Natural England - Ainsdale: a colourful history

Ainsdale: a colourful history

The dunes of the Sefton Coast have been formed over hundreds’ of years, with sand from the wide stretches of beach blown inland and trapped by specialist coastal plants such as marram grass that can tolerate the dry, salty conditions.

Marram grass is so important for building and maintaining the sand dunes that in the early 1600s land owners employed ‘Hawslookers’ to watch over the dunes and fine anyone caught cutting marram for thatch. By the mid 1700s many local property leases also imposed duties on tenants to plant marram grass, also known as ‘starr grass’, with ‘Starr Setters’ appointed to oversee the planting.

The dunes have played an important role in local life for many centuries. Large areas were maintained as rabbit warrens throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, whilst later agricultural developments included conversion of poor nutrient sands into farmland, notably for asparagus farming.

Over the years many small settlements and houses have been lost to sand inundation. At the beginning of the 20th century, concern that windblown sand was affecting the reclaimed agricultural land and local communities led the Formby estate land owners to plant pine trees, in an attempt to stabilise the open dunes. These pine plantations are now a distinctive part of the local landscape, as well as being home to red squirrels.

The reserve was established in 1965 to protect this fine example of lime-rich sand dunes on the North West coast, and the reserve now forms part of the Sefton Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), as well as being designated internationally as a European Special Area for Conservation.

Today, Sefton’s Natural Coast boasts an impressive 21 miles of beautiful unspoilt coastline.