Location: Kirkby, Lancashire, England

This Page is all about how the Governance of The Country through the ages has had an effect on Kirkby for better or worst.
Contents |
Governance of Kirkby Through the Ages
Pre-Roman Rule
Excerpt from Peoples of Britain by Dr. Simon James
From an early stage, the constraints and opportunities of the varied environments of the islands of Britain encouraged a great regional diversity of culture. Throughout prehistory there were myriad small-scale societies, and many petty 'tribal' identities, typically lasting perhaps no more than a few generations before splitting, merging or becoming obliterated. These groups were in contact and conflict with their neighbours, and sometimes with more distant groups - the appearance of exotic imported objects attest exchanges, alliance and kinship links, and wars
At the end of the Iron Age (roughly the last 700 years BC), we get our first eye-witness accounts of Britain from Greco-Roman authors, not least Julius Caesar who invaded in 55 and 54 BC. These reveal a mosaic of named peoples (Trinovantes, Silures, Cornovii, Selgovae, etc), but there is little sign such groups had any sense of collective identity any more than the islanders of AD 1000 all considered themselves 'Britons'.
However, there is one thing that the Romans, modern archaeologists and the Iron Age islanders themselves would all agree on: they were not Celts. This was an invention of the 18th century; the name was not used earlier.[1]
Roman Rule
Greco-Roman civilisation displaced the 'Celtic' culture of Iron Age Europe. These islanders actually became Romans, both culturally and legally (the Roman citizenship was more a political status than an ethnic identity). By AD 300, almost everyone in 'Britannia' was Roman, legally and culturally, even though of indigenous descent and still mostly speaking 'Celtic' dialects. Roman rule saw profound cultural change, but emphatically without any mass migration.
However, Rome only ever conquered half the island. The future Scotland remained beyond Roman government, although the nearby presence of the empire had major effects. The kingdom of the Picts appeared during the third century AD, the first of a series of statelets which, during the last years and collapse of Roman power, developed through the merging of the 'tribes' of earlier times.[2]
The Dark Ages
By the sixth century, most of Britannia was taken over by 'Germanic' kingdoms. There was apparently complete discontinuity between Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon England; it was once believed that the Romano-British were slaughtered or driven west by hordes of invading Anglo-Saxons, part of the great westward movement of 'barbarians' overwhelming the western empire. However, there was no such simple displacement of 'Celts' by 'Germans'....Contrary to the traditional idea that Britain originally possessed a 'Celtic' uniformity, which first Roman, then Saxon and other invaders disrupted, in reality Britain has always been home to multiple peoples. While its population has shown strong biological continuity over millennia, the identities the islanders have chosen to adopt have undergone some remarkable changes. Many of these have been due to contacts and conflicts across the seas, not least as the result of episodic, but often very modest, arrivals of newcomers.[3]
Medieval Rule from The Normans through to the Wars of the Roses
The Tudors, The Stuarts And Cromwell
Sections Still To Be Added
Post 1945 to the Present Day
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Knowsley Metropolitan Council Coat of Arms |
Official blazon
Arms : Azure a Pair of Scales Or between in chief two Bees volant proper and in base a Cross Moline Gold.
Crest : Out of a Coronet composed of four Roses Gules barbed and seeded proper set upon a Rim Or a Mount Vert thereon a Cormorant wings elevated and addorsed holding in the beak a Slip of Oak leaved and fructed also proper, Mantled Azure doubled Argent.
Motto: 'FIDE ET INDUSTRIA' - By faith and industry
Origin/meaning The arms were officially granted on November 25, 1958.
The gold cross upon the blue background of the shield is the heraldry of the Molyneux family, Earls of Sefton, who eventually possessed the whole manor of Kirkby. The gold pair of scales represents the balanced industries of the great trading estate at Kirkby, and the two bees symbolise the community working and living together here as a complete social unit. A heraldic play on the place name is also incorporated with the cross (representing the old parish church around which the Urban District has developed) and the bees - Kirk-by.
The mantling is in blue and white, which are the livery colours of the Earls of Derby who formerly held a moiety of the manor of Kirkby until it was acquired by the Molyneux family. The crest above the helm comprises a coronet of Lancaster, being a gold rim set with four roses (only three visible) which are here intended to stand for the four areas of Northwood, Old Kirkby, Southdene and Westvale. The celebrated cormorant, or liver bird, from the arms of the City of Liverpool, represents the part played by that city in the development of modern development of Kirkby. Instead of having the familiar seaweed, or laver, in its beak, the bird holds an oak sprig with an acorn which not only symbolises the sturdy and steady growth of the new Urban District from a small beginning but also serves as a reminder that much of Kirkby's original rural character is still being preserved within its boundaries.
The Motto re-iterates the connection between the church and this modern industrial town, fusing two ideals which are both always applicable [4]
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Knowsley Metropolitan Council Coat of Arms |
Official blazon
Arms : Or an Eagle neck embowed wings addorsed and inverted perched upon a Cradle therein an Infant proper swaddled Gules on a Chief dancetty of three points downward Azure a Cross moline between two Bees volant Or.
Crest : On a Wreath Or and Azure perched upon two Coils of Cable lying one upon the other a Cormorant wings elevated and addorsed proper holding in the beak a Balance Or
Supporters : On the dexter side a Griffin Or charged on the wing with three Roses Gules barbed and seeded proper and on the sinister side a Griffin Sable beak and forelegs Or charged on the wing with three Fleurs de Lys Or.
Motto: 'BY FAITH AND INDUSTRY'
Origin/meaning The arms were officially granted on January 8, 1976.
The main charge in the arms is an eagle carrying a child in a basket. This was the crest of the Lathoms and Stanleys, and comes from the arms of Huyton-with Roby UDC. The gold field is from the Lathom family arms. On the chief dancetty is a cross Moline canting arms of the Molyneux family, between two bees , symbols of industry, from the arms of Kirkby UDC.
The crest has a "liver bird" or cormorant, showing that Knowsley is a suburb of the City of Liverpool. He holds a pair of scales in his beak, the manufacture of which is an industry in Kirkby.The supporters are two griffins. The dexter griffin is coloured gold, and comes from the arms of the Earl of Derby. The red roses o the wing are for Lancashire. The sinister supporter is black and comes from the arms of the Bold family, holders of Whiston manor. He is charged on the wing with gold fleurs-de-lys for John of Gaunt, who held the Manor of Prescot.
The motto - BY FAITH AND INDUSTRY - is a translation of Kirkby's FIDE ET INDUSTRIA.[5]
Sources
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/british_prehistory/peoples_01.shtml
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/british_prehistory/peoples_01.shtml
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/british_prehistory/peoples_01.shtml
- ↑ https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Kirkby
- ↑ https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Knowsley
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