119-529: Tarbock is a village and former civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley , in Merseyside , England. It is situated to the south east of Huyton and to the east of Netherley . The village itself is 6 miles (9.7 km) from Liverpool city centre, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) from Widnes and 2 miles (3.2 km) from Prescot . The M62 motorway junction 6 is in the area and
238-522: A London borough . (Since the new county was beforehand a mixture of metropolitan boroughs , municipal boroughs and urban districts, no extant parish councils were abolished.) In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 retained rural parishes, but abolished most urban parishes, as well as the urban districts and boroughs which had administered them. Provision was made for smaller urban districts and boroughs to become successor parishes , with
357-598: A cantilevered footway providing an alternative crossing to a ferry. In 1905 the now demolished Widnes-Runcorn Transporter Bridge opened and took cars and passengers via a cable car. The Silver Jubilee Bridge , completed in 1961, is immediately adjacent. East of Warrington, the M6 motorway crosses the river and the Manchester Ship Canal on the Thelwall Viaduct . When the viaduct opened in 1963, it
476-417: A civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government . It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes , which for centuries were the principal unit of secular and religious administration in most of England and Wales. Civil and religious parishes were formally split into two types in
595-677: A tidal bore from Hale as far upstream as Warrington. On 7 December 2022, the Liverpool City Region mayor announced cooperation between the City Region and K-water of South Korea , who built and operates the Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station , in order to construct a similar operation on the River Mersey. The river gave its name to Merseybeat , developed by bands from Liverpool, notably
714-515: A Special Expense, to residents of the unparished area to fund those activities. If the district council does not opt to make a Special Expenses charge, there is an element of double taxation of residents of parished areas, because services provided to residents of the unparished area are funded by council tax paid by residents of the whole district, rather than only by residents of the unparished area. Parish councils comprise volunteer councillors who are elected to serve for four years. Decisions of
833-576: A boundary coterminous with an existing urban district or borough or, if divided by a new district boundary, as much as was comprised in a single district. There were 300 such successor parishes established. In urban areas that were considered too large to be single parishes, the parishes were simply abolished, and they became unparished areas . The distinction between types of parish was no longer made; whether parishes continued by virtue of being retained rural parishes or were created as successor parishes, they were all simply termed parishes. The 1972 act allowed
952-552: A boundary' and ēa , 'a river'. The Mersey was possibly the 'border river' between Mercia and Northumbria . Its Welsh name is Afon Merswy . Prior to Anglo-Saxon conquest of the region, the river was almost certainly known by a Celtic name - recorded by Ptolemy as "Seteia" (as the Southern border of the Brittonic " Setantii " tribe). "Seteia" and "Setantii" both lack clear Celtic roots, leading some to suggest that this
1071-477: A city council (though most cities are not parishes but principal areas, or in England specifically metropolitan boroughs or non-metropolitan districts ). The chairman of a town council will have the title "town mayor" and that of a parish council which is a city will usually have the title of mayor . When a city or town has been abolished as a borough, and it is considered desirable to maintain continuity of
1190-462: A city council. According to the Department for Communities and Local Government , in England in 2011 there were 9,946 parishes. Since 1997 around 100 new civil parishes have been created, in some cases by splitting existing civil parishes, but mostly by creating new ones from unparished areas. Parish or town councils have very few statutory duties (things they are required to do by law) but have
1309-559: A city was Hereford , whose city council was merged in 1998 to form a unitary Herefordshire . The area of the city of Hereford remained unparished until 2000 when a parish council was created for the city. As another example, the charter trustees for the City of Bath make up the majority of the councillors on Bath and North East Somerset Council. Civil parishes cover 35% of England's population, with one in Greater London and few in
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#17327900945721428-481: A civil parish which has no parish council, the parish meeting may levy a council tax precept for expenditure relating to specific functions, powers and rights which have been conferred on it by legislation. In places where there is no civil parish ( unparished areas ), the administration of the activities normally undertaken by the parish becomes the responsibility of the district or borough council. The district council may make an additional council tax charge, known as
1547-457: A few months later and it was his nephew who sold the estate to Sir Richard Molyneux, the Earl of Sefton three years later for £10,500. The oldest part of the area around Tarbock Green, often called Blue Duck corner after a former Inn. In the fourteenth century Tarbock Hall had its own private chapel but the villagers would have attended St. Michael's Church at Huyton. It is thought that a chapel
1666-531: A few years the scheme was dropped. In the late nineteenth century there seems to have been a phase of re-development, albeit on a small scale with the Post Office and Smithy building which was originally thatched, being rebuilt in 1884. In 1890 a large pavilion was built alongside the Brick Wall Inn and was an important centre for social and community events until it was demolished in 1940 as part of
1785-579: A local brook, has changed more than any other in the West Derby Hundred. The variations have included Tarboc (1086), Turboc (1245), Terbock (1327), Tarbacke (1637) before it settled on its current form in the late seventeenth century. Currently it is known as "Tarbox" . The Domesday Survey noted that the manor of Tarboc was one of those previously held by the Saxon Thane Dot. The parish along with that of 'Hitune' ( Huyton )
1904-529: A new code. In either case the code must comply with the Nolan Principles of Public Life . A parish can be granted city status by the Crown . As of 2020 , eight parishes in England have city status, each having a long-established Anglican cathedral: Chichester , Ely , Hereford , Lichfield , Ripon , Salisbury , Truro and Wells . The council of an ungrouped parish may pass a resolution giving
2023-431: A new smaller manor, there was a means of making a chapel which, if generating or endowed with enough funds, would generally justify foundation of a parish, with its own parish priest (and in latter centuries vestry ). This consistency was a result of canon law which prized the status quo in issues between local churches and so made boundary changes and sub-division difficult. The consistency of these boundaries until
2142-718: A parish (a "detached part") was in a different county . In other cases, counties surrounded a whole parish meaning it was in an unconnected, "alien" county. These anomalies resulted in a highly localised difference in applicable representatives on the national level , justices of the peace , sheriffs, bailiffs with inconvenience to the inhabitants. If a parish was split then churchwardens, highway wardens and constables would also spend more time or money travelling large distances. Some parishes straddled two or more counties, such as Todmorden in Lancashire and Yorkshire. River Mersey The River Mersey ( / ˈ m ɜːr z i / )
2261-416: A parish council, and instead will only have a parish meeting : an example of direct democracy . Alternatively several small parishes can be grouped together and share a common parish council, or even a common parish meeting. A parish council may decide to call itself a town council, village council, community council, neighbourhood council, or if the parish has city status, the parish council may call itself
2380-431: A population in excess of 100,000 . This scope is similar to that of municipalities in continental Europe, such as the communes of France . However, unlike their continental European counterparts, parish councils are not principal authorities , and in most cases have a relatively minor role in local government. As of September 2023 , there are 10,464 parishes in England, and in 2020 they covered approximately 40% of
2499-503: A population of between 100 and 300 could request their county council to establish a parish council. Provision was also made for a grouped parish council to be established covering two or more rural parishes. In such groups, each parish retained its own parish meeting which could vote to leave the group, but otherwise the grouped parish council acted across the combined area of the parishes included. Urban civil parishes were not given their own parish councils, but were directly administered by
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#17327900945722618-512: A quarry it owned in Scotland for construction of the quays. Birkenhead grew quickly in the 19th century following the introduction of steamships , the earliest being the wooden paddle steamer Elizabeth in 1815. Docks were developed along with a shipbuilding industry , flour milling and soap manufacture on the river's Cheshire bank. Seaforth Dock , a freeport on the Liverpool side of
2737-1079: A range of discretionary powers which they may exercise voluntarily. These powers have been defined by various pieces of legislation. The role they play can vary significantly depending on the size, resources and ability of the council, but their activities can include any of the following: Parish councils have powers to provide and manage various local facilities; these can include allotments , cemeteries, parks, playgrounds, playing fields and village greens , village halls or community centres , bus shelters, street lighting, roadside verges, car parks, footpaths, litter bins and war memorials. Larger parish councils may also be involved in running markets , public toilets and public clocks, museums and leisure centres . Parish councils may spend money on various things they deem to be beneficial to their communities, such as providing grants to local community groups or local projects, or fund things such as public events, crime prevention measures, community transport schemes, traffic calming or tourism promotion. Parish councils have
2856-409: A role in the planning system; they have a statutory right to be consulted on any planning applications in their areas. They may also produce a neighbourhood plan to influence local development. The Localism Act 2011 allowed eligible parish councils to be granted a " general power of competence " which allows them within certain limits the freedom to do anything an individual can do provided it
2975-598: A set number of guardians for each parish, hence a final purpose of urban civil parishes. With the abolition of the Poor Law system in 1930, urban parishes became a geographical division only with no administrative power; that was exercised at the urban district or borough council level. In 1965 civil parishes in London were formally abolished when Greater London was created, as the legislative framework for Greater London did not make provision for any local government body below
3094-943: A small village or town ward to a large tract of mostly uninhabited moorland in the Cheviots, Pennines or Dartmoor. The two largest as at December 2023 are Stanhope (County Durham) at 98.6 square miles (255 km ), and Dartmoor Forest (Devon) at 79.07 square miles (204.8 km ). The two smallest are parcels of shared rural land: Lands Common to Axminster and Kilmington (Devon) at 0.012 square miles (0.031 km ; 3.1 ha; 7.7 acres), and Lands Common to Brancepeth and Brandon and Byshottles (County Durham) at 0.0165 square miles (0.043 km ; 4.3 ha; 10.6 acres). The next two smallest are parishes in built up areas: Chester Castle (Cheshire) at 0.0168 square miles (0.044 km ; 4.4 ha; 10.8 acres) (no recorded population) and Hamilton Lea (Leicestershire) at 0.07 square miles (0.18 km ; 18 ha; 45 acres) (1,021 residents at
3213-521: A spur to the creation of new parishes in some larger towns which were previously unparished, in order to retain a local tier of government; examples include Shrewsbury (2009), Salisbury (2009), Crewe (2013) and Weymouth (2019). In 2003 seven new parish councils were set up for Burton upon Trent , and in 2001 the Milton Keynes urban area became entirely parished, with ten new parishes being created. Parishes can also be abolished where there
3332-549: A tourist attraction offering cruises that provide an overview of the river and surrounding areas. Water quality in the Mersey was severely affected by industrialisation, and in 1985, the Mersey Basin Campaign was established to improve water quality and encourage waterside regeneration. In 2009 it was announced that the river is "cleaner than at any time since the industrial revolution" and is "now considered one of
3451-659: Is a major river in North West England . Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria . For centuries it has formed part of the boundary between the historic counties of Lancashire and Cheshire . The Mersey starts at the confluence of the River Tame and River Goyt in Stockport . It flows westwards through south Manchester , then into
3570-507: Is at present the only part of England where civil parishes cannot be created. If enough electors in the area of a proposed new parish (ranging from 50% in an area with less than 500 electors to 10% in one with more than 2,500) sign a petition demanding its creation, then the local district council or unitary authority must consider the proposal. Since the beginning of the 21st century, numerous parish councils have been created, including some relatively large urban ones. The main driver has been
3689-539: Is evidence that this is in response to "justified, clear and sustained local support" from the area's inhabitants. Examples are Birtley , which was abolished in 2006, and Southsea , abolished in 2010. Every civil parish has a parish meeting, which all the electors of the parish are entitled to attend. Generally a meeting is held once a year. A civil parish may have a parish council which exercises various local responsibilities prescribed by statute. Parishes with fewer than 200 electors are usually deemed too small to have
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3808-618: Is more familiarly called Tarbock Island . At the 2001 Census , the population of Tarbock was 2,382 (1,146 males, 1,236 females). The parish council was abolished on 1 April 2014. In 2007, evidence of a Roman Tile works was found around the Tarbock Island area of the M62. The tiles were destined for army barracks in Chester . Other archaeology in the area suggests evidence of Roman and Medieval farming. The spelling of Tarbock, named after
3927-405: Is not prohibited by other legislation, as opposed to being limited to the powers explicitly granted to them by law. To be eligible for this, a parish council must meet certain conditions such as having a clerk with suitable qualifications. Parish councils receive funding by levying a " precept " on the council tax paid by the residents of the parish (or parishes) served by the parish council. In
4046-760: Is now part of the Merseyrail network. Two road tunnels pass under the estuary from Liverpool. By road, the Queensway Tunnel opened in 1934 connecting the city to Birkenhead, and the Kingsway Tunnel , opened in 1971, connects with Wallasey . Further upstream, the Runcorn Railway Bridge over the river at Runcorn Gap was built in the 1860s for the London and North Western Railway on the mainline between London and Liverpool. It had
4165-557: Is situated about 1 mile upstream from the Runcorn Gap where the river is considerably wider. From the Runcorn Gap, the river widens into a large estuary , which is 3 miles (4.8 km) wide at its widest point near Ellesmere Port . The course of the river then heads north, with Liverpool to the east and the Wirral Peninsula to the west. The Manchester Ship Canal enters the river at Eastham Locks . The eastern part of
4284-660: Is that of the Oddfellows . This group established a lodge in Prescot in 1827 and become very active in the area. In Tarbock alone during the late 1830s three separate lodges were founded; although two did very quickly disband due to lack of members, the Farmers Rest Lodge was more successful and held regular meetings in the Brick Wall Inn. Each July, to mark their foundation day, they would march along Greensbridge Road to Halewood. Improved communications came in
4403-529: Is tidal from Howley Weir in Warrington. The canal let river traffic reach Warrington during low tides. During high spring tides, water levels often top the Howley Weir. Before construction of the ship canal, work to improve navigation on the Mersey included Woolston New Cut, bypassing a meander, and Howley Lock for craft to avoid the weir; the new cut and lock are still evident. The island formed between
4522-504: The 'Standards Board regime' with local monitoring by district, unitary or equivalent authorities. Under new regulations which came into effect in 2012 all parish councils in England are required to adopt a code of conduct with which parish councillors must comply, and to promote and maintain high standards. A new criminal offence of failing to comply with statutory requirements was introduced. More than one 'model code' has been published, and councils are free to modify an existing code or adopt
4641-1010: The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) to become the smallest geographical area for local government in rural areas. The act abolished the civil (non-ecclesiastical) duties of vestries . Parishes which straddled county boundaries or sanitary districts had to be split so that the part in each urban or rural sanitary district became a separate parish (see List of county exclaves in England and Wales 1844–1974 ). The sanitary districts were then reconstituted as urban districts and rural districts , with parishes that fell within urban districts classed as urban parishes, and parishes that fell within rural districts were classed as rural parishes. The 1894 act established elected civil parish councils as to all rural parishes with more than 300 electors, and established annual parish meetings in all rural parishes. Civil parishes were grouped to form either rural or urban districts which are thereafter classified as either type. The parish meetings for parishes with
4760-697: The Manchester Ship Canal just south of Irlam Locks. At this point the Ship Canal is the canalised section of the River Irwell . The old course of the Mersey has been obliterated by the canal past Hollins Green to Rixton although the old river bed can be seen outside Irlam and at Warburton . At Rixton the River Bollin enters the canal from the south and the Mersey leaves the canal to the north, meandering through Woolston , where
4879-401: The Manchester Ship Canal near Irlam Locks, becoming a part of the canal and maintaining its water levels. After 4 miles (6.4 km) it exits the canal, flowing towards Warrington where it widens. It then narrows as it passes between Runcorn and Widnes . The river widens into a large estuary , which is 3 miles (4.8 km) across at its widest point near Ellesmere Port . The course of
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4998-543: The Woodside ferry terminal in Birkenhead. On the Liverpool side, Liverpool Docks stretch for over 7.5 miles (12.1 km), the largest enclosed interconnected dock system in the world. American author Herman Melville described Liverpool Docks as being comparable to the pyramids in the vast scale of their construction. The docks were built out into the river bed. The Mersey Docks and Harbour Board used granite from
5117-472: The break with Rome , parishes managed ecclesiastical matters, while the manor was the principal unit of local administration and justice. Later, the church replaced the manor court as the rural administrative centre, and levied a local tax on produce known as a tithe . In the medieval period, responsibilities such as relief of the poor passed increasingly from the lord of the manor to the parish's rector , who in practice would delegate tasks among his vestry or
5236-595: The lord of the manor , but not all were willing and able to provide, so residents would be expected to attend the church of the nearest manor with a church. Later, the churches and priests became to a greater extent the responsibility of the Catholic Church thus this was formalised; the grouping of manors into one parish was recorded, as was a manor-parish existing in its own right. Boundaries changed little, and for centuries after 1180 'froze', despite changes to manors' extents. However, by subinfeudation , making
5355-403: The monarch ). A civil parish may be equally known as and confirmed as a town, village, neighbourhood or community by resolution of its parish council, a right not conferred on other units of English local government. The governing body of a civil parish is usually an elected parish council (which can decide to call itself a town, village, community or neighbourhood council, or a city council if
5474-470: The (often well-endowed) monasteries. After the dissolution of the monasteries , the power to levy a rate to fund relief of the poor was conferred on the parish authorities by the Poor Relief Act 1601 . Both before and after this optional social change, local (vestry-administered) charities are well-documented. The parish authorities were known as vestries and consisted of all the ratepayers of
5593-403: The 19th century and are now entirely separate. Civil parishes in their modern form came into being through the Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73), which established elected parish councils to take on the secular functions of the parish vestry . A civil parish can range in size from a sparsely populated rural area with fewer than a hundred inhabitants, to a large town with
5712-564: The 19th century is useful to historians, and is also of cultural significance in terms of shaping local identities; reinforced by the use of grouped parish boundaries, often, by successive local authority areas; and in a very rough, operations-geared way by most postcode districts. There was (and is) wide disparity in parish size. Writtle , Essex traditionally measures 13,568 acres (21 sq mi) – two parishes neighbouring are Shellow Bowells at 469 acres (0.7 sq mi), and Chignall Smealy at 476 acres (0.7 sq mi) Until
5831-591: The 2011 census, Newland with Woodhouse Moor and Beaumont Chase reported inhabitants, and there were no new deserted parishes recorded. Nearly all instances of detached parts of civil parishes (areas not contiguous with the main part of the parish) and of those straddling counties have been ended. 14 examples remain in England as at 2022, including Barnby Moor and Wallingwells , both in Nottinghamshire. Direct predecessors of civil parishes are most often known as "ancient parishes", although many date only from
5950-511: The 2021 census). The 2001 census recorded several parishes with no inhabitants. These were Chester Castle (in the middle of Chester city centre), Newland with Woodhouse Moor , Beaumont Chase , Martinsthorpe , Meering , Stanground North (subsequently abolished), Sturston , Tottington , and Tyneham (subsequently merged). The lands of the last three were taken over by the Armed Forces during World War II and remain deserted. In
6069-656: The Beatles . In 1965 it was the subject of the top-ten hit single " Ferry Cross the Mersey " by Gerry and the Pacemakers , and a musical film of the same name . The Liverpool poets published an anthology of their work, The Mersey Sound , in 1967. The river's stretch through Manchester is the main theme in the Stone Roses song "Mersey Paradise", included on the B-side of the 12" version of their 1989 hit " She Bangs
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#17327900945726188-551: The Drums ", and on their 1992 compilation album Turns into Stone . The Tall ships' fleet has visited the Mersey on four occasions, first in 1984, then in 1992, 2008 and 2012. The traditional song " Leaving of Liverpool " mentions the river in its opening line. The Mersey is considered sacred by British Hindus , and worshipped in a similar way to the River Ganges . Festival of Immersion ceremonies are held annually on
6307-570: The English population. For historical reasons, civil parishes predominantly cover rural areas and smaller urban areas, with most larger urban areas being wholly or partly unparished ; but since 1997 it has been possible for civil parishes to be created within unparished areas if demanded by local residents . In 2007 the right to create civil parishes was extended to London boroughs , although only one, Queen's Park , has so far been created. Eight parishes also have city status (a status granted by
6426-459: The Liverpool banks to New Brighton on the Wirral, forces water to flow faster creating a deep channel along the section of river. For 200 years an admiral was appointed as a conservator to ensure the river remained navigable. Mary Kendrick was the first woman to the post and she had spent years studying a Mersey barrage in the 1980s. Taylor's Bank is a large sandbank extending out to sea on
6545-597: The Mersey Narrows and North Wirral Foreshore, are also Ramsar sites . Capt. William Gill of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company , charted a safe, navigable channel (the Victoria Channel) through the treacherous uncharted waters of the estuary in 1836. Since the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal, large commercial vessels do not usually navigate the estuary beyond Garston on the north bank, or
6664-476: The Mersey's tributaries, the River Goyt and the River Bollin . Atlantic grey seals from Liverpool Bay occasionally venture into the estuary along with bottlenose dolphin and harbour porpoise . Otter tracks have been observed near Fiddlers Ferry. Other fish in the estuary include cod , whiting , dab , plaice and flounder . Spiny dogfish , mackerel and tope feed on shrimp and whitebait in
6783-489: The River Mersey until the advent of safe passage via bridges and tunnels. Many of these deaths were of people who earned their living on the river, either as mariners or dock workers. The majority of mariners to die worked on the Mersey flat boats and drowned due to the weather conditions or poor craft maintenance, although many ordinary civilians perished too. Another ferry existed at Runcorn Gap and by today's safety standards
6902-655: The Tame and Goyt, in central Stockport , Greater Manchester . However, older definitions, and many older maps, place its start a few miles up the Goyt at Compstall ; for example the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica states "It is formed by the junction of the Goyt and the Etherow a short distance below Marple in Cheshire on the first-named stream." The 1784 John Stockdale map shows the River Mersey extending to Mottram , and forming
7021-738: The administration of the poor laws was the main civil function of parishes, the Poor Law Amendment Act 1866 , which received royal assent on 10 August 1866, declared all areas that levied a separate rate or had their own overseer of the poor to be parishes. This included the Church of England parishes (until then simply known as "parishes"), extra-parochial areas , townships and chapelries . To have collected rates this means these beforehand had their own vestries, boards or equivalent bodies. Parishes using this definition subsequently became known as "civil parishes" to distinguish them from
7140-399: The appalling conditions were reported in the local and national press consistently for over 40 years. In the early 19th century steam operated ferries were introduced. The Mersey Ferry , managed and operated by Merseytravel , operates between Pier Head in Liverpool and Woodside in Birkenhead and Seacombe . It has become a tourist attraction offering cruises that provide an overview of
7259-633: The boundary between Cheshire and Derbyshire . In the west of Stockport it flows at the base of a cliff below the road called Brinksway before reaching flat country. An early Ordnance Survey map indicates the spring at Red Hole on the border of Cheshire and Yorkshire at the head of one of the Etherow's longest headwaters, as being the Source of the River Mersey . From Central Stockport the river flows through or past Heaton Mersey , Didsbury , Northenden , Chorlton-cum-Hardy , Stretford , Sale , Ashton on Mersey , Urmston and Flixton , where it flows into
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#17327900945727378-399: The charter, the charter may be transferred to a parish council for its area. Where there is no such parish council, the district council may appoint charter trustees to whom the charter and the arms of the former borough will belong. The charter trustees (who consist of the councillor or councillors for the area of the former borough) maintain traditions such as mayoralty . An example of such
7497-799: The city to Birkenhead, and the Kingsway Tunnel , opened in 1971, to Wallasey . A road bridge, completed in 1961 and later named the Silver Jubilee Bridge , crosses between Runcorn and Widnes, adjacent to the Runcorn Railway Bridge which opened in 1868. A second road bridge, the Mersey Gateway , opened in October 2017, carrying a six-lane road connecting Runcorn's Central Expressway with Speke Road and Queensway in Widnes. The Mersey Ferry operates between Pier Head in Liverpool and Woodside in Birkenhead and Seacombe , and has become
7616-534: The cleanest in the UK". The Mersey Valley Countryside Warden Service manages local nature reserves such as Chorlton Ees and Sale Water Park . The river gave its name to Merseybeat , developed by bands from Liverpool, notably the Beatles . In 1965 it was the subject of the top-ten hit single " Ferry Cross the Mersey " by Gerry and the Pacemakers . The name "Mersey" is derived from the Anglo-Saxon mǣres , 'of
7735-611: The complete re-building of the Brick Wall Inn site. Of far more significance was the sale of the Tarbock Estate by a public auction in 1926 at the local Hare and Hounds Hotel. The Sale Catalogue that was produced for the sale provides a detailed insight into the various properties, their value and their tenants, many of whom bought their property. The Estate measured nearly 2,300 acres (9.3 km) and featured twenty farms including Georgeson's Farm and Wood Lane Farm and over fifty houses and cottages. The original Brick Wall Inn
7854-537: The council are carried out by a paid officer, typically known as a parish clerk. Councils may employ additional people (including bodies corporate, provided where necessary, by tender) to carry out specific tasks dictated by the council. Some councils have chosen to pay their elected members an allowance, as permitted under part 5 of the Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003. The number of councillors varies roughly in proportion to
7973-464: The council of the urban district or borough in which they were contained. Many urban parishes were coterminous (geographically identical) with the urban district or municipal borough in which they lay. Towns which included multiple urban parishes often consolidated the urban parishes into one. The urban parishes continued to be used as an electoral area for electing guardians to the poor law unions . The unions took in areas in multiple parishes and had
8092-466: The council will an election be held. However, sometimes there are fewer candidates than seats. When this happens, the vacant seats have to be filled by co-option by the council. If a vacancy arises for a seat mid-term, an election is only held if a certain number (usually ten) of parish residents request an election. Otherwise the council will co-opt someone to be the replacement councillor. The Localism Act 2011 introduced new arrangements which replaced
8211-525: The creation of town and parish councils is encouraged in unparished areas . The Local Government and Rating Act 1997 created a procedure which gave residents in unparished areas the right to demand that a new parish and parish council be created. This right was extended to London boroughs by the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 – with this, the City of London
8330-463: The desire to have a more local tier of government when new larger authorities have been created, which are felt to be remote from local concerns and identity. A number of parishes have been created in places which used to have their own borough or district council; examples include Daventry (2003), Folkestone (2004), Kidderminster (2015) and Sutton Coldfield (2016). The trend towards the creation of geographically large unitary authorities has been
8449-439: The ecclesiastical parishes. The Church of England parishes, which cover more than 99% of England, have become officially (and to avoid ambiguity) termed ecclesiastical parishes . The limits of many of these have diverged; most greatly through changes in population and church attendance (these factors can cause churches to be opened or closed). Since 1921, each has been the responsibility of its own parochial church council . In
8568-534: The established English Church, which for a few years after Henry VIII alternated between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England , before settling on the latter on the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558. By the 18th century, religious membership was becoming more fractured in some places, due in part to the progress of Methodism . The legitimacy of the parish vestry came into question, and
8687-434: The estuary is much affected by silting, and part of it is marked on modern maps as dry land rather than tidal. The wetlands are of importance to wildlife, and are listed as a Ramsar site . Most of the conurbation on both sides of the estuary is known as Merseyside . The estuary narrows between Liverpool and Birkenhead , where it is constricted to a width of 0.7 miles (1.1 km), between Albert Dock in Liverpool and
8806-399: The estuary where it meets Liverpool Bay, opened in 1971. The dock deals with around 500,000 containers, over 1.2 million tonnes of oil, over 2.5 million tonnes of grain and animal feed, 452,000 tonnes of wood per year. About 25% of all container traffic between the UK and USA passes through the port making it one of the most successful in the world and known as the "Atlantic Gateway". Liverpool
8925-587: The estuary. For ducks, the estuary is important to common shelducks and Eurasian teal . Waders include redshank , black-tailed godwit , dunlin , pintail and turnstone . The section of the estuary between Runcorn Railway Bridge and Bromborough , including Hale Duck Decoy and Mount Manisty , is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, the SSSI citation describing it as an "internationally important site for wildfowl". There are further SSSIs at New Ferry and Mersey Narrows. The Mersey Estuary, and
9044-543: The event has not returned. During the 1990s the festival was the largest event if its kind in Europe. In the 2010s the event attracted tens of thousands of people and included music stages and other waterside attractions alongside regattas, visiting vessels, and tall ships on the river. Notable musical artists who have performed at the event include Katie Melua , Shola Ama and Russell Watson . Captain David Hawker
9163-403: The existing Silver Jubilee Bridge will also be tolled. Water quality in the Mersey was severely affected by industrialisation, and in 1985, the Mersey Basin Campaign was established to improve water quality and encourage waterside regeneration. In 2002, oxygen levels that could support fish along the entire length were recorded for the first time since industry began on the Mersey. In 2009 it
9282-455: The government at the time of the Local Government Act 1972 discouraged their creation for large towns or their suburbs, but there is generally nothing to stop their establishment. For example, Birmingham has two parishes ( New Frankley and Sutton Coldfield ), Oxford has four, and the Milton Keynes urban area has 24. Parishes could not however be established in London until the law was changed in 2007. A civil parish can range in area from
9401-649: The late 1720s with the Liverpool-Warrington Turnpike Trust passing through the township, although it doesn't appear to have had the same impact it did in other townships it passed through. In the mid-1770s a canal to link the River Mersey with the Sankey Canal was proposed. This route would have gone via Halewood, Cronton and Tarbock but was opposed by the Earl of Derby and the Earl of Sefton as being unnecessary and after
9520-476: The late 19th century, most of the "ancient" (a legal term equivalent to time immemorial ) irregularities inherited by the civil parish system were cleaned up, and the majority of exclaves were abolished. The census of 1911 noted that 8,322 (58%) of "parishes" in England and Wales were not geographically identical when comparing the civil to the ecclesiastical form. In 1894, civil parishes were reformed by
9639-452: The locks into the ship canal at Eastham . Deep-water channels are maintained to both. Until the early 20th century, commercial traffic bound for further upstream carried cargo in large flat-bottomed sailing barges known as Mersey Flats to Howley Wharf in Warrington and (via the Sankey Canal ) to St Helens . Motor barges delivered to riverside factories at Warrington until at least the 1970s, but nowadays only pleasure craft and yachts use
9758-593: The main river and adjacent salt marshes. The average amount of Hg in the Mersey was found to be 2 mg/kg with the highest amounts of 5 mg/kg occurring below the surface at concentrations harmful to sediment dwelling biota. The vertical rise and fall in Hg pollution observed at four Mersey salt marshes indicated a decline in metal pollution since the 1980s. Salmon have returned to the river and have been seen jumping at Woolston and Howley Weirs between September and November. Salmon parr and smolt have been caught in
9877-465: The mid 19th century. Using a longer historical lens the better terms are "pre-separation (civil and ecclesiastical) parish", "original medieval parishes" and "new parishes". The Victoria County History , a landmark collaborative work mostly written in the 20th century (although incomplete), summarises the history of each English "parish", roughly meaning late medieval parish. A minority of these had exclaves , which could be: In some cases an exclave of
9996-406: The middle of the range of similarly industrial-urban river-estuaries. The distribution of individual PAH compounds suggests that the Mersey has contaminants mainly derived from combustion sources such as vehicle exhaust as well as coal burning. The distribution of the toxic heavy metal Mercury (Hg) has been assessed by measuring 203 sediments taken from shallow cores (0.4 – 1.6 m) extracted from both
10115-465: The new district councils (outside London) to review their parishes, and many areas left unparished in 1972 have since been made parishes, either in whole or part. For example, Hinckley , whilst entirely unparished in 1974, now has four civil parishes, which together cover part of its area, whilst the central part of the town remains unparished. Some parishes were sub-divided into smaller territories known as hamlets , tithings or townships . Nowadays
10234-448: The north side of the channel entrance to the river on which many ships have come to grief over the years. Historically the lowest bridging point on the Mersey was at Warrington where there has been a bridge since medieval times. The first ferry across the estuary was introduced in medieval times by monks from Birkenhead Priory . They transported travellers or accommodated them at the priory in bad weather. Countless people died on
10353-408: The original river channel became Warrington Dock (Walton Lock) in the ship canal. In the 1960s, the former river channel was filled. The area is now Wilderspool Causeway Park. At the western end of the canalised section in Warrington is the old entrance to the former Runcorn to Latchford Canal . This waterway was abandoned with the construction of the ship canal. It was constructed because the Mersey
10472-488: The other conurbations. Civil parishes vary greatly in population: some have populations below 100 and have no settlement larger than a hamlet , while others cover towns with populations of tens of thousands. Weston-super-Mare , with a population of 71,758, is the most populous civil parish. In many cases small settlements, today popularly termed villages , localities or suburbs, are in a single parish which originally had one church. Large urban areas are mostly unparished, as
10591-448: The parish has city status). Alternatively, in parishes with small populations (typically fewer than 150 electors) governance may be by a parish meeting which all electors may attend; alternatively, parishes with small populations may be grouped with one or more neighbours under a common parish council. Wales was also divided into civil parishes until 1974, when they were replaced by communities , which are similar to English parishes in
10710-401: The parish the status of a town, at which point the council becomes a town council . Around 400 parish councils are called town councils. Under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 , a civil parish may be given one of the following alternative styles: As a result, a parish council can be called a town council, a community council, a village council or occasionally
10829-404: The parish. As the number of ratepayers of some parishes grew, it became increasingly difficult to convene meetings as an open vestry. In some, mostly built-up, areas the select vestry took over responsibility from the entire body of ratepayers. This innovation improved efficiency, but allowed governance by a self-perpetuating elite. The administration of the parish system relied on the monopoly of
10948-562: The parish; the church rate ceased to be levied in many parishes and became voluntary from 1868. During the 17th century it was found that the 1601 Poor Law did not work well for very large parishes, which were particularly common in northern England. Such parishes were typically subdivided into multiple townships , which levied their rates separately. The Poor Relief Act 1662 therefore directed that for poor law purposes 'parish' meant any place which maintained its own poor, thereby converting many townships into separate 'poor law parishes'. As
11067-499: The perceived inefficiency and corruption inherent in the system became a source for concern in some places. For this reason, during the early 19th century the parish progressively lost its powers to ad hoc boards and other organisations, such as the boards of guardians given responsibility for poor relief through the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 . Sanitary districts covered England in 1875 and Ireland three years later. The replacement boards were each entitled to levy their own rate in
11186-411: The population of the parish. Most rural parish councillors are elected to represent the entire parish, though in parishes with larger populations or those that cover larger areas, the parish can be divided into wards. Each of these wards then returns councillors to the parish council (the numbers depending on their population). Only if there are more candidates standing for election than there are seats on
11305-528: The river Meteia meaning "reaping one" or "she that cuts down" (Breeze notes the possibility of a local deity associated with the river, but highlights that this is only a supposition based on known deities like Sulis and Aerfen ). The Mersey is formed from three tributaries : the River Etherow , the River Goyt and the River Tame . The modern accepted start of the Mersey is at the confluence of
11424-407: The river and surrounding areas. The Mersey Railway completed its tunnel through the estuary's underlying Triassic sandstone using manual labour in 1885. Intended as a pneumatic railway , the company opted for steam trains from its opening until it was electrified in 1903. The centre of the running tunnel is between 30 feet (9.1 m) and 70 feet (21.3 m) below the river bed. The railway
11543-636: The river as fish such as perch , barbel , grayling , carp , roach , chub , trout , pike , bream and dace have been caught. Warrington Anglers Association have fishing rights on a large stretch of the River through most of Warrington. Prince Albert Angling Society also have a small stretch near Rixton. The river has also faced problems regarding the poaching of fish despite a strict 'catch and release' policy imposed on anglers for ecological reasons which applies to most UK waterways. The Mersey River Festival, rebranded in 2018 as ‘River Festival Liverpool’,
11662-498: The river between Stockport and Carrington. Liverpool Sailing Club located at Garston Coastal Park on the north bank of the estuary has a 1000 feet slipway giving access to river for water sports. The wooded suburban stretch of the river from above Howley Weir to Woolston is also used for recreational and competitive rowing, operated from the Warrington Rowing Club. Angling has become popular on some stretches of
11781-477: The river then turns northwards as the estuary narrows between Liverpool and Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula to the west, and empties into Liverpool Bay . In total the river flows 69 miles (111 km). Part of the Mersey Railway , a rail tunnel between Birkenhead and Liverpool opened in 1886. Two road tunnels pass under the estuary from Liverpool: the Queensway Tunnel opened in 1934 connecting
11900-504: The ship canal company's dredgings have formed the Woolston Eyes nature reserve, and on to Warrington . During the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal, the original course of the river through Wilderspool (which is north of Stockton Heath and Lower Walton) was diverted westward into a canalised section. Wilderspool Causeway remains the only remnant of the original eastern bank of the Mersey at this point in Warrington. Part of
12019-415: The ship canal, a lock bypassing Howley Weir allowed navigation further upstream via a straight "cut" avoiding a meander around Woolston. The Mersey Valley Countryside Warden Service manages local nature reserves such as Chorlton Ees and Sale Water Park recreational sites and provides an educational service along the Mersey from Manchester to the Manchester Ship Canal. It is possible to canoe on parts of
12138-480: The sixteenth century the manor is described as having two watermills, a windmill and a fulling mill. When the Earl of Sefton conducted a survey of his Estates in 1769 there was both a watermill and a windmill still in use. Even in the early twentieth century the township remained predominantly rural until the opening of a new coalmine at Halsnead Park. Located between the townships of Cronton , Tarbock and Whiston it
12257-427: The upper estuary and the tidal river where a number of sailing clubs are based. On most high tides, seagoing yachts with masts raised can navigate as far upstream as Fiddlers Ferry – about 3.1 mi (5.0 km) downstream of Warrington – where there is a small marina accessed via a river lock. Although river craft can continue upstream to Howley Weir, there are no landing or mooring facilities. Before construction of
12376-557: The way they operate. Civil parishes in Scotland were abolished for local government purposes by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 ; the Scottish equivalent of English civil parishes are the community council areas established by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 , which have fewer powers than their English and Welsh counterparts. There are no equivalent units in Northern Ireland . The parish system in Europe
12495-499: The weir and the lock is known locally as "Monkey Island". West of Warrington the river widens, and then narrows as it passes through the Runcorn Gap between the towns of Runcorn and Widnes , in Halton . The Manchester Ship Canal passes through the gap to the south of the river. The gap is bridged by the Silver Jubilee Bridge and Runcorn Railway Bridge . Another crossing, the Mersey Gateway road bridge opened in October 2017, and
12614-641: Was a plain square building built using handmade bricks and over a period of years a number of outbuildings including a shippon and stables were added. For over a century the licence was held by the Ambrose family. Until the 1880s the ale sold was that brewed by Fleetwood's at the Brewery House on the opposite side of the road. In the 1920s the brewery was bought by the Burtonwood Brewery Company, who made further alterations before it
12733-550: Was an annual event held on the river Mersey during a weekend in May or June between 1981 and 2019 to celebrate Liverpool's maritime tradition. Originally organised by the Merseyside Development Corporation , the festival was later overseen by Liverpool City Council and Culture Liverpool. The last event was planned to take place between the 8 and 10 May 2020, but was cancelled due to COVID . As of 2024,
12852-509: Was announced that the river is "cleaner than at any time since the industrial revolution" and is "now considered one of the cleanest [rivers] in the UK". Persistent organic and mercury (Hg) pollution contained within sediments of the Mersey estuary have been evaluated by British Geological Survey . Mersey river sediments from outer to inner estuary (Alfred Dock to Widnes) contain a variety of common organic pollutants, including polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) with concentrations which fall in
12971-421: Was built at Tarbock Green in the mid sixteenth century. The building was pulled down in the late 1830s, despite being ' rich in carved woodwork ', possibly due to the completion of a building of a Chapel of Ease at Halewood in 1839. This area which is now an important conservation area contains a number of old cottages, including one, believed to be the oldest in the village, which bears a datestone of 1776. In
13090-560: Was called the Cronton Colliery although some of the buildings were sited just within Tarbock . This had a huge impact on the local community as many of the farmers left the land to work on the mine. William Webster, who died in 1684, bequeathed the interest of some shares he held for the poor of both Huyton and Tarbock. Known as Webster's Dole this legacy survived for nearly three hundred years. Another example of local charity
13209-569: Was demolished in 1940 and a new brewery house was built. As the Brick Wall so clearly illustrates whilst many of the properties have histories attached to them, these are often the legacy of former buildings. More recently Tarbock has increased in prominence through its proximity to the Tarbock Interchange. This roundabout is believed to be the largest in Europe, with a circumference of a mile. Civil parish In England,
13328-498: Was established between the 8th and 12th centuries, and an early form was long established in England by the time of the Norman Conquest . These areas were originally based on the territory of manors , which, in some cases, derived their bounds from Roman or Iron Age estates; some large manors were sub-divided into several parishes. Initially, churches and their priests were the gift and continued patronage (benefaction) of
13447-537: Was granted to Henry II in 1150 before it was given to the Lathom family. Towards the end of the twelfth century the two were split between different branches of the family with Tarbock being assigned to Henry de Lathom. His son Richard was the first to adopt the name ' de Torbock '. Tarbock Hall features in Saxton's map of Lancashire in 1577, although parts of the hall are believed to be fifteenth century in origin. It
13566-402: Was highly dangerous. Passengers had to traverse wooden planks over the mud flats to reach the ferry boats which themselves were often poorly maintained and leaking. Even the steps down to the river bank were described as "beautifully slippery". In the dark the ferry was particularly worrying as there were few or no lights and the journey was only undertaken on a "needs must" basis. Complaints about
13685-458: Was likely a corruption of the actual name. Some, including David Parsons, have suggested the original forms "Segeia" and "Segantii" - based on the root "sego" meaning "strong". Andrew Breeze instead suggests the original forms "Meteia" and "Metantii" - from "met" meaning "cut" or "harvest" - with the likely meaning being that the Metantii were "reapers (of men), cutters-down (of enemies)", with
13804-504: Was surrounded by a ' moat ' which was still very prominent on the Tithe map drawn up in 1847, although three sides were reported to have been filled in by the turn of this century. Ownership of the manor remained in the Lathom family, often through the female line, until 1611 when it was sold to Thomas Sutton , a London gentleman and founder of Charterhouse School . Unfortunately Sutton died
13923-535: Was the Mersey River Festival's official artist from the late 1990s until the last event in 2019. The painter attended annually to capture on paper the boats, attractions, visitors, and events as they unfolded. Proposals continue for the construction of the Mersey Barrage , a tidal scheme to generate electricity and create another crossing of the river. Very high spring tides can generate
14042-577: Was the first UK port with radar assisted operations. The river empties into Liverpool Bay on the Irish Sea , after a total course of 69 miles (111 km). From 4 metres (13.1 ft) neap tide to 10 metres (32.8 ft) spring tide , the River Mersey has the second highest tidal range in Britain – second only to the River Severn . The narrows in the river estuary between Dingle Point on
14161-580: Was the longest motorway bridge in England. A second viaduct alongside opened in 1995; northbound traffic uses the old viaduct and southbound the new. A new 6-lane bridge, the " Mersey Gateway ", between Runcorn and Widnes began its construction phase in May 2014 and opened just after midnight on 14 October 2017. At the same time the Silver Jubilee Bridge was closed to undergo maintenance for approximately 6–12 months, but will remain open to pedestrians and cyclists. The new bridge uses tolls and
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