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Wikipedia

Birkenhead

March 10, 2023

For other uses, see Birkenhead (disambiguation).

Birkenhead (/ˌbɜːrkənˈhɛd/; Welsh: Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 88,818.[1]

Birkenhead
Town

The former Birkenhead Town Hall and Wirral Museum, now council offices, committee rooms, and Register Office, in Hamilton Square
Birkenhead
Location within Merseyside
Area25.18 km2 (9.72 sq mi) [1]
Population88,818 (2011 Census)[1]
• Density3,527/km2 (9,130/sq mi)
DemonymBirkonian
OS grid referenceSJ324890
• London178 mi (286 km)[2] SE
Metropolitan borough
Metropolitan county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBIRKENHEAD
Postcode districtCH41, CH42
Dialling code0151
ISO 3166 codeGB-WRL
PoliceMerseyside
FireMerseyside
AmbulanceNorth West
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Merseyside
53°23′35″N 3°00′50″W / 53.393°N 3.014°W / 53.393; -3.014Coordinates: 53°23′35″N 3°00′50″W / 53.393°N 3.014°W / 53.393; -3.014

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. Birkenhead Park and Hamilton Square were laid out as well as the first street tramway in Britain. The Mersey Railway connected Birkenhead and Liverpool with the world's first tunnel beneath a tidal estuary; the shipbuilding firm Cammell Laird and a seaport were established.

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 planned to regenerate much of the dockland.

Toponymy

The name Birkenhead probably means "headland overgrown with birch", from the Old English bircen meaning birch tree,[3] 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.[4]

History

Medieval period

 
The Woodside terminal for the Mersey Ferry in Birkenhead
 
British troops of Western Command clearing up bomb damage in Birkenhead, 15 March 1941

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.[5][6] The priory was visited in 1275 and 1277 by Edward I.[7] In a royal charter of 13 April 1330, Edward III granted the priory further rights.[8]

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.[9]

Shipbuilding started in 1829.[10] 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, HMS Affray, CSS Alabama, HMS Ark Royal, HMS Birkenhead, HMS Caroline, Huáscar, the pioneer submarine Resurgam, HMS Thetis (which sank in Liverpool Bay during sea trials, and was refloated and commissioned as HMS Thunderbolt, only to be lost to enemy action with the loss of the entire crew), HMS Conqueror and HMS Prince of Wales. Merchant vessels were also built such as RMS Mauretania and RMS Windsor Castle.

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.[11]

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.[12]

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.[13]

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.[14]

Birkenhead was struck by an F0/T1 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day.[15]

1989 saw the completion of a large shopping development within Birkenhead town centre, known as the Pyramids.[16]

Conway Park station was opened in 1998 as part of a development that saw Wirral Metropolitan College open a new campus nearby.[17]

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'.[18] The plan aims to regenerate parts of Birkenhead, with the creation of a new park (Dock Branch Park), new housing and an improved greener environment.

Governance

Formerly a township in Bidston Parish of the Wirral Hundred, Birkenhead was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1877, and became a county borough with the passing of the Local Government Act 1888. The borough included the parish of Birkenhead St. Mary and the townships of Bidston, Claughton with Grange, Oxton, Tranmere and part of Bebington, later known as Rock Ferry.[14] The townships of Landican, Prenton and Thingwall were added in 1928, followed by Noctorum, Upton and Woodchurch in 1933.[19]

Prior to 1 April 1974, Birkenhead and the rest of the Wirral Peninsula were part of the county of Cheshire. The implementation of the Local Government Act 1972 caused Birkenhead to lose its county borough status. The town has since been administered as part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in the metropolitan county of Merseyside. The Birkenhead and Tranmere electoral ward had a population of 15,879 in 2011.[20]

The current Member of Parliament for constituency of Birkenhead is Mick Whitley.

Geography

The Birkenhead Urban Area, as defined by the Office for National Statistics,[21] includes Birkenhead, Wallasey, Bebington, Ellesmere Port (which is outside the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral) 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,[22] making it the 19th largest conurbation in England and Wales.

Economy

Shipbuilding

 
The Duke of Edinburgh opening the new entrance to the Great Northern Docks at Birkenhead, 1866

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' (NS&S), 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,[23] 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 HMS Queen Elizabeth,[24] the first of two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers. In 2015, Cammell Laird was selected as the preferred bidder to construct RRS Sir David Attenborough, a Royal Research Ship.[25][26]

Commerce

Birkenhead Market was first established on what is now the site of Birkenhead Town Hall, between Chester Street and Hamilton Street, on 10 July 1835.[27][28] An increase in the town's population by 1841 led to the opening on 11 July 1845[28] of a much expanded market on a larger site nearby. This market hall was built by Fox, Henderson & Co, who later built The Crystal Palace.[29] Michael Marks, of Marks & Spencer, opened one of his first seven 'Penny Bazaar' stalls here during the 1880s.[30] On 31 January 2018, Marks & Spencer announced the closure of their store, in the town centre of Birkenhead, happening in April.[31][32]

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.[33] 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.

Economic statistics

In February 2010, the town had an overall unemployment rate of 8.2% (males 12.4%, female 4.1%) as against a national average of 4.4%.[34]

Demography

In 2011, Birkenhead had a population of 88,818. The wider Urban Subdivision[clarification needed] had a population of over 142,000. However, this latter figure includes areas such as Greasby and Frankby, which are separate from Birkenhead.

These are the 2011 ethnic groups for the town:[35]

Landmarks

 
Birkenhead Park
 
Edward VII Memorial Clock Tower, designed by Edmund Kirby

Birkenhead Park is acknowledged to be the first publicly funded park in Britain.[36] The park was the forerunner of the Parks Movement and its influence was far reaching both in Britain and abroad – most notably on Frederick Law Olmsted's design for Central Park.[37] Designed by Joseph Paxton (later Sir Joseph Paxton) in 1843 and officially opened in 1847, with great festivity.[38] The park's Grand Entrance, modelled on the Temple of Illysus in Athens,[citation needed] and its 'Roman Boathouse' are notable features. There are sandstone lodges at the three entrances, each with a different style of architecture, Gothic, Norman and Italianate. There are also two lakes and an ornate 'Swiss Bridge'.

William Laird, a Scot, and his son John, were influential in the design of the town. Parts were laid out in a grid-iron pattern like Edinburgh New Town with similar architecture. The chief architect was James Gillespie Graham from Edinburgh.[39] This grid pattern was centred around Hamilton Square which was started in 1826 and, apart from Trafalgar Square in London, contains the most Grade I listed buildings in one place in England.[40] including Birkenhead Town Hall. A short distance from Hamilton Square are two other notable landmarks: the Queensway Tunnel Main Entrance and the Woodside Ferry Terminal. The film Chariots of Fire had scenes shot at Woodside. These scenes were as a representation of Dover in the 1920s.[41]

Other notable landmarks include Bidston Windmill on a ridge behind the town, Flaybrick Watertower and Birkenhead Priory & St. Mary's Tower.

Transport

Trams

Birkenhead had the first street tramway in Britain. Opened on 29 August 1860, the first line ran from Woodside (adjoining the terminal of the Mersey Ferry) to Birkenhead Park. This early system was horse-drawn and was the brainchild of flamboyant American, George Francis Train.[42][43] A preserved tram was on display in the Woodside ferry terminal booking hall.

The system was later electrified and operated from 1901 as Birkenhead Corporation Tramways; it closed in 1937.[44] Two replica trams, imported from Hong Kong, have been brought into service as part of a heritage tramway between Woodside and Wirral Transport Museum; Birkenhead Corporation Tramways car No.20 is preserved on this line.

As part of the Wirral Waters development, a street car service has been proposed, to be called Wirral Street Car.[45]

Buses

Main article: Birkenhead Buses

Horse-drawn buses began operating in Birkenhead in 1848, to be replaced with motor vehicles after the First World War.[46]

Present-day services are run by operators including Arriva and Stagecoach, which are coordinated by Merseytravel.

National Express provides long-distance coach services to other UK cities, with direct routes including London, Glasgow, Bangor and Newcastle.[47]

Birkenhead Bus Station

 
A recent view of the bus station

The bus station was opened in 1996. It is adjacent to The Grange shopping centre and Birkenhead Market.

It has a total of eleven stands and incorporates a travel centre. The main bus operators at the station include Arriva North West and Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire.

Services using the bus station operate around the town of Birkenhead, throughout the Wirral and to the nearby city of Liverpool via the Queensway Tunnel. The station also has frequent services to as far away as Chester.

Railways

Railways reached Birkenhead in 1840, when the Chester and Birkenhead Railway began services.[48] Birkenhead Grange Lane station opened at the same time, becoming the town's first terminus.[48] Birkenhead Dock station opened in 1866, as the eastern terminus of the Hoylake Railway.[49] With the opening of the Woodside and Birkenhead Dock Street Tramway in 1873,[50] this station probably became the world's first tram to train interchange.[49] In 1886, Birkenhead and Liverpool were linked by an underground railway system, which today is part of the Merseyrail network.

The major underground station in Birkenhead is Hamilton Square, the nearest station to the ferry terminal. Hamilton Square station is linked to the Liverpool Loop of the Wirral Line, which includes James Street, Moorfields, Liverpool Lime Street and Liverpool Central stations; all of these are underground. Other stations in the town include Birkenhead Central, which is open but below ground level; Green Lane, below ground level; Rock Ferry; Conway Park, below ground level; Birkenhead Park; Birkenhead North; and Bidston.

The Wirral Line from Birkenhead travels south to Chester and Ellesmere Port, north to New Brighton and westwards, across the Wirral Peninsula, to West Kirby. The Borderlands Line leaves Bidston station, in the north of Birkenhead and travels through the rural centre of Wirral, ultimately leaving England near Shotton and terminating in Wrexham, Wales.[51]

From 1878 until its closure in 1967, Birkenhead Woodside station was the town's mainline railway terminus. Originally sited close to Woodside Ferry Terminal, the site had been redeveloped as part of Cammell Laird ship builders. Latterly, the adjacent dry dock at Cammell Laird was filled in and the area redeveloped to provide flats, a bus depot and offices for HM Land Registry and the Child Support Agency.

The town has one operational railway depot, Birkenhead North TMD; one disused, Birkenhead Central TMD; and two demolished, Birkenhead Mollington Street TMD and a further depot adjacent to Birkenhead Park station. The remains of the Birkenhead Dock Branch are still extant in a cutting through the centre of the town, which was used primarily for freight services. Much of the peripheral railway infrastructure, around the docks, has been removed since the 1980s.

Roads

Junctions 1 and 3 of the M53 motorway facilitate access to the national motorway network. The A41 trunk road connects Woodside with Marble Arch in London. Two road tunnels, the Queensway road tunnel from Birkenhead and the Kingsway road tunnel from Wallasey, run underneath the River Mersey and connect the town to Liverpool.

Maritime

Birkenhead's dock system is part of the Port of Liverpool, operated by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company under the ownership of The Peel Group. The Twelve Quays ferry terminal allows a direct freight and passenger vehicle service to Dublin and Belfast. Daily Belfast services are run by Stena Line, using their RoPax ferries MS Stena Edda and MS Stena Embla from 2020 to 2021,[52] which replaced MS Stena Lagan and MS Stena Mersey.[53] The Mersey Ferry at Woodside operates a passenger service to Liverpool and chartered cruising.

During winter months, the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company operates a service from Birkenhead to Douglas using MS Ben-my-Chree. Due to weather conditions, this service temporarily replaces the route that normally operates from the Liverpool landing stage using fast craft.

Aviation

The nearest airport is Liverpool John Lennon Airport (formerly known as Speke Airport), about 8 miles (13 km) from Birkenhead. Manchester Airport is approximately 40 mi (64 km) away. Other nearby aviation facilities include Hawarden Airport and RAF Woodvale. Former airfields in the area include RAF Hooton Park and Bidston Aerodrome.[54]

Education

Schools

Birkenhead has a number of maintained schools, including Birkenhead Park School (formed after the merger of Rock Ferry High School and Park High School) and the only all-boys Catholic grammar school in the area St. Anselm's College.

Birkenhead also has two independently run schools. The oldest is Birkenhead School.[55] It was exclusively a boys' school from its founding in 1860 until 2000, when its sixth form became co-educational. It became fully co-educational for pupils aged 3–18 in 2008.[56] "Old Birkonians" (as former pupils are known) include the lawyer F.E. Smith (Lord Birkenhead); Andreas Whittam Smith (chairman of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and founder of The Independent newspaper); mountaineer Andrew Irvine; Philip Toosey (hero at the Bridge on the River Kwai); and Tony Hall (former Director-General of the BBC).

Birkenhead High School Academy, formerly Birkenhead Girls High School, is an all-ability state funded girls' Academy. It was founded in 1885 and caters for girls aged 3–19. Its sponsor was the Girls' Day School Trust, but is now publicly funded. Its alumnae include the actress Patricia Routledge. Birkenhead Girls High School decided to become a state-funded Academy school in 2009, increasing the availability of its education.[57] Like the change to co-education at Birkenhead School, this decision was largely driven by falling pupil numbers;[citation needed] however to this date, it remains a single sex school.

Birkenhead Institute Grammar School [58] existed from 1889 in Whetstone Lane, before being moved to Claughton in the 1970s. The school closed in 1994.[59] The school's alumni include Wilfred Owen.

Colleges

Previously situated at Borough Road, Birkenhead's college has campuses at Europa Boulevard and Twelve Quays. The college was originally Birkenhead Technical College, and has been known as Wirral Metropolitan College since the 1980s.[citation needed] The college had a theatre on Borough Road named after one of its most famous former students, Glenda Jackson, the Oscar-winning actress and Member of Parliament, herself a Birkonian, born in 1936. The Borough Road campus and the Glenda Jackson Theatre were demolished in late 2005, to make way for flats, although Wirral Metropolitan College flourishes on other sites across Wirral. The theatre secretly housed an emergency command centre for the region in its basement, accessible via the college.[60] Politicians and officials would have retreated to this secure bunker in the event of nuclear war to co-ordinate the recovery effort. By the 1990s, after the end of the Cold War, the bunker had been decommissioned and the surrounding complex of rooms was used by the college as a rehearsal space and recording studio.[60]

Other colleges include the Birkenhead Sixth Form College, in the Claughton area of the town, formerly the site of Corpus Christi Catholic High School.

Religion

 
St James' Church

Religion in Birkenhead dates back to 1150 when Hamon de Masci founded Birkenhead Priory for the Benedictine order.

The current Anglican churches are St. James' Church, Christ Church and the Church of Christ the King which are all within the Diocese of Chester. Julie Conalty is the current suffragan Bishop of Birkenhead.

Roman Catholic churches include the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception and St. Werburgh's Church which are within the Diocese of Shrewsbury.

The other religious buildings include the Wirral Christian Centre of the Elim Pentecostal Church and the Islamic Shah Jalal Mosque.[61] The Jewish Birkenhead Synagogue existed from 1890 and closed prior to 2006.[62]

Flaybrick Memorial Gardens contains the town's former main cemetery, which is situated near to St. James' Church. Flaybrick Hill Cemetery has been superseded by Landican Cemetery.

Healthcare

Birkenhead has one of the highest mortality rates among men over 65 in the UK.[63] Birkenhead is served by Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (through its Arrowe Park Hospital, St Catherine's Health Centre and Clatterbridge Hospital sites) and Wirral Primary Care Trust. Formerly, Birkenhead was also served by Birkenhead General Hospital on Park Road North and St. James' Hospital in Claughton, now demolished and redeveloped for housing.[64]

Arts, sports and leisure

Arts

The Laird School of Art was the first public school of art outside London and was given to the town by John Laird. It opened on 27 September 1871. The Williamson Art Gallery was opened in 1928 and houses a fine collection of paintings, porcelain and pottery.

In 1856, Birkenhead Library was opened as the country's first public library in an unincorporated borough.[65] The library was situated in Hamilton Street until 1909, when it moved to a new building in Market Street South,[66] near Birkenhead Market. In the 1930s, this building (along with much of the surrounding area) was demolished to make way for the entrance to the Queensway Tunnel. The present library, Birkenhead Central Library, is situated on Borough Road and was opened by King George V in 1934.[66]

Despite being in England, Birkenhead (known as Penbedw, in Welsh) hosted Wales' National Eisteddfod in 1917[67] as well as an unofficial National Eisteddfod event in 1879. As in Liverpool,[68] migrants from Wales, especially North Wales, contributed greatly to the growth of the town and its cultural development in the 19th century. The first local Birkenhead Eisteddfod, a precursor of the national events, took place in 1864.[69] The 1917 National Eisteddfod was notable for the award of the chair to the poet Ellis Humphrey Evans, known as Hedd Wyn. The winner was announced, and the crowd waited for the winner to accept congratulations before the chairing ceremony, but no winner appeared. It was then announced that Hedd Wyn had been killed the previous month on the battlefield in Belgium, and the bardic chair was draped in black. These events were portrayed in the Academy Award nominated film Hedd Wyn, and were apparently intended as a protest against the war policies of Prime Minister David Lloyd George, who was present. There is a commemorative stone for the event in Birkenhead Park.[70] The first meeting of the international Celtic Congress also took place at the Birkenhead Eisteddfod.[71]

The Argyle Theatre was a major theatre and music hall which opened on 28 December 1868[33] and became notable for the calibre of artistes who appeared there. Later in its life, it was also used as a cinema. The theatre was destroyed by bombing in 1940.[72]

The Theatre Royal, opened on 31 October 1864, was in Argyle Street and had a capacity of 1,850.[33] This theatre was closed in 1919 and demolished in the 1930s.[33] Another theatre, the Hippodrome, which was converted into a cinema in the 1930s, stood on the site of what became the Co-operative department store in Grange Road.[73]

The Little Theatre was established in 1958 from a converted former Presbyterian church. The Pacific Road Arts Centre in Woodside opened in 1999, but in 2015 was converted to a “Business Hub”.

Media

Birkenhead is served by the Liverpool Echo local daily newspaper. The local weekly newspaper is the Wirral Globe and the online-only news website is Birkenhead News.

The local radio station Heart Wirral is based in offices at the Pacific Road Arts Centre. In addition, there are five other local radio stations that transmit to Birkenhead: BBC Radio Merseyside, Radio City 96.7, Greatest Hits Liverpool, Capital Liverpool and CityTalk.

Birkenhead is situated within the television regions of BBC North West and ITV's Granada Television. The local television station Bay TV Liverpool also broadcasts to the area.[74]

Leisure

As well as Birkenhead Park, other recreational open spaces in Birkenhead include Dock Branch Park, Mersey Park and Victoria Park. Arrowe Park is a large area of parkland at the western edge of the town. In 1929, the 3rd World Scout Jamboree was held there.

The first two Boy Scout groups in the world are thought to have been founded as the 1st and 2nd Birkenhead groups at YMCA on the same night in 1908.[75] The 2nd Birkenhead Scout Group is still operating and therefore is the longest running scout group in the world.[citation needed]

Sport

The first known football club on the Wirral was Birkenhead F.C. which was founded in 1879 by Robert E. Lythgoe, a former Druids F.C. player. An unrelated, disbanded side had played under the name Tranmere Rovers Cricket Club in 1881–82. Other clubs included Belmont Football Club, founded in 1884. They adopted the name Tranmere Rovers F.C. the following year, and are a professional team who play at Prenton Park near the Tranmere area of the town. They were a founder member of Division Three North in 1921, and were a member of The Football League until 2015, when they were relegated to the Conference, the fifth tier of English football. They returned to the Football League three seasons later, after a 2-1 play off final win against Boreham Wood F.C. Cammell Laird 1907 F.C. is the town's semi-professional football club who play at Kirklands in Rock Ferry. They play in the North West Counties League Division One.

The Birkenhead Park Football Club was founded in 1871, the same year as the Rugby Football Union. The club originally played in the Lower Park but moved to their current home in the Upper Park in 1885.[76] Birkenhead Park also has its own cricket club.[77]

Also in the town are the Birkenhead North End and Victoria Cycling Clubs. Olympic riders from the clubs include Chris Boardman, Mark Bell, Steve Cummings and Rachel Heal.[78][79]

Birkenhead has been host to various rowing clubs since 1840.[80] At present, Liverpool Victoria Rowing Club operates from a facility at the western end of West Float.[81]

Cultural references

Birkenhead is mentioned in the song "What She Said" on the album Meat Is Murder by the Smiths: "What she read/All heady books/She'd sit and prophesize/(It took a tattooed boy from Birkenhead/To really really open her eyes)."

The town is also referred to in the song "Everything Is Sorrow" on the Boo Radleys' C'mon Kids album: I worked in Birkenhead for you/It brings me tears even now.

A fairly detailed description of the town is given in Paul O'Grady's memoirs, At My Mother's Knee... and Other Low Joints: The Autobiography.

Birkenhead is indirectly referenced by "the Birken'ead drill" in Rudyard Kipling's poem "Soldier an' Sailor Too": To take your chance in the thick of a rush, with firing all about, / Is nothing so bad when you've cover to 'and, an' leave an' likin' to shout; / But to stand an' be still to the Birken'ead drill is a damn tough bullet to chew, / An' they done it, the Jollies – 'Er Majesty's Jollies – soldier an' sailor too!, as it refers to heroism by Royal Marines during the sinking of HMS Birkenhead, itself named after the town in which it was built. Other authors have done this as well.

The 1998 book, Awaydays, and the following 2009 film of the same name are set in Birkenhead.

In August 2022 the British Member of Parliament for Birkenhead, Mick Whitley, supported the findings of local historian John Lamb, that Robert Louis Stevenson had set his 1881 classic novel Treasure Island in the towns of Birkenhead and Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula lying opposite Liverpool. This followed a previous announcement by Alan Evans of Wirral Borough Council that the French science fiction writer Jules Verne had also set his 1874 novel The Mysterious Island in Birkenhead. Their Letters of support for Mr Lamb's claims were posted on the Jules Verne and the Heroes of Birkenhead website in August 2022. [82][83][84]

Notable people

Actors and performers

In the arts, Birkenhead has produced several actors and performers including Lionel Gamlin, Roger Abbott, Glenda Jackson,[85] Anew McMaster, Lewis Collins, Megs Jenkins, Taron Egerton, Patricia Routledge, Paul O'Grady (also known as Lily Savage), soprano Valerie Masterson and baritone George Baker. The dancer and actor Lindsay Kemp was born in the town but as a child moved to South Shields.[86] Opera director Graham Vick was born in Birkenhead.

Artists

Some notable artists were born in the town, such as Philip Wilson Steer, Robert Talbot Kelly, Tom Palin, Bessie Bamber, Annie R. Merrylees Arnold, the workers at the Della Robbia Pottery and two cartoonists: Norman Thelwell and Bill Tidy.[87]

Authors and journalists

It has also produced poets and authors such as A.S.J. Tessimond, Adrian Henri and Michael Z. Williamson. The World War I poet Wilfred Owen, though born in Oswestry, lived in Birkenhead from the age of 4 and was educated at the Birkenhead Institute High School (now demolished). Andreas Whittam Smith, founder editor of The Independent, grew up in Birkenhead, where his father was an Anglican clergyman.[88]

Musicians

There are several musicians linked to the area. Freddie Marks from Rod, Jane and Freddy was born in Birkenhead, as was John Gorman of The Scaffold. Indie band Half Man Half Biscuit hail from Birkenhead, as did boogie-rock band Engine, Paul Heaton, lead singer of the Housemartins and the Beautiful South, singer/songwriter Charlie Landsborough and Desmond Briscoe co-founder and original manager of the pioneering BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Elvis Costello moved to Birkenhead in 1971 with his mother,[89] who was from Liverpool, although Elvis Costello's father was himself from Birkenhead. Tony Friel (bassist from the Fall and the Passage), synthpop musician David Hughes (of Dalek I Love You, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Godot) and Malcolm Holmes (drummer with pop group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) were born there. David Balfe (music manager, and member of Dalek I Love You, Big in Japan, the Teardrop Explodes) attended primary and secondary school there. Miles Kane, musician, singer and songwriter and member of The Last Shadow Puppets and The Rascals, was born in the town as well as the opera singer Hugh Beresford. Classical composer William Lewarne Harris (1919-2013) was born in Birkenhead.

Politicians and public figures

F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead, a leading Conservative politician of the early 20th century, was born in the town, as were Liberal Democrat politician Malcolm Bruce, Labour politician Stephen Ladyman, the prominent occultist Alex Sanders, and Tony Hall, Baron Hall of Birkenhead, the Director-General of the BBC. Theodora Llewelyn Davies was a British barrister and penal reform campaigner. She was the first woman admitted to the Inner Temple in 1920. Frank Ernest Field, Baron Field of Birkenhead DL, is a British politician who was the Member of Parliament for Birkenhead from 1979 to 2019, serving as a Labour MP until August 2018 and thereafter as an Independent

Scientists and technologists

Aerodynamicists Gwen Alston and Melvill Jones were born in Birkenhead, as was Henry Herbert Collier, inventor and founder of the Matchless motorcycle marque.

Soldiers and explorers

Sandy Irvine, a participant of the 1924 British Mount Everest expedition, was born in Birkenhead. There has been speculation that George Mallory and he reached the summit. Similarly, Alan Rouse, a mountaineer who died in the 1986 K2 disaster, was educated in Birkenhead. Daniel Poole, a recipient of the Distinguished Conduct Medal during World War I was born in the town.[90]

Sports people

Birkenhead has also produced notable sportsmen such as Matt Dawson, the rugby union player; 'Dixie' Dean (Everton F.C.),[85] record-breaking footballer, who was born at 313 Laird Street; and several other footballers including Peter Davenport, Jason McAteer, David Thompson, Max Power, Jodie Taylor England Lionesses International. The football manager Nigel Adkins also hails from the town.

Other

Gary Finlay, the murderer of Graham McKenna, was born in Birkenhead.[91]

Twin towns

Birkenhead is twinned, as a part of Wirral, with:

Twin towns – Sister cities

Birkenhead also has a Sister City Agreement with:

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in the United Kingdom

Future

The major redevelopment project under consideration is Peel Holdings' "Wirral Waters". This would allow for £4.5 billion of investment in the regeneration of the dockland area. This equates with an investment of over £14,000 for each of the 320,000 residents of the Wirral. At the East Float and Vittoria Dock, the development would include 5,000,000 square feet (465,000 m2) of new office space and 11,000,000 square feet (1,000,000 m2) for new residential flats. A retail and leisure quarter at the former Bidston Dock site would encompass another 571,000 square feet (53,000 m2) of space. The whole project would create more than 27,000 permanent new jobs, aside from the employment required for construction and other peripheral employment. The development would be expected to take up to thirty years.[93]

See also

References

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Sources

Further reading

  • Aspinall, Henry Kelsall (1903). Birkenhead and its Surroundings. Liverpool: The Liverpool Booksellers' Co. Ltd. ISBN 9785874616144. OCLC 33990938.
  • Boumphrey, Ian; Boumphrey, Marilyn (1981). Yesterday's Wirral: Birkenhead, Prenton and Oxton. Ian & Marilyn Boumphrey. ISBN 9780950725512. OCLC 16599808.
  • Boumphrey, Ian (1995). Birkenhead: A Pictorial History. Phillmore. ISBN 9780850339888. OCLC 36548684.
  • Boumphrey, Ian (2007a). Yesterday's Birkenhead. The author. ISBN 9781899241262.
  • Boumphrey, Ian (2007b). Birkenhead at War 1939-45. Ian & Marilyn Boumphrey. ISBN 9781899241163. OCLC 650238915.
  • Broadbent, R.J. (1908). Annals of the Liverpool Stage. Liverpool: Edward Howell. pp. 377–386.
  • Brocklebank, Ralph T. (2003). Birkenhead: An Illustrated History. Breedon. ISBN 9781859833506. OCLC 56469838.
  • Collard, Ian (2010). Birkenhead from old photographs. Amberley. ISBN 9781848685796. OCLC 503647633.
  • Davey, Elizabeth (2013). Birkenhead: A History. The History Press. ISBN 9780750955522. OCLC 316434050.
  • Gamlin, Hilda (1892). Memories of the chronicles of Birkenhead. E. Howell. OCLC 866209732.
  • Hayes, Cliff (2007). A Century of Birkenhead and Wirral. Sutton. ISBN 9780750949040. OCLC 520460751.
  • Jones, Alan G. (2011). Birkenhead Shipbuilding. Fast Print. ISBN 9781780352114. OCLC 773368902.
  • Kaighin, J.R. (1925). Bygone Birkenhead. Wilmer. OCLC 77304339.
  • Lea, Myrra (1974). Birkenhead, 1877-1974. County Borough of Birkenhead. ISBN 9780904582000. OCLC 1365533.
  • McCarron, Ken (1991). Meat at Woodside: Birkenhead Livestock Trade, 1878-1981. Merseyside Port Folios. ISBN 9780951612927. OCLC 26313657.
  • McIntyre, W.R.S. (1948). Birkenhead yesterday and today. Philip. OCLC 504769644.
  • Mortimer, William Williams (1847). The History of the Hundred of Wirral. London: Whittaker & Co. OCLC 4976662. pp305–405.
  • Mott, Charles Grey (1900). Reminiscences of Birkenhead. H. Young and Sons. OCLC 12987941.
  • Sadler, Michael E. (1904). Report on Secondary Education in Birkenhead. London: George Philip & Son Ltd.
  • Sulley, Philip (1907). History of ancient and modern Birkenhead. W.M. Murphy. OCLC 29557494.

External links

 
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Birkenhead".
  •   Media related to Birkenhead at Wikimedia Commons
  •   Birkenhead travel guide from Wikivoyage
  • Birkenhead & Surrounds 7 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine

March 10, 2023
birkenhead, other, uses, disambiguation, ɜːr, welsh, penbedw, town, metropolitan, borough, wirral, merseyside, england, historically, part, cheshire, until, 1974, town, wirral, peninsula, along, south, bank, river, mersey, opposite, liverpool, 2011, census, po. For other uses see Birkenhead disambiguation Birkenhead ˌ b ɜːr k en ˈ h ɛ d Welsh Penbedw is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral Merseyside England historically it was part of Cheshire until 1974 The town is on the Wirral Peninsula along the south bank of the River Mersey opposite Liverpool At the 2011 census it had a population of 88 818 1 BirkenheadTownThe former Birkenhead Town Hall and Wirral Museum now council offices committee rooms and Register Office in Hamilton SquareBirkenheadLocation within MerseysideArea25 18 km2 9 72 sq mi 1 Population88 818 2011 Census 1 Density3 527 km2 9 130 sq mi DemonymBirkonianOS grid referenceSJ324890 London178 mi 286 km 2 SEMetropolitan boroughWirralMetropolitan countyMerseysideRegionNorth WestCountryEnglandSovereign stateUnited KingdomPost townBIRKENHEADPostcode districtCH41 CH42Dialling code0151ISO 3166 codeGB WRLPoliceMerseysideFireMerseysideAmbulanceNorth WestUK ParliamentBirkenheadList of places UK England Merseyside 53 23 35 N 3 00 50 W 53 393 N 3 014 W 53 393 3 014 Coordinates 53 23 35 N 3 00 50 W 53 393 N 3 014 W 53 393 3 014Birkenhead 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 Birkenhead Park and Hamilton Square were laid out as well as the first street tramway in Britain The Mersey Railway connected Birkenhead and Liverpool with the world s first tunnel beneath a tidal estuary the shipbuilding firm Cammell Laird and a seaport were established 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 planned to regenerate much of the dockland Contents 1 Toponymy 2 History 2 1 Medieval period 2 2 19th century 2 3 20th century 2 4 21st century 3 Governance 4 Geography 5 Economy 5 1 Shipbuilding 5 2 Commerce 5 3 Economic statistics 6 Demography 7 Landmarks 8 Transport 8 1 Trams 8 2 Buses 8 2 1 Birkenhead Bus Station 8 3 Railways 8 4 Roads 8 5 Maritime 8 6 Aviation 9 Education 9 1 Schools 9 2 Colleges 10 Religion 11 Healthcare 12 Arts sports and leisure 12 1 Arts 12 2 Media 12 3 Leisure 12 4 Sport 13 Cultural references 14 Notable people 14 1 Actors and performers 14 2 Artists 14 3 Authors and journalists 14 4 Musicians 14 5 Politicians and public figures 14 6 Scientists and technologists 14 7 Soldiers and explorers 14 8 Sports people 14 9 Other 15 Twin towns 15 1 Twin towns Sister cities 16 Future 17 See also 18 References 18 1 Sources 19 Further reading 20 External linksToponymy EditThe name Birkenhead probably means headland overgrown with birch from the Old English bircen meaning birch tree 3 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 4 History EditMedieval period Edit The Woodside terminal for the Mersey Ferry in Birkenhead British troops of Western Command clearing up bomb damage in Birkenhead 15 March 1941 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 5 6 The priory was visited in 1275 and 1277 by Edward I 7 In a royal charter of 13 April 1330 Edward III granted the priory further rights 8 19th century Edit 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 9 Shipbuilding started in 1829 10 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 HMS Affray CSS Alabama HMS Ark Royal HMS Birkenhead HMS Caroline Huascar the pioneer submarine Resurgam HMS Thetis which sank in Liverpool Bay during sea trials and was refloated and commissioned as HMS Thunderbolt only to be lost to enemy action with the loss of the entire crew HMS Conqueror and HMS Prince of Wales Merchant vessels were also built such as RMS Mauretania and RMS Windsor Castle 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 11 The Mersey Railway tunnel opened in 1886 providing direct railway access to Liverpool 20th century Edit The Grange Road West drill hall was completed in 1900 12 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 13 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 14 Birkenhead was struck by an F0 T1 tornado on 23 November 1981 as part of the record breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day 15 1989 saw the completion of a large shopping development within Birkenhead town centre known as the Pyramids 16 Conway Park station was opened in 1998 as part of a development that saw Wirral Metropolitan College open a new campus nearby 17 21st century Edit 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 18 The plan aims to regenerate parts of Birkenhead with the creation of a new park Dock Branch Park new housing and an improved greener environment Governance EditFormerly a township in Bidston Parish of the Wirral Hundred Birkenhead was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1877 and became a county borough with the passing of the Local Government Act 1888 The borough included the parish of Birkenhead St Mary and the townships of Bidston Claughton with Grange Oxton Tranmere and part of Bebington later known as Rock Ferry 14 The townships of Landican Prenton and Thingwall were added in 1928 followed by Noctorum Upton and Woodchurch in 1933 19 Prior to 1 April 1974 Birkenhead and the rest of the Wirral Peninsula were part of the county of Cheshire The implementation of the Local Government Act 1972 caused Birkenhead to lose its county borough status The town has since been administered as part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in the metropolitan county of Merseyside The Birkenhead and Tranmere electoral ward had a population of 15 879 in 2011 20 The current Member of Parliament for constituency of Birkenhead is Mick Whitley Geography EditThe Birkenhead Urban Area as defined by the Office for National Statistics 21 includes Birkenhead Wallasey Bebington Ellesmere Port which is outside the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral 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 22 making it the 19th largest conurbation in England and Wales Economy EditShipbuilding Edit The Duke of Edinburgh opening the new entrance to the Great Northern Docks at Birkenhead 1866 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 amp Shipbuilders NS amp S which grew into a successful business specialising in ship repair and conversion including maintenance contracts for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary In September 2007 NS amp S acquired the rights to use the Cammell Laird name The company was renamed Cammell Laird Shiprepairers amp Shipbuilders on 17 November 2008 23 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 HMS Queen Elizabeth 24 the first of two Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers In 2015 Cammell Laird was selected as the preferred bidder to construct RRS Sir David Attenborough a Royal Research Ship 25 26 Commerce Edit Birkenhead Market was first established on what is now the site of Birkenhead Town Hall between Chester Street and Hamilton Street on 10 July 1835 27 28 An increase in the town s population by 1841 led to the opening on 11 July 1845 28 of a much expanded market on a larger site nearby This market hall was built by Fox Henderson amp Co who later built The Crystal Palace 29 Michael Marks of Marks amp Spencer opened one of his first seven Penny Bazaar stalls here during the 1880s 30 On 31 January 2018 Marks amp Spencer announced the closure of their store in the town centre of Birkenhead happening in April 31 32 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 33 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 Economic statistics Edit In February 2010 the town had an overall unemployment rate of 8 2 males 12 4 female 4 1 as against a national average of 4 4 34 Demography EditIn 2011 Birkenhead had a population of 88 818 The wider Urban Subdivision clarification needed had a population of over 142 000 However this latter figure includes areas such as Greasby and Frankby which are separate from Birkenhead These are the 2011 ethnic groups for the town 35 93 5 White British 2 3 Other White 1 2 Mixed Race 2 6 Asian 0 2 Black 0 2 OtherLandmarks Edit Birkenhead Park Edward VII Memorial Clock Tower designed by Edmund Kirby Birkenhead Park is acknowledged to be the first publicly funded park in Britain 36 The park was the forerunner of the Parks Movement and its influence was far reaching both in Britain and abroad most notably on Frederick Law Olmsted s design for Central Park 37 Designed by Joseph Paxton later Sir Joseph Paxton in 1843 and officially opened in 1847 with great festivity 38 The park s Grand Entrance modelled on the Temple of Illysus in Athens citation needed and its Roman Boathouse are notable features There are sandstone lodges at the three entrances each with a different style of architecture Gothic Norman and Italianate There are also two lakes and an ornate Swiss Bridge William Laird a Scot and his son John were influential in the design of the town Parts were laid out in a grid iron pattern like Edinburgh New Town with similar architecture The chief architect was James Gillespie Graham from Edinburgh 39 This grid pattern was centred around Hamilton Square which was started in 1826 and apart from Trafalgar Square in London contains the most Grade I listed buildings in one place in England 40 including Birkenhead Town Hall A short distance from Hamilton Square are two other notable landmarks the Queensway Tunnel Main Entrance and the Woodside Ferry Terminal The film Chariots of Fire had scenes shot at Woodside These scenes were as a representation of Dover in the 1920s 41 Other notable landmarks include Bidston Windmill on a ridge behind the town Flaybrick Watertower and Birkenhead Priory amp St Mary s Tower Transport EditTrams Edit Birkenhead had the first street tramway in Britain Opened on 29 August 1860 the first line ran from Woodside adjoining the terminal of the Mersey Ferry to Birkenhead Park This early system was horse drawn and was the brainchild of flamboyant American George Francis Train 42 43 A preserved tram was on display in the Woodside ferry terminal booking hall The system was later electrified and operated from 1901 as Birkenhead Corporation Tramways it closed in 1937 44 Two replica trams imported from Hong Kong have been brought into service as part of a heritage tramway between Woodside and Wirral Transport Museum Birkenhead Corporation Tramways car No 20 is preserved on this line As part of the Wirral Waters development a street car service has been proposed to be called Wirral Street Car 45 Buses Edit Main article Birkenhead Buses Horse drawn buses began operating in Birkenhead in 1848 to be replaced with motor vehicles after the First World War 46 Present day services are run by operators including Arriva and Stagecoach which are coordinated by Merseytravel National Express provides long distance coach services to other UK cities with direct routes including London Glasgow Bangor and Newcastle 47 Birkenhead Bus Station Edit A recent view of the bus station The bus station was opened in 1996 It is adjacent to The Grange shopping centre and Birkenhead Market It has a total of eleven stands and incorporates a travel centre The main bus operators at the station include Arriva North West and Stagecoach Merseyside amp South Lancashire Services using the bus station operate around the town of Birkenhead throughout the Wirral and to the nearby city of Liverpool via the Queensway Tunnel The station also has frequent services to as far away as Chester Railways Edit Railways reached Birkenhead in 1840 when the Chester and Birkenhead Railway began services 48 Birkenhead Grange Lane station opened at the same time becoming the town s first terminus 48 Birkenhead Dock station opened in 1866 as the eastern terminus of the Hoylake Railway 49 With the opening of the Woodside and Birkenhead Dock Street Tramway in 1873 50 this station probably became the world s first tram to train interchange 49 In 1886 Birkenhead and Liverpool were linked by an underground railway system which today is part of the Merseyrail network The major underground station in Birkenhead is Hamilton Square the nearest station to the ferry terminal Hamilton Square station is linked to the Liverpool Loop of the Wirral Line which includes James Street Moorfields Liverpool Lime Street and Liverpool Central stations all of these are underground Other stations in the town include Birkenhead Central which is open but below ground level Green Lane below ground level Rock Ferry Conway Park below ground level Birkenhead Park Birkenhead North and Bidston The Wirral Line from Birkenhead travels south to Chester and Ellesmere Port north to New Brighton and westwards across the Wirral Peninsula to West Kirby The Borderlands Line leaves Bidston station in the north of Birkenhead and travels through the rural centre of Wirral ultimately leaving England near Shotton and terminating in Wrexham Wales 51 From 1878 until its closure in 1967 Birkenhead Woodside station was the town s mainline railway terminus Originally sited close to Woodside Ferry Terminal the site had been redeveloped as part of Cammell Laird ship builders Latterly the adjacent dry dock at Cammell Laird was filled in and the area redeveloped to provide flats a bus depot and offices for HM Land Registry and the Child Support Agency The town has one operational railway depot Birkenhead North TMD one disused Birkenhead Central TMD and two demolished Birkenhead Mollington Street TMD and a further depot adjacent to Birkenhead Park station The remains of the Birkenhead Dock Branch are still extant in a cutting through the centre of the town which was used primarily for freight services Much of the peripheral railway infrastructure around the docks has been removed since the 1980s Roads Edit Junctions 1 and 3 of the M53 motorway facilitate access to the national motorway network The A41 trunk road connects Woodside with Marble Arch in London Two road tunnels the Queensway road tunnel from Birkenhead and the Kingsway road tunnel from Wallasey run underneath the River Mersey and connect the town to Liverpool Maritime Edit Birkenhead s dock system is part of the Port of Liverpool operated by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company under the ownership of The Peel Group The Twelve Quays ferry terminal allows a direct freight and passenger vehicle service to Dublin and Belfast Daily Belfast services are run by Stena Line using their RoPax ferries MS Stena Edda and MS Stena Embla from 2020 to 2021 52 which replaced MS Stena Lagan and MS Stena Mersey 53 The Mersey Ferry at Woodside operates a passenger service to Liverpool and chartered cruising During winter months the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company operates a service from Birkenhead to Douglas using MS Ben my Chree Due to weather conditions this service temporarily replaces the route that normally operates from the Liverpool landing stage using fast craft Aviation Edit The nearest airport is Liverpool John Lennon Airport formerly known as Speke Airport about 8 miles 13 km from Birkenhead Manchester Airport is approximately 40 mi 64 km away Other nearby aviation facilities include Hawarden Airport and RAF Woodvale Former airfields in the area include RAF Hooton Park and Bidston Aerodrome 54 Education EditSchools Edit Birkenhead has a number of maintained schools including Birkenhead Park School formed after the merger of Rock Ferry High School and Park High School and the only all boys Catholic grammar school in the area St Anselm s College Birkenhead also has two independently run schools The oldest is Birkenhead School 55 It was exclusively a boys school from its founding in 1860 until 2000 when its sixth form became co educational It became fully co educational for pupils aged 3 18 in 2008 56 Old Birkonians as former pupils are known include the lawyer F E Smith Lord Birkenhead Andreas Whittam Smith chairman of the British Board of Film Classification BBFC and founder of The Independent newspaper mountaineer Andrew Irvine Philip Toosey hero at the Bridge on the River Kwai and Tony Hall former Director General of the BBC Birkenhead High School Academy formerly Birkenhead Girls High School is an all ability state funded girls Academy It was founded in 1885 and caters for girls aged 3 19 Its sponsor was the Girls Day School Trust but is now publicly funded Its alumnae include the actress Patricia Routledge Birkenhead Girls High School decided to become a state funded Academy school in 2009 increasing the availability of its education 57 Like the change to co education at Birkenhead School this decision was largely driven by falling pupil numbers citation needed however to this date it remains a single sex school Birkenhead Institute Grammar School 58 existed from 1889 in Whetstone Lane before being moved to Claughton in the 1970s The school closed in 1994 59 The school s alumni include Wilfred Owen Colleges Edit Previously situated at Borough Road Birkenhead s college has campuses at Europa Boulevard and Twelve Quays The college was originally Birkenhead Technical College and has been known as Wirral Metropolitan College since the 1980s citation needed The college had a theatre on Borough Road named after one of its most famous former students Glenda Jackson the Oscar winning actress and Member of Parliament herself a Birkonian born in 1936 The Borough Road campus and the Glenda Jackson Theatre were demolished in late 2005 to make way for flats although Wirral Metropolitan College flourishes on other sites across Wirral The theatre secretly housed an emergency command centre for the region in its basement accessible via the college 60 Politicians and officials would have retreated to this secure bunker in the event of nuclear war to co ordinate the recovery effort By the 1990s after the end of the Cold War the bunker had been decommissioned and the surrounding complex of rooms was used by the college as a rehearsal space and recording studio 60 Other colleges include the Birkenhead Sixth Form College in the Claughton area of the town formerly the site of Corpus Christi Catholic High School Religion Edit St James Church Religion in Birkenhead dates back to 1150 when Hamon de Masci founded Birkenhead Priory for the Benedictine order The current Anglican churches are St James Church Christ Church and the Church of Christ the King which are all within the Diocese of Chester Julie Conalty is the current suffragan Bishop of Birkenhead Roman Catholic churches include the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception and St Werburgh s Church which are within the Diocese of Shrewsbury The other religious buildings include the Wirral Christian Centre of the Elim Pentecostal Church and the Islamic Shah Jalal Mosque 61 The Jewish Birkenhead Synagogue existed from 1890 and closed prior to 2006 62 Flaybrick Memorial Gardens contains the town s former main cemetery which is situated near to St James Church Flaybrick Hill Cemetery has been superseded by Landican Cemetery Healthcare EditBirkenhead has one of the highest mortality rates among men over 65 in the UK 63 Birkenhead is served by Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust through its Arrowe Park Hospital St Catherine s Health Centre and Clatterbridge Hospital sites and Wirral Primary Care Trust Formerly Birkenhead was also served by Birkenhead General Hospital on Park Road North and St James Hospital in Claughton now demolished and redeveloped for housing 64 Arts sports and leisure EditArts Edit The Laird School of Art was the first public school of art outside London and was given to the town by John Laird It opened on 27 September 1871 The Williamson Art Gallery was opened in 1928 and houses a fine collection of paintings porcelain and pottery In 1856 Birkenhead Library was opened as the country s first public library in an unincorporated borough 65 The library was situated in Hamilton Street until 1909 when it moved to a new building in Market Street South 66 near Birkenhead Market In the 1930s this building along with much of the surrounding area was demolished to make way for the entrance to the Queensway Tunnel The present library Birkenhead Central Library is situated on Borough Road and was opened by King George V in 1934 66 Despite being in England Birkenhead known as Penbedw in Welsh hosted Wales National Eisteddfod in 1917 67 as well as an unofficial National Eisteddfod event in 1879 As in Liverpool 68 migrants from Wales especially North Wales contributed greatly to the growth of the town and its cultural development in the 19th century The first local Birkenhead Eisteddfod a precursor of the national events took place in 1864 69 The 1917 National Eisteddfod was notable for the award of the chair to the poet Ellis Humphrey Evans known as Hedd Wyn The winner was announced and the crowd waited for the winner to accept congratulations before the chairing ceremony but no winner appeared It was then announced that Hedd Wyn had been killed the previous month on the battlefield in Belgium and the bardic chair was draped in black These events were portrayed in the Academy Award nominated film Hedd Wyn and were apparently intended as a protest against the war policies of Prime Minister David Lloyd George who was present There is a commemorative stone for the event in Birkenhead Park 70 The first meeting of the international Celtic Congress also took place at the Birkenhead Eisteddfod 71 The Argyle Theatre was a major theatre and music hall which opened on 28 December 1868 33 and became notable for the calibre of artistes who appeared there Later in its life it was also used as a cinema The theatre was destroyed by bombing in 1940 72 The Theatre Royal opened on 31 October 1864 was in Argyle Street and had a capacity of 1 850 33 This theatre was closed in 1919 and demolished in the 1930s 33 Another theatre the Hippodrome which was converted into a cinema in the 1930s stood on the site of what became the Co operative department store in Grange Road 73 The Little Theatre was established in 1958 from a converted former Presbyterian church The Pacific Road Arts Centre in Woodside opened in 1999 but in 2015 was converted to a Business Hub Media Edit Birkenhead is served by the Liverpool Echo local daily newspaper The local weekly newspaper is the Wirral Globe and the online only news website is Birkenhead News The local radio station Heart Wirral is based in offices at the Pacific Road Arts Centre In addition there are five other local radio stations that transmit to Birkenhead BBC Radio Merseyside Radio City 96 7 Greatest Hits Liverpool Capital Liverpool and CityTalk Birkenhead is situated within the television regions of BBC North West and ITV s Granada Television The local television station Bay TV Liverpool also broadcasts to the area 74 Leisure Edit As well as Birkenhead Park other recreational open spaces in Birkenhead include Dock Branch Park Mersey Park and Victoria Park Arrowe Park is a large area of parkland at the western edge of the town In 1929 the 3rd World Scout Jamboree was held there The first two Boy Scout groups in the world are thought to have been founded as the 1st and 2nd Birkenhead groups at YMCA on the same night in 1908 75 The 2nd Birkenhead Scout Group is still operating and therefore is the longest running scout group in the world citation needed Sport Edit Prenton Park The first known football club on the Wirral was Birkenhead F C which was founded in 1879 by Robert E Lythgoe a former Druids F C player An unrelated disbanded side had played under the name Tranmere Rovers Cricket Club in 1881 82 Other clubs included Belmont Football Club founded in 1884 They adopted the name Tranmere Rovers F C the following year and are a professional team who play at Prenton Park near the Tranmere area of the town They were a founder member of Division Three North in 1921 and were a member of The Football League until 2015 when they were relegated to the Conference the fifth tier of English football They returned to the Football League three seasons later after a 2 1 play off final win against Boreham Wood F C Cammell Laird 1907 F C is the town s semi professional football club who play at Kirklands in Rock Ferry They play in the North West Counties League Division One The Birkenhead Park Football Club was founded in 1871 the same year as the Rugby Football Union The club originally played in the Lower Park but moved to their current home in the Upper Park in 1885 76 Birkenhead Park also has its own cricket club 77 Also in the town are the Birkenhead North End and Victoria Cycling Clubs Olympic riders from the clubs include Chris Boardman Mark Bell Steve Cummings and Rachel Heal 78 79 Birkenhead has been host to various rowing clubs since 1840 80 At present Liverpool Victoria Rowing Club operates from a facility at the western end of West Float 81 Cultural references EditBirkenhead is mentioned in the song What She Said on the album Meat Is Murder by the Smiths What she read All heady books She d sit and prophesize It took a tattooed boy from Birkenhead To really really open her eyes The town is also referred to in the song Everything Is Sorrow on the Boo Radleys C mon Kids album I worked in Birkenhead for you It brings me tears even now A fairly detailed description of the town is given in Paul O Grady s memoirs At My Mother s Knee and Other Low Joints The Autobiography Birkenhead is indirectly referenced by the Birken ead drill in Rudyard Kipling s poem Soldier an Sailor Too To take your chance in the thick of a rush with firing all about Is nothing so bad when you ve cover to and an leave an likin to shout But to stand an be still to the Birken ead drill is a damn tough bullet to chew An they done it the Jollies Er Majesty s Jollies soldier an sailor too as it refers to heroism by Royal Marines during the sinking of HMS Birkenhead itself named after the town in which it was built Other authors have done this as well The 1998 book Awaydays and the following 2009 film of the same name are set in Birkenhead In August 2022 the British Member of Parliament for Birkenhead Mick Whitley supported the findings of local historian John Lamb that Robert Louis Stevenson had set his 1881 classic novel Treasure Island in the towns of Birkenhead and Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula lying opposite Liverpool This followed a previous announcement by Alan Evans of Wirral Borough Council that the French science fiction writer Jules Verne had also set his 1874 novel The Mysterious Island in Birkenhead Their Letters of support for Mr Lamb s claims were posted on the Jules Verne and the Heroes of Birkenhead website in August 2022 82 83 84 Notable people EditActors and performers Edit In the arts Birkenhead has produced several actors and performers including Lionel Gamlin Roger Abbott Glenda Jackson 85 Anew McMaster Lewis Collins Megs Jenkins Taron Egerton Patricia Routledge Paul O Grady also known as Lily Savage soprano Valerie Masterson and baritone George Baker The dancer and actor Lindsay Kemp was born in the town but as a child moved to South Shields 86 Opera director Graham Vick was born in Birkenhead Artists Edit Some notable artists were born in the town such as Philip Wilson Steer Robert Talbot Kelly Tom Palin Bessie Bamber Annie R Merrylees Arnold the workers at the Della Robbia Pottery and two cartoonists Norman Thelwell and Bill Tidy 87 Authors and journalists Edit It has also produced poets and authors such as A S J Tessimond Adrian Henri and Michael Z Williamson The World War I poet Wilfred Owen though born in Oswestry lived in Birkenhead from the age of 4 and was educated at the Birkenhead Institute High School now demolished Andreas Whittam Smith founder editor of The Independent grew up in Birkenhead where his father was an Anglican clergyman 88 Musicians Edit There are several musicians linked to the area Freddie Marks from Rod Jane and Freddy was born in Birkenhead as was John Gorman of The Scaffold Indie band Half Man Half Biscuit hail from Birkenhead as did boogie rock band Engine Paul Heaton lead singer of the Housemartins and the Beautiful South singer songwriter Charlie Landsborough and Desmond Briscoe co founder and original manager of the pioneering BBC Radiophonic Workshop Elvis Costello moved to Birkenhead in 1971 with his mother 89 who was from Liverpool although Elvis Costello s father was himself from Birkenhead Tony Friel bassist from the Fall and the Passage synthpop musician David Hughes of Dalek I Love You Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Godot and Malcolm Holmes drummer with pop group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark were born there David Balfe music manager and member of Dalek I Love You Big in Japan the Teardrop Explodes attended primary and secondary school there Miles Kane musician singer and songwriter and member of The Last Shadow Puppets and The Rascals was born in the town as well as the opera singer Hugh Beresford Classical composer William Lewarne Harris 1919 2013 was born in Birkenhead Politicians and public figures Edit F E Smith 1st Earl of Birkenhead F E Smith 1st Earl of Birkenhead a leading Conservative politician of the early 20th century was born in the town as were Liberal Democrat politician Malcolm Bruce Labour politician Stephen Ladyman the prominent occultist Alex Sanders and Tony Hall Baron Hall of Birkenhead the Director General of the BBC Theodora Llewelyn Davies was a British barrister and penal reform campaigner She was the first woman admitted to the Inner Temple in 1920 Frank Ernest Field Baron Field of Birkenhead DL is a British politician who was the Member of Parliament for Birkenhead from 1979 to 2019 serving as a Labour MP until August 2018 and thereafter as an Independent Scientists and technologists Edit Aerodynamicists Gwen Alston and Melvill Jones were born in Birkenhead as was Henry Herbert Collier inventor and founder of the Matchless motorcycle marque Soldiers and explorers Edit Sandy Irvine a participant of the 1924 British Mount Everest expedition was born in Birkenhead There has been speculation that George Mallory and he reached the summit Similarly Alan Rouse a mountaineer who died in the 1986 K2 disaster was educated in Birkenhead Daniel Poole a recipient of the Distinguished Conduct Medal during World War I was born in the town 90 Sports people Edit Birkenhead has also produced notable sportsmen such as Matt Dawson the rugby union player Dixie Dean Everton F C 85 record breaking footballer who was born at 313 Laird Street and several other footballers including Peter Davenport Jason McAteer David Thompson Max Power Jodie Taylor England Lionesses International The football manager Nigel Adkins also hails from the town Other Edit Gary Finlay the murderer of Graham McKenna was born in Birkenhead 91 Twin towns EditBirkenhead is twinned as a part of Wirral with Gennevilliers France Latina Lazio Italy Lorient FranceTwin towns Sister cities Edit Birkenhead also has a Sister City Agreement with Midland Texas United States 92 See also List of twin towns and sister cities in the United KingdomFuture EditThe major redevelopment project under consideration is Peel Holdings Wirral Waters This would allow for 4 5 billion of investment in the regeneration of the dockland area This equates with an investment of over 14 000 for each of the 320 000 residents of the Wirral At the East Float and Vittoria Dock the development would include 5 000 000 square feet 465 000 m2 of new office space and 11 000 000 square feet 1 000 000 m2 for new residential flats A retail and leisure quarter at the former Bidston Dock site would encompass another 571 000 square feet 53 000 m2 of space The whole project would create more than 27 000 permanent new jobs aside from the employment required for construction and other peripheral employment The development would be expected to take up to thirty years 93 See also EditListed buildings in BirkenheadReferences Edit a b c Area Birkenhead Westminster Parliamentary Constituency Office for National Statistics Archived from the original on 15 March 2016 Retrieved 5 March 2016 Coordinate Distance Calculator boulter com Retrieved 6 March 2016 E Ekwall The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names 3rd edn p 43 Wirral Notes and Queries Printed and published by Willmer Bros and Co February 1892 p 10 Brocklebank Ralph T 2003 Birkenhead An Illustrated History Breedon Books pp 14 15 ISBN 1 85983 350 0 Birkenhead Priory Metropolitan Borough of Wirral archived from the original on 4 March 2008 retrieved 14 January 2008 Timeline of events Birkenhead Priory Retrieved 5 March 2016 Collard 2012 Introduction Mersey ferries PDF Liverpool Museums retrieved 24 August 2012 Birkenhead Built An Unrivaled Historical Legacy Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A amp M University The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge Vol III Bavaria Caesar London Charles Knight 1847 p 337 OCLC 499316122 Birkenhead The Drill Halls Project Retrieved 13 August 2017 Kelly S F January 1988 Idle Hands Clenched Fists Spokesman Books ISBN 0 85124 446 7 a b Cheshire Towns amp Parishes Birkenhead GENUKI UK amp Ireland Genealogy retrieved 14 January 2008 European Severe Weather Database Dunn Justin 26 August 2009 Birkenhead s Pyramids Centre celebrates its 20th birthday Wirral Globe Retrieved 13 August 2022 Conway Park station opens plus Smart bus service From Wirral Globe 21 July 2011 Archived from the original on 21 July 2011 Retrieved 13 August 2022 Birkenhead 2040 Framework www wirral gov uk www wirral gov uk Retrieved 13 August 2022 Brocklebank Ralph T 2003 Birkenhead An Illustrated History Breedon Books p 110 ISBN 1 85983 350 0 Ward population 2011 Retrieved 31 May 2015 Focus on People amp Migration The UK s major urban areas PDF Office for National Statistics 2005 archived from the original PDF on 25 August 2008 2011 Census Built up areas ONS Retrieved 11 August 2013 Neil Hodgson 17 November 2008 Cammell Laird name returns on River Mersey Liverpool Echo retrieved 19 December 2008 Cammell Laird wins 50m Royal Navy warship contract Liverpool Echo 25 January 2010 Retrieved 25 January 2010 Merseyside beats global competition to build 200 million polar research ship UK Government 12 October 2015 Retrieved 6 May 2016 Barlow Eleanor 6 May 2016 Polar research ship to be named after Sir David Attenborough not Boaty McBoatface Liverpool Echo Retrieved 6 May 2016 Boumphrey Ian amp Marilyn 1981 Yesterday s Wirral ISBN 0 9507255 1 X a b Birkenhead Market A Brief History Archived from the original on 26 August 2007 Retrieved 15 September 2007 Pevsner amp Hubbard 1971 p 84 Don t ask the price it s a penny Knitting Together Archived from the original on 11 March 2007 Retrieved 2 July 2006 Marks and Spencer confirms plans to close Birkenhead store Liverpool Echo 31 January 2018 Retrieved 1 February 2018 Marks and Spencer plans to close up to 14 stores BBC News 31 January 2018 Retrieved 1 February 2018 a b c d Bidston 1978 p 19 Unemployment statistics where you live benefit claimants constituency by constituency Business London guardian co uk Archived from the original on 23 January 2010 Retrieved 21 March 2010 Birkenhead UK Polling Report Retrieved 17 October 2016 Brocklebank Ralph T 2003 Birkenhead An Illustrated History Breedon Books p 33 ISBN 1 85983 350 0 Birkenhead Park Metropolitan Borough of Wirral 1999 ISBN 0 7726 3949 3 archived from the original on 12 June 2008 retrieved 14 January 2008 Bidston 1978 p 30 Bidston 1978 p 15 Architecture Hamilton Square Metropolitan Borough of Wirral archived from the original on 7 November 2007 retrieved 14 January 2008 Chariots of Fire Where Did They Film That retrieved 18 February 2007 Brocklebank Ralph T 2003 Birkenhead An Illustrated History Breedon Books ISBN 1 85983 350 0 Birkenhead Tramway amp Wirral Transport Museum Metropolitan Borough of Wirral archived from the original on 16 March 2008 retrieved 14 January 2008 Birkenhead marks historic tramway September 2010 Wirral Street Car Wirral Waters Retrieved 13 August 2022 Birkenhead Corporation Transport 1901 1969 ClassicBusDepot com archived from the original on 21 March 2009 retrieved 26 May 2009 Listing of Transport Services from Birkenhead Travel Search retrieved 26 May 2009 a b Station Name Birkenhead Grange Lane Disused Stations Retrieved 7 March 2016 a b Station Name Birkenhead Dock Disused Stations Retrieved 3 March 2016 Maund 2009 p 10 Merseyrail Network Map PDF Merseytravel Archived from the original PDF on 30 December 2008 Stena Line s newest E Flexer ferry completes sea trials Baird Maritime 26 October 2020 Retrieved 6 March 2021 McDonough Tony 27 March 2015 Mersey to Belfast ferry operator close to completing 6m upgrade on Irish Sea fleet Liverpool Echo Retrieved 7 March 2016 Bidston Aerodrome History of The Wirral Hundred or The Wirral Peninsula Retrieved 7 March 2016 Duggan Mona 1996 Birkenhead School ISBN 0 907768 88 1 retrieved 2 February 2007 School prepares to make historic move www wirralglobe co uk 8 November 2007 retrieved 14 January 2008 Core Kevin 20 November 2009 Wirral s Birkenhead High School Academy told to cater for the poorest Liverpool Daily Post Retrieved 4 December 2009 Birkenhead Institute Birkenhead Institute Wirral Spirit of Birkenhead Institute Retrieved 31 August 2016 a b Site Name Birkenhead Wirral Metropolitan Borough Emergency Centre Merseyside County Standby Site 2 Subterranea Britannica Retrieved 1 November 2015 Wirral Islamic Cultural Centre and Shah Jalal Mosque mosquedirectory co uk Retrieved 13 February 2016 Birkenhead Synagogue JCR UK Retrieved 13 February 2016 Kelly Jo 4 December 2009 Bootle pensioners have shortest life expectancy in UK with Birkenhead OAPs also in bottom ten Wirral News Archived from the original on 9 August 2011 Retrieved 4 December 2009 St James Hospital Birkenhead National archives Retrieved 11 April 2019 Birkenhead Central Library visitliverpool com retrieved 14 January 2008 permanent dead link a b Bidston 1978 p 23 Title page of the 1917 Welsh National Eisteddfod programme held at Birkenhead Archives Hub Archived from the original on 25 May 2007 Retrieved 18 February 2008 The Liverpool Welsh BBC Wales 7 January 2008 retrieved 14 January 2008 John Belchem ed 2006 Liverpool 800 Culture Character amp History ISBN 1 84631 035 0 Roberts Stephen J 2002 A History of Wirral ISBN 978 1 86077 512 3 Ellis Mari A short history of the Celtic Congress Archived from the original on 2 June 2008 Retrieved 3 October 2008 Birkenhead Wirral Theatres and Halls arthurlloyd co uk retrieved 16 July 2007 Bidston 1978 p 20 Bay TV Liverpool to make a splash today Wirral Globe 4 December 2014 Retrieved 2 November 2015 Home 2nd Birkenhead Scout Group Archived from the original on 12 November 2018 Retrieved 12 November 2018 A BRIEF HISTORY OF BIRKENHEAD PARK Pitchero Retrieved 23 November 2015 Welcome Pitchero Retrieved 1 November 2015 Birkenhead North End Cycling Club Olympians Archived from the original on 8 October 2007 Retrieved 18 February 2007 Birkenhead Victoria Cycling Club history Archived from the original on 7 January 2005 Retrieved 18 February 2007 The History of Mersey Rowing Club Founded 1854 Mersey Rowing Club Archived from the original on 5 May 2016 Retrieved 5 February 2018 Liverpool Victoria RC British Rowing Retrieved 5 February 2018 https julesverneandtheheroesofbirkenhead co uk wp content uploads 2022 08 38 A Statement from Birkenhead Member of Parliament Mick Whitley pdf bare URL PDF Teacher makes one of the great discoveries of world literature 9 August 2022 https julesverneandtheheroesofbirkenhead co uk wp content uploads 2021 11 6 Jules Verne Sets His Classic Novel The Mysterious Island in Birkenhead pdf bare URL PDF a b Birkenhead Latest news updates pictures video reaction Liverpool Echo Nadine Meisner Lindsay Kemp How the lost boy of dance found his feet The Independent 28 January 2002 Retrieved 25 August 2018 https www pressreader com uk cheshire life 20181001 283025465549093 bare URL Why I am Still an Anglican Continuum 2006 p 67 Wright Jade 31 March 2015 Elvis Costello to publish his memoirs Liverpool Echo Retrieved 29 October 2015 Foldi N S 1978 Poole Daniel 1882 1959 Australian Dictionary of Biography Volume 11 Melbourne University Press p 255 Retrieved on 9 August 2009 Dunn Justin 3 March 2009 1 100 gather for Graham McKenna s funeral Wirral Globe Retrieved 11 December 2020 Town Twinning Metropolitan Borough of Wirral 1997 ISBN 92 827 8272 7 archived from the original on 3 July 2007 retrieved 14 January 2008 Peel unveil plans for 4 5 billion Wirral Waters scheme Peel Holdings 5 September 2006 archived from the original on 11 October 2007 retrieved 14 January 2008 Sources Edit Bidston Carol E 1978 Birkenhead in Times Past Chorley Countryside Publications Ltd ISBN 0861570030 OCLC 16480899 Collard Ian 2012 Birkenhead Through Time Amberley ISBN 9781848689657 OCLC 934954016 Maund T B 2009 The Wirral Railway and its Predecessors Lightmoor Press ISBN 978 1 899889 38 9 Pevsner Nikolaus Hubbard Edward 1971 Cheshire The Buildings of England Penguin ISBN 9780140710427 OCLC 521341 Further reading EditAspinall Henry Kelsall 1903 Birkenhead and its Surroundings Liverpool The Liverpool Booksellers Co Ltd ISBN 9785874616144 OCLC 33990938 Boumphrey Ian Boumphrey Marilyn 1981 Yesterday s Wirral Birkenhead Prenton and Oxton Ian amp Marilyn Boumphrey ISBN 9780950725512 OCLC 16599808 Boumphrey Ian 1995 Birkenhead A Pictorial History Phillmore ISBN 9780850339888 OCLC 36548684 Boumphrey Ian 2007a Yesterday s Birkenhead The author ISBN 9781899241262 Boumphrey Ian 2007b Birkenhead at War 1939 45 Ian amp Marilyn Boumphrey ISBN 9781899241163 OCLC 650238915 Broadbent R J 1908 Annals of the Liverpool Stage Liverpool Edward Howell pp 377 386 Brocklebank Ralph T 2003 Birkenhead An Illustrated History Breedon ISBN 9781859833506 OCLC 56469838 Collard Ian 2010 Birkenhead from old photographs Amberley ISBN 9781848685796 OCLC 503647633 Davey Elizabeth 2013 Birkenhead A History The History Press ISBN 9780750955522 OCLC 316434050 Gamlin Hilda 1892 Memories of the chronicles of Birkenhead E Howell OCLC 866209732 Hayes Cliff 2007 A Century of Birkenhead and Wirral Sutton ISBN 9780750949040 OCLC 520460751 Jones Alan G 2011 Birkenhead Shipbuilding Fast Print ISBN 9781780352114 OCLC 773368902 Kaighin J R 1925 Bygone Birkenhead Wilmer OCLC 77304339 Lea Myrra 1974 Birkenhead 1877 1974 County Borough of Birkenhead ISBN 9780904582000 OCLC 1365533 McCarron Ken 1991 Meat at Woodside Birkenhead Livestock Trade 1878 1981 Merseyside Port Folios ISBN 9780951612927 OCLC 26313657 McIntyre W R S 1948 Birkenhead yesterday and today Philip OCLC 504769644 Mortimer William Williams 1847 The History of the Hundred of Wirral London Whittaker amp Co OCLC 4976662 pp305 405 Mott Charles Grey 1900 Reminiscences of Birkenhead H Young and Sons OCLC 12987941 Sadler Michael E 1904 Report on Secondary Education in Birkenhead London George Philip amp Son Ltd Sulley Philip 1907 History of ancient and modern Birkenhead W M Murphy OCLC 29557494 External links Edit Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica article Birkenhead Media related to Birkenhead at Wikimedia Commons Birkenhead travel guide from Wikivoyage Birkenhead amp Surrounds Archived 7 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Birkenhead amp oldid 1131631765, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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