Portal:Cheshire
|
The Cheshire Portal
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, 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 1,028,600, 19th highest in England, with a population density of 439 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. The Bridgewater Canal was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester. Opening in 1761, the original canal was on a single level without locks and cost £168,000; James Brindley was the engineer. An extension from Manchester to Runcorn, where the canal originally joined the River Mersey, was completed in 1776. The canal was later extended from Worsley to Leigh. Often considered to be the first true canal, the Bridgewater required the construction of an aqueduct to cross the River Irwell, one of the first of its kind. The stretch to Runcorn had a flight of ten locks which was "the wonder of their time". Its success helped to inspire a period of intense canal building, known as "canal mania". The canal later faced intense competition from the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and the Macclesfield Canal. The last commercial freight traffic was carried in 1975; the Bridgewater now forms part of the Cheshire Ring network and is used by pleasure craft and rowing clubs. It is one of the few canals in Britain not to have been nationalised, and remains privately owned. The Shropshire Union Canal was completed in 1835, with Thomas Telford as the engineer. The main line connects Wolverhampton and Ellesmere Port. The canal now forms a popular recreational route as part of the Four Counties Ring. Credit: Mari Buckley (February 2007) The 63 Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cheshire cover a total area of 19,844 hectares (49,035 acres), and are protected by law for their biological, geological or geomorphological interest. Wetland is the type of SSSI best represented in the county, with a range of diverse habitats including mosses, raised bog, swamps, fens, meres and ponds. Flashes, such as Elton Flashes (pictured), originate in subsidence after salt extraction, and contain rare examples of inland salt marsh. Cheshire's largest SSSIs are the Mersey and Dee estuaries. The higher ground at the foot of the Pennines has two extensive SSSIs containing heather moorland, grassland and blanket mire habitats. The lowland heath habitat is, however, very rare. Ancient woodland is sparse in the county, but is found on the slopes of the Mid Cheshire Ridge, in river valleys towards the north of the county, and around the Mersey Basin. Several sites, such as Rixton Clay Pits, are on former industrial land. The Triassic sandstones of the Mid Cheshire Ridge are exposed at the Raw Head geological site, and geological features are also exposed at railway cuttings. 1 April 1974: Widnes and Warrington gained from Lancashire; Hyde, Dukinfield and Stalybridge lost to Greater Manchester; parts of the Wirral lost to Merseyside; and Tintwistle lost to Derbyshire in local government reorganisation. 1 April 1998: Halton and Warrington became unitary authorities. 1 April 2009: Unitary authorities of Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire East took control. 5 April 1847: The Port of Runcorn became an independent customs port. 5 April 1847: Birkenhead Park, the UK's first publicly funded civic park, opened. 8 April 1889: Conductor Adrian Boult born in Chester. 10 April 1964: Runcorn designated a new town. 10 April 1998: Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker (pictured) opened as a museum. 11 April 1830: Architect John Douglas born in Sandiway. 17 April 1948: Train crash near Winsford killed 24 people and injured 10. 17 April 1951: Peak District became the UK's first national park. 20 April 1857: Cheshire Constabulary formed. 21 April 1913: George V and Queen Mary visited Crewe Railway Works and Worleston Dairy Institute. 23 April 1610: First St George's Day race held at Chester Racecourse. 24 April 1643: Royalist forces plundered Acton, Dorfold, Ravensmoor and Sound during the Civil War. 25 April 1956: Construction of Silver Jubilee Bridge began. 26 April 1761: Emma, Lady Hamilton, mistress of Lord Nelson, born in Ness. 30 April 1851: Accident in Sutton Railway Tunnel killed nine people and injured at least 30. 
The 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. Places: Bradwall • Middlewich • Runcorn • Widnes Sights: Adlington Hall • All Saints' Church, Runcorn • Beeston Castle • Capesthorne Hall • Chester Cathedral • Chester Rows • Cholmondeley Castle • Churche's Mansion • Crewe Hall • Eaton Hall • Gawsworth Old Hall • Halton Castle • Jodrell Bank Observatory • Little Moreton Hall History: Battle of Brunanburh • Battle of Rowton Heath • Deva Victrix • Eddisbury hill fort • Lindow Man Geography & Transport: A500 road • Bridgewater Canal • Chester Canal • Manchester Ship Canal People: Jonathan Agnew Lists: Castles Daniel Craig (born 2 March 1968) is an English actor. Born in Chester and brought up on the Wirral, he joined the National Youth Theatre at the age of sixteen and graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1991. His breakthrough performances were in Layer Cake and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider; other early successes include roles in Enduring Love and Munich. Craig is the sixth actor to portray the fictional secret agent James Bond in the long-running film series. His debut appearance in the 2006 film Casino Royale gained critical acclaim and was nominated for a BAFTA award. He also stars in the sequels, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall and Spectre. He guest-starred as Bond alongside Queen Elizabeth II in the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony. Outside the Bond series, he has appeared in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Golden Compass, an adaptation of the Philip Pullman novel, Northern Lights.
23 January: The prime minister chairs a regional cabinet meeting at Daresbury Laboratory near Warrington at which she unveils her industrial strategy for the UK. 19 January: Cheshire Constabulary announces that it is investigating more than 200 reports of alleged sex abuse involving 83 young footballers. 15 January: A memorial to Thomas Mottershead VC, DCM is unveiled in Victoria Park, Widnes. 10 January: Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester and Warrington gain "cultural destination" recognition from the Arts Council and VisitEngland, with a £300,000 grant to improve arts and culture provision across the county. 2 January: Government plans for a new garden village at Handforth are announced. 15 December: The first phase of the Barons Quay retail and leisure complex opens in Northwich. 15 December: Cheshire East's revised local plan, including 36,000 new houses, is approved by the government planning inspector. 5 December: The Macclesfield-born sculptor Helen Marten wins the Turner Prize, shortly after winning the inaugural Hepworth Prize. 29 November: Chester wins the EC's Access City Award for the city's ease of access by the elderly or disabled. The ayr is very wholesome, insomuch that the people of the countrey are seldom infected with Diseases or Sicknesse, neither do they use the help of the Physicians, nothing so much, as in other countries: For when any of them are sick, they make him a posset, and tye a kerchieff on his head; and if that will not amend him, then God be merciful to him! The people there live till they be very old; some are Grandfathers, their Fathers yet living; and some are Grandfathers before they be married. From The Vale Royall of England by Daniel King (1656)
A selection of recent articles of interest include:
 WikiProject Cheshire
Related WikiProjects
UK Geography • England
Greater Manchester • Lancashire and Cumbria • Merseyside • Yorkshire
|
