St Helens () is a town in Merseyside, England, with a population of 102,629. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, which had a population of around 183,200 at the 2021 Census. St Helens is in the south-west of the historic county of Lancashire, north of the River Mersey. The town historically lay within the ancient Lancashire division of West Derby known as a hundred. The town initially started as a small settlement in the township of Windle but, by the mid 1700s, the town had become synonymous with a wider area; by 1838, it was formally made responsible for the administration of the four townships of Eccleston, Parr, Sutton and Windle. In 1868, the town was created by incorporation as a municipal borough and later became a county borough in 1887; it became a metropolitan borough in 1974, with an expanded administrative responsibility for towns and villages in close proximity. The area developed rapidly in the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries into a significant centre for coal mining and glassmaking. It was also home to a cotton and linen industry (notably sail making) that lasted until the mid-19th century as well as salt, lime and alkali pits, copper smelting and brewing. Glass producer Pilkington is the town's only remaining large industrial employer; previously, it was home to Beechams, the Gamble Alkali Works, Ravenhead glass, United Glass Bottles, Triplex, Daglish Foundry and Greenall's brewery. History Pre-history 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 Welsh 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. Formation St Helens did not exist as a town in its own right until