Merseyside

Created by the government in 1974 from an area of Lancashire around the city of Liverpool and northern parts of cheshire, the metropolitan county of Merseyside is among several such conglomerations. The county covers an area of some 252 square miles with a population of just over 1.5 Million.

Without a doubt the city of Liverpool stands as the pinnacle city of the county. Famous throughout the world for its endeavours in the spheres of trade, sport and entertainment.

Liverpool is separated from the town of Birkenhead by the River Mersey itself, as praised by the emotive tune 'ferry across the Mersey'.

Liverpool is proud to be one of the few cities in the world that can boast two cathedrals. One being of traditional design the other, the roman catholic cathedral, being of post-war modern design. Its history is one of unity from adversity. The high percentage of Liverpudlians with an irish ancestry giving testament to the influx of Lancashires near neighbours in the 19th century.

Liverpools original claim to fame came from the sea. The Mersey docks were always important to britain, and to northern england especially, but were even more so in the 1939-45 war when the nation's lifeline to America and Canada was at it's most important.

In recent decades Liverpool has become synonymous with two of the nation's favourite activities, music and association football.

There can be very few, if any, who have not heard of the beatles or the 'Mersey beat' that brought life to a socially changing Britain in the nineteen sixties. There are surely equally as few that have not become enamoured by, or envious of, the success of the city's Liverpool football club who dominated english and, for a time, european football in the late seventies through to the late eighties.

Liverpool apart, Merseyside has some other very fine towns with which to enchant the visitor. The Wirral, to the south of the county, is a haven for bird watchers and nature lovers alike.