Portal:Cheshire
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 articleLittle Moreton Hall is a moated half-timbered "black and white" manor house near Congleton. The earliest parts of the house were built for prosperous Cheshire landowner William Moreton in about 1504–08 on the site of a medieval building. The remainder was constructed in stages by successive generations of the family until about 1610. The house remained in the possession of the Moreton family for almost 450 years. Highly irregular, with three asymmetrical ranges forming a small, rectangular cobbled courtyard, the house has been described as being "lifted straight from a fairy story, a gingerbread house". Its top-heavy appearance, "like a stranded Noah's Ark", is due to the Long Gallery that runs the length of the south range's upper floor. The building is listed at grade I, and the site is also a Scheduled Monument. The house has been owned by the National Trust since 1938, and is open to the public. The gardens were recreated in the 20th century, and include a knot garden, planted to a 17th-century design. Selected imageLewis Carroll popularised the Cheshire Cat, but the idea has a much earlier origin. A 16th-century carving of a grinning cat at St Wilfrid's, Grappenhall, near the author's birthplace, might have been an inspiration. Credit: John Tenniel (1866) In this month2 March 1968: Actor Daniel Craig born in Chester. 3 March 1614: Antiquarian Sir Peter Leycester born in Nether Tabley. 3 March 1951: Tony Hall, Director-General of the BBC, born in Birkenhead. 7 March 1544: Thomas Holcroft purchased Vale Royal Abbey after its dissolution. 7 March 2010: David Briggs became Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire. 10 March 2010: Chester City F.C. closed. 11 March 1584: Elizabeth I issued a brief supporting the rebuilding of Nantwich after the 1583 fire. 11 March 1878: Foundation of the Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. 12 March 1364: Ranulf Higden, a monk at the monastery of St Werburgh and author of Polychronicon, died in Chester. 13 March 1643: First Battle of Middlewich during the Civil War. 15 March 1757: Tower of St Mary's Church, Acton (pictured) collapsed. 20 March 1488: Stockport Grammar School founded. 20 March 1993: IRA explosive devices killed two children and injured 54 people in Warrington. 20 March 2002: Anderton Boat Lift reopened after restoration. 22 March 1846: Illustrator Randolph Caldecott born in Chester. 29 March 1829: Architect and engineer Thomas Harrison died in Chester. 30 March 2007: Cheshire FM, a Winsford-based local radio station, launched. 31 March 2009: Chester, Congleton, Crewe & Nantwich, Ellesmere Port & Neston, Macclesfield and Vale Royal boroughs abolished. Selected listThe 55 listed buildings in Lymm include one at Grade I, one at Grade II* and the remainder at Grade II. Lymm's oldest listed building is the late-16th-century Lymm Hall, on the site of the medieval manorial seat. Industries developed from the 16th century, and workers' cottages from the fustian-cutting industry have survived. The Bridgewater Canal, completed in 1776, runs through the town, and many of the listed structures are associated with it, including three aqueducts, two bridges and a dock. The damming of Bradley Brook with Lymm Dam in 1821–24 to enhance the water supply created a lake to the south of the town; two associated bridges are listed. After the arrival of the railway in 1853, substantial mid-Victorian houses were built in Gothic and Italianate styles. Lymm stands on the Mid Cheshire Ridge and many of the listed buildings are sandstone. Surface outcrops occur, for example, under the Grade-I-listed Lymm Cross (pictured). There are also a few listed timber-framed buildings, which are relatively rare in the borough of Warrington. Unusual listed structures include an octagonal water tower with battlements, icehouse, pigeon house, mounting block, milepost, stone-lined well, war memorial, water-point case and the village stocks. 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 biographySir John Tomlinson Brunner, 1st Baronet (8 February 1842 – 1 July 1919) was a chemical industrialist and Liberal Party politician. Born in Liverpool, he worked at Hutchinson's alkali works in Widnes, rising to general manager. In 1873, in partnership with Ludwig Mond, he started the chemical company Brunner Mond & Co. at Winnington near Northwich, initially making alkali by the Solvay process. It became the wealthiest British chemical company of the late 19th century and, after Brunner's death, was one of the four companies that merged to found Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI). Brunner represented Northwich in Parliament in 1885–86 and 1887–1910. He was a prominent Freemason, a paternalistic employer and a generous benefactor to the towns in his constituency and to the University of Liverpool. He is the great grandfather of HRH The Duchess of Kent. Did you know...
Selected town or villagePoynton is a town on the easternmost edge of the Cheshire Plain, near Macclesfield and Stockport. The manor was first recorded in 1289. The town straddles the Red Rock Fault, which brings the Permo–Triassic sandstones and mudstones of the Cheshire Plain up against the Millstone Grit and shales of the Peak District. To the immediate east of the fault are the coal measures of the Carboniferous period. Coal was mined at Poynton from the 16th century, and its collieries were the largest in Cheshire. Anson Engine Museum, on the site of a former colliery, has a collection of stationary engines. Consequent urbanisation and socioeconomic development necessitated better transport links; these came with the completion of the Macclesfield Canal through the town in 1831, and the arrival of the Manchester and Birmingham Railway in 1845 and the Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway in 1869. The collieries closed in 1935. The population has nearly trebled since 1945, to over 14,000 in 2011. In the late 20th century, Poynton became a commuter town for Manchester. 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. QuotationOn Saturday the[y] came to Bartomley, (giving an alarm to the garrison of Crewe Hall,) as they marched they set upon the church, which had in it about twenty neighbours, that had gone in for safety; but the Lord Byron's troop, and Connought, a Major to Colonel Sneyd, set upon them, and won the church; the men fled into the steeple, but the enemy burning the forms, rushes, mats, &c. made such a smoke, that being almost stiffled, they called for quarter, which was granted by Connought; but when they had them in their power, they stripped them all naked, and most cruelly murdered twelve of them, contrary to the laws of arms, nature, and nations. From Providence Improved by Edward Burghall (1778)
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