Prenton became the first fatality of a bombing raid on the Merseyside area. Civic history Previously a township in Woodchurch parish, Wirral Hundred, Prenton was a civil parish from 1866 to 1 April 1933 when it was added to Birkenhead civil parish. The population was recorded at 81 in 1801, 99 in 1851 and 412 in 1901. By 1928 local government responsibility for Prenton changed from Wirral Rural District to the County Borough of Birkenhead. On 1 April 1974, local government reorganisation in England and Wales resulted in most of the Wirral Peninsula, including Prenton, transfer from Cheshire to the nascent county of Merseyside. Geography Prenton is situated on the eastern side of the Wirral Peninsula, about west of the River Mersey at Tranmere Oil Terminal. The area is approximately south-south-east of the Irish Sea at Wallasey and about east-north-east of the Dee Estuary at Thurstaston. Prenton is at an elevation of between above sea level; the highest point being near the junction of Pine Walks and Burrell Road, with the Halfway House crossroads at an elevation of above sea level. Prenton Brook merges with the River Fender, at Prenton, within the North Cheshire Trading Estate. Governance Prenton is within the parliamentary constituency of Birkenhead. The current Member of Parliament is Mick Whitley, a Labour representative. He has been the MP since 2019. At local government level, the area is incorporated into the Prenton Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in the metropolitan county of Merseyside. It is represented on Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council by three councillors. The most recent local elections took place on 6 May 2021. Community Housing is mostly private, and ranges from terraced properties nearer Birkenhead, to large detached villas in the Mountwood conservation area. The major roads were mostly laid out in the early part of the 20th century. Much of the housing is from the Edwardian era and the 1930s, though there are some late Victorian buildings and some modern property. The post-war housing development, the Mount Estate, is in the south east of Prenton near to the boundary with Higher Bebington. The main shopping area is on Woodchurch Road (A552), which includes the Sainsbury's, Aldi and Home Bargains supermarkets. However, there are many small shops in other locations such as The Dell housing estate or in nearby Oxton. Prenton Golf Club is to the south of the suburb. Prenton Rugby Club is