Wirral Peninsula - Origin of The Name

Origin of The Name

The name Wirral occurs in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as Wirheal, literally "myrtle-corner", from the Old English wir, a myrtle tree, and heal, an angle, corner or slope. It is supposed that the land was once overgrown with bog myrtle, a plant no longer found in the area but plentiful around Formby, to which Wirral would once have provided a similar habitat. The name was given to the Hundred of Wirral around the 8th century. In the Domesday Book and shortly afterwards, the name of the hundred changed to the Hundred of Wilaveston, which later became Willaston.