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Cheshire

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:''This article is about the English county. For other uses see Cheshire (disambiguation)'' {| class="toccolours" style="border-collapse: collapse; float: right; margin-left: 1em" border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="300" |+ '''Cheshire''' |- | colspan=2 style="text-align: center; background: white;"|Image:EnglandCheshire.png |- | colspan=2 style="background: #f0f0f0; font-weight: bolder;"|Geography |- ! width="45%" | Status | Ceremonial counties of England Ceremonial & (smaller) Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England Non-metropolitan county |- ! Origin | Traditional counties of England Historic |- ! Region | North West England |- ! style="font-weight: normal;" | '''Surface area Area'''
- Total
- Admin. council
- Admin. area | List of Ceremonial counties of England by Area Ranked 25th
1 E9 m² 2,343 square kilometre km²
List of Administrative shire counties of England by Area Ranked 25th
2,083 km² |- ! Admin HQ | Chester |- ! ISO 3166-2:GB ISO 3166-2 | GB-CHS |- ! ONS coding system ONS code | 13 |- ! Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics NUTS 3 | UKD22 |- | colspan=2 style="background: #f0f0f0; font-weight: bolder;"|Demographics |- ! style="font-weight: normal;" | '''Population'''
- Total (2004 est.)
- Density
- Admin. council
- Admin. pop. |List of ceremonial counties of England by population Ranked 18th
992,600
424 / km²
List of non-metropolitan counties of England by population Ranked 14th
680,000 |- ! Ethnicity | 98.3% White |- | colspan=2 style="background: #f0f0f0; font-weight: bolder;"|Politics |- |colspan=2 align=center|Image:arms-cheshire.jpg 200px|Arms of Cheshire County Council
Cheshire County Council
http://www.cheshire.gov.uk/ |- ! Executive | Conservative Party (UK) Conservative |- ! MPs elected in the UK general election, 2005 Members of Parliament | *Gwyneth Dunwoody *Mike Hall (politician) Mike Hall *Helen Jones *Andrew Miller (politician) Andrew Miller *Stephen O'Brien *George Osborne *Christine Russell *Helen Southworth *Derek Twigg *Ann Winterton *Nicholas Winterton |- | colspan=2 style="background: #f0f0f0; font-weight: bolder;"|Districts |- |colspan=2|Image:Cheshire_Ceremonial_Numbered.png #Ellesmere Port and Neston #City of Chester Chester #Crewe and Nantwich #Congleton (borough) Congleton #Macclesfield (borough) Macclesfield #Vale Royal #Halton (borough) Halton (Unitary) #Warrington (Unitary) |} '''Cheshire''' (or archaically the ''County of Chester'') is a county palatine palatine Counties of England county in North West England. Its county town is the city of Chester, England Chester. It is one of the most affluent counties in England, with numerous rural towns and villages. It borders the Ceremonial counties of England ceremonial counties of Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Derbyshire, Staffordshire (with Stoke-on-Trent), and Shropshire. It also borders the unitary authorities of Flintshire and Wrexham in Wales. 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. Cheshire's largest town is Warrington — although approximately half of the town lying to the north of the River Mersey and Manchester Ship Canal (the area covered by the pre-1974 County Borough) is traditionally part of Lancashire. The administrative centre for Cheshire is Chester, the historical county town. Other important towns in Cheshire are: Northwich, Crewe, Wilmslow, Ellesmere Port, Macclesfield, Runcorn and Widnes. Warrington and Halton (borough) Halton (including Widnes and Runcorn) are unitary authority unitary authorities, and one of Cheshire's up and coming towns Winsford. Cheshire's county flower is the cuckooflower.

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 hundred (division) hundreds, six of which were north of the River Mersey. 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 (hundred) Macclesfield, Nantwich (hundred) Nantwich, Northwich (hundred) Northwich, and Wirral (hundred) Wirral. In a local government reform in 1974, some areas near the border with Lancashire became part of the new metropolitan counties of Greater Manchester and Merseyside, notably Stockport, and much of the Wirral Peninsula was also lost, as was the North-Eastern tip, comprising the areas of Woodhead and Tintwistle, which transferred into Derbyshire. Also at this time, Cheshire gained Warrington and the surrounding district from Lancashire, as well as Widnes. Halton (borough) Halton and Warrington became unitary authorities independent of Cheshire on April 1, 1998, but remain part of the county for ceremonial purposes, as well as fire and policing. A referendum for a further local government reform connected with a regional assemblies in England regional assembly was planned for 2004, but was abandoned (''see Northern England referendum, 2004'').

Geography
Image:Cattle33.JPG thumb|left|Cattle farming in the county 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 table salt 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 follows this ridge from Frodsham to Whitchurch passing Delamere Forest, Beeston Castle and earlier iron age forts. 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 (originally sited here because of the proximity of salt mines). Crewe was once the centre of the Rail transport in Great Britain 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 Canal Ashton, Peak Forest Canal Peak Forest, Macclesfield Canal Macclesfield, Trent and Mersey Canal Trent and Mersey and Bridgewater Canal Bridgewater canals have been restored for leisure use, forming the "Cheshire Ring".

Famous products
*Cheshire cheese *table salt Salt

Famous people
* Ian Curtis singer with Joy Division * Singer Tim Burgess from the Charlatans UK Charlatans * Charles Lutwidge Dodgson Lewis Carroll was born and raised here, hence the Cheshire cat * Actor and singer Tim Curry was born in Warrington * Thomas Egerton, 1st Baron Ellesmere was born in Ellesmere * Writer Alan Garner * Film and stage actress Dame Wendy Hiller was born in Bramhall * Victorian novelist Elizabeth Gaskell was brought up in the town of Knutsford, which she depicted in her book, ''Cranford (novel) Cranford'' * Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, one of the UK's wealthiest residents lives at Eaton Hall (Cheshire) Eaton Hall near Chester * Emma Hamilton (Lady Hamilton) was born in the county * George Mallory born in Mobberley, Cheshire, famous mountaineer, died in 1924 climbing Mt. Everest * Wayne Rooney, footballer * Michael Owen, footballer, was born in Chester and stills maintains a family home there despite his recent transfer North-East to Newcastle.

Settlements
This is a list of the major towns and cities in Cheshire, for a full list of settlements see list of places in Cheshire. {|cellspacing=10 | valign=top | * Alderley Edge * Alsager * Bollington * Chester, Cheshire Chester * Congleton * Crewe * Ellesmere Port * Frodsham * Knutsford * Macclesfield * Middlewich | valign=top | * Nantwich * Neston, Cheshire Neston * Northwich * Runcorn * Sandbach * Warrington * Wilmslow * Widnes * Winsford |}

Places of interest
''(in alphabetical order)'' *Adlington Hall *Anderton Boat Lift *Arley Hall *Beeston Castle *Biddulph Valley Way, a long distance footpath *Capesthorne Hall *Cholmondley Castle *Dunham Massey *Ellesmere Port Boat Museum *Elton Hall, Aldford *Gawsworth Hall *Holt Castle *Jodrell Bank Science Centre *Lion Salt Works, Marston, Cheshire Marston, an industrial museum *Little Moreton Hall *Lyme Hall, Lyme Park, one of the locations for BBC's ''Pride and Prejudice'' *Macclesfield Canal *Macclesfield Forest *Moss Hall, Audlem *Ness Botanic Gardens *Parkgate, Cheshire Parkgate *Peckforton Castle *Peover Hall *Quarry Bank Mill, Styal, an industrial museum *River Weaver, River Dee, Wales River Dee, River Dane, River Bollin, River Goyt, River Gowy *Sandbach Crosses *Shropshire Union Canal *Swettenham Meadows *Tabley House *Tatton Hall, Tatton Park *Tegg's Nose Country Park *Trent and Mersey Canal *Watermills: Bunbury Mill, Nether Alderley Mill, Quarry Bank Mill, Stretton Mill

External links
{{Wiktionary|Cheshire}}
- Cheshire Council
- Cheshire Wildlife Trust
- Lion Salt Works Museum
- Cheshire Canals {{England ceremonial counties}}
{{England traditional counties}}
{{NW_England}} Category:Cheshire ang:Ceasterscīr de:Cheshire es:Cheshire eo:Cheshire fr:Comté de Cheshire nl:Cheshire no:Cheshire pt:Cheshire ru:Чешир simple:Cheshire sk:Cheshire (grófstvo) sv:Cheshire This :Category category contains articles relating to Cheshire. Category:Counties of England Category:Counties of the Welsh Marches

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