Portal:Cheshire
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The Cheshire Portal
WelcomeCheshire 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 articleBeeston Castle is a ruined castle perched on a rocky sandstone crag 350 feet (107 m) above the Cheshire Plain at Beeston. It was built in the 1220s by Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester, on the site of an Iron Age hill fort. Described as Castellum de Rupe, the Castle on the Rock, Beeston was unusual in lacking a motte; the natural features of the land made the baileys (fortified walls) form the stronghold. A small inner bailey stood on top of the hill, with an outer bailey and large gatehouse on the lower slopes. Henry III took over the castle in 1237, and it was kept in good repair until the 16th century. The castle was again used as a stronghold during the Civil War, and it was partly demolished afterwards to prevent its further military use. Lord Tollemache purchased the site in 1840 as part of the Peckforton estate, and had the gatelodge (pictured) built. Now owned by English Heritage, Beeston Castle is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The ruins are open to the public, and the site includes a museum and visitor centre. Selected image1–5 Pillory Street, the newest of the listed buildings in Nantwich, was built in 1911 as a grocer's shop. The unusual building, in the French Baroque style of the late 17th century, was likened by contemporary observers to the Lusitania liner. Credit: Espresso Addict (29 October 2006) In this month3 May 1938: Cheshire County Council granted a banner of arms, now the county flag. 8 May 1817: Early paper on Cheshire dialect read at Society of Antiquaries by Roger Wilbraham. 12 May 1278: Fire destroyed much of Chester. 13 May 1983: Lindow Woman bog body discovered. 14 May 1853: Novelist and playwright Hall Caine (pictured) born in Runcorn. 18 May 1980: Musician Ian Curtis committed suicide at Macclesfield. 21 May 1868: First train crossed Runcorn Railway Bridge. 21 May 1894: Manchester Ship Canal officially opened by Queen Victoria. 23 May 1911: Architect John Douglas died in Chester. 24 May 1847: Five people killed in the Dee bridge disaster. 27 May 1899: Eastgate Clock unveiled, marking the 80th birthday of Queen Victoria. 29 May 1905: Widnes–Runcorn Transporter Bridge officially opened by Sir John Brunner. 31 May 1807: Primitive Methodism originated in a prayer meeting at Mow Cop. 31 May 1939: Humanitarian Terry Waite born in Styal. Selected listThe 59 listed buildings in Great Budworth include two at Grade I, one at Grade II* and the remainder at Grade II. Most are in the village of Great Budworth, formerly within the Arley Hall estate. In 1860–1900, Rowland Egerton-Warburton, the hall's owner, commissioned new buildings and the restoration of existing ones in the village, employing architects working in the Vernacular Revival style, including John Douglas, Edmund Kirby and William Eden Nesfield. Almost all the buildings in the village centre, those in Main Street, Church Street (pictured) and School Lane, are listed. The Grade-I-listed St Mary and All Saints Church originated in the 14th century and was virtually complete by the end of the 16th century. The Grade-I-listed Belmont Hall, designed by James Gibbs in about 1750, incorporates Palladian features. The Grade-II*-listed Old School House dates from 1615. Many of the Grade-II-listed buildings are 17th-century timber-framed houses and farm buildings, most of which have been recased in brick. There are two listed public houses: the Cock Inn and the George and Dragon. More unusual listed structures include the churchyard walls, a sundial, stocks, lychgate, guidepost, two wellhouses and a telephone kiosk. 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. AdministrationThe 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 biographySir 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...
Selected town or villageChester is a city on the River Dee, near the border with Wales. It is the second-largest settlement in Cheshire after Warrington, with a population of nearly 80,000 in 2011, and as of 2019 serves as Cheshire West and Chester's administrative headquarters. It was founded as the Roman fort of Deva Victrix in 79 AD, one of the main army camps in Roman Britain, and later a major civilian settlement. In 689, Æthelred of Mercia founded a minster church, later the first cathedral, and the Saxons improved the walls to protect against the Danes. Chester was one of the last places in England to fall to the Normans. A castle was built to dominate both the town and the Welsh border. City status was granted in 1541. Chester is among the best-preserved walled cities in Britain, with its walls almost complete, and several surviving medieval buildings. The Industrial Revolution brought railways, canals and new roads. Substantial Victorian development included the town hall and Grosvenor Museum, as well as the many Black-and-white Revival buildings in the centre. Tourism, shops and financial services are important to the modern economy. In the news29 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. QuotationGrinning like a Cheshire Cat. This phrase owes its origin to the unhappy attempts of a sign painter of that country to represent a lion rampant, which was the crest of an influential family, on the sign-boards of many of the inns. The resemblance of these lions to cats caused them to be generally called by the more ignoble name. On the origin of the Cheshire Cat, from The Treasury of Knowledge and Library Reference by Samuel Maunder (1853)
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