Claughton, Cheshire Genealogy

Introduction
Claughton (pronounced /ˈklɔːtən/ "Clawton") is a residential district in Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England. It is close to the main shopping area of Birkenhead town centre, and Birkenhead Park is partly located within its boundaries. Administratively, Claughton is a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of the County Borough of Birkenhead, within the geographical county of Cheshire.

Claughton cum Grange was a township in Bidston Parish, Wirral Hundred which became a civil parish in 1866. In 1898 the whole of Claughton cum Grange was added to Birkenhead. It included the hamlets of Birkenhead Park and Flaybrick.

History
The name is of Viking origin, deriving from the Old Norse Klakkr-tun, meaning "hamlet on a hillock".

Claughton Manor House was built in about 1850 by local benefactor Sir William Jackson, with its gardens designed by Sir Joseph Paxton. It occupied a site between Egerton Road and Manor Hill until it was pulled down in the 1930s.

The Birkenhead Institute was founded in 1889 by a local philanthropist, George Atkin, who established the school as a commercial company with shareholders and directors.Originally situated in Whetstone Lane, Birkenhead, it was later relocated to premises on Tollemache Road, Claughton until its closure and subsequent demolition in the 1990s. Wilfred Owen, the World War I poet attended the school at its original location. A residential road has been named after him on the Tollemache Road site.

Most of Claughton cum Grange was within the parish of Bidston, Cheshire a small part in Woodchurch, Cheshire

Poor Law Unions
Birkenhead Poor Law Union, Cheshire