We thought we would include these on our site because there are so many people who do not know where the hell Wirral is!
These are quite boring I suppose, but if you are into you history or whatever, you may want to read on. It's quite interesting. Even we learned some stuff about The Wirral from reading it!
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, granted a passage to Liverpool by Edward III. Today, the Priory stands in the heart of Birkenhead, sympathetically restored to preserve its medieval mystery, bearing witness to Wirral's 800 year heritage of industrial, culture and social development.
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 smallholdings and hamlets. It was not until the 1820's that steam powered boats improved communication and opened up Wirral's Mersey coast for industrialisation. The Mersey railway led to increased development in 1886, when pioneering Victoria engineers were the first in the world to tunnel a railway beneath a major river.
Wirral's dockland areas of Wallasey and Birkenhead continued to develop and prosper. The 1820's saw the birth of the renowned shipbuilding tradition when William Laird opened his Cammell Laird yard and a host of other port related industries existed, such as flour milling, tanning, edible oil refining and manufacture of paint and rubber based products.
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 Lords Leverhulme's philanthropic dream into reality provided workers with all they needed ; employment, housing and entertainment and formed the basis of the "Lifestyle Wirral" ethnic.
It was Cammell Laird and Lever Brothers that were the prime movers of Wirral's industrial heritage and port related activities which formed the mainstay of the local economy but in a continually changing world, Wirral has not stood still. Mobil, E.R. Squibb and Sons Ltd and Candy are just some of the household names which have diversified the industrial structure to include food, pharmaceuticals, engineering, chemical, allied trades and soap manufacturing industries.
Wirral docks have also seen dramatic changes and international links have established Birkenhead as an important shipping centre. The docks still play a vital role in Wirral's economy, where today new enterprise flourishes and businesses prosper in this "peninsula of opportunity".
Perhaps the best thing that has happened in Wirral's history is the birth of The Wirral Wanderers in the past 26 years!
Click here for a MAP of The Wirral
Wirral has a population of about 326,000 in an area of sixty miles and is the eighth largest Metropolitan District in the Country. The peninsula, surrounded by the River Mersey to the East, the Irish Sea to the North and the River Dee to the West, provides an ideal blend of town, country and seaside.
A good road network, including the M53 motorway running down the spine of Wirral and two tunnels under the Mersey to Liverpool provide the motorist with ease of access not only within the area but also to North Wales, the Lake District, the Peak District and the Yorkshire Dales. There is also a well used public transport system providing train and bus links within the Borough and to the main centres beyond.
Shopping facilities range from the larger centres in Birkenhead, Wallasey, Liverpool and Chester to the more modest provisions in smaller towns and villages. There are good schools and a wide range of housing to suit all tastes.
Cultural and recreational needs are well provided for, not only by the Authority but also by the many hundreds of Clubs, Societies and Associations in the Area.
There are country parks and Country walks, sports centres, indoor swimming pools and the Wirral shoreline, much of which forms a Coastal Park.
