441 



CHESHIRE. 



CHESHIRE. 



442 



the E. the county has Derbyshire anil Staffordshire ; on the S. is 

 Shropshire and a small portion of Flintshire ; on the W. are Denbigh- 

 shire, Flintshire, and the Irish Sea. The greatest length of the county 

 from north-east to south-west, in a straight line, is about 58 miles ; 

 the greatest width from north to south about 32 miles : the whole 

 circuit is nearly 200 miles. On the north-western extremity, a line 

 of sea-coast extends for about 8 miles from east-north-east to west- 

 south-west, besides about 20 miles on the actuary of the Mersey, and 

 about 14 miles on the great aestuary of the Dee. The area of the 

 county is 707,078 statute acres. The population of the county in 

 1841 was 395,660, in 1851 it was 455,725. Chester, the county town, 

 is 183 miles north-west from London. 



Surface, Hydrography, and Communication!. The surface of 

 Cheshire is in general a nearly uniform level, but there are a few 

 inequalities. Several elevated tracts stretch in a generally northern 

 direction. One is between the Goyt and the Bollin ; and a second 

 between the Bollin and the Weaver. A tract of high land extends 

 also from north to south, across Delamere Forest, terminating to the 

 north near Frodsham in a high promontory which overlooks the 

 Mersey, and to the south in the rock on which Beeston Castle 

 stands ; the height of this rock is 366 feet above the sea. Alderley 

 Edge, a few miles north-west from Macclesfield, is an isolated hill 

 which rises abruptly out of a level country, and presents one of the 

 richest and most extensive prospects in the county ; but Cheshire, 

 from its general flatness, is not commonly remarkable for picturesque 

 beauty. In former times there were numerous forests in Cheshire ; 

 one is mentioned in the Domesday Survey of Alticross as being 

 10 miles in length and three miles in breadth. At present there are 

 only a few large woods. Some at Dunham Massey contain many 

 noble old oaks. Around Delamere Forest, in the hundred of Eddis- 

 bury, are several extensive plantations, chiefly of Scotch firs and 

 larches. This forest, so called, is a large sterile tract of whitish 

 sand, partially covered with heath and peat-moss. It occupied 

 10,000 acres; of which a considerable part has been inclosed and 

 brought into cultivation. The timber supplied by the great profusion 

 of hedge-row trees is principally oak, and furnishes abundance of 

 tanner's bark. A large quantity of fine timber is also produced on 

 the numerous estates of the nobility and gentry ; especially on those 

 of the Marquis of Westminster, of the Earl of Stamford and 

 Warrington, and of the Marquis of Cholmondeley. 



Cheshire abounds not only with rivers and brooks, but with broad 

 sheets of water called meres, which generally contain fish. The 

 principal are Oak Mere, Pick Mere, Budworth Mere, Rosthern Mere, 

 Mere Mere, Tatton Mere, Chapel Mere, Moss Mere, Broad Mere, Bah 

 Mere, and Comber Mere, which is three-quarters of a mile in length. 



The chief navigable rivers are the Dee, the Mersey, and the Weaver. 

 The navigation of these rivers is superintended, and has been greatly 

 improved, by companies incorporated by Acts of Parliament. The 

 source of the Dee is in Merionethshire; whence it runs through 

 Denbighshire, by Llangollen to near Overton in Flintshire, where it 

 turns northward to Bangor Iscoed. It becomes the boundary of 

 Cheshire nearly from Worthenbury to Aldford. It then intersects the 

 northern part of the hundred of Broxton to Chester, which it half encir- 

 cles. From Chester it flows in a straight artificial cut into the aestuary 

 of the Dee. A surface of about 2500 acres has been reclaimed from 

 the south-eastern extremity of this sestuary. From Bangor bridge 

 the Dee is navigable for barges. At Chester bridge it is 100 yards 

 wide, and vessels of considerable tonnage can pass by the new channel 

 to Chester. The whole length of the course of the Dee is about 

 55 miles. It supplies salmon, trout, and other kinds of common 

 ii. j h. This river, called in Latin Deva, in Welsh Pifir dwy, was 

 anciently held in great veneration, and its waters were considered 

 sacred for religious ablution : as such it is celebrated by Drayton, 

 Browne, Spenser, and Milton. 



The Meriey in its whole course divides Cheshire and Lancashire. 

 It is formed and first receives its name by the confluence (near Stock- 

 port) of the Thame and Goyt ; the Etherow (which joins the Goyt a 

 little above Stockport) and the Thame rise in the central highlands, 

 north and north-east of Stockport ; the Goyt rises near Buxton on the 

 east side of the highlands between Macclesfield and Buxton. Leaving 

 Stockport, the Mersey runs a general west course to Northenden and 

 Ashton. After passing by Carriugton, it receives on the right bank 

 the Irwell from Manchester, and on the left, a little below Warburton, 

 the Bollin. It continues with a very winding course through a low, 

 flat country past Warrington, and expands at its junction with the 

 Weaver into a wide sestuary which forms the Liverpool channel ; and 

 though much obstructed with banks of sand, is rendered safe by the 

 excellent system of pilotage. The Mersey is navigable from its con- 

 fluence with the Irwell. At Warrington it is 40 yards in width ; 

 ite Liverpool the width is a mile and a quarter, with a consider- 

 able depth at low water. The greatest width of the aestnary above 

 Liverpool is between Eastham and Frodsham, where it is above three 

 miles wide. It whole course from Stockport to the outlet of the 

 testuary is about 55 miles. A large marsh at the confluence of the 

 Weaver, extending to Helsby and Frodsham, is subject to occasional 

 inundations. The river and aestuary contain congers, plaice, flounders, 

 and shrimps ; with annual shoals of smelts, called sparlings, remark- 

 able for size and flavour. 



The Weaver traverses the central parts of Cheshire from south to 

 north. It rises in the north of Shropshire, near the village of Stych, 

 and after receiving several considerable brooks and rivulets, runs by 

 Nantwich, Minshull, and Winsford, to Northwich, where it forms a 

 confluence on the right bank with the Dane, which rises in the same 

 swamp as the Goyt, and a little farther north, with the Peover. It 

 then winds west-north-west and falls into the Mersey below Frodsham. 

 From Winsford to Frodsham it has been rendered navigable by ten 

 locks, the total fall being 50 feet. Vessels of from 20 to 100 tons 

 convey rock-salt down the river and return with coal. The whole 

 course of the Weaver is about 40 miles. Among the less important 

 rivers is the Dane, which is joined by the Wheelock above Northwich. 

 The source of the Bollin is in Macclesfield forest, near that of the 

 Dane. It passes Macclesfield and Wilmslow, is crossed by the Bridge- 

 water Canal, and enters the Mersey near Warburton, after a course of 

 about 23 miles. The Peover rises south of Macclesfield, near Gaws- 

 worth, and flows west-north-west to its junction with the Weaver 

 near Northwich. 



Several canals intersect the county. The Bridgewater Canal enters 

 Cheshire by crossing the Mersey near Ashton : its length within the 

 county is about 24 miles. The Grand Trunk, or Trent and Mersey 

 Canal, which was commenced in 1766, runs south-east from Preston 

 Brook, by Northwich, Middlewich, and Saudbach, and leaves Cheshire 

 at Church Lawton, on the borders of Staffordshire. Between Preston- 

 on-the-Hill and Dutton, not far from its commencement at Preston 

 Brook, it passes through a tunnel 124 yards in length ; at Barnton, 

 through another of 572 yards ; at Saltersfield, through one of 350 

 yards ; and finally, at Hermitage, through another of 130 yards. The 

 whole of its line in Cheshire is about 20 miles. 



The Chester and Nantwich Canal, which connects these two towns, 

 was completed in 1778. At Chester it forms a junction with the Dee, 

 and with the Dee and Mersey Canal, which runs across the peninsula 

 of Wirrall to the Mersey, at Ellesmere Port. Four miles north of 

 Nantwich a branch from the Chester and Nantwich Canal runs to 

 Middlewich, and is called the Middlewich branch. From the point 

 where the Chester and Nantwich Canal and the Middlewich branch 

 unite, the canal which thence runs south to Nantwich and past Aud- 

 lem into Shropshire is called the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction 

 Canal. The Ellesmere Canal branches off from a point between Nant- 

 wich and the point where the Chester and Nantwich Canal is joined 

 by the Middlewich branch, and runs to the neighbourhood of Whit- 

 church. From Church Lawton the Macclesfield Canal runs past Con- 

 gleton, Macclesfield, and so on northward to the Peak Forest Canal, 

 which it joins a few miles north of Disley. 



The Peak Forest Canal enters Cheshire at Ashton-under-Line, where 

 it crosses the Thame, and passing near Disley, quits the county at 

 Whaley Bridge. It crosses the Goyt below the junction of the Goyt 

 and Etherow, by an aqueduct 100 feet in height, which has three 

 arches, each 60 feet span and 78 feet high. 



Several important roads traverse this county. The road from 

 London to Manchester by Derby enters the county near Bosley, and 

 passes through Macclesfield and Stockport. Another branch of the 

 same road enters at Whaley Bridge and leaves the county at Stock- 

 port. The road from London to Manchester by Lichfield runs by 

 Church Lawton, Congleton, Wilmslow, and Cheadle. The road from 

 London to Liverpool enters Cheshire at Lawton, and runs to Warring- 

 ton by two branches, one through Knutsford, the other through 

 Middlewich and Northwich. 



Cheshire is well provided with railway accommodation. The main 

 line of the London and North- Western railway enters the southern 

 border of the county a few miles from Betley, and passes northward 

 nearly through the centre of it towards Warrington. The length of 

 the main line in Cheshire is about 27 miles. At Crewe several 

 branches diverge from it. One runs 21 miles north-west to Chester, 

 and thence 15 miles to Birkenhead. Another line runs from Crewe 

 23 miles north by east to Stockport. Another branch, of which only 

 a few miles are in this county, runs west from Crewe to join the 

 Staffordshire railway near Burslem. From Chester the Chester and 

 Holyhead line runs westward, but it soon passes out of the county, 

 as does also the Chester and Shrewsbury line, which runs southward 

 from Chester. A short line from Manchester to Altringham belongs 

 to Cheshire for about half its extent. 



Geology, Mineralogy, etc. The general character of the Cheshire 

 soils is a clayey or sandy loam ; tracts of peat-moss cover a large 

 extent of the eastern portion of the hundred of Macclesfield. Some 

 mosses of smaller extent are at Warmincham and Coppeuhall. The 

 latter, which has been almost cleared of peat, contained numerous 

 trunks and branches of trees, chiefly of oak, beech, and fir, apparently 

 broken off at different heights, and partially exhibiting the marks 

 of fire. An ancient road of gravel passed through the moss of 

 Coppenhall. 



Cheshire generally belongs to the new red-sandstone formation. 

 The range of high land to the east of Macclesfield is a sandstone rock, 

 which contains beds of coal : this sandstone range is bounded on the 

 east by the limestone of Derbyshire. The high laud, which includes 

 Delamere Forest, is also sandstone. The most important mineral pro- 

 ductions of Cheshire are fossil or rock-salt, and coal. The rock-salt m 

 obtained near the banks of the Weaver and its tributary streams. It 



