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 article
Chester Canal is a former canal linking the River Dee at Chester with Nantwich. It now forms part of the Shropshire Union Canal. The original intention was to construct a main line from Chester to Middlewich, with a branch to Nantwich, but Francis Egerton, Duke of Bridgewater, opposed a direct link with the Trent and Mersey Canal at Middlewich. Construction began in 1772, and the route was opened through to Nantwich in 1779. At first unsuccessful, it was linked first to the Ellesmere Canal in 1797 and then the Llangollen Canal in 1805, so that the original Chester Canal formed the middle section of a profitable canal. The Middlewich Branch finally opened in 1833, and the canal operated successfully into the 20th century. The canal passes alongside Chester city walls in a deep, vertical red sandstone cutting, and the route then runs broadly south-east, passing via Christleton, Beeston and Bunbury before reaching Nantwich Basin. It crosses the River Gowy via an aqueduct. Beeston Iron Lock, built using cast iron plates by Thomas Telford in 1828, is unique in England. Selected image
Stretton Watermill is a working water-powered cornmill at Stretton, which originally dates from the 16th and 17th centuries. The mill closed in 1959, but was restored in 1967 and is now open to the public. Credit: Joopercoopers (21 March 2008) In this month
1 December 1901: Artist and illustrator Charles Tunnicliffe born in Langley. 1 December 1906: Carnegie Library, Runcorn officially opened. 6 December 1891: Rowland Egerton-Warburton died at Arley Hall. 8 December 1665: Civil War diarist Edward Burghall died at Alpraham. 9 December 1836: Dutton Viaduct completed. 10 December 1583: Great Fire of Nantwich started. 13 December 1643: Siege of Nantwich started. 14 December 1979: Footballer Michael Owen born in Chester. 17 December 1925: Cricketer A. N. Hornby (gravestone pictured) died in Nantwich. 17 December 1973: Long-distance runner Paula Radcliffe born in Davenham. 19 December 1572: Landlord of Nantwich's Crown Inn murdered; the investigation involved many among the town's gentry. 22 December 1643: Royalist forces occupied Audlem, Brindley, Buerton, Hankelow, Hatherton, Hurleston, Stoke and Wrenbury during the Civil War. 23 December 1642: Bunbury Agreement drawn up. 24 December 1643: Twelve Parliamentarians massacred at St Bertoline's Church, Barthomley. 26 December 1643: Second Battle of Middlewich during the Civil War. 26 December 1962: Train crash at Coppenhall, between Crewe and Winsford, killed 18 people and injured 34. 29 December 1940: Air raid badly damaged the Crewe Rolls Royce works and killed 16 employees. Selected list
The 27 listed buildings in Runcorn rural area include three at Grade II* and 24 at Grade II. In contrast to the Runcorn urban area, the surrounding borough contains small villages – Clifton, Daresbury, Moore, Preston Brook and Preston on the Hill – which have experienced only limited population growth since the Industrial Revolution, and are still separated by farmland and woodland. The oldest listed structure is the ruin of Clifton Hall, built in 1565. The three Grade II* listed buildings are All Saints' Church, Daresbury (pictured), dating originally from the 16th century, and two 18th-century former mansion houses, Daresbury Hall and Moore Hall. Many of the structures are related to the network of canals in the area, with several canal bridges, including a swing bridge over the Manchester Ship Canal, a former warehouse, a tunnel entrance, a milepost and two air shafts, as well as a railway viaduct crossing the Weaver Navigation. Other listed buildings include a public house, a former school and a former sessions house, as well as several farmhouses and cottages. The most recent listed structure is a K6-type telephone kiosk dating from the 1930s. 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 biography
Sir 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 village
Peckforton is a scattered settlement and civil parish covering 1,754 acres (710 ha), near Malpas. The population was around 150 in 2006. The Peckforton Hills form the western part of the parish, with high points at Peckforton Point and Stanner Nab (around 200 metres). They are the source of the Weaver and Gowy rivers. Part of Peckforton Woods, largely planted in 1922, form a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The hills have been quarried since the Roman era. Peckforton appears in the Domesday Book survey of 1086. The area is predominantly agricultural. The earliest surviving buildings date from the early 17th century. Peckforton and the adjacent Beeston were part of an estate purchased by John Tollemache in 1840. He had Peckforton Castle – a mansion designed by Anthony Salvin in imitation of a medieval castle – built at the northern end of the Peckforton ridge. A local stone mason carved an elephant bearing a castle in red sandstone from the same quarry. Many of the local buildings were constructed for Tollemache using brick in the 1860s and 1870s. In the newsCrewe Market Hall 29 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. QuotationO! thou thrice happy Shire, confinéd so to be From "The Eleventh Song" in Poly-Olbion by Michael Drayton (1612)
Subcategories
TopicsRecommended articlesThings you can do
WikiProjectWikiProject Cheshire There are 3,642 articles in the project's scope Related WikiProjects UK Geography • England Greater Manchester • Lancashire and Cumbria • Merseyside • YorkshireRelated portalsAssociated WikimediaThe following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
Discover Wikipedia using portals
|