Encyclopedia
Cheshire is a
county in North West
England. Its county town, and the location of the county council, is the city of
Chester. Other major towns include
Congleton, Crewe,
Ellesmere Port,
Macclesfield and Wilmslow. Cheshire is historically famous for the production of Cheshire cheese. The county is primarily rural, however places such as
Alderley Edge contain concentrations of high net-worth individuals.
Divisions and environs
The area under the control of the county council, or shire county, is divided into an number of local government districts. They are
Ellesmere Port and Neston,
City of Chester,
Crewe and Nantwich,
Congleton,
Macclesfield and
Vale Royal.
Halton and
Warrington are unitary authorities which form part of the county for various functions such as
Lord Lieutenant but do not come under county council control. The ceremonial county, the area including the unitary authorities, borders
Merseyside,
Greater Manchester,
Derbyshire,
Staffordshire and
Shropshire in England and
Clwyd in
Wales and forms part of the North West England region.
Identity
As part of a 2002 marketing campaign, the plant conservation charity Plantlife chose the
cuckooflower as the county flower. Music critic/writer John Harris, who was born and raised in Cheshire , describes his home county on his website as
"probably England's least remarkable county!".
History
- Main article: History of Cheshire.
Cheshire in the
Domesday Book was recorded as a much larger county than it is today. Its northern border was the
River Ribble, and it was recorded with eighteen hundreds, six of which were north of the
River Mersey. It also included the towns of Broughton, Hawarden, Prestatyn and Rhuddlan, now in Wales.
In 1182 the land north of the Mersey became administered as part of the new county of
Lancashire instead. Later, the hundreds of Atiscross and Exestan became part of
Wales. Over the years the ten hundreds consolidated to just seven — Broxton, Bucklow, Eddisbury,
Macclesfield,
Nantwich,
Northwich, and Wirral.
Through The Local Government Act 1972 which came into effect in 1974, some areas in the north became part of the metropolitan counties of
Greater Manchester and
Merseyside, particularly
Stockport , Hyde,
Dukinfield and Stalybridge in the north-east and much of the
Wirral Peninsula in the north-west . At the same time the Tintwistle Rural District was transferred to Derbyshire. The area of Lancashire south of the Merseyside/Greater Manchester area, including
Widnes and the county borough of
Warrington was added to the new non-metropolitan county of Cheshire.
Halton and
Warrington became unitary authorities independent of Cheshire County Council on 1 April 1998, but remain part of Cheshire for ceremonial purposes, as well as fire and policing.
A referendum for a further local government reform connected with an elected regional assembly was planned for 2004, but was abandoned .
Economy
Cheshire is a mainly rural county with a high concentration of villages. Agriculture is generally based around the dairy trade and cattle are the predominant livestock. Most of the industry is in the North adjacent to the
Mersey, notably the centre of the British chemical industry, including
ICI at
Runcorn . Crewe was once the centre of the
British railway industry and remains a major junction. Towns in the east of Cheshire form Manchester's most affluent commuter belt with some of the UK's highest property prices outside the Home Counties. Cheshire is rich in
canals, particularly the east of the county with its strategic importance between
Manchester, Stoke and
Birmingham. The Rochdale,
Ashton,
Peak Forest,
Macclesfield,
Trent and Mersey and
Bridgewater canals have been restored for leisure use, forming the "Cheshire Ring".
The following is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of the non-metropolitan county of Cheshire at current basic prices by
Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
| Year | | | | |
|---|
| 1995 | 11,828 | 272 | 4,673 | 6,883 |
| 2000 | 14,879 | 188 | 5,049 | 9,641 |
| 2003 | 17,159 | 225 | 4,988 | 11,945 |
includes hunting and forestry
includes energy and construction
includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
Geography
Cheshire covers a boulder clay plain separating the hills of
North Wales and the
Peak District of
Derbyshire. This was formed following the retreat of
ice age glaciers which left the area dotted with
kettle holes, locally referred to as "meres". The bedrock of this region is almost entirely Triassic
sandstone, outcrops of which have long been quarried, notably at
Runcorn, providing the distinctive red stone for
Liverpool Cathedral and
Chester Cathedral.
The eastern half of the county is Upper Triassic Mercia mudstone laid down with large
salt deposits which were mined for hundreds of years around
Northwich. Separating this area from Lower Triassic Sherwood sandstone to the west is a prominent Sandstone Ridge. A 51km footpath, the Sandstone Trail, follows this ridge from
Frodsham to Whitchurch passing Delamere Forest,
Beeston Castle and earlier
iron age forts.
Buildings
Prehistoric burial grounds can be found at the Bridestones, near
Congleton and Robin Hood's Tump, near Alpraham . The remains of iron age
hill forts are found on sandstone ridges at several locations in Cheshire. Examples include Maiden Castle on
Bickerton Hill,
Helsby Hillfort and Woodhouse Hillfort at
Frodsham. The Roman fortress and walls of
Chester, perhaps the earliest building works in Cheshire remaining above ground, are constructed from purple-grey sandstone.
The distinctive local red sandstone has been used for many monumental and ecclesiastical buildings throughout the county, for example, the medieval
Beeston Castle,
Chester Cathedral and numerous parish churches. Occasional residential and industrial buildings, such as ,
Helsby are also in this sandstone.
Many surviving buildings from the 15th to 17th centuries are timbered, particularly in the southern part of the county. Notable examples include the moated manor house
Little Moreton Hall, dating from around 1450, and many commercial and residential buildings in Chester,
Nantwich and surrounding villages.
Early brick buildings include , near
Macclesfield , and in Chester . From the 18th century, orange, red or brown brick became the predominant building material used in Cheshire, although earlier buildings are often faced or dressed with stone. Examples from the Victorian period onwards often employ distinctive brick detailing, such as brick patterning and ornate chimney stacks and gables. Notable examples include , near Macclesfield, , near Chester and , Chester. From the Victorian era, brick buildings often incorporate timberwork in a mock Tudor style, and this hybrid style has been used in some modern residential developments in the county. Industrial buildings, such as the Macclesfield silk mills , are also usually in brick.
Settlement
Some northern parts of the county are effectively
suburbs of
Manchester or
Liverpool, and many of those who work in these cities commute from other parts of the county. The county is home to some of the most affluent areas of
England, including
Alderley Edge, Wilmslow, Prestbury and
Knutsford. The area is sometimes referred to as The Golden Triangle on account of the area in around the above mentioned towns and villages.
List of places
covering the ceremonial county ...
...
Some settlements which were historically part of the county now fall under the counties of
Derbyshire,
Merseyside and
Greater Manchester:
| Derbyshire | Newtown, Tintwistle, Whaley Bridge |
|---|
| Greater Manchester | Altrincham, Bramhall, Bredbury, Cheadle, Cheadle Hulme, Dukinfield, Gatley, Hazel Grove, Hyde, Marple, Romiley, Sale, Stalybridge, Stockport, Wythenshawe |
|---|
| Merseyside | Bebington, Birkenhead, Hoylake, Wallasey |
|---|
Famous products
Famous people
- Ian Astbury singer in the band The Cult, was born in Heswall;
- Lewis Carroll was born and raised in Daresbury, Halton, hence the Cheshire cat;
- Emma Bossons ceramic artist at Moorcroft was born in Congleton;
- Singer Tim Burgess from the Charlatans;
- Anglo–Canadian actress Kim Cattrall
...
, born in
Widnes;
...
;
...
born in Mobberley, Cheshire, famous
mountaineer, died in 1924 climbing
Mount Everest;
...
;
Places of interest
'
- Adlington Hall
- Anderton Boat Lift
- Arley Hall
- Beeston Castle
- Capesthorne Hall
- Cholmondeley Castle
- Doddington Park
- Ellesmere Port Boat Museum
- Elton Hall, Aldford
- Gawsworth Hall
- Hills: Shining Tor, Shutlingsloe
- Holt Castle
- Jodrell Bank Science Centre
- Lamaload Reservoir
- Lion Salt Works, Marston, an industrial museum
- Little Moreton Hall
- Long distance footpaths: Biddulph Valley Way, Gritstone Trail, Sandstone Trail
- Lyme Hall, Lyme Park, one of the locations for BBC's Pride and Prejudice belongs to the romantic-comedy genre and is the most famous of Jane Austen [i]'s ...
- Macclesfield Canal
- Macclesfield Forest
- Moss Hall, Audlem
- Ness Botanic Gardens
- Parkgate
- Peckforton Castle
- Peover Hall
- Quarry Bank Mill, Styal, an industrial museum
- River Weaver, River Dee, River Dane, River Bollin, River Goyt, River Gowy
- Sandbach Crosses
- Shropshire Union Canal
- Swettenham Meadows
- Tabley House
- Tatton Park
- Tegg's Nose Country Park
- Trent and Mersey Canal
- Watermills: Bunbury Mill, Nether Alderley Mill, Quarry Bank Mill, Stretton Mill
References
External links
