page_title: River Mersey
section_title: Navigation
hierarchical_section_title: River Mersey / Navigation
caption_attribution_description: English: EGG buoy located near Eggremont, Wallasey on the River Mersey.
context_page_description: The River Mersey is a river in the North West of England. Its name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon language and translates as "boundary river". The river may have been the border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria and for centuries it formed part of the boundary between the historic counties of Lancashire and Cheshire.
  The start of the Mersey is at the confluence of the River Tame and River Goyt in Stockport. It flows westwards through the suburban areas of south Manchester, then into the Manchester Ship Canal at Irlam, becoming a part of the canal and maintaining the canal's water levels. After 4 miles the river exits the canal, flowing towards Warrington where the river widens. It then narrows as it passes between the towns of Runcorn and Widnes. From Runcorn the river widens into a large estuary, which is 3 miles across at its widest point near Ellesmere Port. The course of the river then turns north as the estuary narrows between Liverpool and Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula to the west, and empties into Liverpool Bay. In total the river flows 70.33 miles.
  A railway tunnel between Birkenhead and Liverpool as part of the Mersey Railway opened in 1886.
context_section_description: Capt. William Gill of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, charted a safe, navigable channel (the Victoria Channel) through the treacherous uncharted waters of the estuary in 1836.
  Since the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal, large commercial vessels do not usually navigate the estuary beyond Garston on the north bank, or the locks into the ship canal at Eastham. Deep-water channels are maintained to both. Until the early 20th century, commercial traffic bound for further upstream carried cargo in large flat-bottomed sailing barges known as Mersey Flats to Howley Wharf in Warrington and (via the Sankey Canal) to St Helens. Motor barges delivered to riverside factories at Warrington until at least the 1970s, but nowadays only pleasure craft and yachts use the upper estuary and the tidal river where a number of sailing clubs are based. On most high tides, seagoing yachts with masts raised can navigate as far upstream as Fiddlers Ferry – about 3.1 mi (5.0 km) downstream of Warrington – where there is a small marina accessed via a river lock. Although river craft can continue upstream to Howley Weir, there are no landing or mooring facilities. Before construction of the ship canal, a lock bypassing Howley Weir allowed navigation further upstream via a straight "cut" avoiding a meander around Woolston.
caption: Egg Buoy near Egremont, Wallasey
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