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The Wirral is a Peninsula in North West England bounded by the River Dee to the west and the River Mersey to the east. It is administered by Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council in the north and Cheshire County Council in the south. Previously it was entirely in Cheshire as a Hundred . 2006 sees the Wirral play host to The Open Championship at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club In Hoylake USAGE When referring to the Wirral peninsula the name is shortened to ''the Wirral''. Something is ''on the Wirral''. TOWNS ON THE WIRRAL Whilst the Wirral contains much countryside, there are many urban districts. Birkenhead, Bebington and Wallasey were once boroughs in their own right, while some districts were part of these. Towns on the Wirral include:
VILLAGES ON THE WIRRAL Many villages of the Wirral are well preserved with their characteristic red sandstone buildings and walls. Villages on the Wirral include:
SIGHTS Despite containing urban and industrial areas, the Wirral still has picturesque villages, sandy beaches, large areas of land owned by the National Trust and views across the two estuaries and out into the Irish Sea . Sights or places of interest include:
HISTORY At the end of the Twelfth Century , Birchen Head Priory stood on a lonely headland of Birch trees, facing open countryside and surrounded by the Mersey . It was from here, Merseyside 's oldest building, that Benedictine monks operated the first Mersey Ferry in 1330 , having been granted a passage to Liverpool by a charter from Edward III . The original ferry service, now famous throughout the world, put Wirral on the map as part of the King's highway, yet for centuries the peninsula remained a cluster of small holdings and hamlets. It wasn't until the 1820 s that steam-powered boats improved communication and opened up Wirral's Mersey coast for industrialisation. Wirral's first Railway was built in 1840 planned by George Stephenson and connected Birkenhead with Chester . This encouraged the growth of Wirral; Birkenhead and Wallasey grew into large towns. In 1847 , Birkenhead 's first docks and its municipal park, the first in Britain and the inspiration for New York 's Central Park , were opened. The Mersey Railway led to increased development after 1886 , when pioneering Victorian engineers were the first in the world successfully to tunnel a railway beneath a major river. The first tunnel was supplemented by a vehicle tunnel in 1934 ( Queensway ) and a third in 1971 ( Kingsway ). Wirral's dockland areas of Wallasey and Birkenhead continued to develop and prosper. The 1820 s saw the birth of the renowned shipbuilding tradition when John Laird opened his Cammell Laird yard and a host of other port-related industries came into existence, such as Flour milling, tanning, edible Oil refining and the manufacture of paint and rubber-based products. A large chemical and oil refining complex is still in Ellesmere Port . Another important development was the building in 1888 of the now famous industrial village of Port Sunlight , designed to house employees at the original firm of Lever Brothers, now part of the Unilever group. The village, which turned Lord Leverhulme's Philanthropic dream into reality provided workers with a benign environment. WIRRAL IN LITERATURE Sir Gawain spent Christmas on Wirral before his confrontation with the Green Knight. Wilfred Owen , the greatest poet of the First World War, grew up in Tranmere , on Wirral. FAMOUS PEOPLE
The Wirral is also home to the bands Half Man Half Biscuit , The Coral , Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark , Alexis Blue and Zephoria . TRANSPORT The , one from Wallasey and one from Birkenhead and the Mersey Railway tunnel. The Wirral Line of Merseyrail links many parts of the Wirral to Lime Street station in Liverpool and many other suburbs. The Mersey Ferry also regularly crosses to Liverpool. The nearest airports are Manchester International Airport and John Lennon Airport in Liverpool . SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS |