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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 Lovell Telescope is a radio telescope at the Jodrell Bank Observatory, near Goostrey. When it was constructed in the mid 1950s, it was the largest steerable dish radio telescope in the world at 76.2 m (250 ft) in diameter. It is now the third largest, after the Green Bank and Effelsberg telescopes. It forms part of the MERLIN and European VLBI Network arrays of radio telescopes. Originally known as the 250 ft telescope or the Radio Telescope at Jodrell Bank, then as the Mark I telescope when future telescopes (the Mark II, III and IV) were being discussed around 1961, it was renamed the Lovell Telescope in 1987 after Bernard Lovell. Lovell and Charles Husband were both knighted for their roles in creating the telescope. The Lovell Telescope became a Grade I listed building in 1988, and won the BBC's online competition to find the UK's greatest "Unsung Landmark" in 2006. Selected image
Aldford Iron Bridge crosses the River Dee near Aldford. The grade-I-listed cast-iron bridge was commissioned by Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster, designed by Thomas Telford and built by William Hazledine. It was completed in 1824. Credit: David Kitching (26 May 2003) 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
Of the over 200 Scheduled Monuments in Cheshire, at least 34 date from after 1539, the end of the medieval period. Monuments are defined as sites deliberately constructed by human activity; some sites not visible above ground. They were formerly called "scheduled ancient monuments" but as they include structures dating from as late as the 1940s and 1950s, the word "ancient" has been dropped. They range in date from the early post-medieval period, through the Industrial Revolution, to the 20th century. Early post-medieval monuments tend to be similar in type to those from the medieval period, namely moats or moated sites and churchyard crosses. Unusual post-medieval structures include a dovecote and a duck decoy. Many structures dating from the Industrial Revolution relate to the canal network, including the Anderton Boat Lift and several canal locks and bridges (example pictured). Industrial sites include the Lion Salt Works, the remains of a mine and a transporter bridge within a factory. The structures dating from the 20th century were constructed for the World Wars or the Cold War. They consist of a former Royal Air Force airfield and the remains of three sites for anti-aircraft guns. 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
Sir John Vanbrugh (1664 – 26 March 1726) was an English architect and dramatist. Born in London, he grew up in Chester. As a young man and a committed Whig, he was involved in a plot to overthrow James II, put William III on the throne and protect English parliamentary democracy. His actions led to his imprisonment as a political prisoner in the Bastille. As an architect, Vanbrugh created what came to be known as English Baroque. He designed Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. His architectural work was bold and daring, and jarred conservative opinions on the subject. His two argumentative and outspoken Restoration comedies, The Relapse (1696) and The Provoked Wife (1697) have become enduring stage favourites, although they originally occasioned much controversy. Vanbrugh offended many sections of Restoration and 18th century society, not only by the sexual explicitness of his plays, but also by their messages in defence of women's rights in marriage. 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. QuotationIn the first place, Cranford is in possession of the Amazons; all the holders of houses above a certain rent are women. If a married couple come to settle in the town, somehow the gentleman disappears; he is either fairly frightened to death by being the only man in the Cranford evening parties, or he is accounted for by being with his regiment, his ship, or closely engaged in business all the week in the great neighbouring commercial town of Drumble, distant only twenty miles on a railroad. In short, whatever does become of the gentlemen, they are not at Cranford. ... The ladies of Cranford are quite sufficient. "A man," as one of them observed to me once, "is so in the way in the house!" From Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell (1851–3)
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