 The village population was 100 in 1801, 144 in 1851, 180 in 1901 and 832 in 1951.Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of Wirral Urban District in the county of Cheshire.William of Orange stayed at Gayton Hall in 1689 en route to the Battle of the Boyne, and knighted his host, Sir William Glegg.