Merseyside ( MUR-zee-syde) is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool. Merseyside, which was created on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972, takes its name from the River Mersey.
Merseyside spans 249 square miles (645 km2) of land which border Lancashire (to the north-east), Greater Manchester (to the east), Cheshire (to the south and south-east) and the Irish Sea to the west. North Wales is across the Dee Estuary. There is a mix of high density urban areas, suburbs, semi-rural and rural locations in Merseyside, but overwhelmingly the land use is urban. It has a focused central business district, formed by Liverpool City Centre, but Merseyside is also a polycentric county with five metropolitan districts, each of which has at least one major town centre and outlying suburbs. The Liverpool Urban Area is the fifth most populous conurbation in England, and dominates the geographic centre of the county, while the smaller Birkenhead Urban Area dominates the Wirral Peninsula in the south.
Selected general articles
Liverpool ( ) is a city in North West England, with an estimated population of 491,500 in 2017. Its metropolitan area is the fifth-largest in the UK, with a population of 2.24 million in 2011. The local authority is Liverpool City Council, the most populous local government district in the metropolitan county of Merseyside and the largest in the Liverpool City Region. Liverpool is on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary, and historically lay within the ancient hundred of West Derby in the south west of the county of Lancashire. It became a borough in 1207 and a city in 1880. In 1889, it became a county borough independent of Lancashire. Its growth as a major port was paralleled by the expansion of the city throughout the Industrial Revolution. Along with handling general cargo, freight, raw materials such as coal and cotton, the city merchants were involved in the Atlantic slave trade. In the 19th century, it was a major port of departure for Irish and English emigrants to North America. Liverpool was home to both the Cunard and White Star Line, and was the port of registry of the ocean liner RMS Titanic, the RMS Lusitania, RMS Queen Mary and RMS Olympic. Read more...
The county of Merseyside created in 1974 has 15 Parliamentary constituencies— (sub-classified into 12 of borough type and three of county status affecting the level of expenses permitted and status of returning officer). The area, centred on its largest city of Liverpool, has since that year elected a majority of Labour Party MPs moreover since 1997 at least 13 of 15 seats have been held or won by the party at each general election. The two other largest parties nationally in England have to date won intermittently in the two larger seats within the four in the Wirral, the peninsular facing Liverpool, and best having alternately represented the seat centred on the coastal strip in and around the leisure resort of Southport. The latter town includes Birkdale and Ainsdale beach and has not since the seat was created in 1885 sided with the Labour Party. The bulk of seats especially towards the east and the centre of Liverpool have not sided with the Conservative Party since that party actively supported the National Labour Organisation (1931-1947). Read more...
The Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England, was formed on 1 April 1974 by the amalgamation of the county boroughs of Bootle and Southport, the municipal borough of Crosby, the urban districts of Formby and Litherland, and part of West Lancashire Rural District within the new county of Merseyside. The borough consists of a coastal strip of land on the Irish Sea, and extends from Bootle in the south, to Southport in the north. In the south-east, it extends inland to Maghull. The district is bounded by Liverpool to the south, Knowsley to the south-east, and West Lancashire to the east. It is named after the village and parish of Sefton, near Maghull. When the borough was created in the Local Government Act 1972 a name was sought that would not unduly identify the borough with any of its constituent parts, particularly the former county boroughs of Bootle and Southport. The locality had strong links with both the Earl of Sefton and the Earl of Derby, resident of Knowsley Hall, and given the fact that the immediately adjacent borough was subsequently named Knowsley it seems equally likely that the choice of name was derived from the names of the local nobility. A Sefton Rural District covering some of the villages in the district existed from 1894 to 1932. Read more...
 St Helens Town Hall, the seat of the Borough Council The Metropolitan Borough of St Helens is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, in North West England. It is named after its largest town St Helens, and covers an area which includes the settlements of Sutton, St Helens, Earlestown, Rainhill, Eccleston, Clock Face, Haydock, Billinge, Rainford and Newton-le-Willows. The Metropolitan Borough Council is made up of 48 councillors, with three representing each of the 16 wards of the borough. Read more...
 Ashton-in-Makerfield Library is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is 4.2 miles (6.8 km) south of the town of Wigan. In 2001 it had a population of 28,505, increasing to 28,762 at the 2011 Census. Historically a part of Lancashire, Ashton-in-Makerfield was anciently a township in the parish of Newton-in-Makerfield (as Newton-le-Willows was once known), Winwick and hundred of West Derby. With neighbouring Haydock, Ashton-in-Makerfield was a chapelry, but the two were split in 1845. The place has long been a centre for the manufacture of locks and hinges, but also sits on the Lancashire Coalfield, and so was a coal mining district. Read more...
Formby is an affluent civil parish and town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 22,419 at the 2011 Census. Historically in Lancashire, three manors are recorded in the Domesday Book under "Fornebei", Halsall, Walton and Poynton. Cockle raking and shrimp fishing lasted into the 19th century. By 1872, the township and sub-district was made up of two chapelries (St. Peter and St. Luke), Birkdale township, the hamlets of Ainsdale and Raven-Meols and Altcar parish. Formby was built on the plain adjoining the Irish Sea coast a few miles north of the Crosby channel. Read more...
This is a list of the Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in Merseyside, which is part of North West England. Merseyside has a population of 1,353,600 making it one of the most densely populated areas of the United Kingdom. Geographically, Merseyside is split by the River Mersey which has a surrounding network of canals, rivers and valleys some of which have been created by human activity. Other habitats have been adversely affected by humans including many peat mosslands. , There are 14 sites designated within this Area of Search, of which 10 have been designated due to their biological interest, 1 due to its geological interest, and 3 for both biological and geological interest. In England the body responsible for designating SSSIs is Natural England, which chooses a site because of its fauna, flora, geological or physiographical features. Natural England took over the role of designating and managing SSSIs from English Nature in October 2006 when it was formed from the amalgamation of English Nature, parts of the Countryside Agency and the Rural Development Service. Natural England, like its predecessor, uses the 1974–1996 county system and as such the same approach is followed here, rather than, for example, splitting these sites between the Lancashire and Cheshire lists. The data in the table is taken from English Nature's website in the form of citation sheets for each SSSI. Read more...
St Helens (pronunciation) is a large town in Merseyside, England, with a population of 102,629. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, which had a population of 176,843 at the 2001 Census. St Helens is in the south west of the historic county of Lancashire, 6 miles (10 km) north of the River Mersey. The town historically lay within the ancient Lancashire division of West Derby known as a " hundred". Incorporated as a municipal borough in 1868, and responsible for the administration of the townships of Eccleston, Parr, Sutton and Windle, it became a county borough in 1887 and a metropolitan borough in 1974. Read more...
Golborne (go:[l]bə:n) is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies 5.4 miles (8.7 km) south-southeast of Wigan, 6.1 miles (9.8 km) northeast of Warrington and 13.8 miles (22.2 km) to the west of the city of Manchester. Combined with the neighbouring town of Lowton, it has a population of 24,041. Historically in Lancashire, Golborne owes most of its growth to the mining and textile industries. There was also significant agricultural activity, and many farms still belong to the families who originally owned them. Read more...
Bebington is a small town and electoral ward within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England. Historically part of Cheshire, it lies 5 miles (8 km) south of Liverpool, close to the River Mersey on the eastern side of the Wirral Peninsula. Nearby towns include Birkenhead and Wallasey to the north-northwest, and Heswall to the west-southwest. Bebington railway station opened in 1838 and is situated on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network. The electoral ward, which includes the original village centres of Higher Bebington and Lower Bebington, had a total resident population of 13,720 at the 2001 Census. increased to 15,768 at the 2011 Census. Some definitions of Bebington include adjoining areas such as Port Sunlight (an early planned factory town), New Ferry, Spital and Storeton. The former municipal borough of Bebington, a local authority between 1937 and 1974, also included within its boundaries Bromborough, Eastham, Raby, Thornton Hough and Brimstage, which now fall within the electoral wards of Bromborough, Eastham and Clatterbridge. Read more...
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. Historically in Cheshire, it is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool. In the 2011 census, the Parliamentary constituency of Birkenhead had a population of 88,818. The recorded history of Birkenhead began with the establishment of Birkenhead Priory and the Mersey Ferry in the 12th century. During the 19th century Birkenhead expanded greatly, becoming a town as a consequence of the Industrial Revolution, with Birkenhead Park and Hamilton Square being examples of the era. Around the same time, Birkenhead gained the first street tramway in Britain. Later, the Mersey Railway connected Birkenhead and Liverpool, with the world's first tunnel beneath a tidal estuary. Birkenhead is perhaps best known for the shipbuilding of Cammell Laird, and for the town's seaport. Read more...
Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which in 2011 had a population of 51,394; a wider definition of the area, as covered by the Bootle UK Parliamentary constituency, had a population of 98,449. Historically part of Lancashire, Bootle's economy and geography has been centred on the docks and their associated industries for decades. Originally a small hamlet, the mid-19th c. industrial expansion of Liverpool led to the rapid growth of Bootle following the arrival of the railroad and the construction of the docks. In the 1960s and 70s unemployment grew and population declined; recently, large-scale renewal projects were begun to regenerate the local economy. Read more...
Liverpool ( ) is a city in North West England, with an estimated population of 491,500 in 2017. Its metropolitan area is the fifth-largest in the UK, with a population of 2.24 million in 2011. The local authority is Liverpool City Council, the most populous local government district in the metropolitan county of Merseyside and the largest in the Liverpool City Region. Liverpool is on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary, and historically lay within the ancient hundred of West Derby in the south west of the county of Lancashire. It became a borough in 1207 and a city in 1880. In 1889, it became a county borough independent of Lancashire. Its growth as a major port was paralleled by the expansion of the city throughout the Industrial Revolution. Along with handling general cargo, freight, raw materials such as coal and cotton, the city merchants were involved in the Atlantic slave trade. In the 19th century, it was a major port of departure for Irish and English emigrants to North America. Liverpool was home to both the Cunard and White Star Line, and was the port of registry of the ocean liner RMS Titanic, the RMS Lusitania, RMS Queen Mary and RMS Olympic. Read more...
 St Mary's Church, Prescot is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England. Historically part of Lancashire, it lies about eight miles (13 km) to the east of Liverpool city centre. At the 2001 Census, the civil parish population was 11,184 (5,265 males, 5,919 females). The population of the larger Prescot East and West wards at the 2011 census totalled 14,139. Prescot marks the beginning of the A58 road which runs through to Wetherby, West Yorkshire. The town is served by Prescot railway station and Eccleston Park railway station. Read more...
Merseyside was designated as a "Special Review" area in the Local Government Act 1958, and the Local Government Commission for England started a review of this area in 1962, based around the core county boroughs of Liverpool/ Bootle/ Birkenhead/ Wallasey. Further areas, including Widnes and Runcorn, were added to the Special Review Area by Order in 1965. Draft proposals were published in 1965, but the commission never completed its final proposals as it was abolished in 1966. Instead, a Royal Commission was set up to review English local government entirely, and its report (known as the Redcliffe-Maud Report) proposed a much wider Merseyside metropolitan area covering southwest Lancashire and northwest Cheshire, extending as far south as Chester and as far north as the River Ribble. This would have included four districts: Southport/ Crosby, Liverpool/ Bootle, St Helens/ Widnes and Wirral/ Chester. In 1970 the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive (which operates today under the Merseytravel brand) was set up, covering Liverpool, Sefton, Wirral and Knowsley, but excluding Southport and St Helens. Read more...
The Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England. It comprises the towns and districts of Kirkby, Prescot, Huyton, Whiston, Halewood, Cronton and Stockbridge Village; Kirkby, Huyton, and Prescot being the major commercial centres. It takes its name from the village of Knowsley, though its headquarters are in Huyton. It forms part of the wider Liverpool City Region. The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Huyton-with-Roby Urban District, Kirkby Urban District and Prescot Urban District, along with most of Whiston Rural District and a small part of West Lancashire Rural District, all from the administrative county of Lancashire. Read more...
This is a list of High Sheriffs of Merseyside. The High Sheriff is the Queen's judicial representative in Merseyside, serving a one year term starting on 25 March. - 1974–1975: Kenneth Maxwell Stoddart, JP, DL, of 6 The Knowe, Willaston, Wirral, Cheshire
- 1975–1976: Lieutenant Colonel Frank Vernon Denton, of Formby, Liverpool
- 1976–1977: Stephen Minion of Liverpool
- 1977–1978: Lieutenant Colonel George Fortnum Appleton of Shore House, Ainsdale, Southport
- 1978–1979: Major Henry Bertram Chrimes of Bracken Bank, Heswall, Wirral
- 1979–1980: Joseph Alexander Duncan of Home Farm, Landican, Birkenhead
- 1980–1981: Colonel Herbert Gerrard Thomas McClellan of Westwood, Hightown, Liverpool
- 1981–1982: Major Philip Johnson, JP, of Kandy, Eccleston, St. Helens
- 1982–1983: Lieutenant Colonel Derek Isaac Heys of Fairway Cottage, West Kirby
- 1983–1984: Henry Brussell Bicket of Liverpool
- 1984–1985: Lieutenant Colonel Charles Henry Elston of Hoylake, Wirral
- 1985–1986: Colonel Dudley F Moore of Dunes Drive. Freshfield
- 1986–1987: Henry Egerton Cotton of Norwood, Grassendale Park, Liverpool
- 1987–1988: Colonel Mary Creagh of Formby
- 1988–1989: Lieutenant Colonel Francis John Kevin Williams, of 'Fairfield', Brimstage, Wirral
- 1989–1990: Colonel D. R. Morgan, of Birkdale, Southport, Merseyside
- 1990–1991: Commander Edward John Billington, of Gowan Brae, Dawstone Road, Heswall, Wirral
- 1991–1992: Mrs Jean Wotherspoon, of Elm Lodge, Hard Lane, Dentons Green, St. Helens, Merseyside
- 1992–1993: Alan William Waterworth, of Crewood Hall, Kingsley, Frodsham, Cheshire
- 1993–1994:Commodore Roderick H Walker
- 1994–1995: Mrs Anita Samuels
- 1995–1996: Anthony Shone
- 1996–1997: Mrs. Jennifer Anne Grundy, of Roby, Liverpool, Merseyside.
- 1997–1998: Brian Thaxter
- 1998–1999: Colonel Sir Christopher Hewetson
- 1999–2000: Derek Morris
- 2000–2001: William David Fulton of Puddington
- 2001–2002: Professor. Peter Toyne of Rotherham.
- 2002–2003: Lady Pilkington
- 2003–2004: Robert D Atlay
- 2004–2005: Stuart Christie of Liverpool.
- 2005–2006: Mrs Rosemary Helen Hawley of Liverpool
- 2006–2007: Michael Stuart Potts Esq, DL of Neston
- 2007–2008: Professor Philip N Love CBE DL of Formby
- 2008–2009: Mrs Judith Louise Greensmith, DL of the Wirral
- 2009–2010: David C McDonnell Esq, CBE DL of Liverpool
- 2010–2011: Roy Alfred Morris Esq, DL of Formby
- 2011–2012: Professor Helen M L Carty, DL of Liverpool
- 2012–2013: Colonel Martin G C Amlôt, OBE OStJ DL of the Wirral
- 2013–2014: R Ian S Meadows Esq, OBE DL of Liverpool
- 2014–2015: Abila Pointing
- 2015–2016: Robert Owen of Woolton, Liverpool
- 2016–2017: Jim Davies of Caldy, Wirral
- 2017–2018: Stephen Burrows of Willaston, South Wirral
- 2018–2019: Peter Woods
Read more...
The River Alt is an urban river that flows across Merseyside in England. The river has suffered from heavy pollution from industry and sewage upstream and run-off from farmland in its lower reaches. It empties into the River Mersey, near to where the Mersey itself, flows into the Irish Sea. the river has benefited from clean-up schemes and a de-culverting process to improve its water quality and provide a better environment for wildlife. Read more...
This list of museums in Merseyside, England contains museums which are defined for this context as institutions (including nonprofit organizations, government entities, and private businesses) that collect and care for objects of cultural, artistic, scientific, or historical interest and make their collections or related exhibits available for public viewing. Also included are non-profit art galleries and university art galleries. Museums that exist only in cyberspace (i.e., virtual museums) are not included. To use the sortable table, click on the icons at the top of each column to sort that column in alphabetical order; click again for reverse alphabetical order. Read more...
Heswall is a town on the Wirral, in the county of Merseyside, England. Administratively, it is a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. At the time of the 2001 Census, the total population of the ward was 16,012 (male: 7,474; female: 8,538), which included the nearby villages of Barnston and Gayton. The population of the town of Heswall itself was 7,750. By the time of the census 2011 population details for Heswall town were no longer maintained. However the ward's population had decreased to 13,401 (male: 6,400; female: 7,001). Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974 it was part of the county of Cheshire. Read more...
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