Cheshire Travel Guide

Introduction

Cheshire is a county in the northwest of England, bordering Wales to the west and flanked by the Pennines to the east. It covers around 905 square miles and has a population of roughly 1.14 million. The landscape is dominated by the Cheshire Plain, a broad stretch of lowland farmland running between the Welsh hills and the Peak District, cut through by the Mid Cheshire Ridge of Triassic sandstone.

Cheshire's history runs deep. The Romans founded a legionary fortress at Chester (Deva) around 71 CE as a base for the conquest of northern Wales, and the city still holds the most complete Roman and medieval walls in Britain. After the Norman Conquest, William I made Cheshire a county palatine with a degree of independence so complete that the Magna Carta did not apply here. In 1397 Richard II briefly promoted the county to a principality, the only English county ever granted this honour.

The county built its wealth on salt, silk and cheese. Northwich, Middlewich and Nantwich grew rich on rock salt from the 17th century, Macclesfield and Congleton became centres of silk production in the 18th century, and Crewe developed into a major railway town in the 19th. Cheshire cheese, one of Britain's oldest named cheeses, still carries the county's name worldwide.

Today Cheshire is a study in contrasts. The north is heavily populated and industrial, with Warrington, Runcorn, Widnes and Ellesmere Port strung along the River Mersey. The south and centre are deeply rural: dairy farms, black-and-white timbered villages and country estates. The so-called Golden Triangle around Alderley Edge, Wilmslow, Prestbury and Knutsford is among the most affluent areas in northern England, earning Cheshire the nickname "the Surrey of the North".

Geography

Cheshire sits between the Welsh hills to the west and the Pennines to the east, with a short coastline on the Dee Estuary. The River Dee forms part of the Welsh border and flows through Chester, while the River Mersey runs through the north of the county before broadening into its estuary. Most of the county is flat or gently rolling farmland, but the eastern edge climbs into the western fringe of the Peak District National Park.

For local government, Cheshire is divided into four unitary authorities:

• Cheshire East - covers the eastern half of the county, including Macclesfield, Crewe, Nantwich, Congleton, Knutsford, Wilmslow, Alderley Edge, Poynton and Sandbach. Much of the Golden Triangle sits here, along with the county's slice of the Peak District.
• Cheshire West and Chester - covers the western half, including the city of Chester itself, Ellesmere Port, Northwich, Winsford, Frodsham and Neston. Home to most of the county's Roman heritage and the Dee estuary coastline.
• Warrington - a unitary authority covering Warrington and its surrounding area on the River Mersey.
• Halton - covers Runcorn and Widnes, either side of the Mersey in the north of the county.

It's worth noting that the historic county of Cheshire once extended further north and east than it does today. Areas like Stockport, Altrincham and most of the Wirral were part of Cheshire until the 1974 local government reorganisation, when they were absorbed into Greater Manchester and Merseyside. Places like Bramhall, now part of Stockport, still feel culturally tied to Cheshire even though they sit outside the modern county boundary.

Cities

• Chester - the capital, or county town, with Roman walls, a medieval cathedral and the famous two-tier Rows shopping galleries
• Warrington - the largest town, sitting on the Mersey between Manchester and Liverpool
• Macclesfield - historic silk town on the edge of the Peak District
• Crewe - major railway town and one of the most important junctions on the UK rail network
• Congleton - market town in the south-east, handy for the Peak District and Biddulph Grange
• Nantwich - handsome black-and-white timbered market town with Roman salt-making roots
• Northwich - salt town in mid-Cheshire, home to the Anderton Boat Lift
• Knutsford - leafy, upmarket town that inspired Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford, close to Tatton Park
• Wilmslow - affluent commuter town, part of Cheshire's Golden Triangle
• Alderley Edge - wealthy village famous for its wooded sandstone escarpment and footballer residents
• Poynton - former coal-mining village on the edge of the Peak District
• Sandbach - market town known for its two Anglo-Saxon stone crosses
• Winsford - salt-mining town in the Weaver Valley
• Ellesmere Port - industrial town on the Mersey, home to the National Waterways Museum
• Neston - small town on the Wirral side of Cheshire with views over the Dee Estuary
• Frodsham - market town at the foot of the Mersey sandstone ridge, good walking country
• Middlewich - one of the three "wich" salt towns, sitting at the junction of the Trent and Mersey and Shropshire Union canals