Greasby history to 1066

Greasby village has a long history - Liverpool Museum (link) reports that the earliest recorded human settlement in the Merseyside area was near Greasby Copse.

Evidence such as a fireplace and stone tools found during excavations (1987 - 1990) date the site at around 7000 BC (during the Mesolithic period).

In his book 'Ancient Britain'  (published in 1997) James Dyer describes the structure found at Greasby and states his belief that it "seems almost certainly to be the earliest dwelling found in Britain".  He dates it at around 8000 BC.

Before the Romans occupied Chester (74AD to 383AD) the Wirral peninsula (which was then called Kilgwri) was occupied by a Celtic tribe, the Cornavii.

Evidence of a Roman road is continuous from Chester to Willaston (at Willaston it is called Street Hey Lane) and remains have been found in Barnston (behind the church). 

Excavations in Greasby in 1965 proved that Barker Lane was of Roman origin (official confirmation was not until around 1980) and Roman remains such as coins, jewellery and weapons, have been found at Meols.  

It is likely that Greasby was on the important Roman road from Chester to Meols. 

After the departure of the Romans, waves of Teutronic tribes - Saxons, Jutes and Angles - entered Britain and by the middle of the seventh century Anglo-Saxons had conquered nearly all of the Wirral peninsula.

Norsemen, known today as Vikings but at the time called Ostmen, raided between 870 and 924 and they eventually settled in the area.

At the time of the Norman invasion (1066), Greasby was under the control of a man called Dunning.  He was an official (bailiff or steward) for the landowners, the earls of Mercia.

William the Conquerer gave Cheshire to Hugh de Avranches (also called Hugh Lupus) and he (Lupus) gave Greasby to Nigel de Burcey.