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

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Birkenhead is a town on The Wirral, Merseyside, on the left bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. The first Mersey ferry began operating from Birkenhead in 1150 when Benedictine monks built a priory there. The area was later used for as a sea port and for ship building as it was close to the naval activity of Liverpool.

Birkenhead Park is acknowledged to be the first publicly funded park in Britain. It was the forerunner of the Parks Movement and its influence was far reaching both in this country and abroad - most notably on Olmstead'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. Its history is inseparable from that of Birkenhead town itself. Distanced from the ravages of 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 for development and prompted the rapid growth of Birkenhead as an industrial centre.

Trivia

• 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 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.
• Despite being in England, Birkenhead hosted Wales's National Eisteddfod in 1917, as well as an unofficial National Eisteddfod event in 1879.

External links

• Birkenhead http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/G32.HTM#BIRKENHEAD
• Birkenhead visitor guide http://www.birkenheadvisitorguide.co.uk/
• Historic Warships at Birkenhead http://www.historicwarships.org/
• Laird Shipbuilders http://nautarch.tamu.edu/PROJECTS/denbigh/Laird.htm
• Birkenhead Parish History http://www.fhsc.org.uk/genuki/chs/birken.htm
• Population of Birkenhead http://populations.com/Country.asp?ID=197&CityID=8022
• Birkenhead Priory http://www.wirral.gov.uk/ed/birkenhead_priory.htm
• [1] http://www.wirral.gov.uk/er/birkpark.htm

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