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 boroughs. The other urban districts with their populations are as follows:—

Of the townships in this table, those marked (a) are within a radius of about 15 m. from Manchester (Knutsford being taken as the limit), while those marked (b) are in the Wirral. The localities of densest population are thus clearly illustrated.

The county is in the North Wales and Chester circuit, and assizes are held at Chester. It has one court of quarter sessions, and is divided into fourteen petty sessional divisions. The boroughs already named, excepting Dukinfield, have separate commissions of the peace, and Birkenhead and Chester have separate courts of quarter sessions. There are 464 civil parishes. Cheshire is almost wholly in the diocese of Chester, but small parts are in those of Manchester, St Asaph or Lichfield. There are 268 ecclesiastical parishes or districts wholly or in part within the county. There are eight parliamentary divisions, namely, Macclesfield, Crewe, Eddisbury, Wirral, Knutsford, Altrincham, Hyde and Northwich, each returning one member; the county also includes the parliamentary borough of Birkenhead returning one member, and parts of the borough of Stockport, which returns two members, and of Ashton-under-Lyne, Chester, Stalybridge, and Warrington, which return one member each.

History.—The earliest recorded historical fact relating to the district which is now Cheshire is the capture of Chester and destruction of the native Britons by the Northumbrian king Æthelfrith about 614. After a period of incessant strife between the Britons and their Saxon invaders the district was subjugated by Ecgbert in 830 and incorporated in the kingdom of Mercia. During the 9th century. Æthelwulf held his parliament at Chester, and received the homage of his tributary kings from Berwick to Kent, and in the 10th century Æthelflæd rebuilt the city, and erected fortresses at Eddisbury and Runcorn. Edward the Elder garrisoned Thelwall and strengthened the passages of the Mersey and the Irwell. On the splitting up of Mercia in the 10th century the dependent districts along the Dee were made a shire for the fortress of Chester. The shire is first mentioned in the Abingdon Chronicle, which relates that in 980 Cheshire was plundered by a fleet of Northmen. At the time of the Domesday Survey the county was divided into twelve hundreds, exclusive of the six hundreds between the Ribble and the Mersey, now included in Lancashire, but then a part of Cheshire. These divisions have suffered great modification, both in extent and in name, and of the seven modern hundreds Bucklow alone retains its Domesday appellation. The hundreds of Atiscross and Exestan have been transferred to the counties of Flint and Denbigh, with the exception of a few townships now in the hundred of Broxton. The prolonged resistance of Cheshire to the Conqueror was punished by ruthless harrying and sweeping confiscations of property, and no Englishman retained estates of importance after the Conquest. In order that the shire might be relieved of all obligations beyond the ever-pressing necessity of defending its borders against the inroads of hostile neighbours, it was constituted a county palatine which the earl of Chester “held as freely by his sword as the king held England by his crown.” The county had its independent parliament consisting of the barons and clergy, and courts, and all lands except those of the bishop were held of the earl. The court of exchequer was presided over by a chamberlain, a vice-chamberlain, and a baron of the exchequer. It was principally a court of revenue, but probably a court of justice also, before that of the justiciary was established, and had besides the functions of a chancery court, with an exclusive jurisdiction in equity. Other officers of the palatinate were the constable, high-steward and the serjeants of the peace and of the forests. The abbots of St Werburgh and Combermere and all the eight barons held courts, in any of which cases of capital felony might be tried.

During the 12th and 13th centuries the county was impoverished by the constant inroads of the Welsh. In 1264 the castle and city of Chester were granted to Simon de Montfort, and in 1267 the treaty of Shrewsbury procured a short interval of peace. Richard II., in return for the loyal support furnished him by the county, made it a principality, but the act was revoked in the next reign. In 1403 Cheshire was the headquarters of Hotspur, who roused the people by telling them that Richard II. was still living. At the beginning of the Wars of the Roses Margaret collected a body of supporters from among the Cheshire gentry, and Lancastrian risings occurred as late as 1464. At the time of the Civil War feeling was so equally divided that an attempt was made to form an association for preserving internal peace. In 1643, however, Chester was made the headquarters of the royalist forces, while Nantwich was garrisoned for the parliament, and the county became the scene of constant skirmishes until the surrender of Chester in 1646 put an end to the struggle.

From the number of great families with which it has been associated Chester has been named “the mother and nurse of English gentility.” Of the eight baronies of the earldom none survives, but the title of that of Kinderton was bestowed in 1762 on George Venables-Vernon, son of Anne, sister of Peter Venables, last baron of Kinderton, from whom the present Lord Vernon of Kinderton is descended. Other great Domesday proprietors were William FitzNigel, baron of Halton, ancestor of the Lacys; Hugh de Mara, baron of Montalt, ancestor of the Ardens; Ranulph, ancestor of the Mainwarings; and Hamo de Massey. The Davenports, Leighs and Warburtons trace their descent back to the 12th century, and the Grosvenors are descended from a nephew of Hugh Lupus.

In the reign of Henry VIII. the distinctive privileges of Cheshire as a county palatine were considerably abridged. The right of sanctuary attached to the city of Chester was abolished; justices of the peace were appointed as in other parts of the kingdom, and in 1542 it was enacted that in future two knights for the shire and two burgesses for the city of Chester should be returned to parliament. After the Reform Act of 1832 the county returned four members from two divisions, and Macclesfield and Stockport returned two members each. Birkenhead secured representation in 1859. From 1868 until the Redistribution Act of 1885 the county returned six members from three divisions.

From earliest times the staple products of Cheshire have been salt and cheese. The salt-pits of Nantwich, Middlewich and Northwich were in active operation at the time of Edward the Confessor, and at that date the mills and fisheries on the Dee also furnished a valuable source of revenue. Twelfth century writers refer to the excellence of Cheshire cheese, and at the time of the Civil War three hundred tons at £33 per ton were ordered in one year for the troops in Scotland. The trades of tanners, skinners and glove-makers existed at the time of the Conquest, and the export trade in wool in the 13th and 14th centuries was considerable. The first bed of rock-salt was discovered in 1670. Weaving and wool-combing were introduced in 1674.

Antiquities.—The main interest in the architecture of the