Onsite Forklift Training Courses in Birkenhead

Birkenhead is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool.

The name Birkenhead probably means “headland overgrown with birch”, from the Old English bircen meaning birch tree, 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.

Formerly a township in Bidston Parish of the Wirral Hundred, Birkenhead was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1877, and became a county borough with the passing of the Local Government Act 1888. The borough included the parish of Birkenhead St. Mary and the townships of Bidston, Claughton with Grange, Oxton, Tranmere and part of Bebington, later known as Rock Ferry. The townships of Landican, Prenton and Thingwall were added in 1928, followed by Noctorum, Upton and Woodchurch in 1933.

Birkenhead Park is acknowledged to be the first publicly funded park in Britain. 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. Designed by Joseph Paxton (later Sir Joseph Paxton) in 1843 and officially opened in 1847, with great festivity. The park’s Grand Entrance, modelled on the Temple of Illysus in Athens, 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’.

William Laird, a Scot, and his son John, were influential in the design of the town. Parts were laid out in a grid-iron pattern like Edinburgh New Town with similar architecture. The chief architect was James Gillespie Graham from Edinburgh. This grid pattern was centred around Hamilton Square which was started in 1826 and, apart from Trafalgar Square in London, contains the most Grade I listed buildings in one place in England, including Birkenhead Town Hall. 

Other notable landmarks include Bidston Windmill on a ridge behind the town, Flaybrick Watertower and Birkenhead Priory & St. Mary’s Tower.

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. Birkenhead Park also has its own cricket club.

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, itself named after the town in which it was built. Other authors have done this as well.

In the arts, Birkenhead has produced several actors and performers including Kim Woodburn, Lionel Gamlin, Roger Abbott, Glenda Jackson, Anew McMaster, Lewis Collins, Megs Jenkins, Taron Egerton, Dominic Purcell, Patricia Routledge, Paul O’Grady (also known as Lily Savage), soprano Valerie Masterson and baritone George Baker. The dancer and actor Lindsay Kemp was born in the town but as a child moved to South Shields. Opera director Graham Vick was born in Birkenhead.

Some notable artists were born in the town, such as Philip Wilson Steer, Robert Talbot Kelly, Tom Palin, Bessie Bamber, Annie R. Merrylees Arnold, Percy Bigland, the workers at the Della Robbia Pottery and two cartoonists: Norman Thelwell and Bill Tidy.[88]

There are several musicians linked to the area. Freddie Marks from Rod, Jane and Freddy was born in Birkenhead, as was John Gorman of The Scaffold. Indie band Half Man Half Biscuit hail from Birkenhead, as did boogie-rock band Engine, Paul Heaton, lead singer of the Housemartins and the Beautiful South, singer/songwriter Charlie Landsborough and Desmond Briscoe co-founder and original manager of the pioneering BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

Elvis Costello moved to Birkenhead in 1971 with his mother, who was from Liverpool, although Elvis Costello’s father was himself from Birkenhead. Tony Friel (bassist from the Fall and the Passage), synthpop musician David Hughes (of Dalek I Love You, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Godot) and Malcolm Holmes (drummer with pop group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) were born there. David Balfe (music manager, and member of Dalek I Love You, Big in Japan, the Teardrop Explodes) attended primary and secondary school there. Miles Kane, musician, singer and songwriter and member of The Last Shadow Puppets and The Rascals, was born in the town as well as the opera singer Hugh Beresford. Classical composer William Lewarne Harris (1919-2013) was born in Birkenhead.

Sandy Irvine, a participant of the 1924 British Mount Everest expedition, was born in Birkenhead. There has been speculation that George Mallory and he reached the summit. Similarly, Alan Rouse, a mountaineer who died in the 1986 K2 disaster, was educated in Birkenhead. Daniel Poole, a recipient of the Distinguished Conduct Medal during World War I was born in the town.

Birkenhead has also produced notable sportsmen such as Matt Dawson, the rugby union player; ‘Dixie’ Dean (Everton F.C.), record-breaking footballer, who was born at 313 Laird Street; and several other footballers including Peter Davenport, Jason McAteer, David Thompson, Max Power, Jodie Taylor (England Lionesses International). The football manager Nigel Adkins also hails from the town.

Source – Birkenhead Wikipedia.