Overpool

Until 1911, Overpool was part of the parish of Eastham in the Wirral Hundred. The population was 89 in 1801, 72 in 1851 and 91 in 1901.[1] Historically, there were three settlements or small villages - Poole, Over Poole and Nether Poole. Of these, only Overpool remains extant. The area is separated by a roundabout at Cemetery Gates.

St Francis's Church stands at the top of Seymour Drive and there is a Methodist church in nearby Rossmore Road. The original Overpool Methodist Church was on Rivacre Road, a few hundred yards up from the Rivacre Baths, on the same side of the road next to Jones's old farm (since demolished). The church was destroyed by fire in the early 1950s, and a new one was built on Rossmore Road (just down from Cemetery Gates on the way to Little Sutton), as this was a more prominent place and nearer to the majority of houses.

In the 1960s Overpool's shops were as follows:

North side of Rossmore Road West - GM Birks (Hairdressers), A & JR Leach (Newsagents), a habitually vacant unit, G Partridge (Butchers), Ashe & Nephew (Off-licence), Rivacre Fish Bar (owned by Stan Fairbrother) later to become Harry's Fish Bar (owned by Harry Wong), General Store owned by Mr & Mrs Jones, then later by Mr & Mrs Laider, Betting Office, Rivacre Home Stores owned by a Mr Turner, then Mr & Mrs Walker, and finally a Grocer's shop and Monumental Mason's yard owned by Mr Petrus. Mr & Mrs Steve Cox took this over and the Mason's yard was built upon to double the size of the store.

South side of Rossmore Road West - Overpool Service Station (an Esso filling station), Bakery (later owned by Patisserie Anglaise), Sharples' Newsagents, Co-op Butchers, Co-op Supermarket, General Store owned by Mr Roberts, Laundrette, a hardware store, a cafe, Galaxie Newsagents, an electrical shop, Chemist's owned by Mr Duffy, Tesco supermarket, and finally the Post Office and Mr Burgess's butchers.

Until it closed in the 1970s Rivacre Baths, an open-air swimming pool, was popular and people from as far away as Liverpool visited the baths. The site of the baths is now occupied by local authority housing that backs on to Rivacre Valley, a conservation area and wildlife park.

Housing in the area is split between owner occupied and local authority and on the north side of the roundabout is an estate of post-war prefabs built in the 1950s, known locally as 'Tintown'.

The area underwent considerable change after the Vauxhall Motors factory opened nearby in 1962: several farms that had supplied milk and other dairy produce to the area were replaced by local authority housing. One was "Overpool Dairy" run by Charlie and Norman Dodd, and the other was Jones's farm which was next to the Dodds place. Dodd's Farm delivered milk by horse and cart up to the early 1960s.

Bowaters Mersey Paper Mill which produced newsprint from the 1930s stood close by and had a social club at Overpool that was a popular venue in the 1960s and 1970s.

Overpool railway station opened in 1988, on the branch line that runs to Ellesmere Port from Liverpool. Since 1994, the station has been part of the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network. Overpool station is merely a drop off/pickup stop with no ticket office, but a Ticket machine has now been installed.

Media related to Overpool at Wikimedia Commons