The Thing - CEOWOLF

From the 8th century onwards the Wirral region suffered occasional attacks from Scandinavians - known as the Norsemen, Vikings or Danes. These invasions usually came from already occupied Ireland, and took place over two centuries until the beginning of the 10th century. Parts of West Cheshire were known to have been controlled by the Norse King Ceowolf. It was not until the reign of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex (later of Mercia) that Scandinavian invasions were finally controlled in the Wirral where the invaders were granted a settlement in exchange for a peace treaty. As a result, the Wirral has many Danish place names such as in Thingwall, from 'thing' - meaning 'a meeting place'.

The Thingwall Parliament

Wirral was once an independent Viking mini-state with its parliament at Thingwall. Ancient Irish annals record the population of Wirral by Norsemen led by Ingimund expelled from Ireland and getting agreement from Aethelflaed or "Ethelfleda", Queen of the Mercian English to settle there peacefully. This can still be seen from place name evidence - such as the common '-by' (meaning "town" in Danish) suffixes and names such as Tranmere, which comes from trani melr ("cranebird sandbank"). Similarly, archaeological finds (such as two hogback tombstones) corroborate this. On September 10, 2007, a 1,000-year-old Viking transport longship (Nordic clinker design) was discovered under the car park of the Railway Inn in Meols.

Battle of Bromborough (Brunanburh)

Bromborough on the Wirral is also the probable site of an epic battle in 937, the Battle Of Brunanburh, which confirmed England as an Anglo-Saxon kingdom. This is the first battle where England came together as one country and thus historians consider it the birthplace of England. It is thought that the battlesite was so large that it covered a large area of Wirral. Egil's Saga, a story which tells of the battle, may have referred to Wirral as Wen Heath, "Vinheibr" in Icelandic.

Benedictine Monks

At the end of the twelfth century, Birchen Head Priory stood on a lonely headland of birch trees by the Mersey. It was from here, Merseyside's oldest building, that Benedictine monks operated the first Mersey ferry in 1330, having been granted a passage to Liverpool by a charter from Edward III. Birkenhead, the largest town on Wirral, received its name from the Priory. It derives from the original spelling of Birchen Head meaning "headland with birch trees".

Mersey Ferry

The original ferry service, now famous throughout the world, put Wirral on the map as part of the King's highway, yet for centuries the peninsula remained a cluster of small holdings and hamlets. It wasn't until the 1820s that steam-powered boats improved communication and opened up Wirral's Mersey coast for industrialisation.

During the 14th century, a charter confirming the disafforestation of Wirral was issued by King Edward III. This took place on July 20, 1376.

Cammel Laird Shipyard

The 1820s saw the birth of the renowned shipbuilding tradition when John Laird opened his Cammell Laird yard in Birkenhead.  Wirral's first railway was built in 1840 planned by George Stephenson and connected Birkenhead with Chester. This encouraged the growth of Wirral; Birkenhead and Wallasey grew into large towns. In 1847, Birkenhead's first docks and its municipal park, the first in Britain and the inspiration for New York's Central Park, were opened.

Mersey Tunnels

The tunnel under the River Mersey for the Mersey Railway led to increased development after 1886. The first tunnel was supplemented by a vehicle tunnel in 1934 (Queensway) and a third in 1971 (Kingsway).

RAF West Kirby, RAF Hooton Park

During the Second World War it held two RAF airfields, RAF West Kirby and RAF Hooton Park (now the site of Vauxhall Motors Ellesmere Port factory) and a number of Anti Aircraft sites in order to protect the Birkenhead and Liverpool docks.

In 1929, the 3rd World Scout Jamboree was held at Arrowe Park and this celebrated the 21st Anniversary of the publication of Scouting for Boys. Thirty-five countries were represented by 30,000 Scouts, plus another 10,000 British Scouts who took the opportunity to camp in the vicinity. This was certainly the greatest assembly of international youth the world had ever seen up to that time. Two things stand out from the Arrowe Park Jamboree - the numbers and the mud! During the occasion, it rained so much that the clay soil could not absorb the water and the site soon resembled a sea of mud!

Wirral's dockland areas of Wallasey and Birkenhead continued to develop and prosper. A host of other port-related industries then came into existence, such as flour milling, tanning, edible oil refining and the manufacture of paint and rubber-based products. A large chemical and oil refining complex is still in Ellesmere Port.

Port Sunlight Village

Another important development was the building, in 1888, of the now famous industrial village of Port Sunlight. This was designed to house employees at the original firm of Lever Brothers, now part of the Unilever group. The village, which turned Lord Leverhulme's philanthropic dream into reality provided workers with a benign environment.

Wirral can be defined as both a geographical peninsula and socio-cultural area. . The current Metropolitan Borough of Wirral has a population of 312,293 people (according to the 2001 census), and covers an area of 60.35 square miles, bounded by the Cheshire Plain, the River Dee and the River Mersey. The Irish Sea lies to its North West side. The Shropshire Union Canal joins the River Mersey at Ellesmere Port and the River Dee at Chester. This makes the geographical peninsula, as a technicality, an island. However, it has been noted that 'it is difficult to find any work in which there is a written description of the exact area defining The Wirral Peninsula.

In the north of the peninsula, the River Fender, Arrowe Brook and Greasby Brook drain into the River Birket, which itself flows into the River Mersey via Wallasey Pool (Birkenhead Docks). Further south, the River Clatter and River Dibbin drain into the Mersey at Bromborough Pool.

Two approximately parallel Triassic sandstone ridges run down the length of the peninsula. The western ridge is made up of Grange & Caldy Hills at 256 feet in height, then Thurstaston Hill (298 ft), Poll Hill in Heswall (350 ft, the highest point on the Wirral) and Burton (222 ft). The less continuous eastern ridge consists of Bidston Hill (231ft), Prenton (259ft) and Storeton Hill (229ft).

The major urban centres of Wirral are to its east; these include Birkenhead and Wallasey. To the west and south, Wirral is more rural. Two thirds of the population of Wirral live on one third of the land - in Birkenhead and Wallasey, according to Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council. Other towns to the south and west of this area are usually considered part of Wirral; notably, Ellesmere Port is often described as one of its 'border towns'.

The towns and villages on the Wirral are in one of three local authorities:

• The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral

• The Borough of Ellesmere Port and Neston

• The following places on the Wirral are in Chester District:

  • Capenhurst, Ledsham

  • Puddington

  • Saughall

  • Shotwick

Landmarks

Despite containing urban and industrial areas, 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.[10] Many villages of Wirral are well preserved with their characteristic red sandstone buildings and walls. Sights or places of interest include:

• Bidston Hill

• Caldy Hill

• Hilbre Island

• Lady Lever Art Gallery

• Thurstaston Common and Thor's Stone

• "The Thing" - site of Wirral's Viking parliament

• Mersey Ferry

• Ness Gardens

• North Wirral Coastal Park and Leasowe Lighthouse

• Port Sunlight

• Prenton Park

• Victorian Pleasure Gardens at Eastham Country Park

• Williamson Art Gallery

• Wirral Way and Hadlow Road railway station