Birkdale is an area of

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

, within the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton,

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wi ...

, though historically in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, in the north-west of England. The area is located on the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...

coast, approximately a mile away from the centre of Southport. From 1894 to 1912, Birkdale and the adjoining suburb/village of

Ainsdale Ainsdale is an area of Southport in Merseyside, England, situated three miles south of the centre of Southport. Originally in the Historic counties of England, Historic County of Lancashire, at the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census it had a ...

were administered by Birkdale Urban District Council before becoming part of the

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent te ...

of Southport. Until 1 April 1974, Birkdale lay in the traditional borders of the county of

. At the 2001 census, the local government ward called Birkdale had a population of 12,265. The population of the area at the 2011 Census is shown under Birkdale (ward) (qv). Other parts of Birkdale are included in Dukes wardwhich contains a significant part of the village centre and the Royal Birkdale Golf Club

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

and

wards. Birkdale also inspired the name for a new urban mixed use community in the United States north of Charlotte, North Carolina in Huntersville, North Carolina called Birkdale Village.

Etymology

Birkdale probably takes its name from two

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

words, ''birki'' meaning "birch-copse" and ''dalr'' meaning "dale" or "valley".

Governance

Birkdale is part of the

constituency for elections to the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

, it is currently represented by the Conservative Party MP, Damien Moore. For elections to

Sefton Council Sefton Council is the governing body for the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in the county of Merseyside, north-western England. The council was under no overall control from the 1980s until 2012 when the Labour Party took control. It is a cons ...

Birkdale acts as a single electoral ward, it currently has three councillors, their names ar
Iain Brodie - BrowneRichard Hands
an
Simon Shaw
all are members of the Liberal Democrats.

Demography

On the whole it is a wealthy area featuring many large Victorian and

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

houses; many of the houses have not yet been broken up into individual flats, and still house families. The area is almost entirely residential, with mainly semi-detached houses as the norm. In the summer of 2003, the average property price was £149,550 (just under £10,000 less than the national average). This has risen to £200,844 in July 2005, more than £20,000 over the national mix-adjusted national average house price. The area has been a popular area with footballers from local Merseyside or Lancashire clubs. Birkdale Village is on Liverpool Road and features a variety of shops, bars and restaurants. Birkdale railway station is situated on the

Northern Line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, tw ...

of the

Merseyrail Merseyrail is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, commuter rail network serving the Liverpool City Region and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire. Merseyrail operates 66 railway stations across two lines – the Northern Line (Merseyrail ...

network, that links Southport to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

Sport

Despite its small size, Birkdale receives a great deal of sporting attention once every few years as it plays host to

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later t ...

. It was last played at the Royal Birkdale

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

course in July 2017. To lesser fame, the home ground of the Southport and Birkdale Cricket Club on Trafalgar Road is used for county level

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

matches approximately once a year. Southport and Birkdale

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

club also play here and are in the North West Counties Squash League.

Red Rum Red Rum (3 May 1965 – 18 October 1995) was a champion Thoroughbred steeplechaser. He achieved an unmatched historic treble when he won the Grand National in 1973, 1974 and 1977, and also came second in the two intervening years, 1975 ...

, a racehorse who was trained by

Ginger McCain Donald "Ginger" McCain (21 September 1930 – 19 September 2011) was an English horse trainer who led the champion steeplechaser Red Rum to three Grand National victories in the 1970s. A former national serviceman in the Royal Air Force as a mo ...

, had his stables in Upper Aughton Road in Birkdale, while a horse named after the village took part and finished tenth in the

2002 Grand National The 2002 Grand National (officially known as the Martell Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 155th official renewal of the Grand National steeplechase that took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, on 6 April 2002. ...

. Birkdale United AFC played a crucial part in the footballing education of Premiership footballers such as Jack Rodwell, Dominic Matteo, Shaun Teale and

Paul Dalglish Paul Kenneth Dalglish (born 18 February 1977) is a Scottish former professional footballer. Playing career Dalglish, son of former Scotland international Kenny Dalglish, was born in Glasgow though spent his childhood in the city where his fa ...

, and still has its home in the village, boasting teams for boys from the age of 6 and girls from the age of 7 through to open age teams. The club was also presented the FA's highest accolade in January 2008, becoming the first FA Charter Community Club in Southport.

Education

Birkdale has three secondary schools, Christ the King Catholic High School, which has around 1200 pupils including sixth form students, Birkdale High School which is for boys, and Greenbank High School (in the part of Birkdale known as Hillside) for girls.

Transport

Birkdale is served by frequent buses run by

Arriva North West Arriva North WestCompanies House extract company no 1990871

(to Southport, Formby and Liverpool),

Cumfybus Cumfybus is a bus company based in Southport, Merseyside. Its operations were small scale throughout the 1990s, but it has expanded significantly since its incorporation as a limited company in 2002, and in 2010 had a fleet of nearly 100 buses. ...

, and

Stagecoach Merseyside Stagecoach Merseyside is a major operator of bus services in the city of Liverpool and the surrounding Merseyside region. It is a sub-division of Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire. Stagecoach Merseyside was formed in July 2005 with ...

(to Liverpool and Preston). Birkdale has two stations, Birkdale and Hillside which are on the

of the

network.

Notable people

Richard Corbett Richard Graham Corbett CBE (born 6 January 1955) is a former British politician who served as the final Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP), from 2017 to 2020. He was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Merseysi ...

MEP lived in Birkdale until the age of 8 and attended Farnborough Road School. *Novelist J. G. Farrell, twice a Booker Prize winner, was evacuated to Birkdale during WW2 *Private Richard George Masters VC, soldier awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

for actions on 9 April 1918, born in Birkdale *Comedian

Lee Mack Lee Gordon McKillop (born 4 August 1968), known by his stage name Lee Mack, is an English comedian, actor, podcaster and presenter. He is known for his quick wit, writing and starring in the sitcom '' Not Going Out'', being a team captain on th ...

was a pupil at Birkdale County Junior School

* Marcus Morris was vicar of St James' Church, Lulworth Road, in the 1940s and 50s. *

Albert Pierrepoint Albert Pierrepoint (; 30 March 1905 – 10 July 1992) was an English hangman who executed between 435 and 600 people in a 25-year career that ended in 1956. His father Henry and uncle Thomas were official hangmen before him. Pierrepoin ...

, the most famous British hangman of modern times, lived in Birkdale in later life and had a tobacconist's shop in Birkdale village. * Jack Rodwell -

Sunderland A.F.C. Sunderland Association Football Club (, ) is an English professional football club based in the city of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. Formed in 1879, Sunderland play in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club has won six t ...

Midfielder *

A. J. P. Taylor Alan John Percivale Taylor (25 March 1906 – 7 September 1990) was a British historian who specialised in 19th- and 20th-century European diplomacy. Both a journalist and a broadcaster, he became well known to millions through his televis ...

was born in Birkdale in 1906.

References

External links

Royal Birkdale Golf ClubOpen Golf Tournament InformationBirkdale United AFCBirkdale High School
{{NW_England Towns and villages in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton Districts of England created by the Local Government Act 1894 Southport