Birkdale
Birkdale is a coastal village and district in northwestern
England. It forms the southernmost part of the conurbation of the town of
Southport. Located in
Sefton,
Merseyside on the
Irish Sea coast in the north-west of
England, Birkdale is approximately a mile away from the centre of its now parent town. The village lay in the traditional borders of the county of
Lancashire. From 1894 to 1912 Birkdale and the adjoining suburb/village of
Ainsdale were administered by Birkdale
Urban District Council before becoming part of the
county borough of Southport.
On the whole it is a wealthy area featuring many large
Victorian and
Edwardian houses; many of the houses have not yet been broken up into individual flats, and still house families. The area is almost entirely residential, with mainly semi-detached houses as the norm. In the summer of 2003, the average property price was £149,550 (just under £10,000 less than the national average). This has risen to £200,844 in July 2005, more than £20,000 over the national mix-adjusted national average house price. The area has become a popular area with footballers from local Merseyside or
Lancashire clubs.
The village centre (still commonly referred to as Birkdale Village) is on Liverpool Road (A5267) and features a variety of (mostly local) shops and a train station, on the line linking Southport to
Liverpool.
Despite its small size, Birkdale receives a great deal of sporting attention once every few years as it plays host to
The Open Championship. The next time it will be played at
Royal Birkdale golf course will be in July
2008. To lesser fame, the home ground of the Southport and Birkdale Cricket Club on Trafalgar Road is used for county level cricket matches approximately once a year. Southport and Birkdale
squash club, also play here and are in the North West Counties Squash League.
Red Rum the legendary racehorse who was trained by
Ginger McCain had his stables in Upper Aughton Road in Birkdale.
A number of other places are named after Birkdale - see
Birkdale (disambiguation).
Birkdale probably takes its name from two Norse words, birki meaning "birch-copse" and dalr meaning dale.
A.J.P. Taylor was born in Birkdale in
1906.
*
Royal Birkdale Golf Club*
History of Royal Birkdale
