The Cheshire Portal
WelcomeCheshire Plain from the Mid Cheshire Ridge
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in the North West of England. Chester is the county town, and formerly gave its name to the county. The largest town is Warrington, and other major towns include Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Macclesfield, Nantwich, Northwich, Runcorn, Sandbach, Widnes, Wilmslow and Winsford. The county is administered as four unitary authorities. Cheshire occupies a boulder clay plain (pictured) which separates the hills of North Wales from the Peak District of Derbyshire. The county covers an area of 2,343 km2 (905 sq mi), with a high point of 559 m (1,834 ft) elevation. The estimated population is a little over one million, 19th highest in England, with a population density of around 450 people per km2. The county was created in around 920, but the area has a long history of human occupation dating back to before the last Ice Age. Deva was a major Roman fort, and Cheshire played an important part in the Civil War. Predominantly rural, the county is historically famous for the production of Cheshire cheese, salt and silk. During the 19th century, towns in the north of the county were pioneers of the chemical industry, while Crewe became a major railway junction and engineering facility. Selected articleRode Hall is a grade-II*-listed, Georgian country house in the parish of Odd Rode, near Rode Heath. Built for Randle Wilbraham by 1708, it remains the Wilbraham family seat. Originally two separate houses in red brick with ashlar dressings, the initial seven-bay building, with a central octagonal bellcote and small dome, was joined in the early 1800s to a five-bay building designed by William and David Hiorne in 1752. The interior has an original rococo plaster ceiling by Thomas Farnolls Pritchard, and a dining room remodelled by Lewis Wyatt in around 1808. The hall is surrounded by parkland and formal gardens, designed by Humphry Repton and landscaped by John Webb in 1803. The grounds include the mile-long Rode Pool, Stew Pond, a grotto, an ice house, an obelisk and a modern Italian garden. Mow Cop Castle, an elaborate Gothic Revival folly, stands two miles from the hall. Dating from 1754, it was also designed by the Hiorne brothers. A camp meeting held there in 1807 is considered to represent the birth of the Primitive Methodist movement. Selected imageThe major industry in Bollington during the 18th and 19th centuries was cotton spinning. Clarence Mill, beside Macclesfield Canal, is one of three former cotton mills to be listed. It was built in 1834 and extended several times until 1877. Credit: Roger Kidd (26 August 2007) In this month1 August 1984: Lindow Man bog body discovered. 2 August 1957: Lovell Telescope took its first image. 3 August 1952: Pianist Martin Roscoe born in Halton. 4 August 1643: Attack on Nantwich by Royalists led by Lord Capell during the Civil War. 4–6 August 1896: Princess Louise visited Crewe Hall and opened bazaar in aid of Crewe Memorial Hospital. 6 August 2012: Astronomer Sir Bernard Lovell died in Swettenham. 8 August 1953: First (private) motor race at Oulton Park. 9 August 1886: Grosvenor Museum officially opened by the First Duke of Westminster. 10 August 1933: Acton swing bridge over the Weaver opened. 11 August 1642: Confrontation between Sir William Brereton and Royalist forces near Ravensmoor during the Civil War. 13 August 1277: Foundation stones of Vale Royal Abbey laid by Edward I (pictured) and Eleanor of Castile. 15 August 1538: Dissolution of Chester's three friaries. 23–26 August 1617: James I visited Chester, Nantwich and Utkinton Hall, and hunted in Delamere Forest. 24 August 1538: Warrant issued for the dissolution of Vale Royal Abbey. 27 August 1781: First recorded game of cricket in the county. 29 August 1940: An air raid destroyed around fifty houses in Crewe. Selected listThe 132 listed buildings in Nantwich include three at grade I, seven at grade II* and 122 at grade II. The majority of the listed buildings were originally residential, and churches, chapels, public houses, schools, banks, almshouses and workhouses are also well represented. They range in date from the 14th century to 1921. Only a few buildings date from before the fire of 1583, which destroyed almost all of the town centre, the oldest being the 14th-century St Mary's Church. Two timber-framed, "black and white" Elizabethan mansion houses, Churche's Mansion and Sweetbriar Hall, also pre-date the fire. Elizabeth I personally contributed to the town's subsequent rebuilding, and particularly fine examples of timber-framed buildings dating from around 1584 are 46 High Street (pictured) and the Crown Hotel, a former coaching inn believed to stand on the site of the town's Norman castle. Many Georgian town houses are listed, with four attaining grade II*, as well as several examples of Victorian corporate architecture. Unusual listed structures include a mounting block, twelve cast-iron bollards, a stone gateway, two garden walls and a summerhouse. GeographyTop: Map of modern Cheshire showing urban areas (grey) and the major road network. Chester (red) is the county town, and Warrington has the greatest population. Towns with more than 10,000 inhabitants in 2011 are highlighted; the size of dot gives a rough indication of the relative population. Wales and the adjacent English counties are shown in capitals. Bottom: Relief map showing the major hills. The Mid Cheshire Ridge is a discontinuous ridge of low hills running north–south from Beacon Hill (north of Helsby Hill) to Bickerton Hill. Most other high ground falls within the Peak District in the east of the county. Shining Tor (559 metres), on the boundary with Derbyshire, forms the county's high point. AdministrationThe ceremonial county of Cheshire is administered by four unitary authorities (click on the map for details): 2 – Cheshire East 3 – Warrington 4 – Halton In the local government reorganisation of 1974, Cheshire gained an area formerly in Lancashire including Widnes and Warrington. The county lost Tintwistle to Derbyshire, part of the Wirral Peninsula to Merseyside, and a northern area including Stockport, Altrincham, Sale, Hyde, Dukinfield and Stalybridge to Greater Manchester. Selected biographyMichael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is a former English football player who played as a striker. Born in Chester, his father Terry Owen was a professional footballer who played for Chester City and Everton. Owen enjoyed a hugely successful and high-profile career at both club and international level, and in 2001 became one of a handful of English players to win the Ballon d'Or. As of 2019, he is fifth in the list of all-time top scorers for the England team and is England's eleventh most-capped player, having scored 26 competitive goals – formerly a national record – with 40 in total from 89 appearances (1998–2008). Pace and clinical finishing were Owen's greatest assets early in his career, though he later lost pace due to injuries. In club football, he played for Liverpool (1996–2004), Real Madrid (2004–5), Newcastle United (2005–9), Manchester United (2009–12) and Stoke City (2012–13). He retired from football in 2013. He has subsequently owned and bred racehorses, and acts as a sports commentator and pundit. Did you know...
Selected town or villageWidnes is an industrial town on the northern bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. Historically in Lancashire, it became part of Cheshire in 1974, within the borough of Halton. It had a population of a little over 60,000 in 2011. Before the Industrial Revolution, Widnes consisted of a small number of separate settlements on predominantly marsh and moorland. In 1847, the first chemical factory was established, and the town rapidly became a major centre of the chemical industry using immigrant workers from Ireland, Poland, Lithuania and Wales. The town was described in 1888 as "the dirtiest, ugliest and most depressing town in England". Although there has been a degree of diversification of the town's industries, Widnes remains a major manufacturer of chemicals. Spike Island (pictured), where the disused Sankey Canal terminates, has been reclaimed as a recreational area. The nearby Catalyst Science Discovery Centre is the world's first museum dedicated to the chemical industry. In the news29 October, 1 November: Warrington council and the mayor of Crewe each announce plans to bid for city status in 2022. 13–14 October: Prince Edward visits Chester and opens a Fire Service training centre in Winsford. 8 October: Castle Street shopping area in Macclesfield reopens after refurbishment. 4 October: Restoration of the grade-I-listed Bridgegate, part of Chester city walls, is completed. 25 September: A bronze frieze by the sculptor Tom Murphy is unveiled in Warrington, as a memorial to the band Viola Beach. 9 September: The fifth stage of the Tour of Britain cycle race takes place in Cheshire, starting at Alderley Park and finishing in Warrington. 24 July: The grade-II-listed Crewe Market Hall (pictured) formally reopens after refurbishment. 15 July: Crewe, Runcorn and Warrington are awarded potential funding under the "Town Deal" government scheme. QuotationTo which I may add, that special gift which God hath bestowed on the soil in and near to that place, for the excellency of the cheese there made; which, notwithstanding all the disputations which many make to the contrary, and all the trials that our ladies and gentlewomen make in their dairies, in other parts of the country, and in other countries of the kingdom, yet can they never fully match the perfect relish of the right Nantwich cheese; nor can, I think, that cheese be equalled by any other made in Europe, for pleasantness of taste, and wholesomeness of digestion, even in the daintiest stomachs of them that love it. William Webb (1621), quoted in George Ormerod's History
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