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
Eddisbury hill fort, a Scheduled Ancient Monument, is the largest and most complex of the seven Iron Age hill forts, or fortified hill-top settlements, in Cheshire. Located on Eddisbury Hill of the Mid Cheshire Ridge near the village of Delamere, Eddisbury falls within the southern group of Cheshire forts, together with Kelsborrow Castle and Oakmere hill fort. Eddisbury was constructed before 200–100 BC and expanded in 1–50 AD. The fort was partially destroyed by the Romans in the 1st century AD, to prevent the site being reused. It was reoccupied in the 6th–8th centuries AD, and an Anglo-Saxon burh was probably established there in 914 by Æthelflæd, daughter of Alfred the Great. Excavations were carried out on the site in 1935–38. The fort measures 200 by 380 metres and is surrounded by two ramparts separated by a ditch 10 metres wide and 0.5 metres deep. Quarrying and ploughing have damaged the site, leading to it being assessed as "at high risk". The land is partly owned by the Forestry Commission and partly in private ownership. Selected image
Dated 1562, Handforth Hall is one of many black-and-white, half-timbered former manor houses in the county. It was once the home of Sir William Brereton (1604–61), a Parliamentary commander in the Civil War. Credit: Mike in Macc (29 September 2013) In this month
5 June 1965: Engine fire on Crewe–Carlisle train between Crewe and Winsford fatally injured driver Wallace Oakes. 6 June 1690: William III stayed at Combermere Abbey on his way to the Battle of the Boyne. 7 June 1940: Actor Ronald Pickup born in Chester. 7 June 1954: Mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing died in Wilmslow. 8 June 1825: Ten to twelve thousand people attended the funeral of Sir John Grey Egerton of Oulton Park, MP for Chester and Freemason, at Little Budworth. 10 June 1878: Chester Tramways Company started operating horse-drawn trams in Chester. 10 June 1931: Chester Zoo opened. 14 June 1988: Lindow IV discovered at Lindow Moss. 16 June 1967: Daresbury Laboratory (pictured) officially opened by Harold Wilson, prime minister. 18 June 1886: Mountaineer George Mallory born in Mobberley. 19 June 2011: Fire damaged east wing of Peckforton Castle. 23 June 1999: Train crash near Winsford injured 31 people. 24 June 1604: Plague started in Nantwich, with around 430 deaths by the following March. 25 June 1897: Actor Basil Radford born in Chester. 26 June 1923: Jazz musician and bandleader Syd Lawrence born in Wilmslow. 27 June 1919: X-ray crystallographer Alexander Stokes born in Macclesfield. Selected list
Many Cheshire museums focus on the area's industrial heritage, including Quarry Bank Mill and Clarence Mill (cotton), the Macclesfield Museums (silk), the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre (chemicals), and the Lion Salt Works and Weaver Hall Museum (salt). Poynton's Anson Engine Museum is on the site of a former colliery. Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre explores astronomy. There are also several transport museums, including the Crewe Heritage Centre (railways), the National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port, and the Anderton Boat Lift (canals). There are water-powered mills at Bunbury, Nether Alderley and Stretton. Chester and Warrington have combined museums and art galleries, Grosvenor and Warrington Museums, and Congleton and Nantwich have local museums. Norton Priory is the remains of an Augustinian abbey, and Englesea Brook Chapel documents the Primitive Methodist movement. Historic house museums are also represented in the county, including Little Moreton Hall and Lyme Park. Cheshire Military Museum in Chester Castle covers the county's regimental history, and RAF Burtonwood and Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker explore more recent military history. The Museum of Policing in Warrington documents Cheshire's police forces. Unusual specialist museums include Cuckooland Museum (pictured), which exhibits cuckoo clocks. 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
Jonathan Philip Agnew (born 4 April 1960), nicknamed "Aggers", is a cricket broadcaster and former professional cricketer, who was born in Macclesfield. He had a successful first-class career as a fast bowler for Leicestershire from 1979 to 1990, playing for England six times in Test matches and One Day Internationals. His greatest success came towards the end of his career, after he started to swing the ball. He took 100 wickets in a season in 1987 and was named one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year in 1988. Since his retirement, Agnew has become a leading voice of cricket on radio, as the BBC radio cricket correspondent and as a commentator on Test Match Special. He has also appeared on the Australian Grandstand team. He is known for his humour and occasional innuendo. His notorious on-air "leg over" comment in 1991 has been voted "the greatest sporting commentary ever" in a BBC poll. Did you know...
Selected town or village
Marbury is a small village near Whitchurch, in the civil parish of Marbury cum Quoisley, which borders Shropshire. The parish covers 2,168 acres (877 ha); it includes the small settlements of Hollins Lane, Marley Green, Quoisley, and part of Hollyhurst, Willeymoor and Combermere Abbey park, with a population just under 250 in 2001. Marbury is thought to have been inhabited since the Anglo-Saxon period. In the Civil War, the parish was plundered by both sides during 1642–44, after Thomas Marbury declared for Parliament. It contains many historic buildings, the earliest being the 15th-century St Michael's Church. The area is agricultural with undulating terrain, 75–120 metres in elevation. Dairy farming is the main industry. The Llangollen Canal runs along the northern boundary, and five meres form important wildlife habitats. Marbury Big Mere is a fishing lake and the Quoisley Meres are a Wetland of International Importance; they originate in glacial kettle holes. "Marbury Merry Days", a traditional country fair, is held in May. 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. QuotationThis is a pretty Rich land; ... its much on Enclosures and I passed by severall large pooles of waters, but what I wonder'd at was yt tho' this shire is remarkable for a greate deale of greate Cheeses and Dairys I did not see more than 20 or 30 Cowes in a troope feeding, but on Enquiry find ye Custome of ye Country to joyn their milking together of a whole village and so make their great Cheeses. From Through England on a Side Saddle by Celia Fiennes (1698)
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