Portal:Cheshire
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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, 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 1,028,600, 19th highest in England, with a population density of 439 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
All Saints' Church, Runcorn is a grade-II*-listed parish church that stands on the south bank of the River Mersey, overlooking Runcorn Gap. Designed by Anthony Salvin, it was built in 1847–49; Hartwell and co-authors in the Buildings of England series describe it as "more generous and rounded than many of Salvin's other later churches." The first church on the site is said to have been founded by Ethelfleda in 915, when she built a castle nearby. The present building replaced a medieval church of around 1250. The church is built in local sandstone in Early English style with a steeple at the southwest corner, consisting of a square tower with an octagonal spire rising to 161 feet (49 m), which Hartwell and co-authors describe as "high" and "graceful." Some of the furniture in the church was moved from the previous building, as were some of the memorials, the majority of which are to members of the Brooke family from nearby Norton Priory. A former hearse house in the churchyard dates from about 1833. Selected picture
Salt-making by the open-pan method dates back to the Roman occupation, and was one of Cheshire's major industries. The Lion Salt Works was the last place in the county to use the method. It closed in 1986, when this picture was taken, and is now a museum. Credit: Chris Allen (8 June 1986) Selected list
Chester city walls surround the medieval extent of Chester. The circuit of the walls extends for 2 miles (3 km), rises to a height of 40 feet (12.2 m), and "is the most complete circuit of Roman and medieval defensive town wall in Britain." The walls and associated structures are a scheduled monument, and almost all parts are listed, mainly at grade I. The walls originated between 70 and 90 AD as defences for the Roman fortress of Deva Victrix. The earliest walls were earth ramparts surmounted by wooden palisades, with wooden gates and towers. Rebuilding in sandstone started at the end of the 1st century and took over 100 years. The existing circuit was completed by the end of the 12th century. The four main gates were replaced during the 18th and early 19th centuries. By the 18th century the walls were becoming popular as a promenade, and £1,000 (now £150,000) was spent in 1707 on repairs and paving the footway. Distinguished visitors who walked the walls at that time included John Wesley and Samuel Johnson. They remain a significant tourist attraction. In this month
1 October 1827: First stone laid of Grosvenor Bridge, Chester (pictured). 1 October 1905: Inventor John Dolphin born in Christleton. 3 October 1953: First public motor race at Oulton Park. 5 October 1963: Journalist Nick Robinson born in Macclesfield. 10 October 1654: Frodsham Castle destroyed by fire during the Civil War, after the death there of John Savage, 2nd Earl Rivers. 10 October 1868: Runcorn Railway Bridge officially opened. 10 October 1960: Alan Garner's The Weirdstone of Brisingamen first published. 11 October 1678: Antiquarian Sir Peter Leycester died in Nether Tabley. 14 October 1869: Chester Town Hall officially opened by the future Edward VII. 16 October 1643: Acton and Dorfold briefly captured by Royalists. 17 October 1832: Grosvenor Bridge, Chester, officially opened (still incomplete) by the future Queen Victoria. 17 October 1934: Novelist Alan Garner born in Congleton. 19 October 1965: Train driver Wallace Oakes awarded the George Cross posthumously. 20 October 1891: Physicist and Nobel prize winner James Chadwick born in Bollington. 21 October 1650: First record of the Cheshire cheese trade with London. 22 October 1996: Helicopter crash near Middlewich killed five people, including Matthew Harding, vice-chair of Chelsea F.C., and journalist John Bauldie. 26 October 1865: Equestrian Statue of Viscount Combermere unveiled in Chester. 27 October 1874: Mill fire killed eight people at Over. 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. Recommended articlesPlaces: Bradwall • Middlewich • Runcorn • Widnes Sights: Adlington Hall • All Saints' Church, Runcorn • Beeston Castle • Capesthorne Hall • Chester Cathedral • Chester Rows • Cholmondeley Castle • Churche's Mansion • Crewe Hall • Eaton Hall • Gawsworth Old Hall • Halton Castle • Jodrell Bank Observatory • Little Moreton Hall History: Battle of Rowton Heath • Deva Victrix • Eddisbury hill fort • Lindow Man Geography & Transport: A500 road • Bridgewater Canal • Chester Canal • Manchester Ship Canal People: Jonathan Agnew Lists: Castles Selected biography
Sir James Chadwick (20 October 1891 – 24 July 1974) was an English physicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for his 1932 discovery of the neutron. He later measured its mass. Born in Bollington, he studied at the University of Manchester. His early research, under Hans Geiger, showed that beta radiation produces a continuous electromagnetic spectrum. He was Assistant Director, under Ernest Rutherford, of the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory for over a decade, when it was one of the world's foremost centres for physics research. In 1935, Chadwick joined the University of Liverpool, turning its physics laboratory into an important nuclear physics research centre by installing a cyclotron. During the Second World War, he was involved in the Tube Alloys project to build an atomic bomb, and later led the British team working on the Manhattan Project. Knighted in 1945, he served as Master of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge 1948–1958. Did you know...
In the news
1 August: The pilot was killed when his Folland Gnat plane crashed in an air display near Oulton Park. 31 July: Two human skeletons, buried at least 400 years ago, are found within the walls of Halton Castle during excavations. 27 July: Round Tower Lodge, Sandiway, rebuilt after demolition following a road traffic accident. 18 July: Four people are missing following explosions and a fire at a wood treatment works in Bosley. 13 July: The first phase of a new project called Islands opens at Chester Zoo. 5 June: Lion Salt Works reopens after a restoration costing £10.23m. 25 May: The temporary trestle bridge for the construction of the Mersey Gateway has been completed. QuotationThe huge yellow somethings went unnoticed at Goonhilly, they passed over Cape Canaveral without a blip, Woomera and Jodrell Bank looked straight through them – which was a pity because it was exactly the sort of thing they'd been looking for all these years. ... Miles above the surface of the planet the huge yellow somethings began to fan out. At Jodrell Bank, someone decided it was time for a nice relaxing cup of tea. From The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (1979)
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