The Wirral Peninsula is a piece of land surrounded by water on three sides. To the west is the River Mersey, to the east is the River Dee and to the north is part of the Irish Sea known as Liverpool Bay. On the southern side it is the Cheshire Plain.

The name Wirral is derived from the Gaelic meaning "Wyre Heal" or "Myrtle Corner". This is due to the peninsula being heavily forested in the past. As the area was populated by large amounts of deer and other game, in Medieval times, the area was used by kings and noblemen for hunting. The emblem of Wirral is the Wirral Horn. This was a brass tipped hunting horn used by the foresters of Wirral and is portrayed in many of the Coats of Arms associated with the peninsula.

The Northern shoreline has many large residential areas such as West Kirby, Hoylake, Meols and Moreton.

Moreton is home to the Premier Brands factory. Formerly known as Cadbury's, the factory produces biscuits, cakes and tea under many well known household brand names. There was also a quarry and brick making plant opposite the Cadbury's factory but this closed down in the early 1970's. The quarries are now part of a Wirral Coastal Park nature reserve. There is an old disused lighthouse (see Wirral Lighthouses) at Moreton built in 1763 and said to have it's foundations built on bales of cotton rescued from a ship that foundered close by.

Originally, the Wirral was situated in Cheshire, but the boundary reforms of 1974 created the new county of Merseyside into which, the Wirral was placed. Many residents mourned the leaving of Cheshire but they were placated in 1999 when the postal codes and postal county changed to Chester codes and the formation of Wirral as the postal county.

Today, the peninsula possesses many contrasts. The River Mersey shoreline is heavily industrialised with Cammell Lairds shipyard, Port Sunlight (responsible for producing many of our well known detergents and edible oil-based products), Stanlow Oil Refinery, the start of the Manchester Ship Canal, Vauxhall Motors (the home of the "Astra" ), Bowaters Paper Mills and many other factories. But this does not prevent areas of natural beauty from co-existing. An example of this is Stanlow Island, an island that is only accessible by boat and situated adjacent to the oil refinery. In years gone by there was a monastery on the Island but was dissolved due to the buildings being ravaged by storms and the encroachment of the River.