;IE HUNDRED - Old Wirral.com

INTRODUCTION
WHEN Sir Gawayne sought for the Green
Knight, we are told that he came in his wanderings
into "the wyldrenesse of Wyrale," but no
one had heard of the object of his quest, and
so he left this wild and pitiless region ; a land
that, in the words of the Petition of the " poor
Commonalty of Wyrall " in 1376, "had suffered
great harm, damage, and destruction " from the
beasts of the forest, so that even the Churches
were desolate and Divine services withheld.
When Mr. Ormerod wrote his history a hundred
years ago, he saw but little change from this
dreary picture if we are to give full weight to his
words, for he speaks of nearly every village as
barren, desolate, dreary.
With such thoughts in mind, the reader who
takes up Mr. Young's book is as one who passes
from the gloom of a' cave into the full blaze of
midsummer sun. Truly the nineteenth must
have been a century of miracles to have wrought
such a change, and yet those who know this
delectable land will not quarrel with Mr. Young
for the warmth of his praise. Few large centres
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