[1] The name Thornton means "thorn-tree farm/settlement" and likely derives from the Old English words þorn (hawthorn tree) and tūn (a farmstead or settlement).

[6] Joseph Hirst, a Yorkshire woollen millowner, bought farmland land in 1866 and began the development of a small model village, building a church, a school and 'Wilshaw Terrace'.

The village was bought and expanded by William Lever who developed housing for family, estate workers and company staff in a similar way to Port Sunlight, building another shop, the school, a social club and the Congregational church.

[10] All Saints, the parish church, is a grade II listed building built in 1867, it has a spire and tower displaying five clock faces.

[11][12] Lever's architects used a wide variety of building materials including red and buff sandstone, brick, timber framing, render and pebbledash with roofs made of clay tiles or thick stone slates which creates the impression that the village appears to be older than it is.

Jonathon Simpson built the Lever School and his son, James Lomax-Simpson, rebuilt the Smithy, designed D’Arcy Cottages and extensions to Thornton House.

Thornton Hall, once the home of wealthy shipping merchants, the Bamford Brothers of Liverpool, is believed to have been built in the mid-1800s.

It was transformed into a hotel in 1954 and many of its original features remain intact including oak carvings and the ornate mother of pearl embossed ceiling in the Italian Room.

Thornton Hough's central feature is the village green with its cricket pitch and pavilion, tennis courts, and a children's play area.

The village has a number of shops and a post office next to which is the British Legion, known as "the Men's Club" as women were barred except for on two days per year.

It is now Jennifer O'Neill Cakes and Dragonfly Couture Stationery, 'The Seven Stars', is a traditional public house established in the 1840s on what was once a turnpike route between Birkenhead and Neston.

Residents participating made scarecrows of varying designs and quality, which were judged at the end of a week-long open season.