41º29N 72º54W, pop (2000e) 28 500. Residential town in New Haven Co, SC Connecticut, USA; located 22 km/14 mi N of New Haven and 40 km/25 mi SW of Hartford; originally part of the town of Wallingford; settled in 1694; incorporated as a town, 1780; birthplace of Joseph Bellamy, Lambert H Hitchcock, John Kensett; largely a farming and agricultural region, it has been designated the Bedding Plant Capital of Connecticut.
Cheshire (or, archaically, the County of Chester) is a county in North West England. The county town, and the location of the county council, is the city of Chester.
Divisions and environs
The area under the control of the county council, or shire county, is divided into an number of local government districts.
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 and Clwyd in Wales.
Identity
As part of a 2002 marketing campaign, the plant conservation charity Plantlife chose the cuckooflower as the county flower. Music critic/writer John Harris, who was born and raised in Cheshire (he still retains a slight cheshire burr), describes his home county on his website as "probably England's least remarkable county!".
History
Cheshire in the Domesday Book was recorded as a much larger county than it is today.
In 1182 the land north of the Mersey became administered as part of the new county of Lancashire instead.
Through the Local Government Act 1972 which came into effect in 1974, some areas in the north became part of the metropolitan counties of Greater Manchester and Merseyside, particularly Stockport (previously a county borough), Hyde, Dukinfield and Stalybridge in the north-east and much of the Wirral Peninsula in the north-west (including the county boroughs of Birkenhead and Wallasey). 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.
Economy
Cheshire is a mainly rural county with a high concentration of villages.
The following is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of the non-metropolitan county of Cheshire at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
| Year | Regional Gross Value Added | Agriculture | Industry | Services |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 11,828 | 272 | 4,673 | 6,883 |
| 2000 | 14,879 | 188 | 5,049 | 9,641 |
| 2003 | 17,159 | 225 | 4,988 | 11,945 |
Geography
Cheshire covers a boulder clay plain separating the hills of North Wales and the Peak District of Derbyshire.
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.
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.
Many surviving buildings from the 15th to 17th centuries are timbered, particularly in the southern part of the county.
Settlement
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.
List of places
covering the ceremonial county| Alderley Edge Alsager Bollington Chester Congleton Crewe Ellesmere Port Frodsham Knutsford Macclesfield Middlewich | Nantwich Neston Northwich Poynton Runcorn Sandbach Warrington Widnes Wilmslow Winsford |
Some settlements which were historically part of the county now fall under the counties of Derbyshire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester:
| Derbyshire | Newtown, Tintwistle, Whaley Bridge (western part) |
|---|---|
| Greater Manchester | Altrincham, Bramhall, Bredbury, Cheadle, Cheadle Hulme, Dukinfield, Gatley, Hazel Grove, Hyde, Marple, Romiley, Sale, Stalybridge, Stockport, Wythenshawe |
| Merseyside | Bebington, Birkenhead, Hoylake, Wallasey |
Famous products
Cheshire cheese SaltFamous people
| Ian Astbury singer in the band The Cult, was born in Heswall; |
Places of interest
| Adlington Hall Anderton Boat Lift Arley Hall Beeston Castle Capesthorne Hall Cholmondeley Castle Doddington Park Ellesmere Port Boat Museum Elton Hall, Aldford Gawsworth Hall Hills: Bickerton Hill, Shining Tor, Shutlingsloe Holt Castle Jodrell Bank Science Centre Lamaload Reservoir Lion Salt Works, Marston, an industrial museum Little Moreton Hall Long distance footpaths: Biddulph Valley Way, Gritstone Trail, Sandstone Trail, South Cheshire Way 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 Peckforton Castle Peover Hall Quarry Bank Mill, Styal, an industrial museum River Weaver, River Dee, River Dane, River Bollin, River Goyt, River Gowy Sandbach Crosses Shropshire Union Canal Swettenham Meadows Tabley House Tatton Park Tegg's Nose Country Park Trent and Mersey Canal Watermills: Bunbury Mill, Nether Alderley Mill, Quarry Bank Mill, Stretton Mill |
User Comments Add a comment…