Sefton

Sefton is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. Located to the south west of Maghull and to the north east of Great Crosby, it is on the flood plain of the River Alt. The village is bisected by the B5422, Brickwall Lane, which cuts also through the site of the moat of Sefton Old Hall, a recognised National Monument. At the 2001 Census the population was recorded as 772, increasing to 855 at the 2011 Census. Historically a part of Lancashire, the name Sefton is thought to be derived from the Old Norse sef, meaning "sedge" or "rushes" and tún meaning "farmstead". In the past Sephton was an alternative spelling. The Parish Church of St Helen (Church of England) – the only Grade I listed building in the Borough – was first built around 1170 as the private chapel of the Molyneux family. This village is home to Sefton Parish Church, Saint Helen's Well, a pre-Reformation shrine, a plague pot, the Grade II listed "Punch Bowl Inn" and the site of Sefton Mill dating back to the Middle Ages. Local folklore has it that Sefton Hall, a Royalist stronghold, was the scene of a skirmish in the English Civil War. The Georgian Rectory to nearby Sefton Parish Church was demolished in the 1970s, however the gate piers still stand at the entrance to Glebe End. The curate's house, Lunt House, was situated in the nearby hamlet of Lunt.