Editing River Mersey (section)

==Course==
The Mersey is formed from three [[tributaries]]: the [[River Etherow]], the [[River Goyt]] and the [[River Tame, Greater Manchester|River Tame]]. The modern accepted start of the Mersey is at the confluence of the Tame and Goyt, in central [[Stockport]], [[Greater Manchester]]. However, older definitions, and many older maps, place its start a few miles up the Goyt at [[Compstall]]; for example the [[1911 Encyclopædia Britannica]] states "It is formed by the junction of the Goyt and the Etherow a short distance below [[Marple, Greater Manchester|Marple]] in Cheshire on the first-named stream." The 1784 [[John Stockdale]] map shows the River Mersey extending to [[Mottram-in-Longdendale|Mottram]], and forming the boundary between [[Cheshire]] and [[Derbyshire]].<ref>{{cite web |author1=John Stockdale |title=Environs of Mottram in Longendale |url=http://www.spinningtheweb.org.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=2001798 |website=spinningtheweb.org.uk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928133106/http://www.spinningtheweb.org.uk/web/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=2001798 |date=12 April 1794 |archive-date=28 September 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In the west of Stockport it flows at the base of a cliff below the road called Brinksway before reaching flat country. An early [[Ordnance Survey]] map indicates the spring at Red Hole on the border of Cheshire and Yorkshire at the head of one of the Etherow's longest headwaters, as being the ''Source of the River Mersey''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Yorkshire Sheet 280 |url=https://maps.nls.uk/view/102345163 |website=National Library of Scotland |publisher=Ordnance Survey |access-date=13 January 2022}}</ref>

===Stockport to Warrington===
[[File:Confluence of River Mersey and Manchester Ship Canal.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.8|The River Mersey empties into the [[Manchester Ship Canal]] at [[Flixton, Greater Manchester|Flixton]], near [[Irlam]] Locks.]]

From Central Stockport the river flows through or past [[Heaton Mersey]], [[Didsbury]], [[Northenden]], [[Chorlton-cum-Hardy]], [[Stretford]], [[Sale, Greater Manchester|Sale]], [[Ashton on Mersey]], [[Urmston]] and [[Flixton, Greater Manchester|Flixton]], where it flows into the [[Manchester Ship Canal]] just south of [[Irlam]] Locks. At this point the Ship Canal is the canalised section of the [[River Irwell]]. The old course of the Mersey has been obliterated by the canal past [[Hollins Green]] to [[Rixton-with-Glazebrook|Rixton]] although the old river bed can be seen outside Irlam and at [[Warburton, Greater Manchester|Warburton]]. At Rixton the [[River Bollin]] enters the canal from the south and the Mersey leaves the canal to the north, meandering through [[Woolston, Cheshire|Woolston]], where the ship canal company's dredgings have formed the [[Woolston Eyes]] nature reserve, and on to [[Warrington]]. 

During the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal, the original course of the river through Wilderspool (which is north of Stockton Heath and Lower Walton) was diverted westward into a canalised section. Wilderspool Causeway remains the only remnant of the original eastern bank of the Mersey at this point in Warrington. Part of the original river channel became [[Warrington Dock]] (Walton Lock) in the ship canal. 
In the 1960s, the former river channel was filled. The area is now Wilderspool Causeway Park. At the western end of the canalised section in Warrington is the old entrance to the former [[Runcorn to Latchford Canal]]. This waterway was abandoned with the construction of the ship canal. It was constructed because the Mersey is tidal from Howley Weir in Warrington. The canal let river traffic reach Warrington during low tides.

During high spring tides, water levels often top the Howley Weir. Before construction of the ship canal, work to improve navigation on the Mersey included Woolston New Cut, bypassing a meander, and Howley Lock for craft to avoid the weir; the new cut and lock are still evident. The island formed between the weir and the lock is known locally as "Monkey Island".

===Runcorn Gap===<!-- This section is linked from [[Runcorn]] -->
[[File:Runcorn bridges aerial.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Aerial view of the Runcorn Gap]]
West of Warrington the river widens, and then narrows as it passes through the Runcorn Gap between the towns of [[Runcorn]] and [[Widnes]], in [[Halton (borough)|Halton]]. The [[Manchester Ship Canal]] passes through the gap to the south of the river.  The gap is bridged by the [[Silver Jubilee Bridge]] and [[Runcorn Railway Bridge]]. Another crossing, the [[Mersey Gateway]] road bridge opened in October 2017, and is situated about 1 mile upstream from the Runcorn Gap where the river is considerably wider.

===Estuary===
[[File:River Mersey in 1962.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|right|An aerial image of the estuary in 1962]]From the Runcorn Gap, the river widens into a large [[estuary]], which is {{convert|3|mi|km}} wide at its widest point near [[Ellesmere Port]]. The course of the river then heads north, with [[Liverpool]] to the east and the [[Wirral Peninsula]] to the west. The Manchester Ship Canal enters the river at [[Eastham, Merseyside|Eastham Locks]]. The eastern part of the estuary is much affected by silting, and part of it is marked on modern maps as dry land rather than tidal. The [[wetlands]] are of importance to wildlife, and are listed as a [[Ramsar site]].<ref name="ramsar" />

Most of the [[conurbation]] on both sides of the estuary is known as [[Merseyside]]. The estuary narrows between Liverpool and [[Birkenhead]], where it is constricted to a width of {{convert|0.7|mi|km}}, between [[Royal Albert Dock, Liverpool|Albert Dock]] in Liverpool and the [[Woodside, Merseyside|Woodside]] ferry terminal in Birkenhead. On the Liverpool side, [[Liverpool Docks]] stretch for over {{convert|7.5|mi|km}}, the largest enclosed interconnected dock system in the world. American author [[Herman Melville]] compared Liverpool Docks to the [[Egyptian pyramids|pyramids]] of Egypt and the [[Great Lakes]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Melville |first=Herman |title=Redburn White-Jacket or the world in a man-of-war Moby-Dick or, The whale: his first voyage |last2=Tanselle |first2=George Thomas |date=1983 |publisher=Literary classics of the United States |isbn=978-0-940450-09-7 |series=The library of America |location=New York}}</ref> The docks were built out into the river bed. The Mersey Docks and Harbour Board used [[granite]] from a quarry it owned in Scotland for construction of the quays. Birkenhead grew quickly in the 19th century following the introduction of [[steamship]]s, the earliest being the wooden [[paddle steamer]] ''Elizabeth'' in 1815.<ref>{{Citation |title =Mersey ferries |url=http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/archive/pdf/Ships-Mersey%20Ferries%20no27.pdf |publisher= Liverpool Museums|access-date=24 August 2012}}</ref> Docks were developed along with a [[Cammell Laird|shipbuilding industry]], flour milling and soap manufacture on the river's Cheshire bank.<ref name = NOC/>

[[Seaforth Dock]], a [[Free port|freeport]] on the Liverpool side of the estuary where it meets Liverpool Bay, opened in 1971. The dock deals with around 500,000 containers, over 1.2 million tonnes of oil, over 2.5 million tonnes of grain and animal feed, 452,000 tonnes of wood per year. About 25% of all container traffic between the UK and USA passes through the port making it one of the most successful in the world and known as the "Atlantic Gateway".<ref name="merseyreporter.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.merseyreporter.com/history/historic/dockseaforth/index.shtml|title=Merseyside History, Seaforth Dock|work=Mersey Reporter|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714074839/http://www.merseyreporter.com/history/historic/dockseaforth/index.shtml|archive-date=14 July 2011}}</ref> Liverpool was the first UK port with [[radar]] assisted operations.<ref name="merseyreporter.com"/>

[[File:Mersey Bore.JPG|thumb|upright=1.4|left|The tidal bore, seen from near the [[Silver Jubilee Bridge]], [[Widnes]]]]The river empties into [[Liverpool Bay]] on the [[Irish Sea]], after a total course of {{convert|69|mi|km}}. From {{convert|4|m|ft|1}} [[neap tide]] to {{convert|10|m|ft|1}} [[spring tide]], the River Mersey has the second highest tidal range in Britain – second only to the [[River Severn]]. The narrows in the river estuary between Dingle Point on the Liverpool banks to New Brighton on the Wirral, forces water to flow faster creating a deep channel along the section of river.

For 200 years an admiral was appointed as a conservator to ensure the river remained navigable. [[Mary Kendrick]] was the first woman to the post and she had spent years studying a [[Mersey Barrage|Mersey barrage]] in the 1980s.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=A tribute to Mary Kendrick MBE|url=http://www.hrwallingford.com/news/a-tribute-to-mary-kendrick|access-date=2020-06-21|website=hrwallingford.com}}</ref> 

'''Taylor's Bank''' is a large sandbank extending out to sea on the north side of the channel entrance to the river, on which many ships have come to grief over the years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.visitmyharbour.com/viewchart.asp?chart=CA2B069CA90B2|title=Liverpool (Approaches, Docks and Marina): Liverpool docks and Marina 2018: Visitmyharbour.com|website=visitmyharbour.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1016/j.geomorph.2006.04.008 | volume=81 | issue=1–2 | title=Long-term morphological change and its causes in the Mersey Estuary, NW England | journal=Geomorphology | pages=185–206 | year=2006 | last1 = Blott | first1 = Simon J.| bibcode=2006Geomo..81..185B }}</ref>