Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. Historically in Cheshire, it is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool. At the 2001 Census, the town had a population of 83,729. By the time of the 2011 census Birkenhead had become an electoral ward of the Local Authority called Birkenhead and Tranmere. The total population of this ward taken at the 2011 Census was 15,879 Birkenhead is perhaps best known as a centre for ship building, as a seaport and its related industries.