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Cheshire (or, archaically, the County of Chester) is a county in the North West of England. The county town, and the location of the county council, is the city of Chester. Other major towns include Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Northwich, Warrington and Wilmslow. The county is bordered by Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the north east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south, Flintshire in Wales to the west, and Merseyside to the north west. The county has an overall area of 2,343 square kilometres and has a population of approximately 993,200. It is known for areas that contain concentrations of high net-worth individuals.

The county is mostly rural with a number of small towns and villages that support an agricultural industry. It is historically famous for the production of Cheshire cheese, salt and silk.

History
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 hundreds, six of which were north of the River Mersey. It also included the towns of Broughton, Hawarden, Prestatyn and Rhuddlan, now in Wales.

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 &mdash; Broxton, Bucklow, Eddisbury (hundred), Macclesfield, Nantwich, Northwich, and Wirral.

Through the Local Government Act 1972 which came into effect in 1974, some areas in the north west became part of the metropolitan counties of Greater Manchester and Merseyside. Stockport (previously a county borough), Hyde, Dukinfield and Stalybridge in the north-east became part of Greater Manchester. Much of the Wirral Peninsula in the north-west, including the county boroughs of Birkenhead and Wallasey, joined Merseyside. At the same time the Tintwistle Rural District was transferred to Derbyshire. The area of Lancashire south of the Merseyside/Greater Manchester area, including Widnes and the county borough of Warrington was added to the new non-metropolitan county of Cheshire.

Halton and Warrington became unitary authorities independent of Cheshire County Council on 1 April 1998, but remain part of Cheshire for ceremonial purposes, as well as fire and policing.

A referendum for a further local government reform connected with an elected regional assembly was planned for 2004, but was abandoned - ).

As part of a 2002 marketing campaign, the plant conservation charity Plantlife chose the cuckooflower as the county flower.

Buildings and structures
Prehistoric burial grounds can be found at The Bridestones, near Congleton (Neolithic) and Robin Hood's Tump, near Alpraham (Bronze Age). The remains of Iron Age hill forts are found on sandstone ridges at several locations in Cheshire. Examples include Maiden Castle on Bickerton Hill, Helsby Hillfort and Woodhouse Hillfort at Frodsham. The Roman fortress and walls of Chester, perhaps the earliest building works in Cheshire remaining above ground, are constructed from purple-grey sandstone.

The distinctive local red sandstone has been used for many monumental and ecclesiastical buildings throughout the county, for example, the medieval Beeston Castle, Chester Cathedral and numerous parish churches. Occasional residential and industrial buildings, such as Helsby Station, Helsby (1849) are also in this sandstone.

Many surviving buildings from the 15th to 17th centuries are timbered, particularly in the southern part of the county. Notable examples include the moated manor house Little Moreton Hall, dating from around 1450, and many commercial and residential buildings in Chester, Nantwich and surrounding villages.

Early brick buildings include Peover Hall, near Macclesfield (1585), Tattenhall Hall (pre-1622) and Pied Bull Hotel in Chester (17th C). From the 18th century, orange, red or brown brick became the predominant building material used in Cheshire, although earlier buildings are often faced or dressed with stone. Examples from the Victorian period onwards often employ distinctive brick detailing, such as brick patterning and ornate chimney stacks and gables. Notable examples include Arley Hall, near Northwich, Willington Hall , near Chester (both by Nantwich architect George Latham) and Overleigh Lodge, Chester. From the Victorian era, brick buildings often incorporate timberwork in a mock Tudor style, and this hybrid style has been used in some modern residential developments in the county. Industrial buildings, such as the Macclesfield silk mills (for example, Waters Green New Mill), are also usually in brick.

Physical geography


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 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 51 km footpath, the Sandstone Trail, follows this ridge from Frodsham to Whitchurch passing Delamere Forest, Beeston Castle and earlier Iron Age forts.

Population
Based on the Census of 2001, the overall population of Cheshire is 673,781, of which 51.3% of the population were male and 48.7% were female. Of those aged between 0-14 years, 51.5% were male and 48.4% were female; and of those aged over 75 years, 62.9% were female and 37.1% were male.

The population density of Cheshire is 3.2 people per hectare, lower than the North West average of 4.2 and the England and Wales average of 3.8. Ellesmere Port and Neston has a greater urban density than the rest of the county with 9.2 people per hectare.

The population for 2021 is forecast to be 708,000.

Ethnicity
Ethnic white groups accounted for 98% (662,794) of the population with 10,994 (2%) in ethnic groups other than white. Of those in non-white ethnic groups:
 * 3,717 (34%) belonged to mixed ethnic groups
 * 3,336 (30%) were Asian or Asian British
 * 1,076 (10%) were Black or Black British
 * 1,826 (17%) were of Chinese ethnic groups
 * 1,039 (9%) were of other ethnic groups.

Religion
In the 2001 Census, 81% of the population (542,413) identified themselves as Christian; 124,677 (19%) did not identify with any religion or did not answer the question; 5,665 (1%) as belonging to other major world religions; and 1,033 belonging to other religions.

Politics and administration
The area under the control of the county council, or shire county, is divided into a number of local government districts. They are Ellesmere Port and Neston, City of Chester, Crewe and Nantwich, Congleton, Macclesfield and Vale Royal.

Halton (which includes the towns of Runcorn and Widnes) and Warrington are unitary authorities which form part of the county for various functions such as Lord Lieutenant and High Sheriff, but do not come under county council control.

The area including the unitary authorities, or ceremonial county, borders Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Shropshire in England along with Flintshire and Wrexham in Wales. Cheshire forms part of the North West England region.

Traditional products
Cheshire is famous for the production of Cheshire cheese, Salt and Silk.

Business
At the start of 2003, there were 22,020 VAT registered enterprises in Cheshire, increased by 7% since 1998. Most registered businesses in Cheshire were in two broad sectors, namely Business Services (31.9%) and Wholesale/ Retail (21.7%).

Between 2002 and 2003 the number businesses grew in four sectors: Public Administration and Other Services (6.0%), Hotels & Restaurants (5.1%), Construction (1.7%) and Business Services (1.0%).

Business Sectors
As well as the agricultural industry for which it is famous, Cheshire has established a reputation for excellence in many key economic areas: automotive, bio-technology, chemical, financial services, food and drink, ICT, and tourism.

The county saw the largest proportional reduction between 2001 and 2002 in employment in the 'Energy and Water' sector and there was also a significant reduction in the Manufacturing sector. The largest growth during this period was in the 'Other Services' and 'Distribution, Hotels and Retail' sector.

Agriculture
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. The number of holdings and hectares of agricultural land can be seen in the following table :

Based on holdings by EC farm type in 2005, 851 hectares were allocated to diary farming, with another 1,178 hectares allocated to cattle and sheep.

Petrochemical and chemical industry
The chemical industry in Cheshire was founded in the Roman times with the mining of salt in Middlewich and Northwich. Salt is still mined in this area by British Salt. The salt mining has led to a continued chemical industry around Northwich, with Brunner Mond based in the town. More chemical companies, including Ineos (formerly ICI) have plants at Runcorn.

The Shell Stanlow Refinery is at Ellesmere Port. The oil refinery has operated since 1924 and has a capacity of 12 million tonnes per year.

Transport industry
Crewe was once the centre of the British railway industry. The Crewe railway works is a British railway engineering facility built in 1840 by the Grand Junction Railway. At is peak the works employed 20000 people, though this is now less than 1000. The town's station remains a major railway junction.

Crewe is also the home of Bentley cars. Also within Cheshire are manufacturing plants for Jaguar and Vauxhall Motors in Ellesmere Port.

The county also has an aircraft industry. The BAe Systems facility at Woodford Aerodrome was home to the production of Avro Lancaster and Avro Vulcan bombers and the Hawker-Siddeley Nimrod. It is still part of BAe System's Military Air Solutions division. On the Cheshire border with Flintshire, Wales is the Broughton aircraft factory, more recently associated with Airbus.

Tourism
Tourism in Cheshire from both within the UK and overseas continues to perform strongly. Over 8 million nights of acommodation (both UK & Overseas) and over 2.8 million visits to Cheshire were recorded during 2003.

Gross Value Added
The following table is a chart of trend of regional Gross Value Added of the non-metropolitan county of Cheshire at 2004 basic prices.

Notes:
 * Figures are in millions of British Pounds Sterling (£)
 * Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
 * Agriculture includes hunting and forestry
 * Industry includes energy and construction
 * Services includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

Cheshire people

 * West Ham footballer Dean Ashton (born in Swindon) grew up in Holmes Chapel and played for Crewe Alexandra F.C..
 * Ian Astbury singer in the band The Cult, was born in Heswall;
 * Emma Bossons ceramic artist at Moorcroft was born in Congleton;
 * Famous England cricketeer Ian Botham grew up in Heswall.
 * Singer Tim Burgess from the Charlatans;
 * Lewis Carroll was born and raised in Daresbury, Halton, hence the Cheshire cat;
 * Anglo–Canadian actress Kim Cattrall, born in Widnes;
 * Djibril Cissé French international footballer lives in Frodsham;
 * Actor and singer Tim Curry was born in Warrington;
 * Daniel Craig, actor playing the 6th James Bond, was born in Chester;
 * Peter Crouch, footballer;
 * Ian Curtis singer with Joy Division;
 * Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley is buried at Dodleston, Cheshire;
 * Writer Alan Garner lives in Goostrey;
 * 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;
 * Sculptor and photographer Andy Goldsworthy was born in Cheshire, in the year of 1956
 * Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, one of the UK's wealthiest residents lives at Eaton Hall near Chester;
 * Emma Hamilton (Lady Hamilton) was born in the county;
 * Derby County footballer Seth Johnson went to Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School;
 * Kerry Katona singer was born and raised in Warrington
 * George Mallory born in Mobberley, Cheshire, famous mountaineer, died in 1924 climbing Mount Everest;
 * Lewis McGibbon film actor best known for his role in Millions was born and lives in Cheshire.
 * Michael Owen, footballer, was born in Chester and stills maintains a family home there despite transfers to Real Madrid in 2004 and then to Newcastle United F.C. in 2005;
 * Paula Radcliffe, famous athlete was educated at Kingsley Primary School;
 * Wayne Rooney, footballer;
 * The athlete Shirley Strong lived in Rudheath, nr Northwich

Places in Cheshire
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. The county is home to some of the most affluent areas of England, including Alderley Edge, Wilmslow, Prestbury and Knutsford. The area is sometimes referred to as The Golden Triangle on account of the area in and around the above mentioned towns and villages.

The cities and town in Cheshire are listed below.


 * Alsager
 * Bollington
 * Chester
 * Congleton
 * Crewe


 * Ellesmere Port
 * Frodsham
 * Knutsford
 * Macclesfield
 * Middlewich


 * Nantwich
 * Neston
 * Northwich
 * Runcorn
 * Sandbach


 * Warrington
 * Widnes
 * Wilmslow
 * Winsford

Places historically in Cheshire
Some settlements which were historically part of the county now fall under the counties of Derbyshire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester:

Air
Manchester Airport straddles the boundary between Greater Manchester and Cheshire.

Railway

 * ''See also: List of railway lines in Northern England

The West Coast Main Line runs from south to north through the centre of the county, connecting Crewe, Warrington Bank Quay and Wigan North Western railway stations with London, Preston and Glasgow.

The Mid-Cheshire Line connects Chester to Stockport, crossing from south west to north east across the county.

Roads
The Cheshire road system is made up of 3417 miles (5500 km) of highway. This includes 214 miles (344 km) of the M6, M62, M53 and M56 motorways with 23 interchanges and four service areas. The M6 motorway in the across the Thelwall Viaduct carries some 140,000 vehicles per 24 hours. .

Canals
Cheshire has a number of canals, which were originally used to transport material (mostly chemicals). Nowadays they are now mainly used for tourist traffic. The Cheshire Ring is formed from The Rochdale, Ashton, Peak Forest, Macclesfield, Trent and Mersey and Bridgewater canals.

The Manchester Ship Canal is a wide, 36-mile-long river opened in 1894. It consists of the River Irwell and River Mersey made navigable to Manchester for seagoing ships leaving the Mersey Estuary. The canal passes through the north of the county via Runcorn and Warrington.