Caldy

It was first mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086 as being owned by Hugh of Mere and being named ‘Calders’. Nearby is a large area of National Trust land called Caldy Hill. Many of the houses and walls in the village centre are built from the local red sandstone.

Historically within Cheshire, Caldy was a township in the West Kirby parish of the Wirral Hundred. The population was 92 in 1801, 142 in 1851, 202 in 1901 and 607 in 1951. Until the twentieth century, Caldy was effectively a farming and agricultural village. However, The Caldy Manor Estates Company divided the local land into large plots, which were later purchased for the building of private residences, beginning significant development in the area. Now notable for being very wealthy, Caldy consists almost exclusively of large detached homes within private plots of land.

In 1866 Caldy became a separate civil parish, between 1894 and 1933, Caldy was part of Wirral Rural District, then subsequently Wirral Urban District. On 1 April 1974 the parish was abolished and local government reorganisation in England and Wales resulted in most of Wirral, including Caldy, transfer from the county of Cheshire to the newly established Metropolitan County of Merseyside.

Caldy railway station was on the Hooton to West Kirby branch of the Chester and Birkenhead Railway. The station closed in 1954 and the trackbed is now the 'Wirral Way' of Wirral Country Park.

Caldy is on the western side of the Wirral Peninsula, on the eastern side of the Dee Estuary. The village is approximately 3.5 km (2.2 mi) south-south-east of the Irish Sea at Hoylake and about 11 km (6.8 mi) west-south-west of the River Mersey at Woodside. The centre of the village has an elevation of about 44 m (144 ft) above sea level.

Calday Grange Grammar School is between Caldy and West Kirby, with West Kirby Grammar School and Hilbre High School nearby.

Caldy R.F.C.

Caldy Rugby Football Club, a rugby union club, play at Paton Field on Telegraph Road. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the rugby union pyramid in England.

Caldy Golf Club

Located at the end of Links Hey Road, Caldy Golf Club is home to an 18-hole championship golf course on the Dee Estuary coastline.

Caldy Cricket Club

Caldy Cricket Club also play at Paton Field in the summer months. They currently field four Saturday teams in the Liverpool and District Cricket Competition.

Road

Caldy is at the junction of the B5140 and B5141 roads, and is near to the A540, which runs from West Kirby to Chester. The M53 and M56 motorways are also easily reached by car, providing to Liverpool, Manchester and the wider M6 motorway.

Rail

The closest railway station to Caldy is West Kirby station, in nearby West Kirby. The station is on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network, providing direct services to Liverpool.

The former Caldy railway station was closed in 1954.

Caldy is noted for having many well-known residents, particularly those connected to professional football, namely Robbie Fowler and Rafael Benítez who once referred to "John the milkman" on the Wirral, while launching a cryptic attack on previous Liverpool club owner Tom Hicks and managing director Christian Purslow during a press conference.

Other famous football players who have lived in Caldy include Ian Rush and Jerzy Dudek.

The poet and novelist Malcolm Lowry lived in Caldy as a child, as did his brother, Wilfrid Lowry, the England rugby player.

Science-fiction author Olaf Stapledon lived in Caldy from 1940 until his death in 1950.

Sir Cyril Clarke KBE, FRCP, FRCOG, (Hon) FRC Path, FRS, physician, geneticist and lepidopterist, lived in Caldy for many years until his death in November 2000.