WARRINGTON, Lancashire, a market-town, municipal and parlia mentary borough, and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, in the parish of Warrington, is situated ou the right bank of the river Mersey, in 53° 24' N. lat, 2° 36' W. long., distant 53 miles S. by E. from Lan caster, 184 miles N.W. from Loudon by road, and 182 miles by the London and North-Western railway. The population of the parlia mentary borough of Warrington in 1851 was 23,863. The borough is governed by 9 aldermen and 27 councillors, one of whom is mayor ; ' and returns one member to the Imperial Parliament. The living is a rectory in the archdeaconry of Liverpool and diocese of Chester. Warrington Poor-Law Union contains 16 parishes and townships, with an area of 29,984 acres, and a population in 1851 of 36,164.
The town consists of several narrow streets irregularly laid out, which are well paved and lighted with gsa Two or three excellent examples of ancient half-timber houses are in the market-place. The parish church is a large cruciform building of various dates. Under the eastern end of the church is a Norman crypt. St. Paul's church, finished in 1831, is of gothic architecture ; Fadgate church is of later erection. There are places of worship for Roman Catholics, Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists, Independents, Baptists, the Countess of Iluntiogdon's Connexion, Quakers, and Unitarians. There are a Free Grammar school ; National, British, Orphan, and Infant schools; a Blue-Cost school, a school of the Educational Society, a Diocesan Model school, Wesleyan and Roman Catholic schools, an institution for the education of clergymen's daughters, a mechanics and a church institute, a museum, a town library, a dispensary, a savings bank, and public baths. A town.hall, a marketshall, two cloth-halls, a bridcwell,
aisembly-romns, and a theatre are in the town.
Warrington was among the earliest seats of manufactures iu Lanca shire. Coarse linens and checks were the fabrics first made in the town, after which huckaback was manufactured, and then sailcloth and sacking. At present the chief branches of industry are—cotton splouing and power-loom weaving, the weaving of fustian% the manu facture of flint-glass and glass bottles, machinery and mill-work, wire, files, nails and tools, spades, rope, sail-cloth, soap, glue, size, and ta. Thera are steam flour-mille, malt-houses, brick-fields, tan-yards, a paper-mill, an iron-foundry where large iron steamers are built, and several breweries. The market is on Wednesday for corn, vegetables, and butcher meat; a less important market is held on Saturday.
Thera are two yearly fairs for woollen-cloth, Irish linens, 'Welsh &noels, horses, horned cattle, pigs, sheep, and pedlery. Potatoes and vegetables are cultivated to a considerable extent around the town. The navigation of the river Mersey and its feeder the lrwell is con tinued upward to Manchester. The Mersey and travel! Canal joins the river Mersey near Warrington; and the Sankey Canal, the Duke of Bridgetvater's Canal, the Loudon and North-Western railway, and the Lancashire and Cheshire Junction railway pass near the town.