Wirral Archives Service

Wirral Archives Service is the local authority archive of the Wirral. We hold the records of Wirral Borough Council and of its predecessor borough and district councils going back to the early nineteenth century; records of schools, hospitals, workhouses and courts; and records of various local organisations, societies and businesses.

In particular, we hold the records of Cammell Laird, a shipbuilding company established in the 1820s which was pre-eminent in the manufacture of iron ships and which made many technological innovations. We also hold house building plans, local newspapers, Ordnance Survey maps and Marine Maps of the Board of Trade, and the burial registers of municipal cemeteries.

We also have a yearly programme of workshops on a variety of local history topics, and an active Friends mailing list group.

HMS Charybdis (Cammell Laird vessel no. 1041, launched 1940)

Robin Hood – from the photograph album of the Mayor of Birkenhead’s charity fancy dress ball, 1892 (acc. 1443)