Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government which shipwrecks are known to exist in the River Mersey and its estuary taking in the beaches of Formby, Ainsdale, Birkdale and Southport.

There are a total of 1,141 wreck records in the River Mersey geographical box bounded to the west by the Wirral, to the east by Widnes, to the north by Southport, and to the south by Ellesmere Port. The majority of these will be documented wreck events for which no archaeology exists or which have only been tentatively identified with archaeology. There are 890 records in this category. The earliest recorded wreck in this area dates from 1246.

The remaining 251 records comprise wreck sites, including nine recorded hulk assemblages in riverbank or estuarine contexts (one or more vessels abandoned in an unseaworthy condition, sometimes for environmental purposes). Wreck sites may be positively identified, tentatively identified with a possible relation to a documented wreck event, or not identified at all.

The majority of wreck sites will have been dispersed. The Mersey Docks and Harbour Board (MDHB) was active in the River Mersey and Liverpool Bay in the dispersal of wrecks from the mid-19th century onwards, typically flattening them level with the river- or seabed, and many more were dismantled in situ where they stranded. English Heritage wreck records do not contain the dispersal data for every vessel.

The best source of dispersal information would be the MDHB records held at Merseyside Maritime Museum. Further information about specific shipwrecks on the River Mersey and its estuary can be found on the English Heritage PastScape webpage: http://www.pastscape.org/