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There is so little worth attention in this village, that it is not even noticed in Parliamentary Population Returns. ( resumed, page 56.)

From this station is two miles to the eastward; this is a market town, parish and township, in the hundred of Northwich. County of Chester. It derives its name from its centrical situation between the wiches or salt-towns; its origin is of very ancient date. Pop. 1,325; An. As. Val. £1,569. Markets are held every Tuesday; fairs, on St. James's. August 5, and Holy Thursday, for cattle. The principal manufacture of this town is salt; to which, during the last few years, may be added that of cotton and silk. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, is a spacious structure. On the south side of it is a college, founded by Thomas Savage. Archbishop of York, and an oratory, founded by one of the Leigh family. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester; K.B. £14; P.R. £130; it is endowed with £400 by private benefaction and a gift from the Crown, and £1,000 by a parliamentary grant; patron. Rev. Isaac Wood. It has a free school, and three places of worship for Dissenters. The salt obtained here is principally from the brine