In the
famous Domesday Survey Book of 1086, Kirkby was one of the places which gained
a mention. Back then it was called Cherchebi. According to historians, only
about 70 people lived here. Overcrowding was not an issue. The Domesday Survey
was commissioned by William the Conqueror who had slaughtered his way into
power with the Battle of Hastings in 1066 being the more well known of his
battles. The Domesday Survey was undertaken so the King could see just what
he owned in England, and so he could further rob the peasants by taxes.
William the Conqueror was a vicious tyrant and the Church at the Time
was also made up of a bunch of low lives that condemned sinners whilst
no doubt having plenty of opportunities to sin themselves, as was
common for many of these 'Men of God'. A peasant or commoner
never stood a chance. Not until a few centuries later when
we began to organise ourselves and fight the Nobility and
their hired killers.
What the Domesday Survey asked us....
It is interesting to see just what the Domesday survey actually asked
people, in a way it was similar to the census which we all have to
fill in by law every 4 years. Below are the questions translated
from the original survey which would have been delivered to all
residences here in Kirkby, or Cherchebi.
(What is )The name of the place.
Who held it before 1066
Who holds it now (1085)
How many hides (1 hide of 20 acres could support 1 family)
How many ploughs
How many Lordships
How many men
How much woodland
How much meadow
How much pasture
How many villages
How many cottagers
How many slaves
How many free men
How many Freeman
How many mills
How many fish ponds
What the total value was
What the total value is
How much each free man or Freeman had or has
Slave Nation
Note the mention of slaves. These Slaves would have been local people as the Slave
trade from Africa and other Continents did not become a commercial venture until
the 17th Century. In 1805 the House of Commons tried to stop Englishmen 'hunting
down and transporting Slaves', the House of Lords, deeply involved and connected
to the whole sordid business, refused to ban the Slave Trade. It
was not until 1833 that the Trade was finally outlawed in Parliament.
Captains of Ships were fined for each slave they smuggled; many threw
the slaves into the sea, weighed down, to avoid the fine. The Upper
Classes had for long treated the population of this Country as slaves,
it was no surprise these degenerates would put little value on the
lives of the Slaves from other Countries.
The Common People were nothing
The Domesday survey mentions 'freemen', at the time this would have been an
elite group of people who were afforded privileges which the commoner was not.
The very title 'freeman' leaves one wondering what the rest of us were, but it's
obvious. The common people were nothing. You'd be hung for stealing a loaf, whilst
the Nobles, freemen and Church could rob whatever they wanted. This part of history
is not mentioned a lot on Knowsley Councils website guide to the History of Kirkby.
Nor was it taught to us in school. Child abuse was rife, with children forced to
work. During the industrial revolution, many children worked 16 hour days under
atrocious conditions, as did their elders. There is little material covering
the welfare of children from the time the Domesday survey was taken. One can
only shudder with horror to think what these children would have gone
through. There was no real childhood for the children of common people
and they were not afforded protection in England until the middle of
the 18th century when Parliament began to pass laws regarding child
welfare. It was not until very late into the 20th century when
Children were afforded some level of protection by Law and given rights.
Upper Class Lowlife and Nobilty
Kirkby itself was owned by a series of Rich Families, doubtless bullying the local
peasants as we grew in number and forcing us to fight in the many battles which
these rich Robber Baron Families would instigate. The Molyneux family purchased
most of the land here in the 16th Century, no doubt after having gained the money
to purchase it by all manner of ill-gotten means. Many of these Big Families would
go on to embrace the Slave Trade which the Rich Upper Class scum thought was a
good earner, plus, of course, the exploitation and enslavement of the indigenous
people here. These 'Nobles' are the people who thought nothing of using child
labour to earn a few pennies. Liverpool was late in entering the slave trade
but quickly surpassed London's lowlife and Bristol's 'Gentry' to become the
number one slave port in the whole of Europe by the 1740s.
Church of England: King Henry loses the plot!
The Moleneux Family were staunch Catholics for most of their 'reign' here.
The power they had must have been something Knowsley Council today would envy.
Eventually the Moleneux's went over to the Church of England, a Church only
formed to allow a divorced King to Marry. King Henry VIII wished to obtain a
divorce from Queen Catherine of Aragon for not producing a male heir. The
Pope would not grant it. After a long campaign to reverse this decision,
the King lost the plot and proclaimed himself Supreme Head of the Church
of England. All the pomp and ceremony of the Church of England cannot
take away the fact that the only reason it exists is because a King
wanted to dump his wife.
Charles William Molyneux converted to the dodgy Church of England in 1768 and
a few years later in 1771, he claimed the Grand title 'Earl of Sefton'.
Kirkby continued to be owned by the Earls of Sefton until 1947 when the
land was sold to Liverpool Corporation.
World War Two
On Sept 1st 1939 in Poland, at 0445 hours, German forces invaded Poland
without a declaration of war. The operation is code named Fall Weiss
(Plan White). The Germans allot 52 divisions for the invasion (some 1.5 million men),
including 6 armored divisions and all their motorised units. Whilst this was happening,
half the Royal family here had sympathy with mad dictator Adolf Hitler, and our good
friends the Americans had been arming the Germans to the teeth for years whilst we
watched.
Royal Ordinance factory in Kirkby
The War led to the Government deciding to build a munitions factory in Kirkby and
work began in late 1939. A massive slice of land was needed and the occupiers of
twelve farms were given orders to quit. A Royal Ordnance Factory was quickly put
into service in early 1941. It soon became a major employer with some 20,000 people
being employed in its peak in 1942, many traveled to the factory by Tram, until the
idiot politicians and Town Planners decided trams were no good anymore.
Liverpool Corporation and Mad Town Planners
After some 56 million people were slaughtered in World War Two, no doubt some by
the bombs churned out by the Royal Ordinance Factory. The site used for War time
activities was eyed up after the War as a place to site a massive industrial estate.
Liverpool Corporation had leased the land at first but then purchased it. No doubt
the land was heavily contaminated and the Farmers had no chance of regaining their
farms. Liverpool Corporation and the insane Town Planners then decided that it would
also be a good idea to build a massive series of estates next to the developing
Industrial Estate.
Kirkby: A Social Experiment
Through the 50's and 60's the Industrial Estate grew into the Biggest in the UK,
and the population of Kirkby expanded from some 3000 people post war to some 50'000
by 1961. The Town Planners built Tower Blocks to accommodate the growing numbers
and also multi storey Flats in Towerhill which lasted for a few years before
they crumbled due to the poor quality of materials used in the construction.
Corruption was creeping into many building contracts and the use of asbestos
would lead to a death toll in later years, despite the Corporations and
Government knowing asbestos was very dangerous. Kirkby was an experiment
in as much as the Town became a kind of testing ground for various housing
and social solutions. They thought Tower Blocks were the answer and for a
few years they were. Most of the experimental forms of communal accommodation
failed to last beyond a few years. Problems were obvious in the 70's when a
lot of buildings were bulldozed. Also obvious was the lack of recreational
facilities in Kirkby and other New Towns. Up to the 80's, there was still
a lot of derelict buildings and spare areas of land which became the community
centers for hundreds of kids here in Kirkby. Once these went, there was little
for the kids to do.
Knowsley Council is Born on April Fools Day!
On April Fools day, 1st April 1974, the Local Government in England was reorganised.
Ever since 'fools' have been in abundance in the Council. Kirkby together with Huyton,
Prescot and Halewood joined together and Knowsley Council was created from the ranks
of overwhelming labour supporters. Kirkby itself would be policed by "K" Division
of the newly created Merseyside Police. The TV Cop Series 'Z Cars' portrayed
Kirkby in all but name, and Knowsley Council tried to distance themselves at
the time from the shows portrayal of an area with a lot of crime. To be honest,
there was a lot of crime. Even then, Knowsley Council would try to spin-doctor
the situation.
Population Loss
Figures for the population of Kirkby in 2003 are hard to come by,
but a report in 1998 stated there were just under 32000 people living
in some eleven thousand residences. By all reports, the population has
steadily decreased since its peak of some sixty thousand in the 60's.
The decrease is greatly due to the number of people leaving Kirkby to seek
employment elsewhere and apparently a lower Birth rate with the advent of
reliable contraception.
More to come.........
Whilst this is just a brief History of our Town, there are plans to publish more
regarding the history of the ordinary people here. Anyone who has lived here all
their lives is welcome to send in stories of what it was like living here in the
early days.
Legacy of a Sick Past
Whilst a lot of History concerns the lives of the Rich and privileged, there are no
doubt Working Class people who have studied history from a Working Class perspective.
You can only wonder what the 70 people living here would have said if interviewed
today. Doubtless anyone who was one of the Common people suffered greatly under the
Iron Rule of the Nobility headed by a various collection of Kings and Queens. For
1000 years at least, Kirkby has always had the haves and have nots. Social conditions
have certainly improved over the centuries but we still have in the UK,
the legacy of a sick past, and a Class prejudiced Society which still exists today.
Knowsley Council: Petty Nobility
Knowsley Council, or the leaders, imagine themselves to be the petty nobility today.
They still hang onto the links of days gone with the Earl of Derby, our living reminder
of the sick past, a man who owns a great chunk of Knowsley and surrounding areas.
Knowsley Councils website's brief history of Kirkby steers away from any in depth
look at the Class Prejudice which is part of our history.
Groveling to the Royals
Any visit by a Royal here, has the Council painting fences and cleaning
the streets, before they collectively grovel to the ultimate sick link
to the past. To look at Jim Keight in the presence of a Royal is embarrassing.
He must polish his OBE medal a lot, word is his nose may have touched the floor
when receiving it. Why the hell did he actually get the medal? I mean, apart from
his mates in the Council, and the fools who actually vote him in,(400 stuck up
snobs in Huyton) everyone else hates him. Kirkby Times has heard word that Keight
may well be in the Process of writing an auto biography. He worked long enough
in the media to be able to churn out a few hundred pages of drivel by now. Drivel
is surely what it would be, unless he spilled the beans and told us all the juicy stuff!
Shaping the Future
History is an ongoing thing. Most of us won't make the history books in person,
but most of us from Kirkby reading this won't really care about that. The course
of History is sometimes changed by the actions of one or a few people but generally
it is changed collectively en masse. Kirkby Times is in many ways part of an historical
movement of Working Class organisations and individuals who attempt to both preserve
our history of struggle and to continue the struggle. By our collective strength
we can actually shape the future.
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