River Mersey

The River Mersey begins life at the confluence of the twenty four mile long, River Tame and the eighteen mile long, River Goyt, which merge in Stockport, Greater Manchester. The Mersey then makes it's way westward for seventy miles before joining the Irish Sea at Liverpool Bay, linking with the Manchester Ship Canal at the confluence of the thirty nine mile long, River Irwell, along the way.

The River Mersey's four thousand, six hundred and eighty square kilometre basin is situated on Liverpool Bay in the Irish Sea and has a five mile wide estuary that narrows to nought point seven miles wide between the City of Liverpool, pictured above, on it's east bank and the town of Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, on it's west bank, an area known in shipping circles as the Atlantic Gateway.

Due to the sudden narrowing of the river, which is situated on a deep channel that experiences Britain's second, and the world's fourth, highest tidal range - thirteen foot high neap tides and thirty two foot high spring tides, a phenomena known as the Mersey Bore - the River Mersey was chosen as the location for Britain's largest, deep water port in 1717, a seven point five mile area of docklands, wharfs and jetties.

During the eighteenth century Liverpool's Mersey Docks became Britain's busiest port, where it led the field in the transportation of Cheshire salt, Lancashire coal and textiles, Staffordshire pottery, Birmingham metal wares and Welsh sheep. It also became a leading port in the transportation of spices and bananas into the country and an important transit port during the years of the Slave Trade.The River Mersey was also the first place in Britain to have systematic tidal records logged, when harbour master William Hutchinson began the trend between the years of 1768 - 1793.

The name Mersey is an Anglo Saxon word which means boundary, an apt title, as the river was, for many centuries, the county line that divided the two English counties of Cheshire and Lancashire.

This muddy, coloured river that gives the city of Liverpool it's name - liver coloured pool of water - flows through the Greater Manchester towns of Stockport and Salford and the Cheshire towns of Runcorn, Warrington and Widnes.

The river is joined by twenty three tributaries, the largest of which are the rivers, Etherow, Irwell, Bollin, Gowy and Weaver.

The river links with three canal systems along it's route, the thirty six mile long, Manchester Ship Canal, The ninety three mile long, Trent and Mersey Canal and The fifteen mile long Sankey Canal. The river once linked with the Bridgewater Canal but was cut off after the building of the Silver Jubilee Bridge at Runcorn in 1961.

The river is crossed by three underwater tunnels, two road and one rail, the Mersey Ferry, which links the the City of Liverpool and the town of Birkenhead, one road bridge and one rail bridge linking the Cheshire towns of Runcorn and Widnes and the grade II listed Bridgewater Canal Aqueduct at Stretford, which was built in 1761.

In recent years as the Mersey became less used for industry and more importantly recognised as a place of environmental interest, the river has seen a rise in it's stocks of Salmon, Trout, Atlantic Grey Seals and even Porpoise, in it's now much cleaner waters.

An area around the Port of Liverpool has been designated as the thirty acre Seaforth Nature Reserve, a haven of freshwater and saltwater lagoons that house a myriad of sea and wading birds.

Other areas of interest along the river's seventy mile route are the City of Liverpool, Liverpool John Lennon Airport, Otterspool Country Park, the Wirral Peninsula, The Spaceport Centre, Birkenhead, Liverpool's Albert Dock, Manchester Ship Canal Tours, Salford Quays and Manchester, home of the Lowrie Centre and The British War Museum, The Wirral Peninsula's seaside resort of New Brighton and the Silver Jubilee Bridge at Runcorn.

The River Mersey is considered sacred by British Hindus, who hold the river in the same esteem as they do the sacred River Ganges in India.

The river is home to several local yachting and rowing clubs including the Liverpool Yacht Club and the Royal Mersey Yacht Club, which regularly hold regattas and other events upon the river, throughout the year.

In 2008 the River Mersey was host port to the annual, international Tall Ships Race, which attracted visitors in their thousands on both sides of the river.

On the first of April 1974, the former borough of Wirral in the county of Cheshire and the metropolitan areas of Liverpool, Sefton, Knowsley and St Helens, in the county of Lancashire, were amalgamated into the area now collectively known as Merseyside.

The mouth of the River Mersey is situated between the Wirral coastal resort of New Brighton and the Lancashire town of Bootle, situated on Liverpool Bay, a shallow subsection of the Irish Sea, which is also fed by the Rivers Alt, Clwyd and Dee. Liverpool Bay does not appear to have a designated nautical limit but is shown on most maps as a semi circular area of water situated between Point Lynas on the Isle of Anglesey at it's southern most point to Formby Point on the coast of Lancashire at it's most northerly point.

The bay is renowned for it's ten meter high tides which drive very strong tidal currents, particularly along the River Mersey and it's neighbour the River Dee, forming two of the county's eleven tidal bores.

The bay is the site of four gas fields, two oil fields, four Irish Sea coastal observatories, three meteorology stations, thirty four sea water monitoring stations, a gas processing terminal and two wind farms. The bay is also a major shipping channel which carries vessels into both Liverpool and Seaforth Docks and the ferry ports of Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula and Heysham in Lancashire.

Despite all this the waters of the bay still manage to be a haven for wildlife, which consist mainly of large numbers of porpoise, dolphins and grey seals. The coastline around the bay, despite being a heavily populated area of coastal towns and villages and holiday resorts, also supports large numbers of wildfowl, wading birds, natterjack toads, sand lizards and shell fish along it's many miles of extensive mudflats, sand flats and salt marshes.

The bay is served by five lighthouses, the Perch Rock Lighthouse at New Brighton on the Wirral Peninsula, The Point of Ayr Lighthouse at Talacre in north Wales, the Point of Lynas Lighthouse on the Isle of Anglesey, Crosby Lighthouse on the Lancashire coast and Llandudno Lighthouse situated on the Great Orme in north Wales, which has since been converted into a hotel.

The River Mersey is also served by a light ship at the approach to the City of Liverpool and lighthouses situated at Woodside Ferry in Birkenhead and Whitby Locks near Ellesmere Port.

SOME OTHER WEBSITES YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN

Mersey Ferries - www.merseyferries.co.uk

River Guide - www.rivermersey.org.uk

Mersey Docks - www.merseydocks.co.uk

Albert Dock - www.albertdock.com

Mersey Basin - www.merseybasin.org.uk

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