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71-727: The Mersey Gateway Bridge is a toll bridge between Runcorn and Widnes in Cheshire , England, which spans the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal . The crossing, which opened in October 2017, has three traffic lanes in each direction and is approximately 1.5 km (1 mile) east (upstream) of the older Silver Jubilee Bridge . It has a span of 998 m (3,274 ft) and a total length of 2.3 km (1.4 miles) including its approach roads. It formed part of

142-585: A new town . The population of Warrington stood at 211,200 people as of 22 April 2024. Warrington is the largest town in the ceremonial county of Cheshire. Warrington was founded by Romans at an important crossing place on the River Mersey. A new settlement was established by the Saxon Wærings. By the Middle Ages , Warrington had emerged as a market town at the lowest bridging point of

213-413: A 110 m (360 ft) pylon on the north side and a 125 m (410 ft) south pylon. The total cable-stayed span is 998 metres (3,274 ft), made up of two main spans of 318 metres (1,043 ft) and 294 metres (965 ft), and two side spans of 205 metres (673 ft) and 181 metres (594 ft). The crossing's total length, including approach viaducts, is 2.3 km (1.4 miles). The deck

284-623: A 19th-century steam-powered cable-truss transporter that carried four cars in 2½   minutes across the Mersey. The replacement crossing was designed to carry 8,000   vehicles per day; however, 50   years later more than 80,000   vehicles were using the through arch bridge and surrounding road network daily, ten times its expected capacity. A new crossing was therefore deemed both vital and necessary by Halton Borough Council . Moreover, it believed "better connectivity, more consistent journey times and improved accessibility, combined with

355-624: A Merseyflow app was launched to help those not registered to pay for crossings. The toll must be paid before midnight the following day or a penalty charge is issued. The penalty charge for an unpaid crossing is £20 plus the unpaid toll. Unpaid penalty charges are registered as a civil debt , recovery action begins and enforcement agents may be instructed. Compliance has improved as the Merseyflow app has allowed pre-payment options for customers. Between July and September 2021, over 97% of bridge users were recorded as paying their tolls on time. If

426-478: A bridge, they hoped to recoup their investment by charging tolls for people, animals, vehicles, and goods to cross it. The original London Bridge across the river Thames opened as a toll bridge, but an accumulation of funds by the charitable trust that operated the bridge ( Bridge House Estates ) saw that the charges were dropped. Using interest on its capital assets, the trust now owns and runs all seven central London bridges at no cost to taxpayers or users. In

497-412: A campaign to reconcile communities in conflict. The centre opened on the seventh anniversary of the bombing, 20 March 2000. He and his family still live in the town. In 1981, Warrington was the first place to field a candidate for the new Social Democratic Party : former Home Secretary Roy Jenkins stood for Parliament but lost to Labour Party candidate Doug Hoyle by a small number of votes. There

568-569: A dedicated source of funds for ongoing maintenance and improvements. Sometimes citizens revolt against toll plazas, as was the case in Jacksonville, Florida . Tolls were in place on four bridges crossing the St. Johns River, including I-95. These tolls paid for the respective bridges as well as many other highway projects. As Jacksonville continued to grow, the tolls created bottlenecks on the roadway. In 1988, Jacksonville voters chose to eliminate all

639-466: A form of triple taxation, and that toll collection is a very inefficient means of funding the development of highway infrastructure. Nakamura and Kockelman (2002) show that tolls are by nature regressive, shifting the burden of taxation disproportionately to the poor and middle classes. Electronic toll collection , branded under names such as EZ-Pass, SunPass, IPass, FasTrak, Treo, GoodToGo, and 407ETR, became increasingly prevalent to metropolitan areas in

710-430: A further 36 languages were recorded spoken by more than 0.01% of Warrington's population aged 3 and over in the 2011 census. Those spoken by more than 0.1% were Polish (0.88%), Slovak (0.21%), Urdu (0.14%), Latvian (0.12%) Non Mandarin or Cantonese Chinese (0.12%) and Tagalog / Filipino (0.11%). There are around 100 churches or other Christian communities, two mosques, and a Sikh temple Guru Nanak Gurdwara which

781-557: A much improved physical urban environment would make Halton a better place to live and work, and [..] invest". In 2001 Ramboll was appointed the lead technical consultant on the project. It worked as part of a technical advisor team composed of CH2M , Ramboll, IBI and Knight Architects, to support the Mersey Gateway Crossings Board with the technical and contractual administration of the project and to help it fulfil its contractual obligations. In June 2010,

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852-402: A region may incur e-toll tag fees imposed by their rental car company. The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 identified and attempted to address a similar problem associated with the government collection of information. Approvals were to be secured by government agencies before promulgating a paper form, website, survey or electronic submission that will impose an information collection burden on

923-454: A substantial rise began in 2008 due to the recession . 2.3% of the population are students in full-time higher education. 31.1% of the total population are economically inactive (due to retirement, ill health, or full-time carer status). According to borough statistics, of the population (in the Borough of Warrington in 2005). 26.9% are unqualified (either due to leaving school early or failing

994-660: A temperate maritime climate with warm summers and cool winters. Rain is spread across the year, with thunderstorms only usually occurring in the summer months. Summer heat waves are rare but can cause temperatures to exceed 30 °C. Summers are usually snow free and rarely experience high winds. Winters are generally cold, with most days around 0 °C . Moreover, during occasional lengthy cold snaps, night-time temperatures have been known to fall to −12 °C with lying snow lasting for weeks. Ground frost regularly occurs from late October until late March. High winds are common in winter, although rarely above gale force 7. Warrington

1065-415: A vehicle has a breakdown whilst on the bridge, recovery is only permitted by a designated authorised company. No roadside repairs, refuelling or tyre changing are permitted unless by special permission. The recovered vehicle will be taken to an appropriate place where it will be impounded until the recovery and storage fees are paid. Fees are a minimum of £150 plus VAT for a small vehicle. The construction of

1136-624: A wider project to upgrade the infrastructure around the Mersey crossings that included major civil engineering work to realign the road network, refurbish and add tolling to the Silver Jubilee Bridge, and build new interchanges. When the first road bridge between Runcorn and Widnes opened in 1961 (renamed the Silver Jubilee Bridge in 1977), it replaced the Widnes–Runcorn Transporter Bridge ,

1207-611: Is a large Unilever factory in Warrington where powder detergents are made. In January 2020, Unilever put the plant under review owing to a fall in demand for washing powder compared with other forms of detergent. Warrington Council and Warrington & Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are major employers in the borough. ESR Technology 's main operations are located at Warrington. In spite of its proximity to significant retail areas in Manchester , Liverpool, Chester and

1278-441: Is an industrial town in the borough of the same name in Cheshire , England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was historically part of Lancashire . It is 16 miles (26 km) east of Liverpool and 16 miles (26 km) west of Manchester . The population in 2021 was recorded as 174,970 for the built-up area and 210,900 for the wider borough, the latter being more than double that of 1968 when it became

1349-443: Is envisioned on the land reclaimed from the road closure. There has been a mixed response to the new Mersey crossing, with some people welcoming the new bridge but many bemoaning the costs. Protests were staged; opposing the decision to implement tolls on both crossings before the new bridge opened. Campaigners believe the extra transport costs will have a detrimental effect on the area and its economy. Taxi drivers have complained that

1420-457: Is made from reinforced concrete with a maximum clearance of 23 m (75 ft) above the river. As the water depth was too low at this point for marine construction vessels, a 1.5 km (1-mile) trestle was built out into the Mersey to drive in the bridge's pilings . New roads were built to connect the bridge to the highway network. An interchange and a junction were built to join the southern end to Runcorn's existing Central Expressway . On

1491-499: Is the only Sikh place of worship in Cheshire. The most multicultural parts of Warrington are in the town centre, as well as the western and north western suburbs, such as Bewsey and Westbrook. In 2011, the town was 92.9% White British , 2.3% other White, 2.4% Asian and 0.3% Black. At the 2011 census, the borough of Warrington had 85,100 households. From 2001 data (80,593 households), 76% were owner occupied, 17.6% were rented from

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1562-522: Is within a green belt region that extends into the wider surrounding counties, and is in place to reduce urban sprawl , prevent the towns in the nearby Manchester and Merseyside conurbations from further convergence, protect the identity of outlying communities, encourage brownfield reuse, and preserve nearby countryside. This is achieved by restricting inappropriate development within the designated areas, and imposing stricter conditions on permitted building. The main urban area and larger villages of

1633-575: The GIs . The RAF station continued to be used by the USAAF and subsequently USAF as a staging post for men and material until its closure in 1993. Warrington was designated a new town in 1968 and consequently the population grew in size, with many of the town's new residents moving from Liverpool or Manchester , with the Birchwood area being developed on the former ROF Risley site. New council housing

1704-631: The Ingaevones said variously to mean "of Yngvi ," "family, people or followers of" or a genitive plural form of an inhabitant appellation. The suffix "ton" is from the Old English word tun meaning "fenced area" or "enclosure." Warrington has been a major crossing point on the River Mersey since ancient times and there was a Roman settlement at Wilderspool . Local archaeological evidence indicates that there were also Bronze Age settlements. In medieval times Warrington's importance

1775-637: The James River , and the 4.5-mile long James River Bridge 80 miles downstream which carries U.S. Highway 17 across the river of the same name near its mouth at Hampton Roads . In other cases, especially major facilities such as the Chesapeake Bay Bridge near Annapolis, Maryland , and the George Washington Bridge over Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey , the continued collection of tolls provides

1846-461: The Mersey Forest project, and Sow Brook. Based on ONS statistics At the 2011 census, Warrington had a total population of 202,200, of which 49.6% are male and 50.4% are female. The average age of the population is 38.06 years, which is slightly below the regional and national averages. In 2018 it was estimated that the current population of Warrington is 209,500. In addition to English,

1917-534: The Redcliffe-Maud Report suggested merging Warrington with either Merseyside or Greater Manchester metropolitan counties . Lobbying by the borough council averted this. But, since these county boundary changes were to make Warrington non-contiguous with Lancashire, under the local government reforms of 1974, Warrington, incorporating Lymm Urban District and part of Runcorn Rural District from Cheshire, and part of Warrington Rural District ,

1988-495: The Silver Jubilee Bridge – although previously free to use – would be tolled like the Mersey Gateway bridge on completion of the scheme. The old bridge was reduced to one lane in each direction for vehicles and the remaining carriageways were converted to a pedestrian/cycleway. The local authority said the cost of the bridge is expected to be paid off in 25 years, at which point a review on tolls would be conducted. In 2019,

2059-708: The Whiston Rural District . The earliest known appearance of the name is "Weringtun", when before the Norman Conquest it was the head of a hundred . An entry in the Domesday Book in AD 1086 named it as "Wallintun". The root is likely the Old English word waru – meaning "those that care for, watch, guard, protect, or defend." The suffix -ing is a cognate of inge, an ethnonym for

2130-432: The "Toll Collect" syndicate after much negative publicity. The term "Toll Collect" became a popular byword among Germans used to describe everything wrong with their national economy. It has become increasingly common for a toll bridge to only charge a fee in one direction. This helps reduce the traffic congestion in the other direction, and generally does not significantly reduce revenue, especially when those travelling

2201-669: The 21st century. Amy Finkelstien, a public finance economist at MIT, reports that as the fraction of drivers using electronic toll collection increased, typically toll rates increased as well, because people were less aware of how much they were paying in tolls. Electronic tolling proposals that represented the shadow price of electronic toll collection (instead of the TSC) may have misled decision-makers. The general public has additionally endured an increased administrative burden associated with paying toll bills and navigating toll collection company on-line billing systems. Additionally, visitors to

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2272-525: The Council had failed to correctly follow the required commencement processes, and failed to properly specify the charges for use. The Council's appeal was turned down, leading to annulment of charge notices in the period that the signage onto the bridge didn't comply with stated regulations. During the COVID-19 lockdown period in 2020 , an application by Halton Borough Council to suspend tolling operations

2343-590: The Great Sankey area, died five days later in hospital. Around 56 other people were injured, four seriously. Their deaths provoked widespread condemnation of the organisation responsible. The blast followed a bomb attack a few weeks earlier on a gas-storage plant in Warrington. Tim Parry's father, Colin Parry, founded The Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace (known as the Peace Centre) as part of

2414-512: The Industrial Revolution, particularly after the Mersey was made navigable in the 18th century. As Britain became industrialised, Warrington embraced the Industrial Revolution becoming a manufacturing town and a centre of steel (particularly wire), textiles, brewing, tanning and chemical industries. The navigational properties of the River Mersey were improved, canals were built, and the town grew yet more prosperous and popular. When

2485-464: The May 2024 election, and a recent defection the political makeup of the borough council was as follows: 41 Labour councillors, 12 Liberal Democrats, 4 Independents and 1 Conservative. The Borough of Warrington contains 18 parish councils , although the central area is unparished. These are: The Borough of Warrington is bordered by Halton , Cheshire West and Chester , and Cheshire East boroughs in

2556-600: The Mersey Gateway Bridge as far as Warrington . As of March 2020 the fee for an unregistered car to cross the Mersey Gateway is £2; for a van or small lorry the single charge is £6 and for a larger lorry or bus £8. Local buses (during the closure of the Silver Jubilee Bridge) and motorcycles are exempt from the tolls. There are no toll booths for payment at the bridge. The toll must be paid to Merseyflow online or via telephone before midnight on

2627-503: The Mersey was transferred from Cheshire to Lancashire. The borough boundaries were subsequently enlarged on several occasions, notably in 1890, 1933 and 1954. The town had its own police force from 1847 to 1969. Warrington acquired county borough status upon reaching a population of 50,000 in 1900 and until 1974 was known as the County Borough of Warrington . As part of proposed local government reforms of England, in 1969

2698-542: The Peace Centre as a "City for Peace". At Westminster , Warrington is represented by two MPs : Charlotte Nichols represents Warrington North , and Sarah Hall represents Warrington South . Both are Labour MPs. The current borders of Warrington Borough cover 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 . After

2769-495: The United States, private ownership of toll bridges peaked in the mid-19th century, and by the turn of the 20th century most toll bridges were taken over by state highway departments. In some instances, a quasi-governmental authority was formed, and toll revenue bonds were issued to raise funds for construction or operation (or both) of the facility. Peters and Kramer observed that "little research has been done to quantify

2840-412: The Warrington township were excluded from the borough, whereas the built-up parts of Latchford on the south bank of the Mersey in Cheshire were included within the borough. From 1847 until 1889 the borough straddled Lancashire and Cheshire. In 1889 boroughs which straddled county boundaries were placed entirely in the county which had the majority of the population, and so the part of the borough south of

2911-499: The age of steam came, Warrington naturally welcomed it, both as a means of transport and as a source of power for its mills. Warrington was the location of the Burtonwood RAF base and Risley Ordnance Factory . During World War II , RAF Burtonwood served as the largest US Army Air Force airfield outside the United States, and was visited by major American celebrities including Humphrey Bogart and Bob Hope who entertained

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2982-410: The area. The borough of Warrington is a unitary authority , with Warrington Borough Council providing both district-level and county-level functions. The central part of the modern borough, corresponding to the pre-1974 borough boundaries, is an unparished area ; the rest of the borough is covered by civil parishes , which form a second tier of local government for their areas. Warrington

3053-426: The borough are exempt from the green belt area, but surrounding smaller villages, hamlets and rural areas such as Rixton, Glazebrook, Higher Walton, Kenyon, Stretton, Hatton, Broomedge are 'washed over' with the designation. The green belt was first drawn up in 1977 under Cheshire County Council , and the size in the borough in 2017 amounted to 11,500 hectares (115 km ; 44 sq mi). A subsidiary aim of

3124-727: The bridge has led to wider infrastructure changes. The Silver Jubilee Bridge was closed upon the Gateway's opening and was re-opened in February 2021 after repair and conversion into a toll bridge, also having improved access for pedestrians and cyclists. The Silver Jubilee Bridge, when re-opened, was delinked from the ring road preventing passage to Liverpool from the A533. Halton Council has plans to redevelop Runcorn railway station to promote railway journeys between Runcorn and Liverpool. A new "Station Quarter" with retail and leisure opportunities

3195-1157: The ceremonial county of Cheshire and by the metropolitan boroughs of Trafford , Salford and Wigan in Greater Manchester and St. Helens in Merseyside. The Borough of Warrington has 18 civil parishes . The town centre and the area around it are unparished. Appleton , Birchwood , Burtonwood and Westbrook , Croft , Cuerdley , Culcheth and Glazebury , Grappenhall and Thelwall , Great Sankey , Hatton , Lymm , Penketh , Poulton-with-Fearnhead (includes Padgate ), Rixton-with-Glazebrook , Stockton Heath , Stretton , Walton , Winwick , Woolston (includes Martinscroft and Paddington ) Appleton Thorn , Bewsey , Blackbrook , Bruche , Callands , Chapelford, Cinnamon Brow , Cobbs, Dallam , Fairfield, Gemini, Gorse Covert , Grange, Hermitage Green , Hollins Green , Hood Manor, Howley, Hulme, Kenyon , Latchford , Locking Stumps , Longford , Old Hall, Omega , Orford , Risley , Sankey Bridges , Westbrook , Westy , Whitecross, Wilderspool , Wright's Green Warrington has

3266-491: The council, 4.8% were rented from other sources and 1.6% of houses had residents who lived rent free. Warrington has a population density of 10.7 residents per hectare, and 31.9% of residents describe the borough as a comfortably well-off area. 4.3% of households are deemed overcrowded. Of the total population, 5.8% of residents are on some form of benefits. At 2005, the borough of Warrington had 63.6% employment, with only 2.9% of all economically active people unemployed – although

3337-462: The day following the crossing, or a penalty charge will be issued. Users can register online for a prepayment account negating the need to pay tolls individually: this also gives a 10% discount on the toll. Halton residents can pay an annual £10 administration fee and make unlimited personal trips at no further cost. The Merseyflow scheme is operated by emovis Operations Mersey Ltd. on behalf of Halton Borough Council . Halton Borough Council stated that

3408-443: The end of school examinations). 46.4% have level 1 or 2 qualifications (level 1 being 1+ GCSE (A*-G) or "O" Level or equivalent, level 2 being 5+ GCSEs (grades A-C), 1+'A' levels/ AS levels (A-E) or equivalent). 19.7% have received level 3+ qualifications (meaning 2+ A-levels (A-E), 4+ AS-levels (A-E) or equivalent minimum). This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Halton and Warrington at current basic prices. There

3479-484: The financial stress of lost toll revenue to the authority determining the levy. One such example of shunpiking as a form of boycott occurred at the James River Bridge in eastern Virginia . After years of lower-than-anticipated revenues on the narrow privately funded structure built in 1928, the state of Virginia finally purchased the facility in 1949 and increased the tolls in 1955 without visibly improving

3550-555: The general public. However, the act did not anticipate and thus address the burden on the public associated with funding infrastructure via electronic toll collection instead of through more traditional forms of taxation. In some instances, tolls have been removed after retirement of the toll revenue bonds issued to raise funds. Examples include the Robert E. Lee Memorial Bridge in Richmond, Virginia which carries U.S. Route 1 across

3621-493: The green belt is to encourage recreation and leisure interests, with rural landscape features and facilities including Walton Hall gardens with zoo and bicycle museum, St Oswald's Church and well, the River Mersey with valley and trail, River Bollin , Manchester Ship Canal , Bridgewater Canal , Appleton Reservoir, numerous playing fields, parks and golf clubs, Cuerdley and Norton marshes, the Trans Pennine Trail ,

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3692-472: The impact of toll collection on society as a whole" and therefore they published a comprehensive analysis of the Total Societal Cost (TSC) associated with toll collection as a means of taxation. TSC is the sum of administrative, compliance, fuel and pollution costs. In 2000 they estimated it to be $ 56,914,732, or 37.3% of revenue collected. They also found that a user of a toll road is subject to

3763-572: The northern side, the old route of the A562 was demolished and replaced with a dual carriageway to Speke Road . Embankments on the Widnes side were constructed from decontaminated material excavated along the route from former industrial brownfield sites: treating and reusing the material meant that it did not need to be removed from the construction zone. The new crossing was expected to improve journey times by up to 10 minutes during peak times compared to

3834-634: The old bridge. A 28.5 ha (70-acre) nature reserve was established around the bridge and the surrounding riverside, managed by the Mersey Gateway Environmental Trust, an independent charity tasked with promoting biodiversity, landscape, science, and educational opportunities. This scheme, which will help conserve important ecological sites such as the Astmoor salt marshes, is part of the 1,600 ha (4,000-acre) Upper Mersey Estuary project that covers everything upstream of

3905-416: The one direction are forced to come back over the same or a different toll bridge. A practice known as shunpiking evolved which entails finding another route for the specific purpose of avoiding payment of tolls. In some situations where the tolls were increased or felt to be unreasonably high, informal shunpiking by individuals escalated into a form of boycott by regular users, with the goal of applying

3976-434: The parish of Grappenhall in Cheshire. In 1813 improvement commissioners were appointed for the township of Warrington, being the town's first form of urban local government; prior to that the town was governed by its vestry and manorial courts . The town was incorporated as a municipal borough by a royal charter dated 3 April 1847. The borough boundaries differed from the township in some areas: more rural parts of

4047-661: The project was put on hold awaiting the outcome of the Treasury's Spending Review. In October 2010 it was confirmed by Chancellor George Osborne that the £431   million plan would go ahead. As part of the 2014 Budget , Osborne announced a £270   million guarantee for the project. After extensive site preparation, construction work began on 7 May 2014 and the bridge opened to traffic just after midnight on 14 October 2017. The bridge has three single arranged towers that support harp design rigging . The three towers are different heights: an 80 m (260 ft) central pylon,

4118-675: The river. A local tradition of textile and tool production dates from this time. The expansion and urbanisation of Warrington coincided with the Industrial Revolution , particularly after the Mersey was made navigable in the 18th century. The West Coast Main Line runs north to south through the town, and the Liverpool to Manchester railway (the Cheshire Lines route) west to east. The Manchester Ship Canal cuts through

4189-482: The roadway, with the notable exception of a new toll plaza. The increased toll rates incensed the public and business users alike. Joseph W. Luter Jr. , head of Smithfield Packing Company , the producer of Smithfield Hams , ordered his truck drivers to take a different route and cross a smaller and cheaper bridge. Tolls continued for 20 more years, and were finally removed from the old bridge in 1976. Warrington Warrington ( / ˈ w ɒr ɪ ŋ t ən / )

4260-721: The south of the borough (west to east). The M6 , M56 and M62 motorways form a partial box around the town and are all accessible through Warrington. The modern Borough of Warrington was formed in 1974 with the amalgamation of the former County Borough of Warrington , part of the Golborne Urban District , the Lymm Urban District , part of the Runcorn Rural District , the Warrington Rural District and part of

4331-593: The toll booths and replace the revenue with a ½ cent sales tax increase. In 1989, the toll booths were removed, 36 years after the first toll booth went up. In Scotland , the Scottish Parliament purchased the Skye Bridge from its owners in late 2004, ending the requirement to pay an unpopular expensive toll to cross to Skye from the mainland. In 2004, the German government cancelled a contract with

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4402-455: The toll will prove unpopular with their customers, because it will mean fare rises. In the first month of opening, more than 50,000 drivers received a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN). Some claimed to be unaware of how to pay the toll, since no signage of how to pay was evident, nor a telephone number supplied to pay the toll. One driver who repeatedly used the bridge without paying the toll received 28 PCNs; totalling £616. After claims that Merseyflow

4473-476: The walls of the parish church are rumoured to have been caused by the cannons from the time of the civil war. On 13 August 1651 Warrington was the scene of the last Royalist victory of the civil war when Scots troops under Charles II and David Leslie, Lord Newark , fought Parliamentarians under John Lambert at the Battle of Warrington Bridge . The expansion and urbanisation of Warrington largely coincided with

4544-623: Was a RAF training camp at Padgate , a Royal Naval air base at Appleton Thorn ( RNAS Stretton ) and an army base at the Peninsula Barracks in O'Leary Street. The Territorial Army was based at the Bath Street drill hall until they moved to Peninsula Barracks. In October 1987, Swedish home products retailer IKEA opened its first British store in the Burtonwood area of the town, bringing more than 200 retail jobs to

4615-597: 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 near the building which survives on Church Street as the Cottage Restaurant. The Marquis of Granby public house bears a plaque stating that the Earl of Derby 'had his quarters near this site'. Dents in

4686-485: Was an ancient parish comprising five townships , being Burtonwood , Poulton-with-Fearnhead , Rixton-with-Glazebrook , Woolston-with-Martinscroft and a Warrington township covering the town itself and adjoining areas. The parish was part of the West Derby Hundred of Lancashire, and the River Mersey formed the county boundary. The land on the south bank of the river was in the township of Latchford , in

4757-617: Was as a market town and bridging point of the River Mersey. The first reference to a bridge at Warrington is found in 1285. The origin of the modern town was located in the area around St Elphin's Church , now included in the Church Street Conservation Area , established whilst the main river crossing was via a ford approximately 1 km upriver of Warrington Bridge . Warrington was the first paved town in Lancashire, which took place in 1321. Warrington

4828-656: Was built for families rehousing from slum clearances in Liverpool or Manchester, while Warrington's new private housing estates also became popular with homeowners. Heavy industry declined in the 1970s and 1980s but the growth of the new town led to a great increase in employment in light industry, retail, distribution and technology. On 20 March 1993, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonated two bombs in Warrington town centre. The blasts killed two children: three-year-old Johnathan Ball died instantly, and twelve-year-old Tim Parry, from

4899-575: Was in breach of both the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 , their PCNs were quashed on appeal in favour of a payment of £56 for the crossings made. On 10 April 2018 it was announced that the outcome of an appeal against penalty charges heard by the Traffic Penalty Tribunal had concluded that the establishment of tolls and charges had not been properly implemented, as

4970-547: Was made a borough within Cheshire County Council . On 1 April 1998, Warrington became an independent unitary authority , though it is still served by Cheshire Police and Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service , and forms part of Cheshire for ceremonial purposes, such as the Lord Lieutenancy . Warrington has applied unsuccessfully for city status , the most recent attempt being after the opening of

5041-609: Was made to support key workers. This was rejected by the Department for Transport despite the broad support of local MPs in March and again in April 2020. Toll bridge The practice of collecting tolls on bridges harks back to the days of ferry crossings where people paid a fee to be ferried across stretches of water. As boats became impractical to carry large loads, ferry operators looked for new sources of revenue. Having built

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