Anyone know it? Trying to find info and map that may have been on wikiwirral. Vague idea that land the dock side of it was sold to The Corporation of Liverpool (on the map I can't find) Seems that Liverpool fearful of the growing Birkenhead as a rival port, bought the land at an extortionate price to try to prevent this. If so what stopped them Was it named this to separate Liverpool owned land from Birkenhead owned Think it's now more or less by Peel Holdings
Here is some edited info from an article published in 1972 in the Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, volume 124, which might be of some help.
The article is called The First Scheme For Docks At Birkenhead And The Proposed Canal Across Wirral, by W R S McIntyre.
In 1828, a report by the civil engineers Thomas Telford, Alexander Nimmo and Robert Stephenson proposed a seven-mile ship canal across North Wirral.
It would start in the River Dee near Hilbre Island and cut across the top of the peninsula to Wallasey Pool, where docks and warehouses would be built. The aim was to enable shipping to avoid the uncertain and often treacherous entrance channel to the Mersey used by vessels heading for Liverpool.
The report was commissioned by William Laird and Sir John Tobin, who had bought land along Wallasey Pool. Laird had already established his boiler works there, later turning to shipbuilding. Tobin was a wealthy merchant and shipowner.
But when Liverpool Corporation learned of the canal scheme, it saw it as a threat to its own dock trade. So it bought up the land from Laird, Tobin and others at a hugely inflated price.
Laird had paid £80 an acre, but received £726 an acre. In all, the corporation paid out almost £258,000 for the land, a sum it had to borrow by issuing bonds.
There was astonishment at the windfall made by Laird and Tobin. Tobin blamed Laird for selling out, saying he then had no choice but to do likewise. Telford suspected the canal scheme had simply been a device to push up the price of the land. However, no skulduggery was ever proven.
In any event, the canal project - which would have cost £1,200,000 in its original form - never went ahead. There was a vague promise from Liverpool Corporation to develop the Wallasey Pool land as docks, but it later decided it already had enough dock space in Liverpool. In fact, it had simply snapped up the land to stop Birkenhead building its own docks.
The Wallasey Pool land was left empty until 1843, when William Laird's son John and a group of other developers bought it back from Liverpool Corporation and it formed the basis of what eventually became Birkenhead docks. The corporation was by then happy to dispose of the land because it was still burdened by the original purchase debt.
You can obtain a copy of the full McIntyre article from the society - see its website.
As for why Corporation Road was given its name, I don't know. Birkenhead was incorporated as a borough in 1877 and I thought that is when the road might have been named.
A couple of snippets from the report "Birkenhead Docks Festival" 1847. Just adds to Yoller's contribution.
Corporation Road is mentioned in 1833 in an advert for a property sale, it does appear that the road took its name from Liverpool Corporation Land. Can't see how else it could have come about.
God help us, Come yourself, Don't send Jesus, This is no place for children.
I think Bert is right - it looks almost certain Corporation Road took its name from Liverpool Corporation. It's quite ironic when you think that Liverpool was doing its best to sabotage Birkenhead's development.
re In 1828, a report by the civil engineers Thomas Telford, Alexander Nimmo and Robert Stephenson proposed a seven-mile ship canal across North Wirral.
from Cheshire Sheaf It is here interesting to note that Dr. Hume, in his "Ancient Meols," gives a survey of the district, made in 1828 by Telford, Stevenson, and Nimmo, in which several human skeletons were found lying in rows between one hundred and two hundred yards below the flow of tide, opposite the Leasowe Lighthouse. The forest-bed of the Wallasey Pool rests on boulder clay, and those of the Bootle Docks and Custom House on red sandstone
Also a mention of various extinct animal skulls found when excavating the docks
