Knotty Ash
| Knotty Ash | |
 Knotty Ash district sign |
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  Knotty Ash |
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| Population | 13,312 (2011 Census) |
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| OS grid reference | SJ408911 |
| Metropolitan borough | City of Liverpool |
| Metropolitan county | Merseyside |
| Region | North West |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LIVERPOOL |
| Postcode district | L14 |
| Dialling code | 0151 |
| Police | Merseyside |
| Fire | Merseyside |
| Ambulance | North West |
| EU Parliament | North West England |
| UK Parliament | Liverpool West Derby |
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Coordinates: 53°24′47″N 2°53′24″W / 53.413°N 2.890°W
Knotty Ash is an area of Liverpool, Merseyside, England and a Liverpool City Council Ward. Historically within the county of Lancashire, the population at the 2001 Census was 13,200,[1] increasing to 13,312 at the 2011 Census.[2]
Description
Knotty Ash is a small area on the eastern fringe of Liverpool and neighbours the West Derby, Old Swan, Broadgreen, Dovecot and Huyton districts. Its name is derived from a gnarled ash tree which formerly stood near the present-day Knotty Ash public house.
In the 1960s it was made famous in the United Kingdom by stand-up comedian and local resident Ken Dodd, as the home of the dwarfish comic characters he called the Diddy Men. In his BBC children's television programme Ken Dodd And The Diddymen (1969), the fictitious Diddyland, boasting the highest sunshine rate in the world, was situated in the centre of Knotty Ash. The Diddy Men worked in the local "Jam Butty Mines".[3] In 2004, Mr Dodd planted a new ash tree close to the site of the original.
Knotty Ash is mentioned in the lyrics of the song "Liverpool Lullaby" written by Stan Kelly-Bootle and was reportedly the site of the unsolved "Tiki" Murder in 1961 in which a housewife was killed in what was claimed to be a ritual linked to the worship of the Polynesian idol Tiki.[4]
Government
Knotty Ash is represented on Liverpool City Council by three councillors and is wholly within the Liverpool West Derby constituency. The current MP is Stephen Twigg, Labour who in 2010 replaced the former Labour MP Bob Wareing who had resigned the party whip in 2007.
Education
Knotty Ash contains the special needs secondary school Clifford Holroyde and a primary school, Knotty Ash CP.
Transport
The area is well served by the number 10 bus service on the Liverpool-Prescot route and the suburban number 61 route between Bootle and Aigburth. It also lies just north of the western terminus of the M62 motorway.
Knotty Ash railway station, on the North Liverpool Extension Line formerly served the area, however, this closed to passenger traffic in 1960. The track is now part of National Cycle Network Route 62.
Line 2 of the planned Merseytram was routed to run through the area; however, while this scheme has not been officially withdrawn, its future remains in doubt.
References
- ↑ 2001 Census: Knotty Ash, Office for National Statistics, retrieved 14 June 2008
- ↑ "City of Liverpool ward population 2011". Retrieved 13 January 2016.
- ↑ Diddy? Doddy! Ken Dodd hits the road again, The Independent, 27 January 2007, retrieved 30 March 2009
- ↑ The Knotty Ash Ritual Murder, retrieved 28 March 2009
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Knotty Ash. |