MERSEY  , a

river in the north-west of England . It is formed by the junction of the Goyt and the Etherow a short distance below Marple in Cheshire on the first-named stream . The Goyt rises in the neighbourhood of Axe Edge, south-west of Buxton, and the Etherow in the uplands between Penistoneand Glossop, watering the narrow Longdendale in which are several reservoirs for the Manchester water supply . The Mersey thus drains a large part of the Peak district of Derby-shire and of the southern portion of the Pennine system . The general direction from Marple is westerly . At Stockport the river Tame joins from the north, rising in the moors to the north-east of Oldham, and the Mersey soon afterwards debouches upon the low plain to the west of Manchester, which lies on its northern tributary the Irwell . The Bollin joins from the south-east near Heatley, and the main river, passing Warrington, begins to expand into an estuary before reaching Runcorn and Widnes, which face each other across it . The estuary, widening suddenly at the junction of the Weaver from the south-east, 21 M. below Runcorn, is 3 M. wide off Ellesmere Port, but narrows to less than 1 m. at Liverpool, and hardly exceeds a mile at the mouth in the Irish Sea . The fall of the Mersey is about 1600 ft. in all and about 300 from Marple; its length, including the Goyt, is 70 M. exclusive of lesser windings, and it drains an area of 1596 sq. m . The estuary is one of the most important commercial waterways in the world . (See LIVERPOOL and BIRKENHEAD.) The Manchester Ship Canal (q.v.) joins the estuary through Eastham Locks, skirts its southern shore up to Runcorn, and crosses the river several times . From the name of the river was taken the title of Lord Mersey in 1910 by Sir John Bigham (b .

184o), on his

elevation to the peerage after serving as a judge of the high court from 1897 to 1909 and president of the divorce court 1909-1910 .