Community Assembly of The Wirral

Serving, supporting and protecting our local communities

The Community Assembly of The Wirral is located on a peninsula in the northwest of England, situated between the River Mersey and the River Dee, overlooking the Welsh Hills and the remarkable Liverpool skyline.

The name Wirral literally means 'myrtle corner', from the Old English 'wir', a myrtle tree, and 'heal', an angle, corner or slope. It is supposed that the land was once overgrown with Bog Myrtle, a plant no longer found in the area, but plentiful around Formby, to which The Wirral would once have had a similar habitat.

The earliest evidence of human occupation of The Wirral dates from the Mesolithic period, around 12,000 BC. Excavations at Greasby have uncovered flint tools, signs of stake holes and a hearth used by a hunter-gatherer community. Before the time of the Romans, the Wirral was inhabited by a Celtic tribe, the Cornovii. Artefacts discovered in Meols suggest it was an important port from at least 500 BC. Traders came from Gaul and the Mediterranean localities to seek minerals from North Wales and Cheshire.