Wirral Urban District

{{Infobox historic subdivision|

|Name= Wirral

|HQ= Heswall

|Status= urban district

|Start= 1933

|End= 1974

|Replace= Metropolitan Borough of Wirral

|Image= Wirral Urban District, Cheshire (1970).svg

|Motto=

|PopulationFirst= 9,599

|PopulationFirstYear= 1931

|AreaFirst= 5,639 acres

|AreaFirstYear= 1931

}}

Wirral Urban District was an urban district in Cheshire, England from 1933 to 1974. It was created from part of the disbanded Wirral Rural District and covered an area on the south-west side of the Wirral Peninsula. The largest settlement was Heswall, where the urban district council was based. The district was abolished in 1974 to become part of the new Metropolitan Borough of Wirral which covers most of the peninsula.

History

The Wirral Rural District had been created in 1894 to administer the rural parts of the Wirral Poor Law Union. The rural district had subsequently ceded various areas to neighbouring urban districts and boroughs.{{cite web |title=Wirral Rural District |url=https://maps.nls.uk/view/241241767 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=4 March 2025}} In 1933, the residual area of the old rural district was converted into an urban district. The new district contained the six civil parishes of Barnston, Gayton, Heswall-cum-Oldfield, Irby, Pensby, and Thurstaston. (Parts of the neighbouring parishes of Arrowe, Brimstage and Thornton Hough were transferred to parishes within the new district at the same time.){{cite web|url=https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10042951 |title=Wirral UD|publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth|work=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=6 August 2020}}{{cite web |title=Cheshire: Diagram showing Administrative Boundaries |url=https://maps.nls.uk/view/241241767 |website=National Library of Scotland |publisher=Ordnance Survey |access-date=4 March 2025 |date=1971}}

File:Jug & Bottle, Heswall.jpg, formerly Hill House. Headquarters of Wirral Urban District Council from 1936 to 1974]]

Heswall was the largest settlement in the district, and the urban district council chose to base itself there, buying a large house called Hill House in 1936 to serve as its headquarters.{{cite news |title=Wirral Council's "Final Decision" |url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0000271%2F19360212&page=11 |access-date=4 March 2025 |work=Liverpool Echo |date=12 February 1936}}

Wirral Urban District was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. The area became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in the new county of Merseyside.{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government Act 1972|year=1972|chapter=70|schedule=1|access-date=15 January 2025}}

References

Category:Former districts of Cheshire

Category:History of Merseyside

Category:Districts of England abolished by the Local Government Act 1972

Category:Local government in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral

Category:Urban districts of England

Category:Unparished areas in Merseyside