| Birkenhead | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
  Birkenhead Location withinMerseyside | |
| Population | 109,835 (Built up area, 2021)[1] |
| Demonym | Birkonian |
| OS grid reference | SJ324890 |
| • London | 178 mi (286 km)[2] SE |
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Shire county | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BIRKENHEAD |
| Postcode district | CH41, CH42 |
| Dialling code | 0151 |
| ISO 3166 code | GB-WRL |
| Police | Merseyside |
| Fire | Merseyside |
| Ambulance | North West |
| UK Parliament | |
| |
Birkenhead (/ˌbɜːkənˈhɛd/) is a town in theMetropolitan Borough of Wirral,Merseyside, England. The town is on theWirral Peninsula, along the west bank of theRiver Mersey, oppositeLiverpool. It lies within thehistoric county boundaries ofCheshire, and became part of Merseyside in 1974. At the2021 census, the built up area as defined by theOffice for National Statistics had a population of 109,835.
Birkenhead Priory and theMersey Ferry were established in the 12th century. In the 19th century, Birkenhead expanded greatly as a consequence of theIndustrial Revolution, leading to ashipbuilding firm which becameCammell Laird. Aseaport was established. As the town grew,Birkenhead Park andHamilton Square were laid out. The first streettramway in Britain was built, followed by theMersey Railway which connected Birkenhead and Liverpool through the world's first railway tunnel beneath a tidal estuary.
In the second half of the 20th century, the town suffered a significant period of decline, withcontainerisation causing a reduction in port activity. TheWirral Waters development is building offices and housing on much of the former dockland.
The name Birkenhead probably means "headland overgrown with birch", from theOld Englishbircen meaningbirch tree,[3] of which many once grew on the headland which jutted into the river atWoodside. The name is not derived fromthe Birket, a stream which enters the Mersey between Birkenhead and Seacombe; the Birket is a later name which was introduced byOrdnance Survey.[4]
The earliest records state that theMersey ferry began operating from Birkenhead in 1150, whenBenedictine monks under the leadership ofHamon de Mascy built apriory there.[5][6] The priory was visited in 1275 and 1277 byEdward I.[7] In aroyal charter of 13 April 1330,Edward III granted the priory further rights.[8]
Distanced from theIndustrial 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 byWilliam Laird in 1824, and he was joined by his sonJohn in 1828. The business eventually became the shipbuilderCammell Laird. Notable naval vessels built at Birkenhead includeHMSAchilles,HMS Affray,CSS Alabama,HMS Ark Royal,HMS Birkenhead,HMS Caroline,Huáscar, the pioneer submarineResurgam,HMS Thetis (which sank in Liverpool Bay duringsea trials, and was refloated andcommissioned as HMSThunderbolt, only to be lost to enemy action with the loss of the entire crew),HMS Conqueror andHMS Prince of Wales. Merchant vessels were also built such asRMS Mauretania andRMS 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]
TheMersey Railway tunnel opened in 1886, providing direct railway access to Liverpool.
TheGrange Road West drill hall was completed in 1900.[12]
In 1908,Robert Baden-Powell announced the launch of theScout movement during a publicity visit to the Birkenhead branch of the YMCA; his ideas had previously led to the creation of informal Scout patrols in some parts of the country. Among the troops formed in 1908 was the 1st Birkenhead (YMCA) troop.[13]
In September 1932 thousands of unemployed people protested in a series of demonstrations organised by the local branch of theNational Unemployed Workers Movement. After three days of rioting, police were brought in from elsewhere to help quell the rioters.[14]
In addition to the ferries and the railway, theQueensway 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.[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]
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.
Birkenhead lies within theMetropolitan Borough of Wirral, withWirral Council providing most local government functions. Wirral forms part of theLiverpool City Region, which is led by a directly electedMetro Mayor.
| Birkenhead Improvement Act 1833 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Citation | 3 & 4 Will. 4. c. lxviii |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 10 June 1833 |
| Other legislation | |
| Repealed by |
|
Status: Repealed | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Birkenhead Extension Act 1843 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act for extending the Powers of the Commissioners of the Township of Birkenhead in the County of Chester, and for including the Township of Claughton-cum-Grange and Part of the Township of Oxton in the same County within their Jurisdiction. |
| Citation | 6 & 7 Vict. c. xiii |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 11 April 1843 |
| Other legislation | |
| Repealed by |
|
Status: Repealed | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
Birkenhead was historically achapelry in theancient parish ofBidston, which formed part of theWirral Hundred ofCheshire.[19] For some purposes it was deemed anextra-parochialtownship.[20][21] As the town began to develop rapidly in the early nineteenth century, there was a need for more urban forms of local government. TheBirkenhead Improvement Act 1833 (3 & 4 Will. 4. c. lxviii) set up a body ofimprovement commissioners covering the chapelry of Birkenhead.[22] The commissioners' district was enlarged by theBirkenhead Extension Act 1843 (6 & 7 Vict. c. xiii) to take in the township ofClaughton with Grange and part ofOxton.[23]Local government districts were subsequently established forTranmere in 1860 and Oxton in 1863.[24]
In 1877 Birkenhead was incorporated as amunicipal borough, with its territory covering the combined area of the old commissioners' district and the two local government districts of Oxton and Tranmere, which were abolished. The new borough also took in theRock Ferry area fromBebington.[25][15] When elected county councils were established in 1889, Birkenhead was considered large enough to provide its own county-level services, and so it was made acounty borough, making it independent from the newCheshire County Council, whilst still being deemed part of Cheshire for ceremonial purposes.[26]
The council built itselfBirkenhead Town Hall on Hamilton Square to serve as its headquarters; the building was opened in 1887.[27][28] The borough was enlarged in 1928 to absorbLandican,Prenton andThingwall, and again in 1933 to take in Bidston,Noctorum,Upton andWoodchurch.[29]
The borough of Birkenhead was abolished in 1974 under theLocal Government Act 1972, with the area becoming part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and being transferred to themetropolitan county ofMerseyside. In 1986Merseyside County Council was abolished, with Wirral Council then taking on the county council's former functions in the area. Since 2014 Wirral and the other Merseyside boroughs and neighbouringHalton have been covered by theLiverpool City Region Combined Authority, which has been led by adirectly elected mayor since 2017.
Theconstituency of Birkenhead has elected Members of Parliament from theLabour Party since its creation in 1950 whenBirkenhead East andBirkenhead West were abolished.[30] However, in 2018Frank Field resigned the Labour whip and served the rest of the term until2019 as an independent MP.[31][32] The town has been represented byAlison McGovern since2024.[33]
TheBirkenhead Urban Area, as defined by theOffice for National Statistics,[34] 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 the2011 Census, the area so defined had a total population of 325,264,[35] making it the 19th largestconurbation in England and Wales.
Places adjacent to Birkenhead | ||||||||||||||||
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Shipbuilding and ship repair has featured prominently in the local economy since the 19th century.Cammell Laird enteredreceivership 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 theRoyal 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,[36] seeing the famous name return to Birkenhead after a seven-year hiatus. In 2010, Cammell Laird secured a £50 million contract to construct theflight deck forHMS Queen Elizabeth,[37] the first of twoQueen Elizabeth-classaircraft carriers. In 2015, Cammell Laird was selected as the preferred bidder to constructRRS Sir David Attenborough, aRoyal Research Ship.[38][39]
Birkenhead's first market was established in 1835 in a purpose-built building in Hamilton Street near its junction with Market Street. This building also contained the town hall, commissioners' offices and a lock-up. It is often said that the first market was opened on the site of the later town hall in Hamilton Square. This is untrue. In fact, part of the eastern side of Hamilton Square was deliberately left empty until 1887, when the main town hall was built on that designated site. The Hamilton Square town hall site was never used as a market, despite that myth being propagated in many accounts of Birkenhead's history, including official sources. The large market hall which was a famous feature of Birkenhead was built behind the original market, along Albion Street, opening in July 1845. This market hall was built byFox, Henderson & Co, who later builtThe Crystal Palace.[40]Michael Marks, ofMarks & Spencer, opened one of his first seven 'Penny Bazaar' stalls here during the 1880s.[41] On 31 January 2018, Marks & Spencer announced the closure of their store, in the town centre of Birkenhead, happening in April.[42][43]
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.[44] 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 houseLand Registry andDepartment for Work and Pensions offices.
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%.[45]
At the 2021 census, the built up area as defined by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) had a population of 109,835.[1]
For the previous2011 census, the ONS identified a widerBirkenhead built up area with a population of 325,264, which comprised five built up area subdivisions calledBebington, Birkenhead (population 142,968),Ellesmere Port,Elton, andWallasey.[46] The Birkenhead subdivision based on the 2011 census was larger than the Birkenhead built up area based on the 2021 census; notable differences between those two definitions are thatGreasby is classed as a separate urban area in 2021, andMoreton has been counted as part of the Wallasey built up area in 2021.[47][1]
Birkenhead Park is acknowledged to be the first publicly funded park inBritain.[48] It was the forerunner of the Parks Movement and its influence was far-reaching, in Britain and abroad – most notably onFrederick Law Olmsted's design forCentral Park in New York City.[49] Birkenhead Park was designed byJoseph Paxton (later Sir Joseph Paxton) in 1843 and officially opened in 1847, with great festivity.[50] The park'sGrand 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 andItalianate. There are also two lakes and an ornate 'Swiss Bridge'.
William Laird, a Scot, and his sonJohn, were influential in the design of the town. Parts were laid out in a grid-iron pattern likeEdinburgh New Town with similar architecture. The chief architect wasJames Gillespie Graham from Edinburgh.[51] This grid pattern was centred aroundHamilton Square which was started in 1826 and, apart fromTrafalgar Square in London, contains the mostGrade I listed buildings in one place in England.[52] includingBirkenhead Town Hall. A short distance from Hamilton Square are two other notable landmarks: theQueensway Tunnel Main Entrance and theWoodside Ferry Terminal. The filmChariots of Fire had scenes shot at Woodside. These scenes were as a representation ofDover in the 1920s.[53]
Other notable landmarks includeBidston Windmill and Bidston Observatory, both of which sit onBidston Hill which lies to the west of the town; Flaybrick Watertower; andBirkenhead Priory & St. Mary's Tower.
Horse-drawn buses began operating in Birkenhead in 1848, to be replaced with motor vehicles after theFirst World War.[54]
Present-day services are run by operators includingArriva andStagecoach, which are coordinated byMerseytravel.
National Express provides long-distance coach services to other UK cities, with direct routes including London, Glasgow,Bangor andNewcastle.[55]
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 includeArriva North West andStagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire.
Services using the bus station operate around the town of Birkenhead, throughout the Wirral and to the nearby city ofLiverpool via theQueensway Tunnel. The station also has frequent services to as far away asChester.
The major underground station in Birkenhead isBirkenhead Hamilton Square, the nearest station to the ferry terminal. Hamilton Square station is linked to the Liverpool Loop of theWirral Line, which includesLiverpool James Street,Moorfields,Liverpool Lime Street andLiverpool Central stations; all of these are underground. Other stations in the town includeBirkenhead Central, which is open but below ground level;Green Lane, below ground level;Rock Ferry;Conway Park, below ground level;Birkenhead Park;Birkenhead North; andBidston.
The Wirral Line from Birkenhead travels south toChester andEllesmere Port, north toNew Brighton and westwards, across the Wirral Peninsula, toWest Kirby. Bidston (in the north of Birkenhead) is at one end of theBorderlands Line, it serves the rural centre of Wirral, nearShotton it leaves England for Wales, servingWrexham General and terminating atWrexham Central,.[56]
Railways reached Birkenhead in 1840, when theChester and Birkenhead Railway began services.[57]Birkenhead Grange Lane station opened at the same time, becoming the town's first terminus.[57]Birkenhead Dock station opened in 1866, as the eastern terminus of theHoylake Railway.[58] With the opening of theWoodside and Birkenhead Dock Street Tramway in 1873,[59] this station probably became the world's firsttram to traininterchange.[58] In 1886, Birkenhead andLiverpool were linked by anunderground railway system, which today is part of theMerseyrail network.
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 forHM Land Registry and theChild 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 theBirkenhead Dock Branch are still extant in acutting 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.
Birkenhead had the first street tramway in Britain. Opened on 29 August 1860, the first line ran fromWoodside (adjoining the terminal of the Mersey Ferry) toBirkenhead Park. This early system was horse-drawn and was the brainchild of flamboyant American,George Francis Train.[60][61]A preserved tram was on display in the Woodside ferry terminal booking hall.
The system was later electrified and operated from 1901 asBirkenhead Corporation Tramways; it closed in 1937.[62][63] Two replica trams, imported from Hong Kong, have been brought into service as part of a heritage tramway between Woodside andWirral Transport Museum;Birkenhead Corporation Tramways car No.20 is preserved on this line.
As part of theWirral Waters development, a street car service has been proposed, to be calledWirral Street Car.[64]
Junctions 1 and 3 of theM53 motorway facilitate access to the national motorway network. TheA41trunk road connects Woodside withMarble Arch in London. Two road tunnels, theQueensway road tunnel from Birkenhead and theKingsway road tunnel from Wallasey, run underneath the River Mersey and connect the town to Liverpool.
Birkenhead'sdock system is part of thePort of Liverpool, operated by theMersey Docks and Harbour Company under the ownership ofThe Peel Group. TheTwelve Quays ferry terminal allows a direct freight and passenger vehicle service toDublin andBelfast. Daily Belfast services are run byStena Line, using theirRoPax ferriesMS Stena Edda andMS Stena Embla from 2020 to 2021,[65] which replacedMS Stena Lagan andMS Stena Mersey.[66] In 2024, a freight only service to Dublin commenced.[67] TheMersey Ferry at Woodside operates a passenger service to Liverpool and chartered cruising.
The nearest airport isLiverpool 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 includeHawarden Airport andRAF Woodvale. Former airfields in the area includeRAF Hooton Park andBidston Aerodrome.[68]
Birkenhead has a number of maintained schools, includingBirkenhead 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 areaSt. Anselm's College.
Birkenhead also has two independently run schools. The oldest isBirkenhead School.[69] 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.[70] "Old Birkonians" (as former pupils are known) include the lawyerF.E. Smith (Lord Birkenhead);Andreas Whittam Smith (chairman of theBritish Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and founder ofThe Independent newspaper); mountaineerAndrew Irvine;Philip Toosey (hero at theBridge on the River Kwai); andTony Hall (formerDirector-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 theGirls' Day School Trust, but is now publicly funded. Its alumnae include the actressPatricia Routledge. Birkenhead Girls High School decided to become a state-fundedAcademy school in 2009, increasing the availability of its education.[71] 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[72] existed from 1889 in Whetstone Lane, before being moved to Claughton in the 1970s. The school closed in 1994.[73] The school's alumni includeWilfred Owen.
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 asWirral 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, theOscar-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 forflats, 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.[74] Politicians and officials would have retreated to this securebunker in the event of nuclear war to co-ordinate the recovery effort. By the 1990s, after the end of theCold War, the bunker had been decommissioned and the surrounding complex of rooms was used by the college as a rehearsal space and recording studio.[74]
Other colleges include theBirkenhead Sixth Form College, in the Claughton area of the town, formerly the site of Corpus Christi Catholic High School.
Religion in Birkenhead dates back to 1150 when Hamon de Masci foundedBirkenhead Priory for theBenedictine order.
The currentAnglican churches areSt. James' Church,Christ Church and theChurch of Christ the King which are all within theDiocese of Chester.Julie Conalty is the currentsuffraganBishop of Birkenhead.
Roman Catholic churches include theChurch of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception andSt. Werburgh's Church which are within theDiocese of Shrewsbury.
The other religious buildings include theWirral Christian Centre of theElim Pentecostal Church and theIslamic Shah JalalMosque.[75] TheJewish BirkenheadSynagogue existed from 1890 and closed prior to 2006.[76]
Flaybrick Memorial Gardens contains the town's former main cemetery, which is situated near to St. James' Church. Flaybrick Hill Cemetery has been superseded byLandican Cemetery, opened in 1934.
Birkenhead is served byWirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (through itsArrowe Park Hospital,St Catherine's Health Centre andClatterbridge Hospital sites) and WirralPrimary Care Trust. Formerly, Birkenhead was also served byBirkenhead General Hospital on Park Road North and St. James' Hospital in Claughton, now demolished and redeveloped for housing.[77]
TheLaird 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. TheWilliamson 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 anunincorporated borough.[78]The library was situated in Hamilton Street until 1909, when it moved to a new building in Market Street South,[79] near Birkenhead Market. In the 1930s, this building (along with much of the surrounding area) was demolished to make way for the entrance to theQueensway Tunnel. The present library,Birkenhead Central Library, is situated on Borough Road and was opened byKing George V in 1934.[79]
Despite being in England, Birkenhead (known asPenbedw, in Welsh) hosted Wales'National Eisteddfod in 1917[80] as well as an unofficial National Eisteddfod event in 1879. As in Liverpool,[81] 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.[82] The 1917 National Eisteddfod was notable for the award of the chair to the poet Ellis Humphrey Evans, known asHedd 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 theAcademy Award nominated filmHedd Wyn, and were apparently intended as a protest against the war policies ofPrime MinisterDavid Lloyd George, who was present. There is a commemorative stone for the event in Birkenhead Park.[83] The first meeting of the internationalCeltic Congress also took place at the Birkenhead Eisteddfod.[84]
TheArgyle Theatre was a major theatre and music hall which opened on 28 December 1868[44] 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.[85]
TheTheatre Royal, opened on 31 October 1864, was in Argyle Street and had a capacity of 1,850.[44] This theatre was closed in 1919 and demolished in the 1930s.[44] Another theatre, theHippodrome, which was converted into a cinema in the 1930s, stood on the site of what became theCo-operative department store in Grange Road.[86]
The Little Theatre was established in 1958 from a converted formerPresbyterian church. The Pacific Road Arts Centre in Woodside opened in 1999, but in 2015 was converted to a "Business Hub".
Birkenhead is served by theLiverpool Echo local daily newspaper. The local weekly newspaper is theWirral Globe and the online-only news website isBirkenhead News.
There are four local radio stations that transmit to Birkenhead:BBC Radio Merseyside,Hits Radio Liverpool,Greatest Hits Liverpool andCapital Liverpool.
Birkenhead is within the television regions ofBBC North West andITV'sGranada Television, although Welsh regional TV transmitted from theMoel y Parc transmitter in Flintshire can also be received. The local television stationLiverpool TV also broadcasts to the area.[87]
As well as Birkenhead Park, other recreational open spaces in Birkenhead include Mersey Park and Victoria Park.Arrowe Park is a large area of parkland at the western edge of the town. In 1929, the3rd World Scout Jamboree was held there.[citation needed]
The first twoBoy Scout groups in the world are thought to have been founded as the 1st and 2nd Birkenhead groups atYMCA on the same night in 1908.[88]
The first knownfootball club on the Wirral was Birkenhead F.C. which was founded in 1879 by Robert E. Lythgoe, a formerDruids 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 nameTranmere Rovers F.C. the following year, and are a professional team who play atPrenton Park near the Tranmere area of the town. They were a founder member ofDivision Three North in 1921, and were a member ofThe Football League until 2015, when they were relegated to theConference, the fifth tier of English football. They returned to the Football League three seasons later, after a 2-1 play-off final win againstBoreham Wood F.C.Cammell Laird 1907 F.C. is the town's semi-professionalfootball club who play at Kirklands in Rock Ferry. They play in theNorth West Counties League Division One.
TheBirkenhead Park Football Club was founded in 1871, the same year as theRugby Football Union. The club originally played in the Lower Park but moved to their current home in the Upper Park in 1885.[89] Birkenhead Park also has its owncricket club.[90]
Also in the town are the Birkenhead North End and Victoria Cycling Clubs. Olympic riders from the clubs includeChris Boardman,Mark Bell,Steve Cummings andRachel Heal.[91][92]
Birkenhead has been host to variousrowing clubs since 1840.[93] At present, Liverpool Victoria Rowing Club operates from a facility at the western end of West Float.[94]
Birkenhead is indirectly referenced by "the Birken'ead drill" inRudyard 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 ofHMS Birkenhead, herself named after the town in which it was built.Other authors have done this as well.
Birkenhead is mentioned in the song "What She Said" on the albumMeat Is Murder bythe 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 town is also referred to in the song "Everything Is Sorrow" on theBoo 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 inPaul O'Grady's memoirs,At My Mother's Knee... and Other Low Joints: The Autobiography.
The 1998 book,Awaydays, and the 2009 film of the same name are set in Birkenhead.
It has been suggested thatRobert Louis Stevenson set his 1881 classic novelTreasure Island in the towns of Birkenhead and Wallasey and that the French science fiction writerJules Verne set his 1874 novelThe Mysterious Island in Birkenhead.[95]
In the arts, Birkenhead has produced several actors and performers includingLionel Gamlin,Roger Abbott,[96]Glenda Jackson,[97]Anew McMaster,[98][99]Lewis Collins,Megs Jenkins,[100]Taron Egerton,Dominic Purcell,[citation needed]Patricia Routledge,[101]Paul O'Grady (also known asLily Savage),[102] sopranoValerie Masterson[103] and baritoneGeorge Baker.[104] The dancer and actorLindsay Kemp was born in the town but as a child moved toSouth Shields.[105] Opera directorGraham Vick was born in Birkenhead.[106]
Some notable artists were born in the town, such asPhilip Wilson Steer,Robert Talbot Kelly,Tom Palin,Bessie Bamber,Annie R. Merrylees Arnold,Percy Bigland, the workers at theDella Robbia Pottery and two cartoonists:Norman Thelwell andBill Tidy.
Birkenhead has produced poets and authors such asA.S.J. Tessimond,Adrian Henri[107] andMichael Z. Williamson. The World War I poetWilfred Owen, though born inOswestry, lived in Birkenhead from the age of four and was educated at the Birkenhead Institute High School (now demolished) before moving with his family toShrewsbury in 1907.[108]Andreas Whittam Smith, founder editor ofThe Independent, grew up in Birkenhead, where his father was anAnglican clergyman.[109]
There are several musicians linked to the area.Freddie Marks fromRod, Jane and Freddy grew up in Birkenhead, andJohn Gorman ofThe Scaffold was born there. Indie bandHalf Man Half Biscuit hail from Birkenhead, as did boogie-rock bandEngine,Paul Heaton, lead singer of theHousemartins and theBeautiful South, singer/songwriterCharlie Landsborough, andDesmond Briscoe, the co-founder and original manager of the pioneeringBBC Radiophonic Workshop.Elvis Costello moved to Birkenhead in 1971 with his mother,[110] who was from Liverpool, although Costello's father was himself from Birkenhead.
Tony Friel (bassist fromthe Fall andthe Passage), synthpop musicianDavid Hughes (ofDalek I Love You,Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark andGodot) andMalcolm Holmes (drummer with pop group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) were born in Birkenhead.David Balfe (music manager, and member ofBig in Japan,the Teardrop Explodes) attended primary and secondary school there.[citation needed]Miles Kane, musician, singer and songwriter and member ofThe Last Shadow Puppets andThe Rascals, was born in the town[111] as well as the opera singerHugh Beresford. Classical composerWilliam Lewarne Harris (1919–2013) was born in Birkenhead.[112]
F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead, a leading Conservative politician of the early 20th century, was born in the town,[113] as wereLiberal Democrat politicianMalcolm Bruce,[114] andTony Hall, Baron Hall of Birkenhead, theDirector-General of the BBC.[115] Also born in the town wasTheodora Llewelyn Davies, a barrister and penal reform campaigner, who in 1920 was the first woman admitted to theInner Temple andFlorence Barry,suffragist, member of theWomen's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and leader of theRoman Catholic feminist organisationSt. Joan’s International Alliance.[116][117][118]
AerodynamicistsGwen Alston andMelvill Jones were born in Birkenhead. PhysiologistHugh Huxley was born in Birkenhead
Sandy Irvine, a participant of the1924 British Mount Everest expedition, was born in Birkenhead. There has been speculation thatGeorge Mallory and he reached the summit.Alan Rouse, a mountaineer who died in the1986 K2 disaster, was educated in Birkenhead.Daniel Poole, a recipient of theDistinguished Conduct Medal during World War I was born in the town.[119]Brigadier Sir Philip Toosey, known for his time commanding British prisoners of the Japanese during World War II, was born atOxton.[120]
Birkenhead has also produced notable sportsmen such asMatt Dawson, therugby union player, golferPaul Waring;'Dixie' Dean (Everton F.C.),[97] record-breaking footballer, who was born at 313 Laird Street; and several other footballers includingPeter Davenport,Jason McAteer,David Thompson,Max Power,[121] andJodie Taylor (England international "Lioness").[122] The football managerNigel Adkins also hails from the town.[123]
Gary Finlay, themurderer of Graham McKenna, was born in Birkenhead,[124] as was the prominentoccultistAlex Sanders.[125]
Birkenhead istwinned, as a part ofWirral, with:
Birkenhead also has aSister City Agreement with:
The major redevelopment project under consideration isPeel 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 theEast Float andVittoria 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 formerBidston 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.[127]
Redevelopment work is also planned in the town centre, in particular the areas surrounding Birkenhead market and Princess Pavement.[128]
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