BIRKENH::gAD, wiT:n: TOWNSHIPS. 111 BIRKENHEAD, WITH THE ADJOINING TOWNSHIPS oF CLAUGHTON-WITH-GRANGE, OXTON, AND TRANMERE; AND THE HAMLETS OF ROCK FERRY AND NEW FERRY. BIRKENHEAD is a parochial cbapelry, Parliamentary borough, and extensive market town, the principal of the union and polling district to which it gives its name, in the hundred and deanery of Wirral, archdeaconry of Liverpool, diocese of Chester, West Cheshire ; 15 miles north-west from Chester, on the west bank of the river Mersey, op­ posite Liverpool. Few places in England have risen so rapidly as this, as at the com­ mencement of the present century it contained only about 100 persons, and 16 houses, which, with the ruins of the ancient Priory, were all the buildings then comprised in this now extensive port. The docks, warehouses, and other buildings which have been erected will, no doubt, in time, make it a formidable rival, though not antagonistic, to Liverpool-the increasing amount of commerce will amply serve for both. The means of communication between the two places being very convenient by means of the Ferries, numerous handsome villa residences have sprung up in the neighbourhood, forming pleasant surburban retreats for the merchants and others from Liverpool. The town having been built in modern times, the streets are laid out principally at right angles with each other, and for width and convenience for transit, are not to be surpassed in the kingdom. The extensive Docks that have been made in Wallasey Pool, which ran inland for about two miles, were :first projected in 1843, and at the meeting of the Commissioners on the 7th November in that year, it was decided that their law clerk should "go to Parlia­ " ment for the purpose of receiving powers to make the most capacious dock that ever "was made in the United Kingdom." This was accordingly done, and the Act of Par­ liament received the Royal assent on the 19th July, 1844; during the passing of this Act a company was also formed for the erection of warehouses and other conveniences, and in the following session of Parliament the Birkenhead Dock Company was incorporated, with power also to construct several other Docks communicating with the Great Float; and by another Act passed at the same time provisions were made to extend the railway to the Docks and warehouses. The :first stone of the Docks was laid by Sir Philip de Malpas Grey Egerton, Bart., on the 23rd October, 1844; but the work proceeded slowly, in consequence of want of funds. On the 5th April, 1847, the two small Docks, the Egerton and Morpeth, were opened by Earl Carlisle, then Lord Morpeth, Chief Com­ missioner of Woods and Forests. The Great Float was opened in 1851, but in a very unfinished state. The whole of the water space comprises the following :- ACRES YARDS. Morpeth Dock .. • .. • .. • •• • 9 787 Low-Water Basin ... •.• ••• 14 796 NewDock... ..• ..• •.• .•• 8 1813 Western Float ..• •.• •.• ••. 52 319 Eastern Float ••• ••• ••• ••• 59 3706 Canada Works Basin •. • •. ..• 1 2554 East Canada Basin •• • •• . • 1 84 Railway Dock Basin .•• .•. .•. 0 606 which, with a wet dock of about 7! acres, gives a total of 153 acres 1425 yards; and the quay space extends 9 miles and 878 yards. .