Just as Crewe owes its rapid rise to the coming of the railways, so Birkenhead's prosperity dates from the beginnings of steam navigation. Both of these towns are growths of the nineteenth century. At the beginning of the century Birkenhead was a small village of less than a hundred inhabitants. It is now Cheshire's greatest town, and contains a population of more than 100,000, or, if we include the populous suburbs which have sprung up on either side of it, nearly twice this number. [Illustration: BIRKENHEAD & THE MERSEY] The old village clustered round its ruined priory, which is still in the heart of the modern town. A triangular piece of land, now covered by the streets of New Brighton, Liscard, Wallasey, and Seacombe, was cut off from Birkenhead and the rest of Wirral by a broad and swampy river called Wallasey Pool. Mr. Laird, the founder of the famous shipbuilding company of that name, bought some land on the edge of the Pool. He saw that here was a firstrate place for dockyards and wharves, which would be protected from south-westerly gales by the natural rampart of Bidston Hill and the high ground of Oxton. In a few years Wallasey Pool was turned into a huge basin capable of holding hundreds of big ocean-going ships. In the 'Great Float', as this basin is now called, you may see ships of every nation. Twenty pairs of lockgates connect it with the Mersey, and there are ten miles of quays with a network of quay railways laid along them. The big ship-building yards of Messrs. Cammell and Laird give employment to many hundreds of the working-men of Birkenhead. Here are built some of our largest merchant vessels, as well as ships for the British Navy, chiefly gunboats and torpedo boat destroyers. One of the Lairds was Birkenhead's first member of Parliament. You may see his statue in front of the Birkenhead Town Hall. Two other men whose names are closely linked with the shipping of the Mersey will always be remembered by the people of Wirral. William Inman and Thomas Ismay were the founders of fleets of ocean liners. With a portion of the wealth that he derived from his business, Inman built churches for the villages of Upton and Moreton. Ismay lived at Dawpool Hall, and is buried in the churchyard of Thurstaston. The first street-tramway in Europe was laid along the streets of Birkenhead, from Woodside Ferry to the Park, by an American called Train. The cars were built at Birkenhead, and drawn by horses; the length of the line was less than two miles. Now tram routes are spread all over Eastern Wirral, and are to be found in the streets of all large towns. But the horses are gone, and the cars are now driven by the cheaper and more serviceable method of electricity. Our tram-cars are one of the greatest conveniences in the busy life of a town.