Birkenhead

This article is about Birkenhead in northwest England. For other meanings of the word and places with this name, see Birkenhead (disambiguation)

Template:GBthumb Birkenhead is a town on Wirral Peninsula, on the left bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. The town was famous as a sea port and as a centre for ship building as it was close to the maritime activity of Liverpool. The town is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside. Birkenhead, with the rest of the Wirral Peninsula, was (prior to 1974) part of the county of Cheshire. The Member of Parliament is Frank Field.

History

The name Birkenhead is possibly from the Old English bircen meaning birch tree, of which there were many, once growing, on the headland which jutted into the river, at Woodside.

The first Mersey ferry began operating from Birkenhead in 1150 when Benedictine monks under the leadership of Hamon de Mascy built a priory there. Distanced from the Industrial Revolution in Liverpool and the North-West by the physical barrier of the River Mersey, Birkenhead retained its agricultural status until the advent of the steam ferry service in 1820. Ready access from Liverpool now opened up the Wirral Peninsula for development and prompted the rapid growth of Birkenhead as an industrial centre. This access was further improved by the building of the Mersey Railway tunnel in 1886 and later by the building of the Queensway Tunnel in 1934.

Birkenhead Park is acknowledged to be the first publicly funded park in Britain. The park was the forerunner of the Parks Movement and its influence was far reaching both in Britain and abroad – most notably on Olmsted's design for Central Park, New York. Designed by Joseph Paxton (later Sir Joseph Paxton) in 1843 and officially opened in 1847, it was an immediate economic and social success. The history of the park is inseparable from that of Birkenhead town, itself.

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 parishes of Birkenhead St Mary, Claughton with Grange, Oxton, Tranmere and part of Bebington, later known as Rock Ferry. The parishes of Landican, Prenton and Thingwall were added in 1928, followed by the parishes of Noctorum and Woodchurch in 1933.

Ship-building started in 1829. The business eventually became Cammell Laird. John Laird, a Scot, was influential in the design of the town and so parts were laid out in a grid-iron pattern like the New Town in Edinburgh with similar architecture. This grid pattern was centered around Hamilton Square which was started in 1826 and, apart from Trafalgar Square in London, contains the most Grade 1 listed buildings in one place in England.

The nearby localities of Bidston, Oxton, Prenton, Tranmere and Noctorum are often regarded as Birkenhead's suburbs.

Notable vessels built at Birkenhead

• HMS Achilles
• HMS Affray
• CSS Alabama
• HMS Ark Royal
• HMS Birkenhead
• HMS Caroline
• Huáscar
• RMS Mauretania
• Resurgam
• HMS Thetis
• HMS Conqueror
• HMS Prince of Wales

Transport

• Birkenhead had the first street tramway in Europe. Opened on 29 August 1860 the first line ran from Woodside (landing stage of the Mersey Ferry) to Birkenhead Park. (A preserved tram can be seen at Woodside today.)
• Birkenhead and Liverpool became the first major conurbations in northwest England to be served by an underground railway system, which became part of "Merseyrail" in the 1970s and 1980s. The major underground station in Birkenhead is Hamilton Square, the nearest station to the ferry terminal. Hamilton Square is linked to the "Liverpool Loop Line", which includes James Street, Moorfields, Liverpool Lime Street and Liverpool Central stations, all of which are underground. Other stations located in Birkenhead include Birkenhead Central, Green Lane, Conway Park, Birkenhead Park and Birkenhead North. Lines from Birkenhead travel South to Chester and Ellesmere Port. A line leaves Birkenhead North and travels around the North and West of Wirral, ultimately leaving England near Shotton and terminating in Wrexham. For network Map visit View Merseyrail Network Map

Education

• Birkenhead's oldest independent school is Birkenhead School. It was exclusively a boys' school from its founding in 1860 until 2000 when its Sixth Form became co-educational. It also has a preparatory school for boys aged 3–11 and a co-educational nursery from 3 months. Former "Old Birkonians" (as former pupils are known) include the lawyer F. E. Smith, who took the title of "Lord Birkenhead" when he entered the House of Lords, Andreas Whittam Smith, chairman of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and the founder of The Independent quality daily newspaper, Andrew Irvine, famous for attempting Mount Everest and Philip Toosey, hero at the Bridge on the River Kwai.
• Birkenhead's technical college in Woodside (Previously in Borough Road), now called Wirral Metropolitan College, had a theatre named after one of its most famous former students and Birkonian (born 1936), Glenda Jackson, the Oscar-winning actress and Member of Parliament. Sadly the college and the Glenda Jackson Theatre were demolished in late 2005, to make way for apartment blocks, although Wirral Metropolitan College flourishes on other sites across the Wirral. A little known fact is that the theatre secretly housed an emergency command centre for the region in its basement, accessible via the college. Politicians and officials would have retreated to this secure bunker in the event of nuclear war to coordinate the recovery effort. By the 1990s the bunker had been decommissioned, and the surrounding complex of rooms was used by the college as a rehearsal space and a recording studio.

Sport

Birkenhead is the home of Tranmere Rovers Football Club, a professional football team who play at Prenton Park near the Tranmere area of the town. It is also the home of several successful amateur football leagues, both 11-a side and six-a side.

Notable people connected with Birkenhead

• The Impressionist painter Philip Wilson Steer (1860-1942) was born in Birkenhead
• World War I poet, Wilfred Owen (1893-1918), although born in Oswestry, was educated at the Birkenhead Institute. A road on the site of the re-located school has been named after him: Wilfred Owen Way. Another recently created road also bears his name in the form of Wilfred Owen Drive. His former home on Elm Grove is now adorned with a commemorative English Heritage Blue Plaque.
• 'Dixie' Dean (1907-1980), record-breaking footballer, was born at 313 Laird Street
• Actress Megs Jenkins (1917-1998) was born in the town
• Cartoonist Norman Thelwell (1923-2004) was born in Birkenhead
• Patricia Routledge, best known for being Mrs. Hyacinth Bucket (pron. 'Bouquet'!) was born here in 1929 and attended Birkenhead High School where she sang in the choir and ran the Sunday School.
• Poet and artist Adrian Henri (1932-2000) was born in the town
• Philip Toosey of The Bridge on the River Kwai was born in Upton Road, Oxton
• Actor Lewis Collins, who portrayed the character of detective Bodie in the 1970s ITV series, "The Professionals", was born in Birkenhead in 1946.
• Comedian and TV host Paul O'Grady (also known as Lily Savage) was born in Birkenhead in 1955 and was a pupil at St. Anselm's College.
• The former England rugby union player Matt Dawson was born in Birkenhead on 31 October 1972. He was part of the England squad which won the Rugby World Cup in 2003.
• The Boo Radleys and cult 1980s indie band Half Man Half Biscuit hail from Birkenhead.
• Frederick Edwin Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead, GCSI, PC (12 July 1872–30 September 1930)
• Charlie Landsborough (1941) Singer/Songwriter

Miscellanea

• Michael Marks, of Marks & Spencer, opened one of his first seven Penny Bazaar stalls here, in Birkenhead Market, during the 1880s.
• Despite being in England, Birkenhead hosted Wales's National Eisteddfod in 1917, as well as an unofficial National Eisteddfod event in 1879. Birkenhead's original name was Welsh, "Penbedw"
• The first Boy Scout group in the world was founded as the 1st Birkenhead YMCA in 1906. The original Scout headquarters were in Park Road West. In 1929 the 3rd World Scout Jamboree was held at Arrowe Park, Birkenhead.
• Birkenhead is the home of No.400 Squadron of the Air Training Corps.
• 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 prophesise/(It took a tattooed boy from Birkenhead/To really really open her eyes).
• The Argyle Theatre was a major music hall which opened in 1868. It was being used as a cinema when it was destroyed by bombing in 1940.
• The town is also mentioned 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.
• The main entrance of the 'Kingsland', once a dance hall in Borough Rd (now a restaurant), is actually a fireplace which came from an old house in the town also named the Kingsland.

External links

• Further information about the town centre