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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
Rode 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 image
The Shropshire Union Canal was completed in 1835, with Thomas Telford as the engineer. The main line connects Wolverhampton and Ellesmere Port. The canal now forms a popular recreational route as part of the Four Counties Ring. Credit: Mari Buckley (February 2007) In this month
1 January 1894: Manchester Ship Canal first opened to traffic. 2 January 1644: Dorfold Hall taken by Royalist forces during the Civil War. 3 January 1866: Crewe Hall gutted by fire. 13 January 1984: A cooling tower at Fiddlers Ferry Power Station (pictured) collapsed in high winds. 17 January 1644: Royalist forces attacked Nantwich during the Civil War. 20 January 1540: Dissolution of St Werburgh's Abbey. 20 January 1971: Singer–songwriter Gary Barlow born in Frodsham. 24 January 1909: Film star Ann Todd born in Hartford. 25 January 1837: Fire damaged the new wing of Vale Royal Abbey. 26 January 1644: Battle of Nantwich. 27 January 1832: Author and mathematician Lewis Carroll born in Daresbury. 27 January 1941: Cosmologist Beatrice Tinsley born in Chester. 28 January 1643: First battle of Nantwich. Selected list
Of the over 200 Scheduled Monuments in Cheshire, at least 129 date from the Medieval period, more than half the total. Scheduled Medieval archaeological sites are defined as dating from between 1066 and 1539, and range from the remains of deserted villages and large buildings to boundary stones. Monuments are defined as sites deliberately constructed by human activity; in many cases they consist only of earthworks or foundations. The 55 moats or moated sites are the most frequent monument remaining from this period. Houses were built on moated sites during this period partly for defensive purposes but also as a sign of prestige. The remains of twelve motte and bailey castles and three abbeys are scheduled. There are many churchyard and wayside crosses, such as the one at Woodhey (pictured), which were variously used as sites for prayer and pilgrimage, for public proclamations, as guides to local abbeys, and as "plague stones", used for the transfer of money and items during periods of plague. Other monuments include holy wells, halls, bridges, Chester city walls, a lime kiln, a pottery kiln, a hospital, a former chapel, a monastic grange, a tomb, an ice house and a hunting lodge. 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
Sandbach is a market town and civil parish near Crewe. The town is Cheshire East Council's administrative centre. The civil parish covers 10.7 km2 (4.1 sq mi), and also contains Elworth, Ettiley Heath and Wheelock villages, with a total population of nearly 18,000 in 2011. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon and means "sand stream" or "sand valley". There are traces of Saxon settlement and two Saxon crosses, believed to have been completed by the 9th century, stand in the market square. Sandbach appears in the Domesday Book of 1086. It has been a market town since 1579. Sandbach School was founded in 1677. The population increased during the 19th century, when the town was engaged in the silk industry. In the 20th century, Sandbach was the site of Foden and ERF lorries, and remains known for Foden's Brass Band. The parish's many listed buildings include Old Hall Hotel and other former coaching inns, as well as several buildings by George Gilbert Scott. Sandbach Flashes, fourteen pools created by subsidence due to underlying salt deposits, form an important wildlife habitat. 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. QuotationSometyme I was a taverner, And when I was a bruer longe, From "The Harrowing of Hell", in the Chester Mystery Cycle (c. 15th century)
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