The 'forgotten' model village where 19th-Century workers escaped overcrowded slums

While Port Sunlight on the Wirral is a well-known example of an industrial model village where workers lived to escape Victorian slums, another model village close by actually predates it by more than three decades.

Bromborough Pool, founded in 1853, is less well known than Port Sunlight, and local historian Elizabeth Davey said "even Wirral residents are not quite sure what is there".

The garden village, a planned community, was founded by Price's Patent Candle Factory to enable workers to escape overcrowded and disease-ridden industrial slums.

Mike Christiansen, who has researched its history, said it was a "forgotten village", despite being the second such village to be created in Britain.

Christiansen works for the Autism Together charity, which was given three Grade II-listed buildings in the village by former owners Riverside Housing.

These are the village school, the village hall and St Matthew's Church.

Christiansen, who does occasional tours of the village, said he "made it my mission" to learn more about the village after he became manager of the charity's cafe there and people would come in and ask questions about its history.

He said Bromborough Pool was the first model village to have gardens attached to the houses.

The village once had a wall around it and "at 11 o'clock every night, the gates would be closed, so if anyone wasn't back in the village by 11 o'clock, then they'd have to hop over the wall," he said.

Christiansen said Bromborough Pool appeared to have been a "dry village" at one time and so residents "definitely had to go further afield if they wanted to go to the pub".

Wirral Council archivist Will Meredith said industrialists such as the Wilson family at Price's Patent Candles "were paternalistic towards the workers" at a time when others could be exploitative.

He said it must have been difficult, though, as "what we have got here is you've got your boss in the factory where you work who is also your landlord".

Meredith said Bromborough Pool was "not as fancy as Port Sunlight but it's just nice terraced housing".

Another listed building that remains in the village is the Clock Tower, which once housed offices, and is now owned by Wirral Methodist Housing Association and used for residential accommodation.

James and George Wilson, owners of Price's Patent Candle Company, bought 61 acres of land when they wanted to build a new factory at Bromborough Pool to expand on their operation in London.

They purchased the land from the Lord of Bromborough Manor for £12,267 and 10 shillings, Christiansen said.

He said the main ethos of the village was ensure the welfare of its workers, particularly in relation to religion, education, horticulture and sport and "so the village had public buildings to encompass all these values".

Other model industrial villages built in Britain around this time include Saltaire near Bradford in West Yorkshire in the mid 19th Century and Bourneville, built to house workers from the Cadbury factory in the 1890s in Birmingham.

It was founded 35 years before industrialist William Hesketh Lever's company began building Port Sunlight down the road in 1888.

Bromborough Pool village was created at a time when many people would have lived in overcrowded, insanitary conditions, Davey said.

Christiansen said a former fever hospital was also built in the village to treat sailors on the River Mersey who had contracted diphtheria and typhoid.

This later became the Price's Social Club and is now in private ownership.

Bromborough Pool village has a place close to my heart as it is where my nan and grandad Rene and Tom O'Hara lived from the 1970s up until 2000.

They moved there from Rock Ferry when Tom began working at what became Unilever's Unichema factory.

He and Rene were given a tied cottage and actually ended up living in two different cottages on Manor Place in the village during their time there, as a result of phased refurbishment of the houses during the 1980s.

While I do not think my cousins and I really appreciated the history of the village while growing up, it now fascinates us and my cousin Ruth Molyneux and I went on a tour put on by the custodians of several of the village's buildings - the Autism Together charity - as part of Heritage Open Days.

A vivid childhood memory for Ruth and I is spending time in their beautiful cottage gardens.

I loved making "perfume" from rose petals and water, while Ruth enjoyed tasting freshly picked peas from the pod grown by our grandad.

We also enjoyed walking around the village and watching cricketers on the green, along with trips past the allotments to a long gone playground located behind the school.

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