Birkenhead
Birkenhead is an industrial port town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, and became part of Merseyside in 1974. At the 2021 census, the built up area as defined by the Office for National Statistics had a population of 109,835.
Birkenhead Priory and the Mersey Ferry were established in the 12th century. In the 19th century, Birkenhead expanded greatly as a consequence of the Industrial Revolution, leading to a shipbuilding firm which became Cammell Laird. A seaport was established. As the town grew, Birkenhead Park and Hamilton Square were laid out. The first street tramway in Britain was built, followed by the Mersey Railway which connected Birkenhead and Liverpool through the world's first railway tunnel beneath a tidal estuary.
In the second half of the 20th century, the town suffered a significant period of decline, with containerisation causing a reduction in port activity. The Wirral Waters development is building offices and housing on much of the former dockland.
Toponymy
The name Birkenhead probably means "headland overgrown with birch", from the Old English bircen meaning birch tree, of which many once grew on the headland which jutted into the river at Woodside. The name is not derived from the Birket, a stream which enters the Mersey between Birkenhead and Seacombe; the Birket is a later name which was introduced by Ordnance Survey.History
Medieval period
The earliest records state that the Mersey ferry began operating from Birkenhead in 1150, when Benedictine monks under the leadership of Hamon de Mascy built a priory there. The priory was visited in 1275 and 1277 by Edward I. In a royal charter of 13 April 1330, Edward III granted the priory further rights.19th century
Distanced from the Industrial Revolution in Liverpool by the physical barrier of the River Mersey, Birkenhead retained its agricultural status until the advent of steam ferry services. In 1817 a steam ferry service started from Liverpool to Tranmere and in 1822 the paddle steamer, Royal Mail, began operation between Liverpool and Woodside.Shipbuilding started in 1829. An ironworks was established by William Laird in 1824, and he was joined by his son John in 1828. The business eventually became the shipbuilder Cammell Laird. Notable naval vessels built at Birkenhead include HMS Achilles,,,,,,, the pioneer submarine, , and. Merchant vessels were also built such as and.
In 1833 an act was passed to introduce street paving, lighting and other improvements in the town. These included establishing a market and regulating the police force.
The Mersey Railway tunnel opened in 1886, providing direct railway access to Liverpool.
20th century
The Grange Road West drill hall was completed in 1900.In 1908, Robert Baden-Powell announced the launch of the Scout movement during a publicity visit to the Birkenhead branch of the YMCA; his ideas had previously led to the creation of informal Scout patrols in some parts of the country. Among the troops formed in 1908 was the 1st Birkenhead troop.
In September 1932 thousands of unemployed people protested in a series of demonstrations organised by the local branch of the National Unemployed Workers Movement. After three days of rioting, police were brought in from elsewhere to help quell the rioters.
In addition to the ferries and the railway, the Queensway road tunnel opened in 1934 and gave rapid access to Liverpool. This opened up the Wirral Peninsula for development, and prompted further growth of Birkenhead as an industrial centre. Bolstered by migration from rural Cheshire, southern Ireland and Wales, the town's population had grown from 110 in 1801 to 110,912 one hundred years later and stood at 142,501 by 1951.
1989 saw the completion of a large shopping development within Birkenhead town centre, known as the Pyramids.
Conway Park station was opened in 1998 as part of a development that saw Wirral Metropolitan College open a new campus nearby.
21st century
The Wirral Waters development was announced in 2006, with work starting in 2011 and expecting to last for around 30 years.Wirral Council announced in 2020 the formulation of a 20 year development plan known as the 'Birkenhead 2040 Framework'. The plan aims to regenerate parts of Birkenhead, with the creation of a new park, new housing and an improved greener environment.
Governance
Birkenhead lies within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, with Wirral Council providing most local government functions. Wirral forms part of the Liverpool City Region, which is led by a directly elected Metro Mayor.Administrative history
Birkenhead was historically a chapelry in the ancient parish of Bidston, which formed part of the Wirral Hundred of Cheshire. For some purposes it was deemed an extra-parochial township. As the town began to develop rapidly in the early nineteenth century, there was a need for more urban forms of local government. The ' set up a body of improvement commissioners covering the chapelry of Birkenhead. The commissioners' district was enlarged by the ' to take in the township of Claughton with Grange and part of Oxton. Local government districts were subsequently established for Tranmere in 1860 and Oxton in 1863.In 1877 Birkenhead was incorporated as a municipal borough, with its territory covering the combined area of the old commissioners' district and the two local government districts of Oxton and Tranmere, which were abolished. The new borough also took in the Rock Ferry area from Bebington. When elected county councils were established in 1889, Birkenhead was considered large enough to provide its own county-level services, and so it was made a county borough, making it independent from the new Cheshire County Council, whilst still being deemed part of Cheshire for ceremonial purposes.
The council built itself Birkenhead Town Hall on Hamilton Square to serve as its headquarters; the building was opened in 1887. The borough was enlarged in 1928 to absorb Landican, Prenton and Thingwall, and again in 1933 to take in Bidston, Noctorum, Upton and Woodchurch.
The borough of Birkenhead was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, with the area becoming part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and being transferred to the metropolitan county of Merseyside. In 1986 Merseyside County Council was abolished, with Wirral Council then taking on the county council's former functions in the area. Since 2014 Wirral and the other Merseyside boroughs and neighbouring Halton have been covered by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, which has been led by a directly elected mayor since 2017.
Constituency
The constituency of Birkenhead has elected Members of Parliament from the Labour Party since its creation in 1950 when Birkenhead East and Birkenhead West were abolished. However, in 2018 resigned the Labour whip and served the rest of the term until 2019 as an independent MP. The town has been represented by Alison McGovern since 2024.Geography
The Birkenhead Urban Area, as defined by the Office for National Statistics, includes Birkenhead, Wallasey, Bebington, Ellesmere Port and the contiguous built-up areas which link those towns. In the 2011 Census, the area so defined had a total population of 325,264, making it the 19th largest conurbation in England and Wales.Economy
Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding and ship repair has featured prominently in the local economy since the 19th century. Cammell Laird entered receivership in 2001. The shipyard was sold and became 'Northwestern Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders', which grew into a successful business specialising in ship repair and conversion, including maintenance contracts for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. In September 2007 NS&S acquired the rights to use the Cammell Laird name. The company was renamed 'Cammell Laird Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders' on 17 November 2008, seeing the famous name return to Birkenhead after a seven-year hiatus. In 2010, Cammell Laird secured a £50 million contract to construct the flight deck for, the first of two s. In 2015, Cammell Laird was selected as the preferred bidder to construct, a Royal Research Ship.Commerce
Birkenhead's first market was established in 1835 in a purpose-built building in Hamilton Street near its junction with Market Street. This building also contained the town hall, commissioners' offices and a lock-up. It is often said that the first market was opened on the site of the later town hall in Hamilton Square. This is untrue. In fact, part of the eastern side of Hamilton Square was deliberately left empty until 1887, when the main town hall was built on that designated site. The Hamilton Square town hall site was never used as a market, despite that myth being propagated in many accounts of Birkenhead's history, including official sources. The large market hall which was a famous feature of Birkenhead was built behind the original market, along Albion Street, opening in July 1845. This market hall was built by Fox, Henderson & Co, who later built The Crystal Palace.Michael Marks, of Marks & Spencer, opened one of his first seven 'Penny Bazaar' stalls here during the 1880s. On 31 January 2018, Marks & Spencer announced the closure of their store, in the town centre of Birkenhead, happening in April.
During the 1970s, the commercial centre of the town was redeveloped around the principal shopping area of Grange Road. Following two fires at the expanded Birkenhead Market in 1969 and 1974, it was moved to new premises adjoining the Grange Shopping Precinct development in 1977. Commercial expansion continued in the early 1990s when the Pyramids Shopping Centre was opened. The previous market site has been redeveloped with the construction of two office buildings, primarily to house Land Registry and Department for Work and Pensions offices.