Widnes is an industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire. 61,464 people lived there at the 2011 census. [1] It used to be in Lancashire. It is on the northern side of the River Mersey.
The Sankey Canal runs from Spike Island in Widnes to the River Mersey at Sankey Bridges, near Warrington. It opened in 1757.[2] Widnes Dock, the world's first railway dock, was built there in 1833 when the St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway opened.
It is a centre of the chemical industry. Soap, borax, soda ash, salt cake and bleaching powder are made there. Other industries developed including iron and copper works.
The Silver Jubilee Bridge connects the town to Runcorn on the other side of the Mersey. It opened in 1961.[3]
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