County in England
Merseyside
Merseyside is a county younger than colour TV in Britain, yet it gave the world the Beatles, the Grand National and a ferry made famous by a song.
Key information
- County
- Merseyside
- Nation
- England
- Population
- about 1.43 million (2021 Census)
- Known for
- The Beatles, Liverpool's waterfront, the Grand National, football rivalries
- What locals are called
- Scousers (especially in Liverpool); Merseysiders as a general term
- Famous people
- John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Kenny Dalglish, Cilla Black
- Football clubs
- Liverpool, Everton, Tranmere Rovers
About Merseyside
The county named after a river, with a nickname for its people
Merseyside takes its name from the River Mersey, and its best-known residents take theirs from a stew. Scouse, a meat-and-vegetable dish brought by sailors from northern Europe, gave Liverpudlians the name Scousers, and the word now covers the accent too. The county itself dates only from 1974, when Liverpool and its neighbours were joined together. Its identity, though, is far older: a string of docks, ferries, shipyards and seaside towns all facing the same busy estuary. That sense of belonging is strong. Ask someone from Birkenhead, Bootle or Southport where they are from and you'll hear the town first, but the county's shared humour, accent and swagger are unmistakable.
How a muddy pool became a world port
Liverpool was little more than a small settlement until King John granted it a charter in 1207. Its great leap came with trade: the Atlantic, sugar, cotton and, shamefully, the slave trade made the port rich in the 1700s. In 1715 Liverpool opened what is usually regarded as the world's first commercial wet dock, letting ships stay afloat while they loaded and unloaded. By the 1800s the city handled much of Britain's overseas trade, and millions of emigrants sailed from the Mersey to North America and Australia. The waterfront's nineteenth-century docks earned UNESCO World Heritage status in 2004. Pier Head's Three Graces came slightly later, in the early twentieth century: the Port of Liverpool Building (1904–07), the Royal Liver Building with its mythical Liver Birds (1908–11) and the Cunard Building (1914–17). The UNESCO status was withdrawn in 2021. The Pier Head landmarks remain, but the wider waterfront keeps changing, with Everton's new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock opening in 2025.
Four lads, one cavern and a ferry
Merseyside's most famous export is a band. The Beatles formed in Liverpool in the early 1960s, honing their sound at the Cavern Club on Mathew Street and in Hamburg. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr turned the city into a pilgrimage site. They were part of a wider boom: Gerry and the Pacemakers, whose 'Ferry Cross the Mersey' made the Mersey ferries a song title, and Cilla Black, who began as a Cavern cloakroom girl. Liverpool has produced more number-one singles than any other city in the UK, a record the city is proud of. Today the Beatles Story, the Magical Mystery Tour bus and the statue of the Fab Four at Pier Head keep the legend alive. Liverpool also hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023 on behalf of Ukraine.
A county that lives for football
Liverpool play at Anfield, right beside Stanley Park, and for generations Everton's Goodison Park stood on the park's opposite side. The Merseyside derby is famously one where families are split down the middle, with red and blue supporters sharing the same dinner table. In 2025 Everton's men's team moved to the new Hill Dickinson Stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock. Everton were founding members of the Football League in 1888, and Anfield was originally their ground before a dispute led them to move to Goodison Park. That row created Liverpool FC in 1892. Liverpool went on to win six European Cups, and Kenny Dalglish remains a legend at Anfield. Across the water, Tranmere Rovers of Birkenhead add a third club to the mix, and Southport FC fly the flag further north along the coast.
Racing, sand men and seaside surprises
Every spring the Grand National is run at Aintree, one of the most famous horse races on earth. Its fences, such as Becher's Brook, are known even to people who never watch racing. At Crosby Beach, 100 cast-iron figures stare out to sea. Antony Gormley's Another Place was installed in 2005 and the statues disappear and reappear with the tide. Southport, meanwhile, has one of Britain's longest piers, measuring about 1,108 metres, just under 0.7 miles, and a tide that goes out so far that locals joke about the sea being on holiday. The Wirral side has Port Sunlight, a village built by William Lever for his soap workers, with around 900 listed buildings. Liverpool's cultural attractions include the Walker Art Gallery, Tate Liverpool and two cathedrals at either end of Hope Street, one Anglican and one Catholic.
What Merseyside eats and how it jokes
Scouse is the signature dish, served with pickled red cabbage or beetroot and crusty bread. Its vegetarian cousin is called blind scouse. Wet nelly, a bread pudding from the Wirral and Liverpool, is the sweet answer. Humour is the county's other great product. Comedians such as Ken Dodd, from Knotty Ash, his famous Diddy Men and tickling sticks, made a career of it. Ken Dodd once performed a show that ran until the early hours. There is also a famous directness in the speech, and the accent is a source of much pride. Liverpool's Chinatown is the oldest in Europe, a reminder that this port has always welcomed people from everywhere.