CHESHIRE, a north-western county of England, bounded north by Lancashire, north-east by Yorkshire and Derbyshire, south-east by Staffordshire, south by Shropshire, west by Denbigh shire and Flint, and north-west by the Irish Sea. Area, 1027-8 sq. m. The coast-line is formed by the estuaries of the Dee and the Mersey, which are separated by the low rectangular peninsula of Wirral. The Dee forms a great part of the county boundary with Denbighshire and Flint, and the Mersey the boundary along the whole of the northern side. The principal river within the county is the Weaver, which crosses it on a north-westerly course, and receiving the Dane at Northwich, discharges into the estuary of the Mersey south of Runcorn. The surface of Cheshire is mostly low and gently undulating or flat : the broken line of the Peck forton hills, seldom exceeding 60o ft. in height, is conspicuous. The northern part of the hills coincides approximately with the district called Delamere Forest, formerly a chase of the earls of Chester, and finally disforested in Southwards, command ing the narrow gap of the Gowy river on the west stands the Norman castle of Beeston. Distributed over the county, but prin cipally in the eastern half, are many small lakes or meres, such as Combermere, Tatton, Rostherne, Tabley, Doddington, Mar bury and Mere.
With the exception of some Carboniferous rocks on the eastern border, and a small patch of Lower Lias near Audlem, the whole county is occupied by Triassic strata. The great central plain is covered by Keuper Marls, rich grassland loams with many beds of rock-salt, mostly thin, though two are from 75 ft. to over 10o ft. thick. Thin beds and veins of gypsum are common in the marls. The striking features of the Peckforton Hills, which run north and south, bordering the valley of the Weaver on the west, are due to the repeated faulting of the Lower Keuper Sandstone, which lies upon beds of Bunter Sandstone. Besides forming this well-marked ridge, the Lower Keuper Sandstone, which is quar ried in several places, forms several ridges north-west of Maccles field and appears along the northern border and in the neighbour hood of New Brighton and Birkenhead. It is a good building stone and an important water-bearing stratum. At Alderley Edge ores of copper, lead and cobalt are found. West of the Peckforton ridge, Bunter Sandstones and pebble beds extend to the border. They also form low foothills between Cheadle and Macclesfield. They fringe the northern boundary and appear on the south eastern boundary as a narrow strip of hilly ground near Woore. From Macclesfield northward through Stockport is a narrow tongue of coal-measures—an extension of the Lancashire coalfield. Coal is mined at Neston in the Wirral peninsula from beneath the Trias ; it is a connecting link between the Lancashire and Flintshire coalfields. Glacial drift with northern erratics is thickly spread over all the lower ground ; at Crewe the drift is over 400 ft. thick. Patches of drift sand, with marine shells, occur on the high ground east of Macclesfield at an elevation of 1,25o ft. The Cheshire lowland filled with prehistoric swamp and forest has not yielded large finds of ancient objects. A list of perforated stone axes is given in Trans. Lancs. and Ches. Ant. Soc., vol. v., p. 327 (see also vol. xi., p. 171). Tranmere has yielded a stone celt retaining part of its wooden handle. Copper was mined at some early period at Alderley Edge and stone hammers with a groove for attachment occur here. The type occurs in Shetland, Wales, Ireland, Brittany, the Iberian Peninsula, Savoy, Austria and Egypt ; it is well-known in the New World and the Cambridge Museum has specimens from Australia. A flat Celt of copper or bronze is known from Grappenhall. Broxton has yielded one of the few trunnion celts of Britain (see Hemp, W. J. Antiq. Journ., vol. v. p. 51) together with two palstaves and a spearhead. A dagger blade and a pommel have been found at Wilmslow and the surface of the upper Forest bed at Meols has yielded antiquities apparently of the Early Iron Age.
History.—The earliest recorded historical fact is the capture of Chester by the Northumbrian king Aethelfrith about 614. After a period of incessant strife between Britons and Saxons the district was subjugated in 83o and incorporated in the kingdom of Mercia. During the 9th century Aethelwulf held his parliament at Chester, and received the homage of his tributary kings from Berwick to Kent, and in the loth century Aethelflaed rebuilt the city, and erected fortresses at Eddisbury and Runcorn. Edward the Elder garrisoned Thelwall and strengthened the passages of the Mersey and Irwell. On the splitting up of Mercia in the loth century the dependent districts along the Dee were made a shire for the fortress of Chester. The shire is first men tioned 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 hun dreds, exclusive of the six hundreds between the Ribble and the Mersey, now included in Lancashire, but then a part of Chesh ire. Of the seven modern hundreds Bucklow alone retains its Domesday name. The hundreds of Atiscross and Exestan have been transferred to the counties of Flint and Denbigh, with the excep tion of a few townships now in the hundred of Broxton. Cheshire put up a determined resistance to the Conqueror and no English man retained estates of importance after the Conquest. It was constituted a county palatine, with an independent parliament consisting of the barons and clergy, and courts and all lands except those of the bishop were held of the earl. 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. Richard II., in return for support made the county a principality, but the act was revoked in the next reign. In 1403 Cheshire was the headquarters of Hot spur. At the beginning of the Wars of the Roses Margaret col lected a body of supporters from among the Cheshire gentry, and Lancastrian risings occurred as late as 1464. In 1643, 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.
In the reign of Henry VIII. the distinctive privileges of Cheshire as a county palatine were abridged. The right of sanc tuary attached to the city of Chester was abolished and justices of peace were appointed as in other parts of the kingdom. An impression of the wealth of the rich agricultural county is to be seen in the numerous half-timbered houses and ancient manor houses such as Bramhall Hall, near Macclesfield and Moreton Old Hall, near Congleton. The former dates from the 13th and 14th centuries, and contains a handsome panelled hall. Moreton Hall and several others, such as Brereton and Dorfold Halls, are Elizabethan. Vale Hall near Winsford incorporates fragments of a Cistercian monastery founded in 1277. Ecclesiastical archi tecture is not well represented outside Chester (q.v.), but Lower Peover, near Knutsford has a notable half-timbered church of 13th century date, restored in 1852. There is also a fine late Perpendicular church (with earlier portions) at Astbury near Congleton, and the churches of Banbury and Malpas are Per pendicular and Decorated. St. Michael's church and the Rivers chapel at Macclesfield are noteworthy. In the market-place at Sandbach are two remarkable sculptured Saxon crosses.
Agriculture and Industries.—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. 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 soil of the county is varied and irregular; a large proportion is clay. Nearly 8o% of the total area is under cultivation. Oats are by far the most important cereal, and nearly 5o% of the cultivated land is in permanent pasture. The vicinity of such populous centres as Liverpool and Manchester stimulates dairy ing. The name of the county is given to a particular brand of cheese (see DAIRY). Potatoes are by far the most important root crop. The damson is common among fruit-trees, while the straw berry beds near Farndon and Holt are celebrated. Market gardening is pursued in the neighbourhoods of Chester, Wallasey and Altrincham. In the first half of the 19th century the condi tion of agriculture in Cheshire was notoriously backward. In 1865-1866 the county suffered from cattle plague, and at various times since diseases introduced from overseas through Liverpool have ravaged the county. The manufacture of textiles extends from its seat in Lancashire into Cheshire; and the whole north eastern tongue of the county is engaged in branches of the in dustry, particularly cotton-spinning. Metal working is important, and embraces ship-building (Birkenhead) and galvanized iron products (Ellesmere Port) . At Crewe are situated the great work shops of the London, Midland and Scottish railway company, to which the town owes its origin and rise. Chemical industries are of special importance, and are found along the Mersey; they are closely related to the salt industry. The Mersey shore also has machinery and iron works, flour-mills, tobacco and soap-works (Port Sunlight). Much sandstone is quarried, but the mineral wealth of the county lies in coal (around Congleton and Maccles field) and especially salt. Some rock-salt is obtained at North wich and Winsford, but most of the salt is extracted from brine both here and at Lawton, Wheelock and Middlewich. Subsidences frequently occur after the brine is pumped out ; walls crack and collapse, and houses are seen leaning far out of the perpendicular.
Communications.—The county is well served with railways. The main line of the L.M.S.R. runs north from Crewe to War rington with branches from Crewe diverging fanwise to Man chester, Chester, North Wales and Shrewsbury. The G.W.R. passes northward from Wrexham to Liverpool and Manchester. The heart of the county is traversed by the Cheshire Lines, serv ing the salt district, and reaching Chester from Manchester by way of Delamere Forest. In the west, between Chester, Connah's Quay and Liverpool, the L.N.E.R. operates. The county pos sesses numerous first class roads, and many experiments in road building have been made in the Wirral. The river Weaver is locked as far up as Winsford, and the transport of salt is thus expedited. The profits of the navigation, which was originally undertaken in 1720 by a few Cheshire squires, belong to the county, and are paid annually to the relief of the county rates. In the salt district of the Weaver, subsidence has resulted in the formation of lakes of considerable extent, which act as reservoirs to supply the navigation. Inland navigation is also provided by the Grand Trunk, Shropshire Union and other canals, and many small steamers are in use. The Manchester Ship Canal passes through a section of north Cheshire, entering from the Mersey estuary by locks near Eastham, and following its southern shore up to Runcorn, after which it takes a course more direct than the river, and finally enters Lancashire at the junction of the Irwell with the Mersey, near Irlam.
Population and Administration.—The area of the ad ministrative county (with county boroughs) is 652,383 acres; pop. Cheshire has been described as a suburb of Liverpool, Manchester and the Potteries, and has been freely colonized from these populous industrial centres. On the short sea coast of the Wirral are found the popular resorts of New Brighton and Hoylake. The movement of population and the importance of the industries of the county have brought about a vast in crease of population in modern times. The county contains 7 hundreds. The municipal boroughs are Birkenhead (pop. 147,946), Chester (41,438), Congleton (12,885), Crewe (46,061), Dukin field (19,309), Hyde (32,066), Macclesfield (34,902), Staly bridge (24,823), Wallasey (97,465) and Stockport Chester, the county town, is a city and county borough, and Birkenhead, Wallasey and Stockport are county boroughs.
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. 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 nine parliamentary divisions, namely Macclesfield, Crewe, Eddisbury, Wirral, Knuts ford, Altrincham, Northwich, City of Chester, Stalybridge and Hyde ; the county also includes the parliamentary borough of Birkenhead, returning two members, the borough of Wallasey, and parts of the borough of Stockport, which returns two mem bers, and of Ashton-under-Lyne, and Warrington, which return one member each.