Hightown

The first recorded mention of the place name Hightown is in Nicholas Blundell’s Diaries. Nicholas Blundell’s Diaries, Vol. 3, 1720. However the earliest record of the place is probably in a probate record for Richard Riding of Moorhouses in Little Crosby, 1715. Moorhouses was a hamlet on the shore where Hightown is today, and it is remembered in the name of one of the modern closes. The inventory for Richard Riding’s property records it as being of the property of “Richard Rydeing of the Hytown within Crosbie Parava.

Hightown is historically part of the estate of the Blundell family of Little Crosby and many houses still pay a nominal ground rent annually to the Whitlock-Blundell estate. Hightown beach is the site of a former wartime military base known as Fort Crosby. The fort, demolished in the 1960s, was situated midway between Hightown and Hall Road and housed prisoners of war during World War Two. Remains of many of the buildings, pathways and fences can still be seen today.

Prior to the fort, a lighthouse, situated close by that site, was built in 1839. The most prominent buildings at the turn of the 20th Century were the Truant School, next to the railway line, and the Hightown Hotel (the village pub).

During the early part of the 20th century the village of Hightown formed its own voluntary fire service following a number of deaths and injuries resulting from the excessive time taken for the Crosby Fire Service to reach the village. 

The Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway opened in 1848 and today the village is served by Hightown railway station. Services run to Southport and to Hunts Cross via Liverpool city centre.