Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 1.djvu/561

Rh CHESHIRE. 551 CHE8HTBE. the county was formerly called "the Vale Royal of England," from the abbey of Vale Royal, founded by Edward I. There is, however, on the eastern border a range of hills extending into Derbyshire ; and on the western side a line of hills extending from Frod- sham southwards. Beeston Rock, on which there is a castle, is one of the outlying hills of this range. It is a conspicuous object from every part of the county. There are no forests in Cheshire, for Delamere Forest has no claim to tho title ; it ia a barren sandy tract, covered with heath and moss. The county is not very well wooded, but there are some very fine oaks growing in tho hedge-rows. There are several meres, or lakes ; but none of them of great size : Comber Mere, from which Lord Combermere takes his title, is tho largest, and is three- quarters of a mile in length. Cheshire is watered by the
 * he Mersey, the Weaver, the Wheelock, the Peover,

ime or Thame, the Dane, and the BoDin. The Dee i u Merionethshire, flows eastward through Denbigh- . past Bangor, Iscoed, and Worthenbury. It then N. to Chester, marking for some distance the boun- dary between Wales and Cheshire. From Chester Bridge it runs in an artificial channel, 3 miles in length, and I 'lint Castle it becomes an estuary, 3 miles wide, and
 * e.i itself into the Irish Sea. The sands at the mouth

Dee render the navigation very difficult, but ships of 600 tons may reach Chester by the cut which was made in 17.54. The Mersey is formed by the junction of tho Ktherow, the Tame, and the Goyt. From Stockport to Liverpool it forms the boundary between Cheshire and ishire. Between Runcorn and Liverpool it is an r y of considerable breadth, but at Liverpool its chan- nel is contracted to the width of three-quarters of a mile. About 5 miles further N. it falls into the Irish Channel. Its navigation, like that of the Dee, is impeded by sands at its mouth, but the evil is not beyond the remedy of an Snt system of pilotage, to which Liverpool is mainly indebted for its commercial prosperity. The Weaver in 1720, made navigable by a system of locks from 1'rodaham Bridge to Winsford Bridge. It rises in the N. of Shropshire, receives the Dane and the Peovor as tributaries, and itself falls into the Mersey below Frod- sham. Tho Wheelock is a small tributaiy of the Dane. The Bollin rises in Macclesfield Forest, and falls into the < y at Rixton. The Tame rises in Yorkshire and the Mersey at Stockport. There is also in Cheshire an excellent system of water communication by canals. The Bridgwater canal traverses about 24 miles of the county, crossing the Mersey at Ashton. The Grand Trunk, or Trent and Mersey canal runs through the centre of the county from Preston Brook past North- wich, Middlewich, Sandbach, and Church-Lawton, into a-dshire. There is a canal between Chester and Nantwich, which is connected by the Middlewich branch with the Trent and Mersey canal. The Ellesmere canal affords communication between Chester, Nantwich, Mid- dlewich, and Whitchurch. The Macclesfield canal joins the Grand Trunk with the Peak Forest canal, passing by Church-Lawton, Congleton, and Macclesfield, to Ash- tnn-under-Lyne. The climate of Cheshire, like that of Vules, is moist, but not very cold. The Derbyshire hills on the E., the Welsh hills on the W., and the Irish Sea beyond, produce an annual rainfall far above the average of the eastern counties. The land is conse- quently well adapted for grazing, and but very little corn is grown. A clause is generally inserted in the leases to the effect that not more than one-fourth part of a farm shall be ploughed, meadow and pasture being more valu- able than arable land. The farms in Cheshire are not commonly more than 100 or 150 acres in extent, and the chief produce is the cheese for which Cheshire is i'niious. The soil is generally clayey or a sandy loam, with a substratum of marl, rusting upon the New Red sandstone. -The most important minerals found in Cheshire are rock-salt and coal. The salt was first dis- covered near Marbury, in the parish of Budworth, in 1670. There are now mines" at Witton, Wincham, Marston, and Lawton. Tho salt is sometimes found white and trans- parent, sometimes of a reddish brown colour in the for- mer case it is chloride of sodium, almost pure ; in the latter there is a small proportion of oxido of iron present. Many thousand tons of salt are also annually extracted from the brine springs, which were known to the Romans, who from this circumstance named Nantwich Salincc. The district in which the salt is found at traversed by the Weaver and its tributaries, and the transit is consequently easy. Coal of good quality and in considerable quantities is found at Denwall, in thohund. of Wirrall, and at Worth and Poynton, in the N.E. of the county. The two latter collieries supply Stockport, which is in a degree depen- dent on them for its prosperity as a manufacturing town. There are quarries of freestone at Runcorn, Manley, and Great Bobington ; and of limestone at Newbold-Ast- bury. Mow-Cop Hill supplies mill-stones. Iron and cobalt have been found at Alderley Edge ; copper and lead at Alderley Edge and in tho Peckforton hills. The great increase in the population of Cheshire during the present century may be attributed to the prosperity of its manufactures, of which cotton and silk are tho chief. Large numbers of immigrants are attracted by them from Wales and from Ireland. Fustian, calico, tape, ribbons, thread, gloves, and stockings arc also manufactured at Stockport, Macclesfield, Congleton, Sandbach, and Knutsford. The mines also afford employ- ment to a considerable number of labourers. According to Domesday Book there were 12 hunds. in Cheshire, but the county then included portions of Flintshire and Lan- cashire. It is now divided into 7 hundreds: Bucklow, Macclesfield, Norlhwich, Eddisbury, Nantwich, Brox- ton, and Wirrall. The shire is divided into North Cheshire and South Cheshire, each division returning two mem- bers to parliament. The former consists of the two hunds. of Bucklow and Macclesfield, the latter of tho remaining five. The county is included in the North Wales circuit, and tho assizes and quarter sessions are held at Chester. Cheshire constitutes an archdeaconry belonging to the bishopric of Chester, and includes 7 deaneries and 147 parishes. It has 13 market towns : Chester, the county town, a seaport, and a city ; Stock- port, Macclesfield, Congleton, Knutsford, and Sandbach, manufacturing towns ; besides Nantwich, Northwich, Middlewich, Malpas, Frodsham, Tarporley, and Altrinc- ham. Other important towns are Staly bridge, a portion of which is in Lancashire ; Runcorn, a port on the Mersey ; Hyde, Button, Crewo ; the three watering-places of Great Neston, Park-Gate, and New Brighton ; and Birken- head, the great suburb of Liverpool, which lies on the Cheshire side of the Mersey.- There are some remains of Birkenhead Priory, of Rock Savage Priory, and of the castles of Haulton (built by John of Gaunt) and Beeston-rock. There are many tumuli near Prestbury ; and in the township of Butley, near the high road from Stockport to Macclesfield, several cairns were discovered in 1808, about 3 feet below the surface. The great sword of Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, was formerly in Sir Hans Sloane's collection, but is now in the British Museum. It is nearly 4 feet long; its blade is 2{j inches wide at the top, and tapers gradually to a point ; the handle is gilt, ornamented with scrolls of foliage and flowers, and inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Cheshire is divided into nine Poor-law Unions: Chester, Stockport, Macclesficld,Altrmcham,Runcorn,Northwich,Co/igleton, Nantwich, and Win-all. Among the natives of Cheshire were Bishop Heber, who was born at Malpas ; Bishop Wilson, who was bom at Burton, in the Wirrall ; Holin- shed and Speed. At Nantwich Milton's widow died in 1726. The principal noblemen's seats are those of the Marquis of Westminster, at Eaton Hall, near Chester ; of tho Marquis of Cholmondeley, at Chobnondeley Castle; of Viscount Combermere, at Combennere Abbey ; of the Earl of Stamford and Warrington, at Dunham Massey ; of Lord Crewe, at Crewo Hall ; of Lord de Tabley, at Tabley Hall ; of Lord Venum, at Poynton ; and of Lord Delamere, at Vale Royal A I There are, in addition to these, many others belonging to the untitled aristocracy of tho county, several of which are built of wood and are of great age. Bailways and telegraph wires cross Cheshire in all directions :