Merseyside as a county has a population of around 1.4 million.
It would be easy to assume that the large city of Liverpool is responsible for the vast majority of this, however the city accounts for only around a third of the county's population.
One major town contributing to the population is the former Lancastrian town of St Helens.
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The industrial town has a population of around 177,000, a number that has skyrocketed over the last hundred years as a result of the industrial revolution and mining.
The borough itself covers around 12 square miles of land, most of which is rolling hills suitable for agriculture.
The area became a major hub for coal mining as it evolved beyond being purely agricultural. Mining began as early as the 16th century in St Helens.
The town then boomed economically as a result of the Sankey Canal being cut in 1762, the canal meant coal could easily be transported to the massive port city of Liverpool.
Coal mining dominated the industry in the area through the 19th century, as well as glass making, with the famous Pilkington's glass makers being based in St Helens.
By the turn of the 20th century, the town had a population of 84,000, however it would grow at a slower rate through the 1900s than it had through the 1800s.
No place is more associated with glass than St Helens, which has been at the forefront of glass making for hundreds of years.
Its legacy is often traced back to 1826, when St. Helens Crown Glass Company was formed by John William Bell and capital was raised from three wealthy families who lived in the area.
By 1886, William Pilkington was one of the original shareholders and later Pilkington Brothers went from strength to strength, producing three times more glass than anywhere else in the UK, with a large wealth of history to follow.
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