Conservation Area: Ince Conservation Area (016)

Ince Conservation Area appears today as a small but active agricultural village retaining many historic buildings and attracting recreational users on foot, horseback and bicycles for its landscape and biodiversity. Surrounded by fields and marshes, its setting is inseparable from the views and open space of the Mersey, notwithstanding the encroachment of industry and development. Yet Ince has been a place of recurring historic significance and transformation throughout its long history, with structures and buildings testifying to each chapter: Roman maritime defence; medieval monastic institutions; Georgian promotion of transport, fishing, recreational activities and links with Liverpool; the nineteenth century transformation of the village by the Park-Yates family and estate as well as by the Manchester Ship Canal; and the twentieth century impact of the decline of landed estates, of war, technology and changing agricultural practices. The special interest of Ince derives as much from the diversity of its history and architecture, as from its estuarial landscape and views.