Coordinates: 53°23′36″N 3°00′52″W / 53.3932, -3.0145
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is located on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the City of Liverpool, and has a total resident population of 83,729.
Historically part of Cheshire, Birkenhead is perhaps best known as a centre for ship building, as a sea port and its related industries. Because it is close to Liverpool, many residents commute there.

History
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 parishes of Birkenhead St Mary, Claughton with Grange, Oxton, Tranmere and part of Bebington, later known as Rock Ferry. The parishes of Landican, Prenton and Thingwall were added in 1928, followed by the parishes of Noctorum and Woodchurch in 1933.
Prior to 1974, Birkenhead and the rest of the Wirral Peninsula, was part of the county of Cheshire, since the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, Birkenhead has lain within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in the metropolitan county of Merseyside. The current Member of Parliament is Frank Field.

Governance
Birkenhead Market was first established on what is now the site of Birkenhead Town Hall, between Chester Street and Hamilton Street, on 10th July 1835.
During the 1970s, the commercial centre of the town was redeveloped around the principal shopping area of Grange Road. Following two fire at the original Birkenhead Market in 1969 and 1974, it was later moved to new premises adjoining the Grange Shopping Precinct development. Commercial expansion continued in the 1990s when the Pyramids Shopping Centre was opened.

Economy
Birkenhead Park is acknowledged to be the first publicly funded park in Britain.
Religious landmarks include Birkenhead Priory & St Mary's Tower, St James' Church and St Werburgh's Roman Catholic Church. Other notable landmarks include Bidston Windmill on a ridge behind the town, Flaybrick Watertower and Flaybrick Memorial Gardens.

Landmarks

Transport
Birkenhead had the first street tramway in Europe. Opened on 29 August 1860 the first line ran from Woodside (landing stage of the Mersey Ferry) to Birkenhead Park. This early system was horse-drawn and was the brainchild of flamboyant American, George Francis Train. A preserved tram is currently on display in the Woodside ferry terminal booking hall.
Two replica trams, imported from Hong Kong, have been brought into service as part of a heritage tramway between Woodside and Wirral Transport Museum.

Trams
Birkenhead and Liverpool became the first major conurbations in northwest England to be served by an underground railway system, which today is part of the Merseyrail network.
The major underground station in Birkenhead is Hamilton Square, the nearest station to the ferry terminal. Hamilton Square is linked to the "Liverpool Loop" of the Wirral Line, which includes James Street, Moorfields, Liverpool Lime Street and Liverpool Central stations, all of which are underground. Other stations located in Birkenhead include Birkenhead Central, Green Lane, Rock Ferry, Conway Park, Birkenhead Park, Birkenhead North and Bidston.
The Wirral Line from Birkenhead travels south to Chester and Ellesmere Port, north to New Brighton and westwards, across the Wirral peninsula, to West Kirby. The Borderlands Line leaves Bidston in the north of Birkenhead and travels through the rural centre of Wirral, ultimately leaving England near Shotton and terminating in Wrexham, Wales. View Merseyrail Network Map

Railways
Junctions 1 & 3 of the M53 motorway allow access to the national motorway network. The A41 trunk road connects Woodside with Marble Arch in London. The Queensway road tunnel, opened in 1936, runs underneath the River Mersey and connects the town to Liverpool.

Roads
Birkenhead's dock system is part of the Port of Liverpool facility, operated by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company. The Twelve Quays ferry terminal allows a direct freight & passenger service to Dublin, Ireland & Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Mersey Ferry at Woodside supplies a passenger service to Liverpool, as well as chartered cruising.

Maritime
The nearest airport is Liverpool John Lennon Airport (formerly known as Speke) located about 8 miles (13 km) from Birkenhead.

Airport

Education
Birkenhead's oldest independent school is Birkenhead School. It was exclusively a boys' school from its founding in 1860 until 2000 when its Sixth Form became co-educational. It also has a preparatory school for boys aged 3–11 and a co-educational nursery from 3 months. "Old Birkonians" (as former pupils are known) include the lawyer F. E. Smith (Lord Birkenhead), Andreas Whittam Smith (chairman of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and founder of The Independent newspaper), Andrew Irvine (mountaineer), and Philip Toosey, hero at the Bridge on the River Kwai.
Birkenhead High School is an independent school for girls, founded in 1885 and catering for girls aged 2½–18. It is a member of the Girls' Day School Trust. Its alumnae include the actress Patricia Routledge.

Schools
Birkenhead's technical college in Woodside (Previously in Borough Road), now called Wirral Metropolitan College, had a theatre named after one of its most famous former students and Birkonian (born 1936), Glenda Jackson, the Oscar-winning actress and Member of Parliament. The college and the Glenda Jackson Theatre were demolished in late 2005, to make way for apartment blocks, although Wirral Metropolitan College flourishes on other sites across the Wirral. The theatre secretly housed an emergency command centre for the region in its basement, accessible via the college. Politicians and officials would have retreated to this secure bunker in the event of nuclear war to coordinate the recovery effort. By the 1990s the bunker had been decommissioned, and the surrounding complex of rooms was used by the college as a rehearsal space and recording studio.

Colleges
Formerly, Birkenhead was served by Birkenhead General Hospital on Conway Street, St. James' Hospital in Claughton and St. Catherine's Hospital, Tranmere. Presently, Birkenhead is served by Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust through its Arrowe Park Hospital and Clatterbridge Hospital sites, and Wirral Primary Care Trust.

Healthcare

Arts and leisure
Despite being in England, Birkenhead hosted Wales's National Eisteddfod in 1917, as well as an unofficial National Eisteddfod event in 1879.
In 1856, Birkenhead Library was opened as the country's first public library in an unincorporated borough. The Little Theatre was established in 1958 from a converted former Presbyterian church, whilst more recently, the Pacific Road Arts Centre in Woodside opened in 1999.
The Williamson Art Gallery was opened in 1928 and houses a fine collection of paintings, porcelain and pottery. The Laird School of Art was the first public school of art outside London and was given to the town by John Laird. It opened on 27th September 1871.
The first Boy Scout group in the world was founded as the 1st Birkenhead YMCA in 1908. The 2nd Birkenhead scout group is the longest running scout group in the world, being established in 1908 and still in existence, as of 2007.

Arts
Birkenhead is served by local daily newspapers the Liverpool Echo and Liverpool Daily Post. The free local weekly newspapers are the Wirral Globe and the Birkenhead News (part of the Wirral News group).
The local radio station Wirral's Buzz 97.1 is based in the town. In addition, there are five other local radio stations that transmit to Birkenhead: BBC Radio Merseyside, Radio City 96.7, Juice 107.6, Dune 107.9 and Rock FM 97.4.
Birkenhead is situated within the television regions of BBC North West and ITV's Granada Television.

Media
Birkenhead is the home of Tranmere Rovers Football Club, a professional football team who play at Prenton Park near the Tranmere area of the town. They are in Football League One. Cammell Laird F.C. is the town's semi professional football club who play at Kirklands in Rock Ferry. They are in Northern Premier League Division One South. The town is also the home of several successful amateur football leagues, both 11-a side and six-a side.
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.

Sports
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 referred to 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.