Wirral Peninsula
The Wirral is a
peninsula in
North West England bounded by the
River Dee to the west and the
River Mersey to the east. It is administered by
Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council in the north and
Cheshire County Council in the south. Previously it was entirely in
Cheshire as a
hundred.
When referring to the Wirral peninsula the name is shortened to
the Wirral. Something is usually said to be
on the Wirral, although
Google reveals many occurrences of
in the Wirral.
Wirral was once an independent Viking mini-state with its parliament at
Thingwall. Ancient Irish annals record the population of Wirral by Norsemen led by Ingimund expelled from Ireland and getting agreement from Aethelflaed or "
Ethelfleda", Queen of the Mercian English to settle there peacefully. Place name evidence (all the -by names) and archaeological finds (such as two hogback tombstones) corroborate this.
Tranmere Rovers FC is the only team in the English League with a Norwegian Viking name: Tranmere = trani melr "cranebird sandbank".
At the end of the
twelfth century,
Birchen Head Priory stood on a lonely headland of
birch trees, facing open countryside and surrounded by the
Mersey. It was from here,
Merseyside's oldest building, that
Benedictine monks operated the first
Mersey ferry in
1330, having been granted a passage to
Liverpool by a charter from
Edward III.
The original ferry service, now famous throughout the world, put Wirral on the map as part of the King's highway, yet for centuries the peninsula remained a cluster of small holdings and hamlets. It wasn't until the
1820s that steam-powered boats improved communication and opened up Wirral's
Mersey coast for industrialisation.
The
1820s saw the birth of the renowned shipbuilding tradition when John Laird opened his
Cammell Laird yard in Birkenhead.
Wirral's first
railway was built in
1840 planned by
George Stephenson and connected
Birkenhead with
Chester. This encouraged the growth of Wirral;
Birkenhead and
Wallasey grew into large towns. In
1847,
Birkenhead's first docks and its municipal park, the first in Britain and the inspiration for
New York's
Central Park, were opened.
The tunnel under the Mersey for the
Mersey Railway led to increased development after
1886. The first tunnel was supplemented by a vehicle tunnel in
1934 (
Queensway) and a third in
1971 (
Kingsway).
Wirral's dockland areas of
Wallasey and
Birkenhead continued to develop and prosper. A host of other port-related industries then came into existence, such as
flour milling, tanning, edible
oil refining and the manufacture of paint and rubber-based products. A large chemical and oil refining complex is still in
Ellesmere Port.
Another important development was the building in 1888 of the now famous industrial village of
Port Sunlight, designed to house employees at the original firm of Lever Brothers, now part of the
Unilever group. The village, which turned Lord Leverhulme's
philanthropic dream into reality provided workers with a benign environment.
Whilst the Wirral contains much countryside, there are many urban districts. Birkenhead, Bebington and Wallasey were once boroughs in their own right, while some districts were part of these.
Towns and villages on the Wirral include:
*
Barnston*
Bebington*
Bidston*
Birkenhead*
Brimstage*
Bromborough*
Burton (not part of Wirral Borough)
*
Caldy*
Capenhurst (not part of Wirral Borough)
*
Childer Thornton*
Claughton*
Eastham*
Ellesmere Port (not part of Wirral Borough)
*
Frankby*
Gayton*
Grange*
Greasby*
Great Sutton*
Heswall*
Hooton*
Hoylake*
Irby*
Landican*
Larton*
Leasowe*
Ledsham*
Liscard*
Lower Heswall*
Meols (pronounced "Mells")
*
Moreton*
Neston (not part of Wirral Borough)
*
New Brighton*
New Ferry*
Ness (not part of Wirral Borough)
*
Newton*
Noctorum*
Overpool*
Oxton*
Parkgate (not part of Wirral Borough)
*
Pensby*
Port Sunlight*
Prenton*
Puddington*
Raby*
Saughall Massie*
Seacombe*
Shotwick (not part of Wirral Borough)
*
Spital*
Storeton*
Thingwall*
Thornton Hough*
Thurstaston*
Tranmere*
Two Mills*
Upton*
Wallasey*
West Kirby*
Willaston (not part of Wirral Borough)
*
Woodhey*
WoodchurchDespite containing urban and industrial areas, the Wirral still has picturesque villages, sandy beaches, large areas of land owned by the
National Trust and views across the two estuaries and out into the
Irish Sea. Many villages of the Wirral are well preserved with their characteristic red sandstone buildings and walls. Sights or places of interest include:
*
Bidston Hill*
Caldy Hill*
Hilbre Island*
Leasowe Lighthouse*
Thurstaston Common and Thor's Stone*
"The Thing" - site of Wirral's Viking parliament*
Mersey Ferry*
Ness Gardens*
Port Sunlight*
Lady Lever Art Gallery*
Williamson Art Gallery*
Sir Gawain spent Christmas on Wirral before his confrontation with the Green Knight.
*
Wilfred Owen, one of the greatest poets of the First World War, grew up in
Tranmere.
*
Olaf Stapledon, a writer, spent much of his life in
West Kirby and
Caldy, and many landscapes mentioned in his works can be identified.
*
Chris Boardman (cyclist)
*
Ian Botham (cricketer)
*
Pete Burns (singer/songwriter)
*
Matt Dawson (rugby player and TV personality)
*
Dixie Dean (footballer)
*
Lottie Dod (Wimbledon tennis champion, "most versatile female athlete of all time")
*
Austin Healey (rugby player)
*
Andrew Irvine (Everest climber)
*
Glenda Jackson (actress and politician)
*
Phil Liggett (cycling commentator)
*
Andy McCluskey (musician)
*
Paul O'Grady (comedian and TV personality)
*
John Peel (disc jockey and radio presenter)
*
Patricia Routledge (actress)
*
FE Smith (Lord Chancellor)
*
Philip Wilson Steer (impressionist painter)
*
Ray Stubbs (sports commentator)
*
Philip Toosey (Hero of the
Bridge on the River Kwai)
*
Half Man Half Biscuit*
The Boo Radleys*
The Coral*
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark*
ZephoriaThe
M53 runs along the length of the Wirral from near
Chester. At the north eastern end, the Wirral is joined to
Liverpool by three tunnels under the River Mersey: two road tunnels
Mersey Tunnels, one from Wallasey and one from Birkenhead and the
Mersey Railway tunnel. The
Wirral Line of
Merseyrail links many parts of the Wirral to Lime Street station in
Liverpool and many other suburbs. The
Mersey Ferry also regularly crosses to Liverpool. The nearest airports are
Manchester International Airport and
John Lennon Airport in Liverpool.
The Open Championship at the
Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake took place in 2006.
*
The Wirral Hundred*
Norwegian View of Wirral History*
Web cams*
Wirral Society*
The Wirral Wide Web*
Viking Wirral*
For a better map, use Multimap - (Type in Wirral)
