Warrington
:
Warrington is the largest town and
borough in the county of
Cheshire, in the
North-West of
England. The former Warrington county borough was situated in
Lancashire, but it combined with the Cheshire townships of
Stockton Heath and
Lymm in 1974 and the new entity became part of the reorganised Cheshire County Council. Since
April 1,
1998 it has been an independent
unitary authority, within the ceremonial county of Cheshire. It is served by Cheshire Police and Cheshire Fire Service.
At the 2001
census the population of the entire
town was 191,085.
Warrington has grown rapidly in modern times, having been designated a
New Town in 1968. It is seeking
city status, and to that end it has developed a cultural quarter centred on Palmyra Square. It also has one of Britain's lowest unemployment rates, with many new jobs at the hi-tech end of the market replacing traditional industries.
A brand new urban village is to be built in West Warrington, called Chapelford Urban Village, on part of the site of World War Two's largest air base,
Burtonwood. It is the largest
Brownfield Land redevelopment in North-West England.
Omega is also set to be built in Warrington, near to where Chapelford Urban Village is being developed. Omega is a £1 Billion redevelopment which will take between 25 and 30 years to complete. It is intended to attract world-class businesses, and also to incorporate social living as well as high quality employment.
People from Warrington are known as "Warringtonians."
In Roman times, Warrington was a centre of industry and was founded as a crossing place of the
River Mersey for Roman soldiers to go north from their base at Deva (modern
Chester). Some Roman remains have been found at Wilderspool.
In medieval times Warrington's importance was as a bridging point on the
River Mersey, and it was a fulcrum in the
English Civil War. The armies of
Oliver Cromwell and the
Earl of Derby both stayed near the old town centre (the parish church area). Popular legend has it that Cromwell lodged in the building which survives on Church Street as The Cottage Restaurant, though it is likely that the actual place was nearby, possibly next door. The Marquis of Granby public house bears a plaque stating that the Earl of Derby 'had his quarters near this site'. Dents in the walls of the Parish church are rumoured to be have been caused by the cannons used in the Civil War.
The bridging point at Warrington was vital to the town's future growth. The Red Lion Inn on Bridge Street is an example of a building built exclusively for people using the bridge.
Warrington was incorporated as a
municipal borough in
1847 under the
Municipal Corporations Act 1835.
By the 1890s, when Warrington acquired
county borough status on reaching a population of 75,000, it was a centre of
steel (particularly
wire),
textiles,
brewing,
tanning and
chemical industries.
Heavy industry declined in the 1970s and 1980s but the growth of the new town around Warrington led to a great increase in employment in light industry, distribution, and technology. Travel-to-work patterns are unusual, with many residents working outside the borough and many employees living elsewhere.
The town was historically in
Lancashire, and when local government was reformed in the
1970s, it was originally proposed to attach it to either
Merseyside or
Greater Manchester. Lobbying by the borough council prevented this, but since it would have been left with no geographic connection to Lancashire, it was made into a district of
Cheshire instead. Due to a change in composition, the council changed its mind at the last minute, but to no avail.
The current borders of Warrington were thus set in
1974, covering the former
county borough of Warrington,
Lymm Urban District,
Warrington Rural District and part of
Golborne urban district, part of
Runcorn Rural District and part of
Whiston Rural District. In another local government reform in the
1990s, Warrington became a
unitary authority.
On the 20th March 1993, the
IRA exploded two bombs in Warrington town centre. The blasts killed two children: three year old Jonathan Ball died instantly, and twelve year old Tim Parry died five days later in hospital. Their deaths provoked widespread condemnation of the Irish terrorist organisation responsible. The blast followed a bomb attack a few weeks earlier on a gas storage plant in Warrington.
Tim Parry's father founded The Peace Centre (formerly the Tim Parry Jonathan Ball Peace Centre) as part of a campaign to reconcile communities in conflict. The Centre opened on the seventh anniversary of the bombing in 2000.
Warrington is notable in political history for being the first place to field a candidate for the newly-formed
SDP-Liberal Alliance. Former Home Secretary
Roy Jenkins stood for MP in 1981 but lost to
Labour candidate Doug Hoyle by a small number of votes.
However, many people, particularly Americans, will remember Warrington best as the location of
Burtonwood RAF base, one of (if not the) largest RAF bases in England and the largest US Air Force base outside the United States. During the war,
Burtonwood was visited by major celebrities like
Humphrey Bogart and
Bob Hope who arrived to entertain troops. The base was closed in 1993.
There was a further RAF base at Padgate, a Royal Naval air base at Stretton and an army base at the Peninsula Barracks in O'Leary Street, now used by the
Territorial Army.
Warrington still remains a major transport centre, sitting at the intersection of three of Britain's biggest motorways, the
M56, the
M6 and the
M62. It also sits on the
West Coast Main Line, one of Britain's busiest railway lines.
Warrington has a concert hall (the Parr Hall), a new arts centre (the Pyramid), a museum, an art gallery, and a public library (the first rate-supported library in the UK). The Victorian swimming baths closed in July 2003.There is a cinema at Westbrook and one is being considered as part of a town centre redevelopment. There are several parks (see also
Parks in Warrington) and nature reserves at
Woolston Eyes,
Risley Moss,
Rixton Claypits,
Paddington Meadows and
Lymm Dam.There is also indoor bowling, located at Winwick Quay and indoor paintball. An indoor karting centre is located near to Bank Quay, and a Laser Tag arena
(Laser Q) can be found very close to the town centre.
A number of festivals, carnivals, and
walking days are held annually in the Warrington area. Warrington Walking Day is held on the closest Friday to the last day of June, and includes the annual fair.
Other festivals, besides the many
walking days, include:
*
Appleton Bawming of the Thorn
*
Croft Carnival
*
Culcheth Community Day
*
Howley Carnival
*
Lymm May Queen
*
Penketh Carnival
*
St George's Day Parade
*
Thelwall Rose Queen
*
Winwick Carnival
*
Westy Carnival
In spite of its proximity to significant retail areas in Manchester, Liverpool, Chester and the out-of-town Trafford Centre, Warrington continues to have one of the larger shopping centres in North West England. Despite this competition, Warrington has seen an increase in its customer trade, due in part to the modernisation of the town centre. It has a shopping mall (Golden Square) built in the 1970s, which is being extended to include a
Debenhams store, and a new bus station. The old Cockhedge textile mill was demolished and replaced by another shopping mall. The main shopping streets are Buttermarket Street, Horsemarket Street, Sankey Street and Bridge Street. Where these four streets intersect there is an attractive award-winning redevelopment with a large fountain and "guardians" (known locally as "the skittles") designed by
Howard Ben Tré. The town also has a large indoor market, and several other small shopping malls, such as Hatters Row. In the surrounding modern suburbs there are several shopping areas from small groups of shops to malls such as Birchwood Mall.
IKEA chose Warrington as the location for their first store when they came to the UK, which is located next to the large out-of-town shopping area of Gemini, which has large
Marks and Spencer,
Toys "R" Us, and
Next outlets.
|
Warrington town hall and gates |
Sites of interest in Warrington include:
*The Town Hall (and its golden gates) formerly a private residence, Bank Hall, built in
1750.
*The Academy, a dissenters' institute where
Joseph Priestley taught and which is now, after being moved from its original location, the offices of a local newspaper.
*"Cromwell's Cottage" (17th century) which
Oliver Cromwell is said to have visited.
*The 14th Century Parish Church of St Elphin, largely a Victorian rebuild with a 280-foot spire, the sixth largest in the UK.
*Holy Trinity Church, 1758, at Market Gate
*The fine row of late Victorian terracotta shops on Bridge Street
*The
Woolworths Building in Sankey Street (at least the upper storeys),
*The
Art Deco style Mr Smith's nightclub which was originally a large
cinema*The fine industrial modernist
Unilever Soapworks.
*The impressive
Cheshire Lines railway warehouse, currently being redeveloped as apartments.
*The
Warrington Transporter Bridge which is classed as a
listed building.
*The Barley Mow, established in 1561, is the oldest pub in Warrington.
*
Fiddlers Ferry Power StationWarrington is home to two colleges,
Priestley College, and
Warrington Collegiate. The
University of Chester has a campus at
Padgate that was part of Warrington Collegiate. Most of the high schools have their own post-16 provision (
sixth-form).
There are High Schools throughout the borough. They are located in:
Birchwood,
Culcheth,
Appleton (known as Bridgewater High), two in
Latchford (Sir Thomas Botler C of E High School and Cardinal Newman Catholic High School),
Great Sankey,
Lymm,
Padgate,
Penketh,
Westbrook (St.Gregory's Catholic High School),
Orford (William Beamont High School), and
Woolston[from Warrington Borough Council's Community Information Resource]. There are 74 Primary Schools in the Borough
[Count from Warrington Borough Council's community Information resource].
Warrington is also home to the
Peace Centre, built after the IRA bombings which occurred in the town centre in 1993. This was Warrington's model to become a city, calling itself a "City for Peace".
 |
Warrington after the coming of the railway, 1851 |
The town has two main railway stations.
Bank Quay on the London to Glasgow and Chester - Warrington -
Newton-le-Willows -
Manchester lines, and
Central on the Liverpool - Widnes - Manchester line and the Transpennine route. Bank Quay is much altered, but Central (built 1873) is of some architectural merit, featuring polychromatic brickwork. However, both main railway stations have suffered from years of under investment. There are also stations in the suburbs at Padgate, Sankey and Birchwood.
The town lies close to the
M62,
M6 and
M56 motorways and midway between
Liverpool and
Manchester airports.
Warrington Borough Transport, one of the few
municipal bus companies to survive in public ownership, runs most bus services within the town.
First Group and
Arriva Northwestern provide bus links to surrounding towns and cities such as Altrincham, Manchester, the Trafford Centre, Liverpool, St Helens, Runcorn and Chester. A new real-time passenger information system has been installed.
The River Mersey runs through the heart of the town dividing it into two. There are only two main thoroughfares crossing the Mersey in Warrington: at Bridgefoot and at the Kingsway Bridge. Another crossing is planned from Lower Walton to Arpley. Warrington is also divided by the
Manchester Ship Canal but there are three swing bridges and a high-level cantilever bridge providing crossing points, and another high-level crossing is planned between Warrington and
Runcorn. Although shipping movements on the Canal are far less frequent than in years past, they can cause severe delay to local road traffic. The picturesque
Bridgewater Canal runs through the Borough from the scenic village of
Lymm to Walton Hall and Gardens, a local park/leisure area.
The town's premier sports team is the
Warrington Wolves Rugby League club, nicknamed "the Wire" because of Warrington's industrial history which includes, among other things, wire making. It has recently moved to the
Halliwell Jones Stadium, leaving its home for over a century,
Wilderspool.
Soccer is represented by
Warrington Town at Cantilever Park, next to the
Manchester Ship Canal. Warrington Athletic Club are based at
Victoria Park, where a new eight-lane synthetic track was built in
1998 after the original track was destroyed in a fire the previous year.
*18th century free-thinker and scientist
Joseph Priestley lived and taught in Warrington, at the Academy
*Artist
Luke Fildes (1843-1927) studied at Warrington School of Art
*Watchmaker and inventor
Peter Litherland was born and grew up in Warrington.
*Actor and singer
Tim Curry was born in
Grappenhall*Actress
Sue Johnston formerly lived in
Birchwood*Radio and television broadcaster
Chris Evans was born and lived in the town for much of his life.
*Author/illustrator and designer of Bob the Builder,
Curtis Jobling grew up in Warrington.
*Filmmaker and animator
Ian Mackinnon was born in Warrington.
*Singer
Rick Astley was born in Warrington.
*Singer
Kerry Katona was born and grew up in Warrington.
*Author
Robin Jarvis grew up in Warrington.
*Performer
George Formby lived in Warrington for several years and is now buried in the town's main cemetery.
*
Hollyoaks actor
Darren Jeffries grew up in Warrington and attended school in the town.
*Actor
Pete Postlethwaite was born and raised in the town.
*Comedy writer
Miles Tredinnick was born in Warrington.
*Actress
Polly Walker was born in Warrington.
*Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Care Services
Liam Byrne was born in Warrington
*1960's Fashion Designer
Ossie Clark went to School in Warrington
*Singer
Ian Brown - lead singer of the
Stone Roses - was born in Forster Street, Warrington, and lived there up to the age of six (approximately).
*Tennis player
Nick Brown was born in Warrington
*Geneticist
Neil Jackson of the University of San Francisco grew up in Warrington.
Kerry Katona,
Chris Evans and
Darren Jeffries all attended
Padgate High School.
Curtis Jobling,
Ian Mackinnon and
Robin Jarvis all attended Penketh High School.
Warrington District was formed from a number of Civil Parishes which were the basic unit of local government prior to 1974. These were
*
Appleton*
Burtonwood*
Cuerdley*
Culcheth*
Grappenhall and Thelwall*
Great Sankey*
Latchford*
Lymm (Urban District)
*
Penketh*
Poulton with Fearnhead*
Rixton with Glazebrook*
Southworth with Croft*
Stockton Heath*
Stretton*
Thelwall*Warrington (County Borough)
*
Winwick with Hulme*
Woolston with
MartinscroftSome of these parishes continued in existence and are governed by Parish Councils. The District also included a part of the Parish of
Bold.
*
Appleton*
Bewsey*
Birchwood*
Burtonwood*
Callands*
Cinnamon Brow*
Croft*
Culcheth*
Cuerdley *
Dallam*
Fearnhead*
Gorse Covert*
Grappenhall*
Great Sankey*
Hatton*
Hollins Green*
Houghton Green*
Latchford*
Longford*
Orford*
Padgate*
Penketh*
Rixton with Glazebrook*
Sankey Bridges*
Stockton Heath*
Stretton*
Thelwall*
Walton*
Westbrook*
Westy*
Winwick*
WoolstonCouncil meetings are chaired by the
Mayor of Warrington.
New wards were introduced for the
2004 elections. The
2006 local elections left
Labour with 26 seats,
Liberal Democrat 25 and
Conservative 6, a total of 57 Members who represent 22 wards. A "shared administration" of Lib Dem / Conservative members took control of the Council. One Labour member has since resigned the party whip.
*
Appleton*
Bewsey and Whitecross*
Birchwood*
Burtonwood and
Winwick*
Culcheth,
Glazebury and
Croft*
Fairfield and Howley*
Grappenhall and
Thelwall*
Great Sankey North
*
Great Sankey South
*
Hatton,
Stretton and
Walton.
*
Latchford East
*
Latchford West
*
Lymm*
Orford*Poplars and Hulme
*
Penketh and
Cuerdley*Poulton North
*Poulton South
*
Rixton and
Woolston*
Stockton Heath*
Westbrook*Whittle Hall
Warrington has two
constituencies:
Warrington North, whose
MP is
Helen Jones, and
Warrington South, represented by
Helen Southworth. Both seats are held by the
Labour Party.
Warrington is twinned with
Hilden in
Germany,
Lake County, Illinois in the
USA, and
Nachod in the
Czech Republic.
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Halton and Warrington at current basic prices
published (pp.240-253) by
Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
| Agriculture | Industry | Services |
|---|
| 1995 | 3,636 | 14 | 1,361 | 2,261 |
| 2000 | 4,768 | 10 | 1,433 | 3,324 |
| 2003 | 5,774 | 18 | 1,399 | 4,356 |
includes hunting and forestry
includes energy and construction
includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
*Population:191,080 (for Warrington Borough, as at 2001) of which:
**49.13% are male
**50.87% are female
**97.86% are of white origin
**0.60% are of mixed origin
**0.84% are of asian origin
**0.19% are of black origin
**0.51% are of "other" origin
*Households:78,030 of which
**75.23% are owner occupied
**0.77% are of shared occupancy
**12.17% are rented from the council
**5.42% are rented from housing associations
**6.42% are rented from other sources
Of all the "adult" (16-74 years) residents of Warrington:
**26.87% have no qualifications
**39.06% have basic qualifications (up to GCSEs or equivlent)
**27.04% have advanced qualification (Lv3 or higher)
Rate of unemployment in the borough of Warrington at the 2001 census was 2.92% (5579 people).
Warrington borough has stastically one of the lowest rates of unemployment in the UK, as well as one of the lowest proportions of ethnic minorities.
*
Parks in Warrington*
Mayor of Warrington*
Warrington Bomb Attacks*
Warrington Dock*
Warrington Borough Council*
Warrington Guardian*
Warrington Worldwide Online Newspaper*
Warrington Freecycle
