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 articleRode Hall is a grade-II*-listed, Georgian country house in the parish of Odd Rode, near Rode Heath. Built for Randle Wilbraham by 1708, it remains the Wilbraham family seat. Originally two separate houses in red brick with ashlar dressings, the initial seven-bay building, with a central octagonal bellcote and small dome, was joined in the early 1800s to a five-bay building designed by William and David Hiorne in 1752. The interior has an original rococo plaster ceiling by Thomas Farnolls Pritchard, and a dining room remodelled by Lewis Wyatt in around 1808. The hall is surrounded by parkland and formal gardens, designed by Humphry Repton and landscaped by John Webb in 1803. The grounds include the mile-long Rode Pool, Stew Pond, a grotto, an ice house, an obelisk and a modern Italian garden. Mow Cop Castle, an elaborate Gothic Revival folly, stands two miles from the hall. Dating from 1754, it was also designed by the Hiorne brothers. A camp meeting held there in 1807 is considered to represent the birth of the Primitive Methodist movement. Selected imageTatton Park Gardens at Tatton Hall, near Knutsford, date originally from the 18th century. The Japanese Garden, created in 1910 for Alan de Tatton Egerton and restored in 2001, is considered one of the finest examples of a Japanese garden in the UK. This photograph shows the Golden Brook. Credit: Mike Peel (4 October 2009) In this monthJuly 1538: Dissolution of Combermere Abbey. July 1804: Runcorn to Latchford Canal opened. 1 July 1869: Statue of Richard Grosvenor unveiled in Grosvenor Park. 4 July 1837: First trains crossed Dutton Viaduct. 4 July 1887: Queens Park, Crewe dedicated. 11 July 1910: Pulp author Hugh B. Cave born in Chester. 11 July 1978: Hybrid elephant Motty born at Chester Zoo. 14 July 1876: Chapel builder Thomas Hazlehurst born in Runcorn. 17 July 924: Edward the Elder (pictured) died at Farndon or Aldford. 17 July 1256: Edward, heir of Henry III and Lord of Chester, first visited Chester. 17 July 2015: An explosion at a wood-treatment mill in Bosley killed four employees. 20 July 1376: Charter of disafforestation of Wirral issued. 20 July 1816: Histologist and ophthalmologist William Bowman born in Nantwich. 21 July 1961: Silver Jubilee Bridge officially opened by Princess Alexandra. 23 July 1403: Sir Richard Venables and Richard de Vernon executed for supporting Henry "Hotspur" Percy in the Battle of Shrewsbury. 27 July 1962: Olympic gold medallist swimmer Neil Brooks born in Crewe. 29 July 1940: Crewe hit by first Cheshire air raid of Second World War. Selected listThe Bishop of Chester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chester in the Province of York. The diocese encompasses most of the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, including the Wirral Peninsula. It has its see in Chester; the seat is located at Chester Cathedral, which was formerly the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Werburgh, being elevated to cathedral status in 1541. The Bishop's residence is Bishop's House, Chester. Cheshire previously held a bishopric in 1075–1102, when Peter of Lichfield moved his seat to Chester. The seat was then at the collegiate church of St John the Baptist. The present diocese was formed in 1541, when Henry VIII created it, without papal sanction, as one of six new episcopal sees. The first bishop of the modern diocese was John Bird (1541–54), a doctor of divinity who had attracted the king's attention by his sermons preached against the pope's supremacy. As of 2020, the bishopric is held by Mark Tanner. 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 biographyNicholas Anthony "Nick" Robinson (born 5 October 1963) is a television and radio journalist and political editor. Born in Macclesfield, he was interested in politics from an early age. He studied philosophy, politics and economics at the University of Oxford, where he served as President of the university's Conservative Association. From his first broadcasting position at Manchester's Piccadilly Radio, he worked his way up as a producer to become deputy editor of Panorama, the world's longest-running current affairs programme. He has presented several television and radio programmes, including Westminster Live, Newsnight and, since 2015, the Today programme. Robinson was a political correspondent from 1996 to 2015, working for the BBC and ITN. He was the BBC's political editor from 2005 to 2015. Noted for his confrontational and provocative approach, he has sometimes caused a stir with his style of questioning, particularly of world leaders such as George W. Bush. 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. Quotation
From Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865)
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