Prior to 1600 Ainsdale was listed in the
Domesday Book as
Einulvesdel. Deriving from
Old Norse name
Einulfsdalr, this apparently was the valley occupied by a Scandinavian by the name of Einulf.
1600–present Ainsdale formed part of Sir Cuthbert Halsall of Halsall's estates during the early part of the 1600s. After financial difficulties the land containing Ainsdale (then
Aynsdale) had to be sold. In 1634 the ownership was passed to Robert Blundell. The lands were passed from generation to generation within the Blundell family and remained in their ownership until the mid-1900s. Throughout the 1800s Ainsdale remained an
agricultural community. Prior to the
British Agricultural Revolution fields and farms in the locality were small and land was enclosed. The
1841 Census listed 176 inhabitants in 33 houses with occupations of farmer, agricultural labourers and
servants.
Ainsdale railway station opened in 1848. A second station, on a different railway line, was opened in 1901. It was originally named Seaside, being renamed
Ainsdale Beach in 1912. It closed in 1952. The route of the line it was on now forms the Coastal Road from Woodvale to Southport. The row of houses over the road from the Sands Hotel were originally railway staff cottages for that line. In 1894 Ainsdale became a
civil parish, being formed from part of Formby and became part of
West Lancashire Rural District, in 1905 it became part of
Birkdale Urban District, in 1912 it became part of the
County Borough of
Southport, on 1 April 1925 the parish was abolished and merged with Southport. In 1921 the parish had a population of 2942.
Land speed record On 16 March 1926, Sir
Henry Segrave set his first
land speed record of using
Ladybird, a 4-litre
Sunbeam Tiger on Ainsdale beach. This record was broken a month later by
J.G. Parry-Thomas driving
Babs, a custom-built car with a 27-litre V12
Liberty aero engine. ==Governance==