St Helens, Merseyside

St Helens (pronunciation^ⓘ) is a large town in Merseyside, England, with a population of 117,308. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens which had a population of 183,200 at the 2021 Census.

The town is 6 miles (10 kilometres) north of the River Mersey, in the south-west part of historic Lancashire. The town was initially a small settlement within the historic county's ancient hundred of West Derby in the township of Windle but by the mid-1700s the town had developed into a larger urban area beyond the townships borders. By 1838 the council was formally made responsible for the administration of Windle and the three other townships of Eccleston, Parr and Sutton that were to form the town's traditional shape. In 1868 the town was incorporated as a municipal borough, then later became a county borough in 1887. In 1974 the town was made a metropolitan borough within the new Metropolitan County of Merseyside by the Local Government Act 1972, with an expanded administrative responsibility for several nearby towns and villages.

The town was famous for its heavy industry, particularly its role in the coal mining industry, glassmaking, chemicals and copper smelting and sail making that drove its growth throughout the Industrial Revolution. Originally home to a large number of industrial employers such as Beechams, the Gamble Alkali Works, Ravenhead Glass, United Glass Bottles (UGB), Triplex, Daglish Foundry, Greenall's brewery, the glass producer Pilkington is the town's only remaining large industrial employer.

The town is today most famous for its Rugby League team St Helens R.F.C. who have won 3 World Club Challenge cups in recent years, and museums such as the North West Museum of Road Transport, the World of Glass and art installations such as Dream.

The southern part of what became the traditional county of Lancashire was at least partially settled by the Brigantes, a Celtic tribe, who were subjugated by the Romans during their 1st Century conquest, with nearby Wigan suggested as a location for the Roman settlement of Coccium. Eccleston in St Helens appears to derive its name from either the Latin ecclesia or the Brittonic eglwys, both meaning "church", suggesting a common link to a place of worship although none is known in that township until the 19th century.

The first recorded settlements are the Manors, Parishes and Titled Lands listed in the Domesday Book in the 11th century. The titled lands would have encompassed the modern townships of Sutton, Windle and Parr as part of their fiefdoms, though it may be inferred from the listed tithes that the land was populated before then.

St Helens did not exist as a town in its own right until as late as the middle of the 18th century when it is referenced in Parliament. The development of the town has a complex history: it was spurred on by the rapid population growth in the region during the Industrial Revolution. Between 1629 and 1839, St Helens grew from a small collection of houses surrounding an old chapel, to a village, before becoming the significant urban centre of the four primary manors and surrounding townships that make up the modern town.

The Domesday Book of 1086 reveals that several manors existed at that time, although there are no specific references to "St Elyn", or mentions of the particular "vill" or villages. Windle is first recorded on some maps as "Windhull" (or variations thereof) in 1201, Bold in 1212 (as Bolde) and Parr (or Parre) in 1246, whilst Sutton and Ecclestone composed part of the Widnes "fee" (a hereditary entitlement of ownership) under a Knight or Earl. It is known that the Hospitallers held lands in the area of Hardshaw as early as 1292, known as Crossgate (which may be referred to by the long built-over Cross Street in the town centre beneath the modern College campus) and many of the original parishes, townships and local areas are named after the families that owned the land between the 11th and 18th centuries.