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 Englishbircen 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]
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]
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.
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]
1989 saw the completion of a large shopping development within Birkenhead town centre, known as the Pyramids.[15]
Conway Park station was opened in 1998 as part of a development that saw Wirral Metropolitan College open a new campus nearby.[16]
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'.[17] 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.
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.
In 1877 Birkenhead was incorporated as a municipal 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 the Rock Ferry area from Bebington.[22][14] 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 a county borough, making it independent from the new Cheshire County Council, whilst still being deemed part of Cheshire for ceremonial purposes.[23]
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,[29] 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,[30] the first of two Queen Elizabeth-classaircraft carriers. In 2015, Cammell Laird was selected as the preferred bidder to construct RRS Sir David Attenborough, a Royal Research Ship.[31][32]
Commerce
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 by Fox, Henderson & Co, who later built The Crystal Palace.[33]Michael Marks, of Marks & Spencer, opened one of his first seven 'Penny Bazaar' stalls here during the 1880s.[34] On 31 January 2018, Marks & Spencer announced the closure of their store, in the town centre of Birkenhead, happening in April.[35][36]
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.[37] 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%.[38]
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:[39]
Birkenhead ParkEdward VII Memorial Clock Tower, designed by Edmund Kirby
Birkenhead Park is acknowledged to be the first publicly funded park in Britain.[40]
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 in New York City.[41]
Designed by Joseph Paxton (later Sir Joseph Paxton) in 1843 and officially opened in 1847, with great festivity.[42] 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'.
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.
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.
Former tramways
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.[52][53]
A preserved tram was on display in the Woodside ferry terminal booking hall.
As part of the Wirral Waters development, a street car service has been proposed, to be called Wirral Street Car.[56]
Roads
Junctions 1 and 3 of the M53 motorway facilitate access to the national motorway network. The A41trunk 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.
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.
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 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.[63] 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[64] existed from 1889 in Whetstone Lane, before being moved to Claughton in the 1970s. The school closed in 1994.[65] 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.[66] 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.[66]
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.
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, opened in 1934.
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.[70]
The library was situated in Hamilton Street until 1909, when it moved to a new building in Market Street South,[71] 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.[71]
Despite being in England, Birkenhead (known as Penbedw, in Welsh) hosted Wales' National Eisteddfod in 1917[72] as well as an unofficial National Eisteddfod event in 1879. As in Liverpool,[73] 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.[74] 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 MinisterDavid Lloyd George, who was present. There is a commemorative stone for the event in Birkenhead Park.[75] The first meeting of the international Celtic Congress also took place at the Birkenhead Eisteddfod.[76]
The Argyle Theatre was a major theatre and music hall which opened on 28 December 1868[37] 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.[77]
The Theatre Royal, opened on 31 October 1864, was in Argyle Street and had a capacity of 1,850.[37] This theatre was closed in 1919 and demolished in the 1930s.[37] 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.[78]
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.
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, 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.[80] The 2nd Birkenhead Scout Group is still operating and therefore is the longest running scout group in the world.[citation needed]
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.[81] Birkenhead Park also has its own cricket club.[82]
Birkenhead has been host to various rowing clubs since 1840.[85] At present, Liverpool Victoria Rowing Club operates from a facility at the western end of West Float.[86]
Cultural references
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, 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 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 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.
The 1998 book, Awaydays, and the 2009 film of the same name are set in Birkenhead.
Birkenhead has produced poets and authors such as A.S.J. Tessimond, Adrian Henri[99] and Michael Z. Williamson. The World War I poet Wilfred Owen, though born in Oswestry, lived in Birkenhead from the age of four and was educated at the Birkenhead Institute High School (now demolished) before moving with his family to Shrewsbury in 1907. Andreas Whittam Smith, founder editor of The Independent, grew up in Birkenhead, where his father was an Anglican clergyman.[100]
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.[113]
^Bateman, David (1 March 2001). "Adrian Henri: Singer of Meat and Flowers". In Wade, Stephen (ed.). Gladsongs and Gatherings: Poetry and Its Social Context in Liverpool Since the 1960s. Liverpool University Press. pp. 73–81. ISBN0-85323-727-1..
^Why I am Still an Anglican, Continuum, 2006, p. 67
Boumphrey, Ian; Boumphrey, Marilyn (1981). Yesterday's Wirral: Birkenhead, Prenton and Oxton. Ian & Marilyn Boumphrey. ISBN9780950725512. OCLC16599808.
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