1,156,963,192 visitors served.

Merseyside

Metropolitan county of northwest England, created in 1974; in 1986, most of the functions of the former county council were transferred to metropolitan borough councils (The Wirral, Sefton, Liverpool, Knowsley, St Helens).

Area

650 sq km/251 sq mi

Towns and cities

Liverpool, Bootle, Birkenhead, St Helens, Wallasey, Southport

Physical

River Mersey

Features

Merseyside Innovation Centre (MIC), linked with Liverpool and John Moores Universities; Prescot Museum of clock- and watch-making; Speke Hall (Tudor), and Croxteth Hall and Country Park (a working country estate open to the public); Port Sunlight (a garden village for the Lever soap factory workers)

Industries

brewing, chemicals, electrical goods, glassmaking, metal-working, pharmaceutical products, tanning, vehicles

Population

(2001) 1,362,000

Famous people

the Beatles, William Ewart Gladstone, George Stubbs

History St Helens has a long industrial past: glassmaking here dates back more than 200 years, and coal has been mined since the 16th century; in 1757 the Sankey Canal was constructed to carry coal to Liverpool, Warrington, and also Northwich for the then growing salt industry. The chemical and copper industries left large areas of derelict land in St Helens, which have now cleared. Knowsley originally grew up around Knowsley Hall, the home of the Stanley family (Earls of Derby) since 1835.

Brassey, Thomas

Haydock

Kirkby

Manchester Ship Canal

Speke Hall

Wallasey