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The river Mersey has always presented a formidable barrier to land transport between the Wirral and South Lancashire. With so valuable a natural harbour for shipping it was inevitable with the increase in traffic there would be a price to pay.
Six hundred years ago Edward III granted to the priory at Birkenhead a right to operate a Mersey Ferry and for tolls to be charged, ever since that time passenger and vehicular ferryboats have continued to ply between Birkenhead, Wallasey and Liverpool. The growth of population and trade on Merseyside during the 19th century soon created a demand for more rapid and convenient means of crossing the Mersey.
A road tunnel beneath the Mersey was first proposed as early as 1825. Charles Vignoles investigated the feasibility of the scheme but at that time nothing was done. England's great railway age had begun so all thought of a Mersey road tunnel was submerged beneath the general enthusiasm for the new form of transport.
With the steam locomotives as the only proven and practical form of motive power the idea of a long sub-aqueous railway tunnel raised acute problems of ventilation.
The first Mersey proposal envisaged pneumatic propulsion of a single carriage fitting the bore like a piston being alternately sucked and blown through the tunnel between terminal air locks.
This Mersey pneumatic railway was authorised by act of parliament in June 1866 but not surprisingly it failed to win support so an orthodox scheme was submitted, the name changed to the Mersey Railway Company and in 1871 was authorised to make connections with the main railway lines on both banks of the Mersey.
The successful driving of this first Mersey tunnel was a courageous feat of civil engineering on the part of the engineer James Brunnel and contractors John Waddell & Sons. The experience and knowledge gained by these pioneers would prove of great value to their successors. Each Mersey tunnel has made engineering history in one way or another and was the first deep level underground city railway using lift access to its stations. On the 20th January 1885 the Mersey railway was formally opened by King Edward VII accompanied by his son (the then Prince of Wales) later King George V.
Despite the use of giant driven ventilating fans up to 40ft in diameter, the tunnel in its steam days had the dubious distinction of possessing the foulest atmosphere in any underground railway. With a gradient of 1 in 27 it is hardly surprising the atmosphere was putrid but in 1903 the railway was electrified thus eliminating the smell caused by the steam engines and giving a more speedy and efficient service. The ferry and railway services were destined to serve the needs of cross-river traffic for nearly 40 years.
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