Portal:Cheshire
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The Cheshire Portal
Welcome Cheshire 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
The Peak District is an upland area of England that forms the southern end of the Pennines. Lying mainly in northern Derbyshire, the region also covers the east of Cheshire, as well as several other counties. Most of the area falls within the Peak District National Park, the first National Park in England and Wales to be designated and, as of 2018, the fifth largest. The Cheshire region forms part of the South West Peak area of the Dark Peak, whose gritstone and shale supports heather moorland and blanket bog environments. Rough sheep pasture and grouse shooting are the main land uses. Features include the hills and edges of Shining Tor, Shutlingsloe, Tegg's Nose, The Cloud and Windgather Rocks, the Dane, Dean and Goyt rivers, and the woodland of Macclesfield Forest. The national park attracts millions of visitors every year, with tourism forming a major part of the economy. Recreational activities include walking, climbing, caving, fell running, orienteering, horse riding, cycling, hang gliding, paragliding and birdwatching on the fells; sailing, fishing and canoeing on reservoirs such as Lamaload; and visiting historic houses such as Lyme Park. Selected image
Eaton Chapel was built in 1869–84 for Hugh Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster, as the private chapel for Eaton Hall. An example of the Gothic Revival style with Alfred Waterhouse as the architect, the grade-I-listed chapel was retained when Waterhouse's hall was demolished in the 1960s. Credit: Peter I. Vardy (4 April 2010) In this month
November 1867: Grosvenor Park, Chester (pictured) opened. 1 November 1831: Harry Atkinson, Premier of New Zealand, born in Broxton. 4 November 1553: Lawyer Roger Wilbraham born in Nantwich. 7 November 1805: Railway builder Thomas Brassey born in Bulkeley. 11 November 1662: Lawyer John Chesshyre born in Halton. 14 November 1762: Tarporley Hunt Club first met. 15 November 1941: Author Heathcote Williams born in Helsby. 22 November 1961: Pianist Stephen Hough born in Heswall. 24 November 1935: Cyclist Vin Denson born in Chester. 24 November 1955: Cricketer Ian Botham born in Heswall. 26 November 1574: River Weaver in Nantwich flooded, affecting 40 dwellings and 24 salthouses. 29 November 1933: Musician John Mayall born in Macclesfield. Selected list
The 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.
Administration 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. Selected biography
Joseph Priestley (13 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was a theologian, Dissenting clergyman, natural philosopher, educator and political theorist. He is usually credited with the discovery of oxygen, which he dubbed "dephlogisticated air", having isolated it in its gaseous state. He also discovered several other gases, invented soda water and wrote on electricity. He served as a minister in Nantwich (1758–61), and also established a school where he taught natural philosophy. It was here that he wrote the seminal work, The Rudiments of English Grammar. He was also a tutor at Warrington Academy (1761–67). Priestley's metaphysical writings attempted to combine theism, materialism and determinism; these works are considered to be one of the main sources for utilitarianism. Besides Rudiments, his contributions to pedagogy include the invention of modern historiography. He advocated equal rights for religious Dissenters and helped to found Unitarianism in England. Did you know...
Selected town or village
Bradwall is a small village and civil parish near Sandbach. The name derives from the Old English, and means "broad spring". It covers an area of 1,938 acres (7.84 km2) and had a population of 182 in 2011. Archaeological finds include a Late Bronze Age axe head and a hoard of Roman coins. The village is not mentioned in the Domesday Book, but became known from the 13th century as the manorial estate of Richard de Bradwall and his successors, including the families of Venables, Berington and Oldfield. From the early 19th century, it became the seat of the Latham family who lived at Bradwall Hall (pictured) until its demolition in the early 20th century. Surviving historic buildings include the hall's coach-house, Bradwall Reformatory School, built by the Latham family in 1855, and the Wesleyan Methodist Church, founded in 1882. The manufacturer of Foden Trucks and their award-winning Fodens Motor Works Band were based in the civil parish until a 1936 boundary change. The area is now predominantly agricultural, with a mix of dairy and arable. Visitor activities include coarse fishing, horse riding and eventing (horse trials). In the news.JPG) Crewe 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. 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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