Birkdale is an area of

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

, within the

Metropolitan Borough of Sefton The Metropolitan Borough of Sefton is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England. It was formed on Local Government Act 1972, 1 April 1974, by the amalgamation of the county boroughs of Bootle and Southport, the municipal borough of Crosby, ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

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

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

coast, and forms the southern part of Southport's built-up area. At the 2021 census, the population of Birkdale ward (which includes Hillside) was 12,689. This does not include the area west of the railway line, which is part of Duke's ward.

History

Birkdale probably takes its name from two

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

words, ''birki'' meaning "birch-copse" and ''dalr'' meaning "dale" or "valley". The area was developed in the Victorian era; an Ordnance Survey map of 1848 shows the newly built

Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway The Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway was a British railway company, which opened a line in 1848 between Southport and Waterloo, extending into Liverpool in 1850. The company was acquired by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1855. T ...

passing through farmland all the way to Southport station, while an 1894 map has Birkdale station surrounded by many streets lined with houses, as well as churches, schools and the Palace Hotel.

Geography

Birkdale lies immediately south of Southport's central area. It is bounded to the east by the farmland of

Halsall Halsall is a village and civil parish in West Lancashire, England, located close to Ormskirk on the A5147 and Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Description Historically known as Heleshala, Herleshala, (Domesday Book); Haleshal, 1224; Haleshale, 12 ...

parish, to the south by Hillside and the Birkdale Hills, with

Ainsdale Ainsdale is a village near Southport, in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Sefton district, in Merseyside, England, situated three miles south of the centre of Southport. Originally in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Lanca ...

beyond, and to the west by the coastal road overlooking Birkdale Sands.

Governance

Southport is unparished, and all local government functions are carried out by

Sefton Council Sefton Council, or Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council, is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It is a metropolitan borough council and provides the majority of local government services in the borou ...

which is a

metropolitan district council A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts within metropol ...

. Birkdale ward and Duke's ward (which extends beyond Birkdale into the centre of Southport) each elect three councillors. Birkdale is part of the

constituency for elections to the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

, where it has been represented since 2024 by Patrick Hurley for the Labour Party. Birkdale was formerly a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

and

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

in the parish of

North Meols North Meols () is a civil parish and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England. The parish covers the village of Banks, Lancashire, Banks and the hamlet of Hundred ...

. In 1866 Birkdale became a separate

civil parish In England, 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, w ...

, and in 1894 it became an

urban district An urban district is a division generally managed by a local government. It may also refer to a city district, district, urban area or quarter Specific urban districts in some countries include: * Urban districts of Denmark * Districts of Germa ...

which from 1905 also contained the parish of

. On 1 April 1912 the district and parish were abolished and merged with Southport. In 1911 the parish had a population of 15,900. Until 1 April 1974, Birkdale lay in the county of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

Religious sites

There are three

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

parishes, each with 19th-century churches: St Peter's (centrally placed, completed 1871, tower added 1887); St James' (north-west, 1857); and St John's (south, 1890, enlarged 1909). The Catholic church of St Joseph was completed in 1867 to designs of E. W. Pugin. Our Lady of Lourdes at Hillside (1956) is in the same parish. Another offshoot of St Joseph's is St Teresa of Avila (1898). Birkdale also has Evangelical, Methodist and United Reformed churches.

Sport

Birkdale receives sporting attention every few years when the

Royal Birkdale Royal Birkdale Golf Club is a golf course in the United Kingdom in North West England, located in Southport, Merseyside. It is one of the clubs in the rotation for both the Open Championship and Women's British Open and has hosted the Open Cham ...

golf course hosts

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 th ...

, most recently in July 2017. Trafalgar Road, the home ground of the Southport and Birkdale Cricket Club, is used for county-level

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

matches approximately once a year. Southport and Birkdale

squash Squash most often refers to: * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (plant), the fruit of vines of the genus ''Cucurbita'' Squash may also refer to: Sports * Squash (professional wrestling), an extr ...

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

Red Rum Red Rum (3 May 1965 – 18 October 1995) was an Irish 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, 1 ...

, a racehorse 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 ...

, 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 (cognac), Martell Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 155th official renewal of the Grand National Steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechase that took place at Aintree Racec ...

. Birkdale United AFC played a crucial part in the footballing education of Premiership footballers such as

Jack Rodwell Jack Christian Rodwell (born 11 March 1991) is an English professional footballer who last played for A-League side Sydney FC as a centre-back or defensive midfielder. Born in Southport, Merseyside, Rodwell joined Everton F.C., Everton's acade ...

Dominic Matteo Dominic Matteo (born 28 April 1974) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a defender and midfielder in a 17-year professional career from 1992 to 2009. He made a total of 366 league and cup appearances, of which 276 were ...

Shaun Teale Shaun Teale (born 10 March 1964) is an English football manager and former professional footballer. He played as a defender from 1983 until 2004 and was notably part of the League Cup winning team of Aston Villa in 1994.He also played in the ...

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 Liverpool where his fa ...

, and still has its home in the village, fielding teams for boys from the age of 6 and girls from the age of 7 through to open age teams. The club was 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 1,200 pupils including sixth form students;

Birkdale High School Birkdale High School was a secondary school located in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. History The school's buildings were constructed in two distinct phases; the older building, comprising mainly the former Wheelwright Grammar School for ...

which is for boys; and

Greenbank High School Greenbank High School is an all-girls secondary academy school located in Hillside, Southport, Merseyside, England. School details Greenbank currently holds The NACE (National Able Children in Education) Challenge Award, Artsmark Gold, British ...

(in the part of Birkdale known as Hillside) for girls.

Amenities

The area has two stations – Birkdale and Hillside – on

Merseyrail Merseyrail is a commuter rail network which serves Merseyside and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire in the North West England, North West of England. Merseyrail serves 69 Railway station, stations, 67 of which it manages, across two lin ...

Northern line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs between North London and South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. It carries more passengers per year than any other Underground linearound 340million in 2019making it the bu ...

, which connects Southport with Liverpool.

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 for decades one of the leading political and academ ...

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 decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

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 and actor, famed for his quick wit. Mack’s better known work includes creating, writing and starring in sitcom ''Not Going Out'', and featuring ...

was a pupil at Birkdale County Junior School

Marcus Morris Marcus Thomas Morris Sr. (born September 2, 1989) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Kansas Jayhawks befor ...

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 Executioner, hangman who executed between 435 and 600 people in a 25-year career that ended in 1956. His father Henry Pierrepoint, Henry and uncle Thomas Pierrepoint, Th ...

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

Sunderland A.F.C. Sunderland Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1879, the club has won si ...

Midfielder *Historian

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

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 Former civil parishes in Merseyside Southport