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
This 17th-century map of "The County Palatine of Chester" by Wenceslaus Hollar (1607–77) shows the county's seven hundreds. These administrative divisions, first recorded in the mid-13th century, originated in the twelve hundreds of the Domesday survey. In this month
September 1707: Physician Nathan Alcock born at Aston. 1 September 1858: Crewe and Shrewsbury Railway opened. 1 September 1876: Activist and editor Harriet Shaw Weaver born in Frodsham. 1 September 2007: Cheshire Regiment merged into the Mercian Regiment. 7 September 1917: Pilot and charity founder Leonard Cheshire born in Chester. 8 September 1949: Bernard Lovell and Charles Husband first meet at Jodrell Bank to discuss the 250-ft radio telescope. 14 September 1804: Landowner and poet Rowland Egerton-Warburton born in Norley. 16 September 1947: Comedian Russ Abbot born in Chester. 21 September 1642: Charles I brought his army to Chester during the Civil War. 24 September 1645: Battle of Rowton Heath (memorial pictured). 29 September 1908: Cheshire County Cricket Club founded. Selected list
A total of 43 churches and chapels in Cheshire are listed at grade I. Although Christian churches have existed in the county since the Anglo-Saxon era, no significant Saxon features remain in its listed churches. Surviving Norman architecture is found, notably in Chester Cathedral and St John the Baptist, Chester. Most of the grade-I-listed churches are in the Gothic style, dating between the 13th and the 17th centuries, predominantly in the Perpendicular style. There are some examples of Neoclassical architecture, including St Peter, Aston-by-Sutton, and St Peter, Congleton. The only buildings dating from a later period are Waterhouse's Eaton Chapel in French Rayonnant style, and Bodley's Church of St Mary at Eccleston, in Gothic Revival style, both from the 19th century. Major building materials are the local sandstone and limestone. A handful of timber-framed churches survive, some of which have been encased in brick; examples include St Michael, Baddiley (pictured), St Luke, Holmes Chapel, St Oswald, Lower Peover, and St James and St Paul, Marton. 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
Margaret Ursula Jones (née Owen; 16 May 1916 – 23 March 2001) was an archaeologist. Born in Birkenhead, Jones first became involved in archaeology while studying at the University of Liverpool, where she volunteered on W. J. Varley's 1930s excavations of Cheshire hillforts, including Maiden Castle and Eddisbury hill fort. In 1956, she began working for the Ministry of Works as a freelance archaeologist in the burgeoning field of rescue archaeology. Jones is best known for directing the Mucking excavation in Essex (1965–78), a major Anglo-Saxon settlement and associated cemetery, with finds ranging from the Stone Age to the Medieval period. It was Britain's largest ever archaeological excavation, producing an unprecedented volume of material. Some academic archaeologists have criticised the fact that the results did not appear in print until decades after the excavation had ended. Jones' work at Mucking, as well as her role in founding the campaign group Rescue, was influential in the establishment of modern commercial archaeology in Britain. Did you know...
Selected town or village
Sandbach is a market town and civil parish near Crewe. The town is Cheshire East Council's administrative centre. The civil parish covers 10.7 km2 (4.1 sq mi), and also contains Elworth, Ettiley Heath and Wheelock villages, with a total population of nearly 18,000 in 2011. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon and means "sand stream" or "sand valley". There are traces of Saxon settlement and two Saxon crosses, believed to have been completed by the 9th century, stand in the market square. Sandbach appears in the Domesday Book of 1086. It has been a market town since 1579. Sandbach School was founded in 1677. The population increased during the 19th century, when the town was engaged in the silk industry. In the 20th century, Sandbach was the site of Foden and ERF lorries, and remains known for Foden's Brass Band. The parish's many listed buildings include Old Hall Hotel and other former coaching inns, as well as several buildings by George Gilbert Scott. Sandbach Flashes, fourteen pools created by subsidence due to underlying salt deposits, form an important wildlife habitat. 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. QuotationSometyme I was a taverner, And when I was a bruer longe, From "The Harrowing of Hell", in the Chester Mystery Cycle (c. 15th century)
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