Onsite Forklift Training Courses in Wirral

The Wirral Peninsula, known locally as The Wirral, is an area in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about 15 miles (24 km) long and 7 miles (11 km) wide and is bounded by the River Dee to the west (forming the boundary with Wales), the River Mersey to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north.

Historically, the Wirral was wholly in Cheshire; in the Domesday Book, its border with the rest of the county was placed at “two arrow falls from Chester city walls”. However, since the Local Government Act 1972, only the southern third has been in Cheshire, with almost all the rest lying in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside.

An area of saltmarsh and reclaimed land to the south-west of the peninsula lies in the Welsh county of Flintshire.

The name Wirral literally means “myrtle corner”, from the Old English wir, a myrtle tree, and heal, an angle, corner or slope.

It is supposed that the land was once overgrown with bog myrtle, a plant no longer found in the area, but plentiful around Formby, to which the Wirral would once have had a similar habitat.

The name was given to the Hundred of Wirral (or Wilaveston) around the 8th century.

Despite containing urban and industrial areas, the Wirral still has picturesque villages, sandy beaches, large areas of land owned by the National Trust as well as views across the two estuaries and out into the Irish Sea.

Among the areas of open land are Bidston Hill, Caldy Hill, Eastham Country Park, including the Victorian Pleasure Gardens, Hilbre Island, North Wirral Coastal Park, Thurstaston Common and Thor’s Stone and the Wirral Way.

Ness Botanical Gardens are part of the University of Liverpool and have won many awards. The visitor centre at RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands provides birdwatching facilities in the Dee Estuary nature reserve.

Places of architectural interest include Hamilton Square, Rock Park and Port Sunlight. The view of the buildings on Liverpool’s Pier Head when crossing on the Mersey Ferry is famous.

Many villages of the Wirral such as Burton are also well preserved with their characteristic red sandstone buildings and walls.

The old port of Parkgate also attracts many visitors. The arts are well represented by the Lady Lever Art Gallery at Port Sunlight and the Williamson Art Gallery in Birkenhead. The historical sites include Birkenhead Priory, Leasowe Lighthouse, Hadlow Road railway station and the buildings and ancient carvings on Bidston Hill.

Source – Wirral Peninsula Wikipedia