River Mersey

River Mersey
"Ferry across the Mersey", June 2005.
Location
Countries	England
Physical characteristics
Source
- location	Stockport, Greater Manchester
- elevation	1,552 ft (473 m)
Mouth	Liverpool Bay
Length	70 miles (113 kilometres)
Basin size	2,910 mi (4,680 km)

The River Mersey is a river in north west England. It is 70 miles (112 km) long, it stretches from Stockport, Greater Manchester, and ends at Liverpool Bay, Merseyside. For centuries, it formed part of the ancient county divide between Lancashire and Cheshire.

Course

The Mersey is formed from three tributaries: the River Etherow, the River Goyt and the River Tame. The modern accepted start of the Mersey is at the confluence of the Tame and Goyt, in central Stockport, Greater Manchester. However, older definitions, and many older maps, place its start a few miles up the Goyt; for example the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica states "It is formed by the junction of the Goyt and the Etherow a short distance below Marple in Cheshire on the first-named stream."

Environment

Water quality in the River Mersey is not good.

But Salmon are now found in the river. They can be viewed on the Salmon Steps at Woolston between the months of September and November.

In popular culture

The river is now internationally famous thanks to the music of the 1960s known as Merseybeat and its strong association with Liverpool, which produced songs such as Ferry Cross the Mersey.

Also, Paul McCartney's 2007 song That Was Me, from his album Memory Almost Full mentions merseybeating with the band.

Other websites

• Liverpool Pictorial
• Mersey map - aisliverpool.org.uk Archived 2007-02-01 at the Wayback Machine
• River Mersey Information Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine (PDF)

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