BIRKENHEAD, a market t., sea-port, and parliamentary borough in the parish of I3idston, and hundred and union of Wirral, Cheshire, lies opposite Liverpool. on the left bank of the Mersey. The parliamentary borough, which was constituted in 1801, when one of the seats rendered vacant by the disfranchisement of Sudbury and St. Albans was assigned to it, includes, besides the ehapelry of B., the townships of Claughtou. Oxion. Tranmere, and part of Higher Bebington. Pop. (1871) of the town ship, 42,981; of the parliamentary borough, 65,971. B. has within the last few years risen from comparative obscurity to its present important position. .No later than 1818, only a few straggling houses existed, and the pop. numbered 50. In 1821,. it amounted only to 236. The principal streets of B. are laid out with great regularity, crossing each other at right angles, and about 20 yards wide; but the back streets are narrow and the houses mean. Hamilton square, a quadrangle of about 8 acres, is scarcely excelled by any buildings in the United Kingdom. The park is a splendid feature of B., con sting, as it does. of 190 acres. B. is so situated as to have communication with the entire railway system of the country. A railway bridge over the Mersey at Runcorn was opened for traffic in 1869, which shortened by 10 m. -the distance between the Liverpool and Birkenhead docks. It is to these docks chiefly that B. owes its rapid development and prosperity. The original idea is due to the late Mr. Laird, who in 1824
purchased, at a very low price, a large piece of ground on the borders of the Wallasey pool, on which he meant to start a ship-building yard. Discovering the capabilities of the site, he began to project plans for extensive docks; and the corporation of Liverpool, dreading the rivalry. purchased the pool and the lands about it; and in 1847, two docks, the Morpeth and the Egerton, were opened by lord Morpeth, the chief commissioner of woods and forests. Other ducks, and a great floating harbor. were subsequently added, and now they have a reputation wide as the world, as splendid specimens of engineer ing skill.
B. has for some years been celebrated for its ship-building yards, some of the largest iron ships afloat having been built there by extensive firms. The too historical Alabama was built by the 'Messrs. Laird. to whose enterprise. more than that of any other company, the town owes its present eminence. In the neighborhood of the docks are the Canada works for the construction of gigantic bridges, the Britannia machinery works, and others.
B. owes its origin to a Benedictine priory founded there in the 12th c., of which some remains still exist. Edward II. granted the entire monopoly of the ferries to its monks. The remains of the monastery arc still in a tolerable state of preservation, exhibiting comp line specimens of the English architecture of the period of its foundation.