550 REPORT—1896. 
In olden times, and while Liverpool was still in its infancy, the sea 
trade of this part of England was carried on through the ports of Preston 
and Chester, and that of the south-west of the country by Bristol and 
Milford Haven. 
Preston was a prominent port of the Romans, but lost its value, even 
in the early days of light-draught vessels, by the deterioration and silting 
up of the river Ribble and the exposed condition of its estuary ; while 
Chester, which chiefly commanded the trade and intercourse with Ireland, 
though also a favoured port with the Saxons and Romans, became obsolete 
from a like cause. It may, however, be remarked that the authorities of 
both the Ribble and the Dee have, in recent days, sought the aid of 
artificial works to improve the navigable condition of these rivers. 
The precise origin of the name ‘ Liverpool’ has for long been some- 
what a difficulty to all inquirers, and, though a great variety of opinions 
have from time to time been under discussion, no definite conclusion has 
been come to, the meaning of the first portion of the name, ‘ Liver,’ being 
the knotty point of contention. 
Without having gone sufliciently into the question to justify more than 
a general opinion on the much-mooted point, it appears to the author 
sufficiently reasonable to suppose that, as the ancient seal on the old deeds 
of the Corporation, also on the present city arms, is emblazoned with a 
traditional bird called the ‘liver,’ generally accepted as the cormorant 
(though, as some suggest, it may have been originally intended for the 
more noble symbolic eagle of St. John, the patron saint of the guilds of 
that day), it is very probable that the first portion of the name is derived 
from that source, and that the creek or pool, evidenced by ancient maps 
as existing towards the centre of the old town, was the habitation of the 
cormorant, thus providing a fitting terminal for the ornithological puzzle. 
As in the case of the doubtful origin of the name ‘ Liverpool,’ and 
the variety of opinions that have been urged on the point, a difficulty 
exists, though probably not so prominently, as to the origin of the name 
‘Mersey,’ though it is generally accepted that the river was so called from 
having been the northern boundary line of the kingdom of Mercia, and 
this appears to be a reasonable explanation. 
It is stated by Picton, in his history of the district, that the earliest 
documentary evidence having reference to Liverpool is of the date 1004, 
when it is said to be mentioned in a deed of the reign of King Ethelred. 
He also relates that King John, about the year 1170, founded the 
borough and port of Liverpool, and constructed a castle for their defence : 
this was chiefly with a view to facilitate the communication with Ireland, 
which was in a chronic state of disaffection and disturbance, rather than 
as a commercial enterprise, which in those days was little thought of. 
The river Mersey tirst takes that name in Cheshire at a point four 
miles to the east of the town of Stockport, at the junction of the two small 
rivers Goyt and Etherow, which severally rise in the high lands bordering 
South Yorkshire, North Derbyshire, and Cheshire. They are insignificant 
streams, scarce worthy of the name of rivers, their courses being narrow, 
tortuous, and irregular. 
The length of the river Mersey proper, from the point of junction 
above mentioned to its mouth between the north end of Liverpool on 
the Lancashire shore and New Brighton on the Cheshire shore, is 56 
miles. It has, as tributaries, the Tame, running into it near Stockport, 
and the Irwell, one of its most important affluents, which has its source in 
