The Wirral Peninsula
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
The Wirral is a peninsula bounded by the River Dee to the west and the River Mersey to the east. It is mostly in North West England although the south west corner is in North Wales. It administered by Cheshire County Council in the south, Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council in the north and Flintshire in the south west. Previously it was entirely in Cheshire as a hundred.
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Usage
When referring to the Wirral peninsula the name is shortened to the Wirral. Something is either in Wirral or on the Wirral.
Towns on the Wirral
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 on the Wirral include:
- Bebington
- Bromborough
- Birkenhead
- Eastham
- Ellesmere Port (not part of Wirral Borough)
- Heswall
- Hoylake
- Irby
- Meols (pronounced "Mells")
- Moreton
- Neston (not part of Wirral Borough)
- New Brighton
- New Ferry
- Oxton
- Pensby
- Port Sunlight
- Prenton
- Seacombe
- Thingwall
- Upton
- Wallasey
- West Kirby
Villages on the Wirral
Many villages of the Wirral are well preserved with their characteristic red sandstone buildings and walls. Villages on the Wirral include:
Some other villages have grown considerably, though still have many charming elements. These include:
Sights
Despite 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. Sights include:
History
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.
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 Mersey railway led to increased development after 1886, when pioneering Victorian engineers were the first in the world successfully to tunnel a railway beneath a major river. 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. The 1820s saw the birth of the renowned shipbuilding tradition when John Laird opened his Cammell Laird yard and a host of other port-related industries 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.
Wirral in literature
Sir Gawain spent Christmas on Wirral before his confrontation with the Green Knight. Wilfred Owen, the greatest poet of the First World War, grew up in Tranmere, on Wirral.
Famous people
- Ian Botham cricketer
- Andrew Irvine Everest climber
- Glenda Jackson actress
- John Peel disc jockey and radio presenter
- FE Smith Lord Chancellor
Transport
The 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 Wallsey and one from Birkenhead and the Mersey Railway tunnel. The Mersey Railway 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 Airport and John Lennon Airport in Liverpool.
See also
External links
- Norwegian View of Wirral History (http://www.norwaypost.no/content.asp?cluster_id=17433&folder_id=21)
- Photos of New Brighton on the Wirral (http://y2u.co.uk/&002_Images/New_Brighton_01.htm)
- Web cams (http://www.wirralcam.com/frame.htm)
- Wirral Society (http://www.wirralsociety.net/)
