Merseyside

Merseyside is a conurbation spanning the estuary of the River Mersey, for statistical purposes forming a part of the North West of England. Its core is the city of Liverpool, but it also includes Birkenhead and the Wirral, Bootle, Knowsley, St Helens, and, more arguably, Southport. In 1974 all these areas were included in a new metropolitan council area of Merseyside, spanning the south west of the county Lancashire, plus the much of the Wirral peninsula in Cheshire. Merseyside County Council was abolished in 1986 but Merseyside remains a county for the purposes of lieutenancy and also for policing, public transport, fire & civil defence and other functions. The lands of Merseyside north of the Mersey remain part of the geographical county Lancashire, and those south remain part of Cheshire.