Merseyside

Merseyside
Metropolitan and Ceremonial county
Left to right: Pier Head, Liverpool Another Place at Crosby Beach Roman pavillion at Birkenhead Park
Location of Merseyside within England
Coordinates: 53°25′N 3°00′W / 53.417°N 3.000°W / 53.417; -3.000
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	North West England
Established	1 April 1974
Established by	Local Government Act 1972
Time zone	UTC+0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
Members of Parliament	14 Labour 1 Conservative List of MPs
Police	Merseyside Police
Largest city	Liverpool
Ceremonial county
Lord Lieutenant	Mark Blundell
High Sheriff	Nigel Lanceley
Area	646.7 km2 (249.7 sq mi)
• Ranked	43rd of 48
Population (2022)	1,423,065
• Ranked	9th of 48
Density	2,200/km2 (5,700/sq mi)
Metropolitan county
GSS code	E11000002
Districts
Districts of Merseyside
Districts	City of Liverpool Sefton Knowsley St Helens Wirral

Merseyside (/ˈmɜːrzisaɪd/ MUR-zee-syde) is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Welsh county of Flintshire across the Dee Estuary to the southwest, and the Irish Sea to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Liverpool.

The county is highly urbanised, with an area of 249 square miles (645 km²) and a population of 1.42 million.^[1] After Liverpool (552,267), the largest settlements are Birkenhead (143,968), St Helens (102,629), and Southport (94,421). For local government purposes the county comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and Liverpool. The borough councils (and Halton in Cheshire) collaborate through the Liverpool City Region combined authority, chaired by an elected mayor.

What is now Merseyside was a largely rural area until the Industrial Revolution, when Liverpool and Birkenhead's positions on the Mersey Estuary enabled them to expand. Liverpool became a major port, heavily involved in the Atlantic slave trade and in supplying cotton to the mills of Lancashire, and Birkenhead developed into a centre for shipbuilding. Innovations during this period included the first inter-city railway, the first publicly-funded civic park, advances in dock technology, and a pioneering elevated electrical railway. The county was established in 1974, before which the entirety of the Wirral was in Cheshire and the remainder of the county was in Lancashire.

Merseyside is notable for its sport, music, and cultural institutions. The Merseybeat genre developed in what is now the county, which has also produced many artists and bands, including the Beatles. The county contains several football clubs, with Everton and Liverpool playing in the Premier League. The Royal Liverpool and Royal Birkdale golf clubs have hosted The Open Championship 22 times between them, and the Grand National is the most valuable jump race in Europe. National Museums Liverpool comprises nine museums and art galleries.