The River Mersey

Matthew Gardner

Features

• 70 miles long (113 km)• 3 miles at widest point (5 km)• Source Stockport • Tributaries River Tame, River Goyt, River

Etherow• Flows through Stockport, Didsbury, Northenden,

Stretford, Urmston, Flixton, Irlam, Manchester Ship Canal and into the sea at Liverpool

• Two car tunnels, and one train tunnel go under the Mersey

Importance/Usage

• Good departure point for USA• Was very important in slave trade• Manchester Ship Canal (1894) allowed big ships

to get to Manchester• 1960-1971 ships carried 1,236,000 tonnes oil,

over 2.5 million tonnes of grain and animal food 452,000 tonnes of wood per year

• Important for wild life• They are still considering making an electricity

barrage

Changes in the River

• The River has the 4th biggest tide in the world and 2nd in the UK

• At neap tide it is four metres and at spring tide ten metres high

• Lots of chemicals entered the water from textile factories, polluted the River and all the fish died

• It took a long time to clean up the mess• The Mersey is one of the most improved rivers in the

country with wild life returning• It was cleaned up in the 1980s and is now a popular

tourist attraction

Fabulous Facts

• There are lots of famous songs about the Mersey including “Ferry cross the Mersey” (Gerry and the Pacemakers)

• In the ’60s, Liverpool bands such as the Beatles and others played music known as “Mersey Beat”

• In London there was no such thing as the “Thames Beat”• Hindi communities in the North West pray to the River

Mersey as it is the biggest river around, like the Ganges• The name Mersey is Anglo-Saxon for boundary because

it separates Lancashire from Cheshire