in Division 1. Success didn’t return to Gayton Park all too swiftly, at least in league terms, but 2005 saw them lift the league title for the first time. They would repeat the feat in 2013, but things would turn sour almost immediately as the following season saw them suffer relegation back into the Division 2 ranks. They would return at the first attempt, winning the Division 2 and spent the next three seasons back in the West Cheshire League’s top-tier.

However, a 15 point deduction for failing to fulfill five fixtures saw them relegated again in 2017. In 2020, the club merged with nearby club Pensby FCl, though they retained the Heswall name unchanged. The merger did birth success for the club as, despite the interrupted campaign of 2020-’21, a 2nd placed finish was achieved, along with a West Cheshire Bowl success, and this was enough to secure promotion back to Division 1.

In the clubhouse

After finishing 5th last season, this current season was one of struggle, as the manager and playing squad departed at the previous season’s end and a further managerial change followed. The club sat second-bottom at time of writing and needed to avoid defeat in this final game to escape the drop.

As well as the above triumphs, the club have also seen much cup success. They have lifted the Wirral Senior Cup on seven occasions between 1939 and 1999, as well as the Wirral Amateur Cup on ten occasions, spanning 1932 and 2004. Heswall have also won the West Cheshire League’s Pyke Cup four times (1933, ’39, 1985 and 1997), the West Cheshire Bowl three times (1990, 1999 and 2021), the Wirral and District Junior Cup in 1920 and the Bill Weight Trophy of 1991-’92. The club have also won the Cheshire FA Amateur Cup twice, these coming in 1992 and 2012.

With the game in its early stages, it quickly became apparent that Heswall were comfortably on top in this game. However, another issue also became pretty obvious…and that was that they struggled to create chances on the regular, let alone get in great positions. They did have their opportunities though, the first of these coming the way of #9, who saw his shot well kept out by the Ellesmere Port ‘keeper.

View from the patio terrace

Stand-ing room only.

Match Action

To be honest, the first half was pretty tense and hard-fought, with not much to choose between the two, as neither wanted to give any more than they needed to their relegation rivals. Heswall did have the other couple of notable chances in the half that were created, though, with #10 shooting straight at the GK and #5 seeing his header comfortably held, as the sides headed in still at stalemate and with all to play for in the second half. But Ellesmere Port would have to come at their hosts, if they wanted to stay in the top division.

After a quick visit into the smart clubhouse, which had a fair collection of paraphernalia adorning its walls, as well as a TV or two to keep everyone updated on the scores around the country, it was soon time to head back out pitchside. It did look as though we might have an early finish for a while when a seemingly bad-sounding injury was suffered by a Heswall player, but he was eventually adjudged okay to be moved onto the bench and we were soon back playing again. Wishing the player in question a speedy recovery from whichever ailments he has.

Match Action

Match Action

Heswall would have been happy that he was okay for two reasons. One was that he looked relatively okay and the second was that they had just gone 1-0 up just prior to the injury pause! For the opener, #10, Tom Haynes, slid in from close range to give his side the lead, before he doubled it shortly afterwards when he shrugged off a challenge from an Ellesmere Port defender, resisted the urge to go down, and was rewarded with a goal – netting at the second attempt.

This rather knocked the remaining stuffing out of Ellesmere Port and they really didn’t look like ever getting back into the game from that point. Indeed, very little happened in truth – though Haynes went mighty close to securing his hat-trick, but only had himself to blame for not grabbing the match ball. Despite having found the target with some aplomb on the prior occasions, this one saw him somehow place his effort wide of the upright, when it did look easier to score, if not at the very least hit the target.

Match Action

BIG TACKLE!!!

Heswall would grab a third to put the cherry on top of their First Division-status cake when the third somehow came their way – apparently with a big hand (no pun intended, nor in the literal sense!) from the ‘keeper or a “thunderbolt” (as described by the Heswall twitter, albeit with ‘winky-face emoji!), as he gifted them and Matty Walsh a sealer to cement his side’s relegation back to the Division 2 for next season. As it was, some muted, relieved celebrations lay ahead for the hosts, as they finished second-bottom, but with the vital, final three points added to their tally. Full-time; 3-0.

After the final whistle, myself and Paul made a hasty exit and returned back into Heswall itself, our sights set on the Wetherspoon’s offering here:- the Prense Well. This would be our last shared stop off, before Paul made his way back homewards. After chatting about some cricket stuff and a bit around plans for the last few weeks of our footballing seasons, I bid him goodbye and settled in to milk the remainder of my pint of Corona (£3.71) before heading off to pay a visit to the two other pubs I wanted to go and see.

Heswall ‘Spoons – the Prense Well

Jug & Bottle

The first of these was pretty much just around the corner from the Prense Well and went by the name of the Jug & Bottle. This was a swanky-looking place at first glance and kind of seemed more like a hotel. Inside saw another old place, with loads of wooden beams and the like being the main feature. I plonked myself down with a pint of Moretti for the rather high price of £5.80 (still a fair way short of the Cartmel one, though!!), but it wasn’t as though this wasn’t expected beforehand by myself.

From here, it was around a five minute walk down the road to my final stop, the Dee View Inn. Unsurprisingly, there are views across the River Dee from here and there is apparently a ‘Heswall Beach’ nearby too! I headed in and grabbed a pint of Inch’s cider (£4.70) before propping up on the side of a wall to watch the remainder of the Liverpool-Brentford game. I eventually got talking to the couple next to me who went by the name of (I hope I recorded it correctly!) Neil and Anne, and I had a nice conversation with them…although whether they shared this opinion towards my end is unlikely!!

Before heading into the Dee View Inn…

…and upon leaving, for good measure!

After bidding the two farewell, I headed back out and slightly uphill on the return walk to the bus station, where one of the regular services soon arrived to take me back across the Mersey and into Liverpool once again.I was dropped off nicely in time to stroll over to Lime Street station and hop on board the express service back home, which really is a handy addition to my days! And so ended a good day out upon the Wirral peninsula.

Cheers to Paul for giving the heads up for this game as I was really pleased to get to one of my long-term targets and for a game with something on it. I did enjoy Gayton Park and it does seem like, should the need (and/or funds!) arise, the ground isn’t far off from being NLS standard. The town of Heswall (guy shouting out of a car for no reason – you can’t tend to hear when there’s a car whipping past from behind you – aside) was a nice little place to pay a visit to and the rain largely held off until we had the neccessary cover, which makes a change. The game was a decent enough one too, so not too much to complain about today. Onto next week and, hopefully, the County aren’t the cowards…