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
Cholmondeley Castle is a grade-II*-listed country house in Cholmondeley in the form of a battlemented sandstone castle. Built in 1801–5 for George Cholmondeley, 1st Marquess of Cholmondeley, who was responsible for much of the design, it was extended in 1817 and again in 1828–29 by Robert Smirke, who added a round tower. The present house replaced a timber-framed hall on a moated platform, largely demolished in the late 18th century. In the grounds stands the grade-I-listed St Nicholas' Chapel, which dates originally from the 13th century and was encased in brick in 1717. The original grounds were designed in the 17th century by George London as a formal garden and re-modelled by William Emes, who converted part into a landscape park with two lakes. The remaining formal gardens include the Silver Garden, the Lily Pool Garden, the Rose Garden and the Temple Garden, which has a temple structure on an island. The gardens are open to the public in summer. Selected image
The dense and crumbly Cheshire cheese is one of the oldest named British cheeses, being first documented in around 1580. It has a mild, salty taste. Credit: Jon Sullivan (18 May 2006) 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
Around 300 buildings in Chester centre are listed at Grade II, the lowest grade. The oldest Grade-II-listed buildings in central Chester date from the medieval era and retain some of their medieval fabric, for example, St Nicholas Chapel (1300). Early buildings are often timber framed, with some later encased in brick. Examples include the Old Custom House Inn, Nine Houses, Ye Olde Edgar and Stanley Palace. Many Georgian houses, in local sandstone or brick, are listed at this grade, including Park House and 10–28 Nicholas Street, as well as some Neoclassical buildings, such as Chester City Club. From the mid-19th century, Chester was at the forefront of the Black-and-white Revival (example pictured), reintroducing timber-framed buildings into the city. Grade-II-listed examples include The Chester Grosvenor Hotel, St Werburgh's Mount, St Oswald's Chambers, 30 and 38 Bridge Street, and several houses on Northgate Street. A few modern structures have been listed, including Newgate (1937–38), and Modernist buildings such as the former Odeon Cinema (1936) and Addleshaw Tower (1973–75), a free-standing bell-tower. Unusual listed structures include a scale model of Grosvenor Bridge, the War Memorial, a Cenotaph to Matthew Henry, a tombstone commemorating a soldier, a sundial, a birdbath and two telephone kiosks. 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
William "Billy" Windsor I is a cashmere goat who served as a lance corporal in the 1st Battalion, the Royal Welsh, an infantry battalion of the British Army, based at Chester. The tradition of having goats in the military originated in 1775, when a wild goat walked onto the battlefield in Boston during the Battle of Bunker Hill and led the Welsh regimental colours. Although descended from the same bloodline as the original royal herd, presented to Queen Victoria in 1837 by Mohammad Shah Qajar, the Shah of Persia, Billy was born in Whipsnade Zoo. He was presented to the regiment by Queen Elizabeth II in 2001, in a tradition dating back to 1844. His primary duty was to march at the head of the battalion on all ceremonial duties. He was deployed overseas, and paraded before royalty. His handler carried the title "Goat Major". Billy retired to Whipsnade Zoo in 2009. Did you know...
Selected town or village
Widnes is an industrial town on the northern bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. Historically in Lancashire, it became part of Cheshire in 1974, within the borough of Halton. It had a population of a little over 60,000 in 2011. Before the Industrial Revolution, Widnes consisted of a small number of separate settlements on predominantly marsh and moorland. In 1847, the first chemical factory was established, and the town rapidly became a major centre of the chemical industry using immigrant workers from Ireland, Poland, Lithuania and Wales. The town was described in 1888 as "the dirtiest, ugliest and most depressing town in England". Although there has been a degree of diversification of the town's industries, Widnes remains a major manufacturer of chemicals. Spike Island (pictured), where the disused Sankey Canal terminates, has been reclaimed as a recreational area. The nearby Catalyst Science Discovery Centre is the world's first museum dedicated to the chemical industry. 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. QuotationNever had huger From Battle of Brunanburh (c. 10th century), translated by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1880)
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