The town takes its name from 'Hoyle Lake', a nearby channel of water out towards Hilbre Island that provided a safe anchorage for shipping.

[6][verification needed] The previous year a large force under Marshal Schomberg had also departed from Hoylake on 12 August,[7] crossing to Ireland to capture Carrickfergus.

The present day township grew up in the nineteenth century around the small fishing village of Hoose,[8] the name of which means "hollows".

[9] The 1848 Topographical Dictionary of England described the inhabitants of Hoose as: "...principally boatmen and fishermen, who have frequently evinced the greatest courage and alacrity in rescuing mariners from the horrors of shipwreck; large banks of sand, extending for miles on the northwest, being annually the scene of most fatal disasters to shipping.

[11] Protected by a wide sandbank known as Hoyle Bank and with a water depth of about 20 feet, it provided a safe anchorage for ships too large to sail up the Dee to Chester.

The former Hoylake Town Hall, on the corner of Albert Road and Market Street, is due to be converted to a new arts centre, known as The Beacon, with craft workshops, restaurant, and flats above.

It was commissioned by the council as part of the regeneration of Hoylake and was installed in June 2006 in time for the 2006 Open Championship.

[17] Both of these structures were rebuilt a century later,[19] and in 1865 new lenses (a pair of fourth-order fixed optics) were designed and manufactured for the two towers by James Chance.

[20] The upper lighthouse, consisting of an octagonal brick tower, last shone on 14 May 1886 and is now part of a private residence in Valentia Road.

The Royal Hotel was built by Sir John Stanley in 1792, with the intention of developing the area as a holiday resort.

The numerous steam packet vessels sailing between Liverpool and North Wales which called at the hotel provided valuable patronage.

[24] Hoylake is at the north-western corner of the Wirral Peninsula, and is situated on the eastern side of the mouth of the Dee Estuary and adjacent to the Irish Sea.

[25] To the west of the town at Hilbre Point is Red Rocks, a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest.

The area is an exposed sandstone outcrop consisting of sand dunes, brackish marsh and reed beds.

[26][27][28] There is one main tier of local government covering Hoylake, at metropolitan borough level: Wirral Council.

Hoylake grew up straddling the townships of Hoose and Little Meols, which both formed part of the ancient parish of West Kirby in the Wirral Hundred of Cheshire.

In 1866, the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws, and so Hoose and Little Meols also became civil parishes.

[45] Hoylake is a largely residential area and there is an active nightlife in the town centre, which is located at the original village of Hoose.

Bounded by the coastline and the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, it consists of large nineteenth and early twentieth century houses, Hoylake Lighthouse and St Hildeburgh's Church.

[54] The 2023 Open Championship is the most recent event to be held in Hoylake marking the 13th time it has returned to the town.

The town's beach was the venue for the European Sand Yacht Championships in 2007 and 2011 and hosted the 2017 event with Laytown & Bettystown, County Meath.