4ir 



CHE8HIHE. 



CHKSHIRK. 



tioo of the township 1181, had formerly a market, but it has Ion? 

 been discontinued. Fain are held in April apd December. In 1752 

 the Tillage was nearly destroyed by fire. Beiidei the pariah church, 

 there are Dissenting meeting-houses aad a National school. Har- 

 grave Free Qrammar school, founded in 1627, U free to all children 

 paying 1*. a quarter : it possesses an endowment of 401. a year with a 

 louse, and had 118 scholars in 1841 IWfo, 11 miles kaK. from 

 Chaster : population of the township 747. The Baptists hare a place 

 of worship here. The Chester and Nautwich Canal psssm by Tiver- 

 ton. A corn market, at which extensive transactions in grain take 

 place, is held on Monday at Fern Lane Ends in this township. 

 Wallatry, population of the township 1195, situated near the shore of 

 Liverpool Bay, about 4 miles N.N.W. from Birkenhead, has much 

 increased during the last few years in consequence of increased com- 

 munication with Liverpool. The parish church, which stands on a 

 considerably elevated site, was rebuilt about a century ago, with the 

 exception of the tower, which dates from 1560. The Free Grammar 

 school, founded in 1654, has an income from endowment of M4I. 

 a year ; the number of scholars in 1852 was 58. A question as to the 

 right of patronage of this school is under consideration in Chancery. 

 wmnrkam, population of the lordship and township together 1529, 

 is 16 miles W.N.W. from Chester. The parish church, dedicated to 

 St. Mary, has a fine tower. There are chapels for Wealeyan and 

 Association Methodists; also a National school for boys and girls. 

 The Free Grammar school, which has an endowment of 461. a year, 

 had 55 scholars in 1852. Waton, population of the township 933, 

 including 234 in barges, is situated near the confluence of the Mersey 

 and the Weaver, about 13 miles N.N.E. from Chester. The Wealeyan 

 Methodists have a place of worship in the village ; at Weston Point, 

 two miles distant, is a church, with National schools for boys and 

 girls. A lighthouse was erected at Weston Point a few years back. 

 There is a considerable carrying trade in barges on the tostuary of the 

 Mersey. The village is much resorted to in summer for bathing. 

 WUmilov, population 4952, is situated on the left bank of the river 

 Bollin, 37 miles K.N.E. from Chester. The parish church is a fine 

 building of different styles. The interior contains several interesting 

 monuments. The Wealeyan Methodists and Independents have 

 places of worship, and there is a National school. Extensive cotton 

 and silk factories are established here. Wilmslow, being within 

 12 miles of Manchester by railway, is a place of residence for many 

 of the Manchester merchants. Wauford, population included with 

 that of Over township, is situated on the high road, 1 7 miles E. from 

 Chester. Winsford church, parsonage, and school were built by the 

 trustees for the navigation of the river Weaver, the church being for 

 the use of the watermen on the river. The Wealeyan and Wesleyan 

 Association Methodists have places of worship. The Weaver ia here 

 crossed by a bridge. There are extensive brine pits on both sides of 

 the river, and large quantities of salt are produced, for the convey- 

 ance of which the Weaver affords the required accommodation. At 

 Winsford is a station of the London and North- Western railway. 



feeUtiattical and Legal Jurisdiction. Of the 87 parishes 46 are 

 rectories, 23 vicarages, and 18 donatives, or perpetual curacies ; many 

 are of great extent. The parish of Prcstbury extends over an area of 

 03,125 acres, and comprises 32 townships and 14 chapelries. The 

 county is in the diocese of Chester, and province of York : it forms an 

 archdeaconry, and comprises seven deaneries. A few parishes are in 

 the archdeaconry of Liverpool and deanery of WirralL According to 

 the 'Census of Religious Worship,' taken in 1851, it appears that there 

 were then in the county 833 places of worship, of which 252 belonged 

 to the Church of England, 188 to Wesleyan Methodists, 135 to Primi- 

 tive Methodists, 66 to Independents, 50 to Wesleyan Association 

 Methodists, 29 to New Connexion Methodists, 17 to Roman Catholics, 

 14 to Particular Baptists, 14 to Unitarians, and 68 to other bodies. 

 The number of sittings amounted in all to 235,593. The county U 

 divided by the Poor- Law Commissioners into 10 Unions : Altringliam, 

 Greet Boughton, Chester, Congleton, Macclenfield, Nantwich, North- 

 wich, Runcorn, Stockport, and WirralL The Unions include 458 

 parishes and townships, with an area of 550,257 acres, and a popula- 

 tion in 1851 of 410,247 ; but the boundaries of the Unions are not 

 strictly co-extensive with those of the county. Cheshire U in the 

 Smith Wales circuit The Lent and summer assizes and the quarter 

 session! for the county are held at Chester, where also is the county 

 jail The city of Chester has a separate jurisdiction, and tries by its 

 own recorder. County courts are held at Altringliam, Birkenhead, 

 Chester, Knutaford, Nantwich, Northwich, and Ruucoru. 



Cheshire before the Reform Act of 1832 sent four members to the 

 Imperial Parliament : it was then formed into a north and a south 

 division, each of which sends two members. The boroughs of Chester, 

 Macclesfield, and Stockport return two members each to Parliament. 

 Mamnfattnret.Tbe cotton and silk manufactures are extensively 

 carried on in and around Stockport, Maoclesfield, Marplo, Congleton, 

 and Sand bach. At Knutsford there is a large manufactory of thread. 

 At Xantwich, and the places just named, are manufactories of hats 

 for exportation. Shoes are extensively made at Sandbach. Some 

 woollen cloths are also made in the same district. Tanning is very 

 extensively carried on throughout the county. There is a large 

 manufacture of gloves, ribands, and buttons. The copper, lead, and 

 iron of the Alderley Edge and Peckforton Hills are manufactured in 



the county, and constitute a small item in the export trade. But 

 cheese is the principal product, which is not only well known and 

 highly esteemed in every part of England, where the consumption U 

 immense, but also in most parts of Europe. The whole annual pro- 

 duos of this article in Cheshire is about 11,500 tons, of which 4000 

 tons are exported. (Holland's 'Agricultural Survey.') The prime 

 cheese is made chiefly in the districts where the salt abounds ; that 

 is, along the banks of the Weaver. Potatoes are raised in very large 

 quantities, especially in the western portion of the county, including 

 the peninsula of WirralL Betides a very large home consumption, 

 they are exported in great quantity by the Mersey to Liverpool and 

 Manchester. 



Ci rit Iliitory and Antiqwtiet. At the time of the Roman invasion 

 this county formed part of the territory occupied by the CarnabiL 

 In the first division of Britain by the Romans it was included in 

 Britannia Superior ; and in their subsequent subdivision it became 

 part of Flavia Cmariensis. From inscriptions which have been 

 found, the twentieth legion appears to have continued at Chester as 

 late as the 3rd century. 



On the departure of the Romans, the Britons continued to hold 

 Cheshire until about the year 607, when it was wrested from Broch- 

 mael, king of Powys, by the successful arms of Ethelfrid, the Saxon 

 king of Bernicia. Prior to the battle, the Saxon troops are said to 

 have massacred the monks of Bangor. [BANooR-IscoED.J Several of 

 the British princes however having collected an army and marched 

 to Chester, Ethelfrid was defeated in turn, and this district was not 

 again subjected to the Anglo-Saxon power until about the year 828, 

 when it was taken by King Egbert, and made a part of the kingdom 

 of Mercia. According to Peter Langtoft, Athelwolf held his parlia- 

 ment at Chester after the death of Egbert, and there received the 

 homage of his tributary kings, ' from Berwick unto Kent.' About 

 the close of 894, an army of Danes advancing from Northumberland 

 took possession of Chester, and seized the fortress : the Saxons under 

 Alfred however having arrived in the vicinity, by destroying the 

 cattle and corn, and intercepting the provisions of the Danes, drove 

 them to such extremities of famine, that they quitted the city and 

 retreated to North Wales. Upon the division of England into three 

 districts by Alfred, Cheshire was included in the Mercian jurisdiction. 

 Cheshire acquired the privileges of a county palatine in the reign of 

 William the Conqueror, who granted it to his nephew, Hugh d'Av- 

 ranches, commonly called Hugh Lupus, to hold it as freely by the 

 sword as he himself held the kingdom of England by the crown. 

 Until the final subjugation of the Welah, the city of Chester was the 

 usual place of rendezvous for the English army, and the county was 

 exposed to all the evils of a border warfare. 



In 1237, on the death of John Scott, the seventh earl of Chester of 

 the Norman line, without male issue, Henry III. gave the daughter* 

 of the late earl other lands in lieu of the earldom, being unwilling, as 

 he said, to ' parcel out ' so great an inheritance ' among distaffs :' the 

 county he bestowed on his son Edward, who did not assume the title, 

 but conferred it on his son Edward of Caernarvon, since which time 

 the eldest sons of the sovereigns of England have held the title of 

 earls of Chester. The inhabitants of Cheshire took a part in the 

 rebellion of the Percys, and the greater part of the knights and 

 esquires of the whole county, to the number of 200, with many of 

 their retainers, fell in the battle of Shrewsbury, on the 22ud of July 

 1403. From the time of Henry III. to the reign of Henry VIII., the 

 palatinate was governed as independently as it had been by the 

 Norman earls. Henry VIIL however made it subordinate to the 

 crown of England, but reserving several privileges in favour of 

 the county. The county being solely under a distinct jurisdiction, 

 and to a certain extent like a separate kingdom, never sent repre- 

 sentatives to the English Parliament, either for city or shire, until the 

 reign of Edward VI., when in the year 1549, on the petition of the 

 inhabitants, two members were summoned from each. On the out- 

 breaking of the civil war the Parliament sent Sir William Brereton 

 with a troop of horse, who took possession of Nantwich, which he 

 fortified and made his head-quarters; while Sir Nicholas Byron, 

 being appointed colonel-general of Shropshire and Cheshire, and 

 governor of Chester by the king, made it the head-quarters of the 

 Royalists. Lord Byron, the nephew of the governor, defeated the 

 parliamentary forces under Sir William Brereton at Middlewich, in 

 December 1643. Nantwich was besieged in January 1644, but was 

 relieved by the united forces of Sir Thomas Fairfax and Sir William 

 Brereton, who defeated Lord Byron and compelled him to retreat 

 with the remains of his forces to Chester. Prince Rupert took Stock- 

 port without resistance on the 25th of May ; but the Royalists were 

 defeated after a severe battle at Castleheath, near Molpai, on the 

 25th of August. Next year, on the advance of the king to Chester 

 with a large force, the Parliament abandoned all their garrisons, 

 except Tarvin and Nantwich, and on the 27th of September the battle 

 of Rowton and Hooleheath was fought near Chester, in which the 

 Royalists were defeated; an event which led to the surrender of 

 the garrison of Chester, in February 1646, and the subjugation of the 

 whole county to the Parliament. 



In August 1659, Sir George Booth appeared in Cheshire at the head 

 of an army of upwards of 3000 men. The army of the Parliament, 

 under General Lambert, met them at Wiimingt -ju Bridge, near North- 



