53°24′58″N 3°01′30″W / 53.416°N 3.025°W / 53.416; -3.025

The Mersey Ferry is a ferry service operating on the River Mersey in northwest England, between Liverpool to the east and Birkenhead and Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula to the west. Ferries have been used on this route since at least the 12th century and continue to be popular for both local people and visitors.

The current fleet consists of two vessels. A third ferry, Royal Daffodil was in service until 2012. The current ferries originally came into service in the 1960s and were named Mountwood and Woodchurch. Both ferries have been extensively refurbished and renamed Royal Iris of the Mersey and Snowdrop. The ferries share the workload of cross-river ferrying, charter cruises and the Manchester Ship Canal cruise. The service is operated by Merseytravel, under the "Mersey Ferries" brand.

In about 1150, the Benedictine Priory at Birkenhead was established. The monks used to charge a small fare to row passengers across the river. At this time, the Mersey was considerably wider with sand dunes and marshes to the north leading up to Ainsdale beach and sandstone cliffs and shorelines to the south near Otterspool. The only suitable landing point for the ferry was in the Pool, near the site of the present Merseyside Police headquarters. Weather often stopped crossings and passengers were delayed for days, taking shelter at the priory.

In 1317, a royal licence was issued, granting permission to the Priory to build lodging houses for men crossing the river at Woodside. King Edward II visited Liverpool in 1323, and the royal accounts show that he used local ferrymen to sail up the river to Ince. In 1330, his son Edward III granted a charter to the Priory and its successors forever: "the right of ferry there... for men, horses and goods, with leave to charge reasonable tolls". At the time, there was only a small hamlet at Birkenhead, and a slightly larger village at Liverpool. The Chester Indictments record criminal activities on the Mersey ferries in the 14th and early 15th centuries. In 1355, Richard, son of Simon de Becheton, was murdered on the ferry; the murderers escaped and took refuge at Shotwick. In 1365, it was recorded that there were four ferryboats operating without a licence, from Bromborough and Eastham. In 1414, William de Stanley, the servant of John Talbot, later Earl of Shrewsbury, was on the ferry between Birkenhead and Liverpool when about 200 men assaulted him and stole his bay horse valued at £5 (current value - over £2,800), a bow and 14 arrows valued at 3s 4d (current value - over £95) and a barge valued at £10 (current value - over £5,700). The thieves were fined.

A licence was issued in 1357 to the Poole family by Edward, the Black Prince, for a ferry from Eastham. The licence then passed to the Abbey of St Werburgh, in Chester, and became known as Job's Ferry. Early ferries also existed across the Mersey further upstream, at Ince and at Runcorn.

The monks of Birkenhead Priory operated a ferry service until the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the priory's destruction by Henry VIII's troops in 1536. Ownership reverted to the Crown, and in 1544 the ferry rights as well as the Priory properties were bought by Ralph Worsley of Lancashire for £586. 11s. 6d (current value - almost £205,000). The rights later passed to the Molyneux family. By 1541 William Bromley had the licence for ferries at Seacombe, and in 1586, Queen Elizabeth granted John Poole of Sutton the rights at Tranmere.

During this period, the private owners began to use fully rigged sailing ships. The use of sailing ships meant that bigger vessels could be employed, but in reality, these boats were even more at the bidding of the weather. The Mersey is famed for its thick fogs, and during these times during winter there was little wind and ferries could not operate. The frequency depended on demand and the weather.