Macclesfield
Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in Cheshire, England. The population of Macclesfield at the 2011 census was 52,044. A person from Macclesfield is sometimes referred to as a "Maxonian". Macclesfield, like many other areas in Cheshire, is a affluent town. Situated in the ancient Hundred of Hamestan, the town is recorded in the Domesday Book as "Maclesfeld" and in 1183 it was referred to as "Makeslesfeld"; the English Place-Name Society gives its name as being derived from the Old English name and field, yielding the meaning "Maccel's open country". Although "Silk Town" seems to be its preferred nickname, the traditional nickname of Macclesfield is "Treacle Town"; this refers to an historical incident when a horse-drawn wagon overturned and split its load of treacle onto the street, after which the poor scooped the treacle off the road. Macclesfield was granted a borough charter by Earl Ranulf III of Chester, in the early 13th century, a second charter was granted by the future King Edward I, in 1261.
The parish church of All Saints was built in 1278, an extension of a chapel built in 1220. The borough had a weekly market and two annual fairs: the Barnaby fair, was on St Barnabas day, the other on the feast of All Saints. In recent years the Barnaby fair has been reinvented as the Barnaby Festival, a cultural festival in mid-June; the weekly market no longer happens but on the last Sunday of each month the Treacle Market is held, a large market selling locally produced food and handmade items such as clothing, handmade goods and pottery. Macclesfield was the administrative centre of the Hundred of Macclesfield, which occupied most of east Cheshire; the Earl of Chester's manor of Macclesfield was large, its boundary extended to Disley. The manor house was on the west of the town; the Earls of Chester established the Forest of Macclesfield, much larger than its present-day namesake. It was used for hunting deer and pasturing sheep and cattle. By the end of the 13th century, large areas of the forest had been ploughed because of the pressure of population growth.
In 1356, two trees from the forest were given to archer William Jauderell to repair his home. Macclesfield Castle was a fortified town house built by John de Macclesfield in the Middle Ages. Construction began in 1398. Contrary to what some believe, no proof exists of Macclesfield being a walled town; when the settlement was first established and for some centuries afterwards there would have been some sort of ditch and palisade round the western side of the town, not defended. This was necessary in order to keep out stray animals. No physical trace of a ditch remains though measurements and the shape of certain streets suggest where such a ditch could have been and most of the medieval building were within this area, it is unlikely that the ditch and palisade were succeeded by a wall for no record has been found of a murage tax, which would have been levied to keep the wall in repair. The suffix "Gate" in the names of several Macclesfield streets has been taken to indicate the former presence of a gate in the sense of a guarded opening in a wall, this is unlikely as the term'gate' is derived from'gata', Scandinavian for road, which became gate in Middle English.
Therefore, Chester Gate, the Jordan Gate and the Church Wall Gate, are referring to the road to/from Chester or the road leading from the church to the well. These names are preserved in the names of three streets in the town, Chestergate and Back Wallgate. During the Civil War, in 1642 the town was occupied for the King by a Royalist. In the Jacobite Rising of 1745, Charles Stuart and his army marched through Macclesfield as they attempted to reach London; the mayor was forced to welcome the prince, the event is commemorated in one of the town's silk tapestries. Armoury Towers was completed in 1858 and the Bridge Street drill hall was completed in 1871. Macclesfield was once the world's biggest producer of finished silk. There were 71 silk mills operating in 1832. Paradise Mill is a working mill museum which demonstrates the art of silk throwing and Jacquard weaving to the public; the four Macclesfield Museums display a range of information and products from that period. Macclesfield is the original home of Hovis breadmakers, produced in Publicity Works Mill on the canal close to Buxton Road.
It was founded by a baker from Stoke-on-Trent. Hovis is said to derive from the Latin "homo-vitalis" as a way of providing a cheap and nutritious food for poor mill workers and was a dry and dense wholemeal loaf different from the modern version. Between 1826 and 1831 the Macclesfield Canal was constructed, linking Macclesfield to Marple to the north and Kidsgrove to the south; the canal was surveyed for its Act of Parliament by the canal and roads engineer Thomas Telford, built by William Crosley, the Macclesfield Canal Company's engineer. It was the last narrow canal to be completed and had only limited success because within ten years much of the coal and other potential cargo was being transported by rail. Waters Green was once home to a nationally known horse market which features in the legend of the Wizard of Alderley Edge. Waters Green and an area opposite Arighi Bianchi, now hidden under the Silk Road held a sheep and cattle market until the 1980s. Macclesfield is said to be the only mill town left unbombed in World War II.
Macclesfield was first represented in Parliament after the Reform Act of 1832, when it was granted two members o
Warrington
Warrington is a large town and unitary authority area in Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey, 20 miles east of Liverpool, 20 miles west of Manchester. The population in 2017 was estimated at 209,700, more than double that of 1968 when it became a New Town. Warrington is the largest town in the county of Cheshire. Warrington was founded by the Romans at an important crossing place on the River Mersey. A new settlement was established by the Saxons. By the Middle Ages, Warrington had emerged as a market town at the lowest bridging point of the river. A local tradition of textile and tool production dates from this time. Part of Lancashire, the expansion and urbanisation of Warrington coincided with the Industrial Revolution after the Mersey was made navigable in the 18th century; the West Coast Main Line runs north to south through the town, the Liverpool to Manchester railway west to east. The Manchester Ship Canal cuts through the south of the borough; the M6, M56 and M62 motorways form a partial box around the town.
The modern Borough of Warrington was formed in 1974 with the amalgamation of the former County Borough of Warrington, part of the Golborne Urban District, the Lymm Urban District, part of the Runcorn Rural District, the Warrington Rural District and part of the Whiston Rural District. Warrington has been a major crossing point on the River Mersey since ancient times and there was a Roman settlement at Wilderspool. Local archaeological evidence indicates. In medieval times Warrington's importance was as a market town and bridging point of the River Mersey; the first reference to a bridge at Warrington is found in 1285. The origin of the modern town was located in the area around St Elphin's Church, now included in the Church Street Conservation Area, established whilst the main river crossing was via a ford 1 km upriver of Warrington Bridge. Warrington was the first paved town in Lancashire, which took place in 1321. Warrington was a fulcrum in the English Civil War; the armies of Oliver Cromwell and the Earl of Derby both stayed near the old town centre.
Popular legend has it that Cromwell lodged near the building which survives on Church Street as the Cottage Restaurant. The Marquis of Granby public house bears a plaque stating that the Earl of Derby'had his quarters near this site'. Dents in the walls of the parish church are rumoured to have been caused by the cannons from the time of the civil war. On 13 August 1651 Warrington was the scene of the last Royalist victory of the civil war when Scots troops under Charles II and David Leslie, Lord Newark, fought Parliamentarians under John Lambert at the Battle of Warrington Bridge; the expansion and urbanisation of Warrington coincided with the Industrial Revolution after the Mersey was made navigable in the 18th century. As Britain became industrialised, Warrington embraced the Industrial Revolution becoming a manufacturing town and a centre of steel, brewing and chemical industries; the navigational properties of the River Mersey were improved, canals were built, the town grew yet more prosperous and popular.
When the age of steam came, Warrington welcomed it, both as a means of transport and as a source of power for its mills. Many people Americans, remember Warrington best as the location of RAF Station Burtonwood Burtonwood RAF base. During World War II, it served as the largest US Army Air Force airfield outside the United States, was visited by major American celebrities like Humphrey Bogart and Bob Hope who entertained the GIs; the RAF station continued in use by the USAAF and subsequently USAF as a staging post for men and material until its closure in 1993. Warrington was designated a new town in 1968 and the town grew in size, with the Birchwood area being developed on the former ROF Risley site. Heavy industry declined in the 1970s and 1980s but the growth of the new town led to a great increase in employment in light industry and technology. On 20 March 1993, the Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated two bombs in Warrington town centre; the blasts killed two children: three-year-old Jonathan Ball died and twelve-year-old Tim Parry, from the Great Sankey area died five days in hospital.
Around 56 other people were injured, four seriously. Their deaths provoked widespread condemnation of the organisation responsible; the blast followed a bomb attack a few weeks earlier on a gas-storage plant in Warrington. Tim Parry's father Colin Parry founded The Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace as part of a campaign to reconcile communities in conflict; the centre opened on the seventh anniversary of the bombing, 20 March 2000. He and his family still live in the town. In 1981, Warrington was the first place to field a candidate for the new Social Democratic Party. On 23 November 1981, an F1/T3 tornado formed over Croft and passed over Warrington town centre, causing some damage. There was a RAF training camp at Padgate, a Royal Naval air base at Appleton Thorn and an army base at the Peninsula Barracks in O'Leary Street; the Territorial Army was based at the Bath Street drill hall. In October 1987, Swedish home products retailer IKEA opened its first British store in the Burtonwood area of the town, bringing more than 200 retail jobs to the area.
In Lancashire, Warrington was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1847 under the Municipal Corporat
Gresford
Gresford is a village and a local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. According to the 2001 Census, the population of the community, which includes the village of Marford, was 5,334, reducing to 5,010 at the 2011 census; the Grade I listed All Saints' Church, Gresford has been described as the finest parish church in Wales, has the most surviving medieval stained glass of any Welsh church. Its bells are one of the traditional Seven Wonders of Wales; the former Gresford Colliery was the site of the Gresford disaster, one of Britain's worst coal mining disasters, when 266 men died in an underground explosion on 22 September 1934. Located close to the England–Wales border with Cheshire, the settlement existed at the time of the compilation of the Domesday book, when it was recorded as "Gretford" within the Cheshire Hundred of Duddestan; the name, derived from Old English græs and ford, was recorded as "Gresworth", "Cresford" and "Grefford", but documentary evidence shows that the place was locally referred to as "Gresford" throughout its history under Welsh administration, the other names represent alternative spellings.
The Welsh form "Gresffordd" believed to indicate an etymology from y groesffordd, seems to have been the imaginative creation of Welsh genealogists of the 15th century and later. This form has, seen media use as an alternative spelling since at least the 19th century, although unused by the non-Welsh speakers of the village itself, is today used by the Welsh press, Welsh-language media. In common with many of the towns and villages of the border lands, or Marches, Gresford has gone through periods of both English and Welsh dominance; the whole area was resettled by Welsh aligned to Owain Gwynedd in 1170-1203. At this time the bishopric was transferred from that of St. Werburgh's Chester to St. Asaph, the vicars of the village were Welsh with patronymic names, it is possible, that settlement existed on the site from quite an early date, as a Roman altar was found within the church in 1908. The altar is to depict Nemesis. There is a stand of yew trees in the churchyard, the oldest dating to A. D. 500 — long before Anglo-Saxon settlement.
Approaching Gresford from the Wrexham direction, on the left hand side of the road, there was a tree known as the'Cross Tree', alongside this there is the base of an ancient stone cross. This tree was removed after 1984, has since been replaced with a young tree; until the late 19th century, the parish boundary encompassed a large area, including the townships of Burton, Llay and Gwersyllt, as well as several townships included in Isycoed. The bells of the parish church, All Saints' Church are one of the traditional Seven Wonders of Wales. Gresford Church dates to 1492 and is a large building considering the size of what the population would have been in the present day boundaries of the parish; the base of the church tower has earlier remnants of a previous building and an earlier roofline of a former transept can be detected in the tower. The colour of the stone is quite distinctive, is typical of the Wrexham area, it is a sandy brown Millstone Grit, locally referred to as "Cefn" stone. Pant Iocyn house was built in the 1550s alongside the road from Gresford to Wrexham by Edward Almer, MP and three times High Sheriff of the county.
It was one of the chief houses in east Denbighshire and descended in the Almer family until it was bought and enlarged by Sir Foster Cunliffe, 3rd Baronet in 1785. The 18th century addition now serves as a gastro pub. Henry Dennis and his son, Henry Dyke Dennis, began sinking a coal mine near Gresford in 1888, taking four years for the 3,280 ft deep shafts to be completed; the coalmine was located on the edge of the Alyn Valley, between the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway and the old main road between Wrexham and Chester. The first coal was produced from June 1911, with full production reached before the outbreak of the First World War; the coal was renowned in the area as being of good quality and hot burning. Gresford Colliery was the site of one of Britain's worst coal mining disasters; the Gresford Disaster occurred on 22 September 1934, when 266 men died following an underground explosion. The bodies of only 11 of the miners underground at the time of the explosion were recovered; the headgear wheel is preserved and forms part of the Gresford Disaster Memorial, along with a plaque.
The disaster is commemorated in the hymn tune "Gresford", known as "the Miners' Hymn", written by Robert Saint of Hebburn, himself a miner. This tune has been played by many colliery brass bands over the years and is found on a number of recordings, is played at the annual Miners' Picnics around the North of England at the Durham Miners' Gala; the colliery lasted until 1973. The stone-built Gresford Halt, on the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway was midway up the notorious Gresford Bank; the bank was so steep that a refuge siding was required at the station in the event of engines having to leave some of their load behind to get up the hill. Banking engines were used on occasions; the station was demoted to halt status in 1956 and was closed altogether from 1964. Horsley Hall, Gresford East Gresford, New South Wales Wrexham County Boro
Ellesmere Port
Ellesmere Port is a town and port in Cheshire, part of the Cheshire West and Chester local authority. The town had a population of 55,715 in 2011; the town was established on the River Mersey at the entrance to the Ellesmere Canal. As well as a service sector economy, it has retained large industries including Stanlow oil refinery, a chemical works and the Vauxhall Motors car factory. There are a number of tourist attractions including the National Waterways Museum, the Blue Planet Aquarium and Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet; the town of Ellesmere Port was founded at the outlet of the never completed Ellesmere Canal. The canal now renamed was designed and engineered by William Jessop and Thomas Telford as part of a project to connect the rivers Severn and Dee; the canal was intended to be completed in sections. In 1795 the section between the River Mersey at Netherpool and the River Dee at Chester was opened; however the canal was not finished as first intended. Upon reevaluation it was decided that the costs to complete the project were not projected to be repaid because of a decrease in expected commercial traffic.
There had been a loss of competitive advantage caused by steam engine-related economic advances during the first decade of canal construction. During or before the construction of the canal the village of Netherpool changed its name to the Port of Ellesmere, by the early 19th century, to Ellesmere Port. Settlements had existed in the area since the writing of the Domesday Book in the 11th century, which mentions Great Sutton, Little Sutton and Hooton; the first houses in Ellesmere Port itself, grew up around the docks and the first main street was Dock Street, which now houses the National Waterways Museum. Station Road, which connected the docks with the village of Whitby gradually developed and as more shops were needed, some of the houses became retail premises; as the expanding industrial areas growing up around the canal and its docks attracted more workers to the area, the town itself continued to expand. Whitby was a township in the ancient parishes of Eastham and Stoak, Wirral hundred, which became a civil parish in 1866.
It included the hamlets of Ellesmere Whitbyheath. To enhance the economic growth of the area, the Netherpool and Whitby civil parishes were abolished on 1 April 1911 to become parts of the new civil parish of Ellesmere Port. By the mid-20th century, thanks to the opening of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894 and the Stanlow Oil Refinery in the 1920s, Ellesmere Port had expanded so that it now incorporated the villages of Great and Little Sutton, Whitby and Rivacre as suburbs; the town centre itself had moved from the Station Road/Dock Street area, to an area that had once been home to a stud farm around the crossroads of Sutton Way/Stanney Lane and Whitby Road. In the 20th century, a number of new housing estates were developed, many of them on the sites of former farms such as Hope Farm and Grange Farm. Many estates consisted of both council housing and owned houses and flats. Ellesmere Port, in more recent times has had an influx of Liverpool immigrants, thus demand for housing increased with the opening of the Vauxhall Motors car plant in 1962.
Opened as a components supplier to the Luton plant, passenger car production began in 1964 with the Vauxhall Viva. The plant is now Vauxhall's only car factory in Britain, since the end of passenger car production at the Luton plant in 2004. Ellesmere Port produces the Vauxhall Astra model on two shifts, employing 2,500 people. In the mid-1980s, the Port Arcades, a covered shopping mall was built in the town centre. By the 1990s, it was the retail sector rather than the industrial, attracting workers and their families to the town; this was boosted with the building of the Cheshire Oaks outlet village and the Coliseum shopping park, which included a multiplex cinema. Since 1974 Ellesmere Port has been an unparished area when the civil parish of Ellesmere Port was abolished and all its functions were assumed by the new district of Ellesmere Port and Neston; the district was abolished in 2009, the town no longer has its own council. The town continues to grow, more housing estates and shops are being built.
The industrial sector is still a major employer in the town although in recent years, a number of factories have been closed and jobs lost. Marks & Spencer have built what is being claimed to be their largest store apart from Marble Arch on a site opposite to the Coliseum shopping park. Ellesmere Port was nearly included into the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, when, formed on 1 April 1974, it was removed from the proposals before the Local Government Act 1972 had its first reading, instead remained in Cheshire as part of the borough of Ellesmere Port and Neston. Plans were announced which proposed combining the borough of Ellesmere Port and Neston with the Chester and Vale Royal districts to form a new "West Cheshire" unitary authority; the new unitary authority came into being on 1 April 2009 as Cheshire Chester. The Conservatives won control of this council in shadow elections in May 2008, winning a majority of seats in the Ellesmere Port area for the first time. At the national level, Ellesmere P
Chester
Chester is a walled city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales. With a population of 118,200 in 2011, it is the most populous settlement of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 332,200 in 2014. Chester was granted city status in 1541. Chester was founded as a "castrum" or Roman fort with the name Deva Victrix in the reign of the Emperor Vespasian in 79 AD. One of the main army camps in Roman Britain, Deva became a major civilian settlement. In 689, King Æthelred of Mercia founded the Minster Church of West Mercia, which became Chester's first cathedral, the Saxons extended and strengthened the walls to protect the city against the Danes. Chester was one of the last cities in England to fall to the Normans. William the Conqueror ordered the construction of a castle, to dominate the town and the nearby Welsh border. Chester is one of the best preserved walled cities in Britain, it has a number of medieval buildings, but some of the black-and-white buildings within the city centre are Victorian restorations.
Apart from a 100-metre section, the listed Grade I walls are complete. The Industrial Revolution brought railways and new roads to the city, which saw substantial expansion and development – Chester Town Hall and the Grosvenor Museum are examples of Victorian architecture from this period; the Roman Legio II Adiutrix during the reign of the Emperor Vespasian founded Chester in AD 79, as a "castrum" or Roman fort with the name Deva Victrix. It was established in the land of the Celtic Cornovii, according to ancient cartographer Ptolemy, as a fortress during the Roman expansion northward, was named Deva either after the goddess of the Dee, or directly from the British name for the river. The'victrix' part of the name was taken from the title of the Legio XX Valeria Victrix, based at Deva. Central Chester's four main roads, Northgate and Bridgegate, follow routes laid out at this time. A civilian settlement grew around the military base originating from trade with the fortress; the fortress was 20% larger than other fortresses in the Roman province of Britannia built around the same time at York and Caerleon.
The civilian amphitheatre, built in the 1st century, could seat between 8,000 and 10,000 people. It is the largest known military amphitheatre in Britain, is a Scheduled Monument; the Minerva Shrine in the Roman quarry is the only rock cut. The fortress was garrisoned by the legion until at least the late 4th century. Although the army had abandoned the fortress by 410 when the Romans retreated from Britannia, the Romano-British civilian settlement continued and its occupants continued to use the fortress and its defences as protection from raiders from the Irish Sea. After the Roman troops withdrew, the Romano-British established a number of petty kingdoms. Chester is thought to have become part of Powys. Deverdoeu was a Welsh name for Chester as late as the 12th century. Another, attested in the 9th-century History of the Britons traditionally attributed to Nennius, is Cair Legion. King Arthur is said to have fought his ninth battle at the "city of the legions" and St Augustine came to the city to try to unite the church, held his synod with the Welsh Bishops.
In 616, Æthelfrith of Northumbria defeated a Welsh army at the brutal and decisive Battle of Chester, established the Anglo-Saxon position in the area from on. The Northumbrian Anglo-Saxons used an Old English equivalent of the British name, Legacæstir, current until the 11th century, when, in a further parallel with Welsh usage, the first element fell out of use and the simple name Chester emerged. In 689, King Æthelred of Mercia founded the Minster Church of West Mercia on what is considered to be an early Christian site: it is known as the Minster of St John the Baptist, Chester which became the first cathedral. Much the body of Æthelred's niece, St Werburgh, was removed from Hanbury in Staffordshire in the 9th century and, to save it from desecration by Danish marauders, was reburied in the Church of SS Peter & Paul - to become the Abbey Church, her name is still remembered in St Werburgh's Street which passes alongside the cathedral, near the city walls. The Saxons extended and strengthened the walls of Chester to protect the city against the Danes, who occupied it for a short time until Alfred seized all the cattle and laid waste the surrounding land to drive them out.
It was Lady of the Mercians, that built the new Saxon burh. A new Church dedicated to St Peter alone was founded in AD 907 by the Lady Æthelfleda at what was to become the Cross. In 973, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that, two years after his coronation at Bath, King Edgar of England came to Chester where he held his court in a palace in a place now known as Edgar's Field near the old Dee bridge in Handbridge. Taking the helm of a barge, he was rowed the short distance up the River Dee from Edgar's Field to the great Minster Church of St John the Baptist by six (the monk Henry Bradshaw records he
Birchwood
Birchwood is a civil parish in north east Warrington, England with a population of 11,395. Part of Lancashire, it was built during the time of much expansion in Warrington as it became a "new town". Birchwood is separated into three residential estates: Gorse Covert and Locking Stumps, with all the main facilities grouped around the centre; the area east of Birchwood is birch forests and Risley Moss, part of the Mersey Forest. Risley Moss is a Site of Special Scientific Interest; the bulk of Birchwood is built on the site of the former ROF Risley Royal Ordnance Factory, with Birchwood Forest Park lying in the centre, in which the old bunkers from the factory form part of the landscape. "The surface, at a distance, looks black and dirty, will bear neither horse nor man….. What nature meant by such a useless production'tis hard to imagine, but the land is to waste" are the words of Daniel Defoe as he rode through Risley in 1724.. In the past travellers avoided the Risley area because it of its dangerous mossland, however over time much of the fertile mossland was reclaimed and turned into farm land.
With the advent of the Second World War, 927 acres of agricultural land was changed into a massive Royal Ordnance Factory, ROF Risley. The location was chosen because the low lying mist and cloud helped camouflage the factory from the air, it was hard to see it in the day time, you know". Although the location of the factory was known by the German Luftwaffe, the factory was bombed only once during the war. A number of bunkers were built to house the munitions, to protect them from potential bombing, to segregate the site and reduce the consequences of any accidental explosions during manufacture or storage. Although these bunkers are on the surface, they are covered with soil and turf and so give the impression of being underground. However, after the war the factory no longer had a purpose other than as a storage depot and so in 1956 the north west of the factory was sold to UKAEA with the entire disused area being put on the market in 1963. No buyer was found for it until 1968, when the Warrington and Runcorn Development Corporation bought the site and turned it into the new town of Birchwood.
The area's principal shopping needs are serviced by Birchwood Shopping Centre, with many shops such as a large Asda store, two cafes and a Greggs. There are a number of smaller shops in each village of the town; each one has a local convenience store that sell needs such as milk. Local milk and vegetable delivery services supply houses in the area, as well as the delivery services from the large supermarkets. There are a few farms in the area that sell small quantities of eggs and other local produce directly to local shoppers. Birchwood is located close to the intersections between the M6 and M62 and the M6 and M56 and the railway station on the Liverpool--Manchester train line. There are frequent bus services to Warrington town centre, to Culcheth and Leigh. Details of all these services can be found on the Warrington's Own Buses website. Birchwood railway station is a mainline railway station with trains stopping bound for Manchester and Warrington Central, surrounding areas, as well as long distance services to Leeds, York and Newcastle.
Trains pass through three times an hour (two operated by Northern on the hour and half-hour, as well as a train operated by TransPennine Express, all trains will operate the Manchester-Liverpool via Warrington line, while the TransPennine trains proceed further. From 20 May 2018 the TransPennine Express will no longer serve this line and be replaced with a Northern Express service, although using more stops, serve from Liverpool to Manchester Airport via Warrington Central and Manchester, more stops in between. Birchwood is close to Junction 11 of the M62, providing access to Liverpool and Manchester. Junction 11 is notable for the Encounter statue. Birchwood is close to Junction 21 of the M6, giving access to Birmingham. Birchwood is 5 miles from Warrington town centre and Leigh. There are six bus routes operating through the Birchwood area, all of which are operated by Warrington's Own Buses; the 24, 25, 26 and 27 operate through all parts of Birchwood to Warrington, with the Gorse Covert SPAR shop or Oakwood Keyes Close acting as termini.
The routes differ in the precise routes they take to Warrington bus station, in their regularity. Service 25 is the main service. 26/27 runs Sundays. 24 runs half-hourly in each direction, the 24A operates round the employment area. The 28 starts at Warrington bus station through Birchwood and on to Leigh via Culcheth; the 28A does not stop at Birchwood Shopping Centre. A shuttle bus service for workers runs between Birchwood Park business park. Birchwood is served by three primary schools, one per area, Birchwood Community High School. Birchwood College is next to the high school. To the north of the Royal Ordnance Factory, was the site chosen for the design offices and headquarters
Frodsham
Frodsham is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Its population was 8,982 in 2001, increasing to 9,077 at the 2011 Census, it is 3 miles south of Runcorn, 16 miles south of Liverpool, 28 miles southwest of Manchester. The River Weaver runs on the west it overlooks the estuary of the River Mersey; the A56 road and the Chester–Manchester railway line pass through the town, the M56 motorway passes to the northwest. In medieval times Frodsham was an important port belonging to the Earls of Chester, its parish church, St. Laurence's, still exhibits evidence of a building present in the 12th century in its nave and is referenced in Domesday Book. A market is held each Thursday, Frodsham's viability as a trading centre was emphasised by the presence of the "big five" clearing banks and several building societies, though the branches of HSBC and NatWest have closed. Development in the town's shops and premises with alcohol licences is evident through the recent opening or modernisation of contemporary-style bar/restaurants, take-away food shops and public houses, in the continued presence of small, businesses operating from town-centre shops.
The etymology of Frodsham's name is not clear. A literal translation of the Old English would give personal name of Frod or an old spelling of Ford, ham which means a village or homestead. However, an alternative, more obscure etymology exists which suggests the name means "promontory into marsh", which would make sense considering that Frodsham had a promontory castle close to marshland. Frodsham is unique as the name of a settlement in the British Isles. Earlier spellings of the name have included Fradsham, Frodisham and Ffradsham. Frodsham Hill is the location of an Iron Age promontory fort, the outline of which can still be seen; the town is of Saxon origin. Frodsham was an important manor of the medieval Earls of Chester and was created a borough in the early 13th century by Earl Ranulf III; the mouth of the River Weaver, where it joins the Mersey, made Frodsham into a significant port for the coasting trade for the export of Cheshire salt, brought down the river from Northwich and Nantwich.
The site of the manor house was in Castle Park. In an account of 1315 it is called ` castellum'. Frodsham was the headquarters of Runcorn Rural District Council. In 1974 the district was split between Halton Borough Council, Warrington Borough Council and Vale Royal District Council. In the early 1990s Vale Royal Borough Council opened a new purpose-built headquarters in Winsford. At the same time, its offices in Hartford near Northwich and at Castle Park in Frodsham were downgraded. Castle Park House had a major refurbishment in 2005–06 and now operates as a "one-stop shop" for Cheshire West and Chester Council providing a number of services for the community and for businesses. In 1992 the parish council became Frodsham was no longer a village; the chair of the parish council became the mayor of Frodsham. The majority of powers were held by Cheshire County Council and Vale Royal Borough Council who were replaced by Cheshire West and Chester Council on 1 April 2009. Frodsham was home to Frodsham School, a science and technology college, which closed in July 2009 due to the falling birth rate and amalgamated with Helsby High School.
The site now houses the new health centre for the town. Frodsham, like the neighbouring village of Helsby, has a hill overlooking the Mersey estuary, popular with dog walkers and naturalists. Frodsham Hill, overlooking Frodsham and the Liverpool skyline, is a large sandstone hill, home to many farms, prestige homes and the Mersey View nightclub and Forest Hills Hotel. Before the construction of the hotel and nightclub, famously hosting one of the Beatles' first appearances, the site was home to a large helter skelter; the Frodsham Caves are found in the sandstone foundations of Frodsham Hill. Frodsham sits beneath the imposing wooded escarpment of Beacon Hill, known locally as Frodsham Hill or Overton Hill and whose top attains a height of just over 500 feet; the hill forms the northern end of the Mid-Cheshire Ridge, a range of sandstone hills that extends southwards to Delamere Forest and Tarporley. The northern boundaries of the modern parish are defined by the River Weaver and the inner Mersey Estuary into which it flows.
The Manchester Ship Canal runs parallel to the Mersey along the northern edge of the low-lying ground of Frodsham Marsh and Lordship Marsh, which themselves extend south and east to the built-up area of Frodsham. The town is close to the junction of the A56, the main link between Chester and Warrington, with the B5152 road, which runs southeast to connect with Kingsley and Tarporley in the centre of the county; the Chester–Manchester railway line passes through the town and the M56 motorway runs parallel to the road and railway along the southeastern edge of the marsh. The separate settlements of Netherton and Overton form the southern districts of the town while the easternmost section towards Frodsham Bridge is known as Newtown; the parish, like most in
