Port Sunlight Village was established in 1888 as both a residential town and industrial workplace for the manufacture of Sunlight Soap. William and James Lever established the village on marshy swampland located near the Mersey River, between Chester and Liverpool.
The Lever brothers introduced mass-marketing of soap, later manufacturing their own soap in rented facilities in Warrington. The product's success in the marketplace lead to their need to expand production in the Port Sunlight 'green fields' site. The village was distinctive for its architectural diversity and workers' facilities such as school, library, hospital, and museum. The village contrasted starkly with the cheap industrial housing slums built near factories elsewhere in English towns during the industrial revolution.
Further reading: Boumphrey, I. (2009).
Port Sunlight: A pictorial history 1888-1953. Yesterday’s Wirral. Ian & Marilyn Boumphrey. Retrieved from
www.yesterdayswirral.co.uk