118-855: The Sankey Canal in North West England , initially known as the Sankey Brook Navigation and later the St Helens Canal , is a former industrial canal, which when opened in 1757 was England's first of the Industrial revolution, and the first modern canal. The canal eventually connected St Helens to the River Mersey at Spike Island in Widnes . Originally it followed the valley of the Sankey Brook from
236-538: A Norman church, was built in Farnworth. Its date of origin is uncertain but it is likely to be around 1180. In 1500 the South Chapel was added to the church and in 1507 a grammar school was established in Farnworth; both were endowments from Bishop William Smyth . Until the middle of the 19th century the area consisted of the scattered hamlets of Farnworth , Appleton, Ditton, Upton and Woodend. Nearby were
354-452: A Tesco Extra 24-hour store. The glass fronted 120,000 sq ft store has been built on the old B&Q site next to Ashley Way and was opened in March 2012. The store was built on stilts allowing a car park to be built underneath the store for around 600 cars. The Silver Jubilee Bridge is a Grade II listed structure with Historic England . It was opened in 1961 and crosses to Runcorn . With
472-583: A 30%+ Black British population. In contrast, the town of St. Helens in Merseyside, unusually for a city area, has a very low percentage of ethnic minorities with 98% identifying as White British. The City of Liverpool, over 800 years old, is one of the few places in Britain where ethnic minority populations can be traced back over dozens of generations: being the closest major city in England to Ireland, it
590-469: A Derelict Land Grant. Most of the canal is still in water and much has been restored to navigable standard, with short sections at Fiddlers Ferry, Warrington and Spike Island, Widnes having locks into the Mersey which have allowed craft access to the canal for mooring since the locks were restored in the 1980s. However, fixed bridges which replaced the original wooden swing bridges and other obstructions isolate
708-630: A canal was authorised by Parliament without anyone petitioning against it. The act of Parliament authorising the construction of the navigation, the Sankey Brook Navigation Act 1755 ( 28 Geo. 2 . c. 8), was passed on 20 March 1755. It was entitled "An Act for making navigable the River or Brook called Sankey Brook, and Three several Branches thereof from the River Mersey below Sankey Bridges, up to Boardman's Stone Bridge on
826-582: A first language. In 2020, the GVA for the Widnes Built-up Area was £1.18 billion. Widnes is an industrial town and its major industry is still the manufacture of chemicals, although there has been diversification in recent years and the economy predominately relies on service industries. In 2006 a new freight park, known as the 3MG Mersey Multimodal Gateway, was opened in the West Bank area of
944-577: A main arch spanning 330m, for many years it was the only crossing of the River Mersey West of Warrington. In 2017 the new Mersey Gateway bridge was opened to relieve congestion at the older bridge and allow easier road access to the Liverpool City region. Reclamation of chemical factory sites and areas formerly polluted with chemical waste has given opportunities for developments. These include Victoria Promenade at West Bank, alongside
1062-590: A major manufacturer of chemicals, although many of the chemical factories have closed and the economy is predominantly based upon service industries. Widnes and Hough Green railway stations are on the Liverpool–Manchester line . The main roads through the town are the A557 in a north–south direction and the A562 east–west. The disused Sankey Canal terminates at Spike Island. The Silver Jubilee Bridge crosses
1180-605: A more northerly course, and when it was blocked by glacial deposits it had made a new channel through Runcorn Gap. Being close to the west coast and the Irish Sea , the climate is generally temperate with few extremes of temperature or weather. The mean average temperature in the years 1971 to 2000 was 9.4 to 9.7 °C , which was slightly above the average for the United Kingdom as was the average amount of annual sunshine at 1391 to 1470 hours. The average annual rainfall
1298-406: A regular covered-top double-decker bus service. By 1919 the health of the residents of the town was improving. In the 1920s, and 1930s there was further diversification of the chemical industry and the products it manufactured. Slums were being replaced by more and better homes. After World War II more slums were cleared and there was ongoing growth and variation in the chemical industry. By
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#17327724608921416-621: A second connection to the Mersey and another basin. This was authorised by a third act of Parliament, the Sankey Brook Navigation Act 1830 ( 11 Geo. 4 & 1 Will. 4 . c. l), granted on 29 May 1830, entitled "An Act to consolidate and amend the Acts relating to the Sankey Brook Navigation, in the county of Lancaster; and to make a New Canal from the said Navigation at Fidler's Ferry, to communicate with
1534-783: A sporting ground it has facilities for conferences and banqueting. In October 2007 the club was defeated in the National League One Grand Final. Following this, and because of the club's financial situation, its board decided to put it into administration . It was subsequently purchased by Steve O'Connor, a local businessman. The Widnes Vikings are in the Betfred Championship . Widnes Rugby Union Football Club (otherwise known as "the wids"), are an amateur rugby union club based at Heath Rd and administered by volunteers. The players are all club members and pay subscriptions. The club welcomes and encourages
1652-410: Is Scafell Pike , Cumbria, at a height of 3,209 ft (978 m). Windermere is the largest natural lake in England, while Broad Crag Tarn on Broad Crag is England's highest lake. Wast Water is England's deepest lake, being 74 metres deep. A mix of rural and urban landscape, two large conurbations , centred on Liverpool and Manchester , occupy much of the south of the region. The north of
1770-900: Is St Luke's Church, Farnworth . The other Anglican churches are St Mary's in West Bank, St Paul's in Victoria Square, St John's in Greenway Road and St Ambrose in Halton View Road. The Anglicans share the building of St Michael's in Ditchfield Road with Hough Green Methodist Church. The Anglicans also share the building of All Saints' in Hough Green Road with the Catholic Church of St Basil's. The Roman Catholic churches in Widnes are part of
1888-531: Is Widnes Vikings Rugby League Football Club . Cup kings of the 1970s, and 1980s, they were World Club Champions in 1989, after defeating Australian side Canberra Raiders at Old Trafford . More recently, they were winners of the Northern Rail Cup in 2007 and 2009. Their home ground is DCBL Stadium in Lowerhouse Lane, which is owned and run by Halton Borough Council. In addition to being
2006-868: Is a listed building, but it has been placed on the Buildings at Risk list by the campaign group Save Britain's Heritage and was identified by the Victorian Society on their 2008 annual list as being one of the ten most endangered Victorian buildings in Britain. Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in Mayfield Avenue, St Marie's in Lugsdale Road, St Pius X in Sefton Avenue and St Raphael's in Liverpool Road all closed and were deconsecrated by 2013. Trinity Methodist Church
2124-588: Is an industrial town in the Borough of Halton , Cheshire , England , which at the 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historically in Lancashire , it is on the northern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap . Directly to the south across the Mersey is the town of Runcorn . Upstream 8 miles (13 km) to the east is Warrington , and 4 miles downstream to
2242-902: Is bounded to the east by the Pennines and to the west by the Irish Sea . The region extends from the Scottish Borders in the north to the West Midlands region in the south. To its southwest is North Wales . Amongst the better known of the North West's physiographical features are the Lake District and the Cheshire Plain . The highest point in North West England (and the highest peak in England)
2360-559: Is home to a significant ethnic Irish population, with the city being home to one of the first ever Afro-Caribbean communities in the UK, as well as the oldest Chinatown in Europe. The table below is not how many people belong to each ethnic group (e.g. a BBC News article in 2008 claimed there are over 25,000 ethnic Italians in Manchester alone whilst only 6,000 Italian-born people live in
2478-980: Is in Peelhouse Lane and there are Methodist churches in Farnworth and Halebank. There is a Baptist church in Deacon Road and an Evangelical Christian church in Ditton. The Foundry in Lugsdale Road is a Pentecostal church and the Jehovah's Witnesses have a Kingdom Hall in Moorfield Road. The Widnes National Spiritualist Church is in Lacey Street. In the 2021 census , of Widnes's 62,400 residents, 96.5% were White. Mixed/multiple ethnic groups made up 1.3%; Asian/Asian British/Asian Welsh 1.2%; Black/Black British/Black Welsh/Caribbean/African 0.4%; and Other ethnic group 0.5%. 97.3% had English as
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#17327724608922596-572: Is on the southern route of the Liverpool to Manchester railway line . There are two stations in the town, Hough Green and Widnes from which services are operated by East Midlands Railway and Northern . Northern operate frequent services to Liverpool and Manchester city centre from Hough Green and Widnes. East Midlands Railway link Widnes station at hourly intervals throughout the day to Liverpool, Manchester, Stockport , Sheffield , Nottingham and Norwich . However passengers to and from London,
2714-480: Is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of Cheshire , Cumbria , Greater Manchester , Lancashire and Merseyside . The North West had a population of 7,417,397 in 2021. It is the third-most-populated region in the United Kingdom, after the South East and Greater London . The largest settlements are Manchester and Liverpool . The official region consists of
2832-709: Is severed by the A57 dual carriageway in Warrington. Following the closure of the Fiddlers Ferry power station which previously pumped water into the canal, the water level at Spike Island has begun to drop. The locks to the River Mersey are currently unable to be opened for fear of losing more water. The Sankey Viaduct railway viaduct over the Sankey Canal in Newton-le-Willows, known locally as
2950-600: Is still predominant throughout the county, and stretches as far north as Furness in South Cumbria to parts of north Greater Manchester and Merseyside in the south of the region. The region boasts some of the most distinctive accents in the form of the Scouse accent, which originates from Liverpool and its surrounding areas, and the Manc accent, deriving from the central Manchester district. Both of these descend from
3068-594: The 2019 United Kingdom general election , the Labour Party won a plurality of seats in the North West. It is one of the two regions (along with Yorkshire and the Humber ) that were expected to hold a referendum on the establishment of an elected regional assembly . However, when the North East region of England rejected having an elected regional assembly in a referendum, further referendums were cancelled and
3186-655: The Archdiocese of Liverpool . There are four churches in Widnes, namely St Bede's in Appleton, St John Fisher in Moorfield Road, St Michael's in St Michael's Road, and St Basils in Hough Green Road. Owing to a shortage of Catholic Priests and the "Leaving Safe Harbours" project in effect throughout the Archdiocese St Marie's was closed, the last Mass was celebrated on 6 January 2007. The church
3304-653: The Bridgewater Canal , led to a mania of canal building , and for further extension schemes to be proposed for the Sankey Canal. Francis Giles' proposal to link the canal to the Bridgwater Canal was not implemented, and neither was a plan to link the canal to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal near Leigh , to the North-East. Apart from the early extension to Fiddlers Ferry, which provided better access to
3422-623: The Building Schools for the Future programme, Fairfield High School closed down in 2010 and merged with Wade Deacon High School . The school was founded in 1507 as Farnworth Grammar School by Bishop William Smyth and a school has been on the site since the 16th century. In the 1960s two separate-sex secondary schools amalgamated and the school took the title Fairfield High School from 1974 up until its closure. When it closed in August 2010,
3540-568: The House of Commons . The seat has been held by Derek Twigg of the Labour Party since its creation for the 2024 general election . Between 1983 and 2024, Widnes was in the Halton constituency which was held by the Labour Party since its creation. Widnes first became a parliamentary constituency and elected its first Member of Parliament in 1885. Widnes is situated on the north bank of
3658-456: The Indices of deprivation 2007 , the region has many more Lower Layer Super Output Areas in the 20% most deprived districts than the 20% least deprived council districts. Only North East England shows more indicators of deprivation than the North West, but the number of affluent areas in the North West is very similar to Yorkshire and the Humber . The most deprived local authority areas in
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3776-538: The Industrial Revolution hundreds of thousands of Welsh people migrated to the North West of England to work in the coal mines. Parts with notably high populations with Welsh ancestry as a result of this include Liverpool , Chester , Skelmersdale , Widnes , Halewood , Wallasey , Ashton-in-Makerfield and Birkenhead . The Mixed Race population makes up 1.3% (93,800) of the region's population. There are 323,800 South Asians , making up 4.7% of
3894-590: The Newry Canal in Northern Ireland , was Liverpool’s second dock engineer, but was appointed engineer for the navigation when the promoters convinced the Dock Trustees to release him for two days a week. It is not known whether Berry or the promoters presented the plans to Parliament as an upgrade to the river navigation, despite building it as a true canal, but it is thought to be the only time
4012-669: The Scandinavian influence throughout the North West. Through the Middle Ages the dialects of the North West would have been considerably different from those spoken in the Midlands and south. It was only with the spread of literacy (particularly with the publication of the King James Bible ) that Standard English spread to the region. Even so, local dialects continued to be used and were relatively widespread until
4130-406: The Silver Jubilee Bridge , carrying the A533 road which then curves in a westerly direction towards Liverpool becoming the A562. The density of housing is generally high but there are some open green areas, including Victoria Park in Appleton and two golf courses which are geographically near the centre of the urban development. Most of the chemical and other factories are close to the north bank of
4248-441: The Solway Coast , and almost all of the Forest of Bowland ). Weather in this part of England is typically classified as maritime, moist and temperate, with a moderate annual temperature range. Average annual precipitation in the UK typically ranges from approximately 800 mm to 1,400 mm. Temperatures are generally close to the national average. Cumbria usually experiences the most severe weather, with high precipitation in
4366-404: The electromagnet in 1825. Sydney Chapman , a mathematician from Eccles , in 1930 explained the ozone–oxygen cycle in the stratosphere , being the first to propose that atmospheric oxygen or ozone molecules absorb (harmful UVB and UVC) ultraviolet wavelengths of light in photolysis , to produce reactive single atoms which accumulate to form the ozone layer . Graphene was discovered at
4484-444: The "Nine Arches" was completed in 1830. It is still in use and carries the intercity Liverpool to Manchester (via Rainhill and St Helens Junction) railway. It actually comprises nine sandstone arches, with a 60-foot (18.3m) minimum clearance above the canal, which was required to allow the masts of the Mersey flats to clear. Designated Grade I listed building in 1966, it has been described as being "the earliest major railway viaduct in
4602-417: The 1930s found nothing to confirm this. Following the Norman conquest of England , William the Conqueror granted the Earldom of Lancaster to Roger the Poitevin who in turn granted the barony of Widnes to Yorfrid. Yorfrid had no sons and his elder daughter married William fitz Nigel , the second Baron of Halton . On Yorfrid's death the barony of Widnes passed to that of Halton. The current St. Luke's ,
4720-451: The 1950s the town had 45 major chemical factories. In 1961 the Silver Jubilee Bridge opened as free crossing, replacing the outdated Transporter Bridge. In 2017 a further crossing, the Mersey Gateway Bridge , opened to relieve congestion. This crossing was tolled. When the Mersey Gateway Bridge was opened, the Silver Jubilee Bridge was closed for maintenance. Now both bridges are operating, but as tolled crossings. In recent years many of
4838-424: The 19th and 20th centuries. In modern times, English is the most spoken language in the North West, with a large percentage of the population fluent in it, and close to 100% conversational in it. To the north-east of the region, within the historic boundaries of Cumberland , the Cumbrian dialect is dominant. The historical county of Lancashire covered a vast amount of land, and the Lancashire dialect and accent
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4956-444: The 9th century Vikings invaded the country and Widnes was at the extreme south of the Danelaw . The River Mersey derives its name from the Anglo-Saxon maeres ea , which means boundary river, the boundary being that between the Danelaw and the Saxon kingdom of Mercia . At the beginning of the 20th century it was believed that some earthworks on Cuerdley Marsh had been constructed by the Vikings but an archaeological investigation in
5074-411: The Conservatives four, whilst Lancashire is competitive between Labour and Conservative (8 seats each); the Labour seats in Lancashire are concentrated in the south of the county along the M65 . For the region, the Labour gained 3 seats; there was a 5.2% swing from Conservative to Labour. In the 2015 general election, Liverpool Walton was the safest seat in the UK, with a 72% majority, and in 2017 this
5192-407: The Conservatives have 20, and the Liberal Democrats have 1. The Lib Dems' North West seat is in south Cumbria; Labour dominates Greater Manchester, and the Conservatives' vote is concentrated in affluent suburban areas such as Cheadle , Hazel Grove and Altrincham and Sale West . Labour seats also predominate in Merseyside. In Cheshire the 2015 result was reversed, with Labour winning seven seats and
5310-573: The Lake District. Manchester, Liverpool, Lancaster, Blackburn and Preston are among the region's many English place names. In the 9th to the 11th centuries, Danes from the east and Norsemen from Ireland and Scotland began settling in the area. The North West is really the only area of England where Norse settlement was significant and their influence remains in the place names and dialect of the region. Elements like fell , thwaite and tarn , which are particularly common in Cumbria, are all Norse. The numerous Kirkbys and place names with "holm" and "dale" show
5428-448: The Lancashire dialect but have some distinctions from it, especially Scouse. The region's accents are among those referred to as ' Northern English '. Large immigrant populations in the North West result in the presence of significant immigrant languages. South Asian languages such as Urdu , Hindi and Punjabi are widespread, with the largest number of speakers residing in Preston , Blackburn and Manchester. The Chinese once made up
5546-412: The Mersey through Warrington to Parr following which extensions were constructed at the Mersey end to Fiddlers Ferry and then to Widnes, while at the northern end it was extended to Sutton . The canal was abandoned between 1931 and 1963 but has been the object of ongoing restoration attempts since 1985. The Sankey Canal was built principally to transport coal from Haydock Collieries and Parr to
5664-547: The Midlands and the South are likely to use Runcorn station and make the short journey across the Mersey Gateway Bridge by bus or taxi. Proposals for Merseyrail to be extended to Warrington have been set as Merseyrail are due some new Battery Electric Trains. This would open up new links as the trains would run on the pre-existing route via Widnes railway station . The two main bus operators providing local services are Arriva North West and Warrington's Own Buses. The A562 road passes through Widnes linking Liverpool to
5782-410: The North West are as follows: Liverpool and Manchester are sometimes considered parts of a single large polynuclear metropolitan area , or megalopolis but are usually treated as separate metropolitan areas. In some studies, part of Wigan in Greater Manchester is considered part of the Liverpool metropolitan area. The North West of England has historically been held by the Labour Party . In
5900-405: The North West from around the 7th century AD, when the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria first appears to have made inroads west of the Pennines. The language at this time would have been the Northumbrian dialect of Old English . The high percentage of English place names in the region as a whole suggests English became almost ubiquitous over the coming centuries, particularly in the area south of
6018-420: The North West's population resides in Greater Manchester, 21.39% in Lancashire, 20.30% in Merseyside, 14.76% in Cheshire and 7.41% live in the largest county by area, Cumbria. According to 2009 Office for National Statistics estimates, 91.6% (6,323,300) of people in the region describe themselves as 'White': 88.4% (6,101,100) White British , 1.0% (67,200) White Irish and 2.2% (155,000) White Other . During
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#17327724608926136-401: The North West). The proportion of people residing in North West England born outside the UK was 11.7% in 2021, compared with 8.2% in 2011 and 5.1% in 2001. Below are the fifteen largest overseas-born groups in the region according to the 2021 census, alongside the two previous censuses: One in five of the population in the North West is Catholic , a result of large-scale Irish emigration in
6254-428: The River Mersey at Widness Wharf, near West Bank, in the township of Widnes, in the said county". This act repealed the acts of 1755 and 1762, and incorporated the proprietors under the title of "The Company of Proprietors of the Sankey Brook Navigation." Francis Giles was appointed engineer for this extension, which opened in 1833. In 1825 Giles, who was a pupil of John Rennie and involved in many canal projects of
6372-488: The River Mersey west of Warrington. In 2017, the Mersey Gateway Bridge opened to relieve congestion at the older bridge. The Catalyst Science Discovery Centre is the United Kingdom's only museum dedicated solely to the Chemical Industry and is inside Hutchinson's former administrative building. The town's sport stadium hosts Widnes Vikings rugby league club. The motto of Widnes is the Latin phrase Industria Ditat ("Industry Enriches"). The most usual explanation for
6490-407: The River Mersey, and Spike Island, now cleared of industry, which forms an open recreation area leading to footpaths along the former towpath of the Sankey Canal. Adjacent to Spike Island occupying John Hutchinson's former Tower Building is the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre . There are a number of listed buildings , many of them in the more outlying areas but some are scattered throughout
6608-459: The River Mersey, and the 1775 extension to St Helens, the only major change came with the extension to Widnes in the 1830s. Built primarily to take coal from Haydock and Parr down to the Mersey and so on to the saltfields of Cheshire and Liverpool, the final traffic on the Sankey Canal was very different, and in the opposite direction, consisting of raw sugar for the Sankey Sugar Works at Earlestown, Newton-le-Willows , from Liverpool. In 1877, it
6726-410: The River Mersey. A second road bridge, the Mersey Gateway , opened in October 2017, carrying a six-lane road connecting Runcorn's Central Expressway with Speke Road and Queensway in Widnes. Drainage of the Widnes area is into the Mersey via Ditton, Steward's and Bower's Brooks. The bedrock of the area is rock from the Sherwood sandstone group. There are a few outcrops of sandstone but elsewhere
6844-428: The River Mersey. The whole town is low-lying with some slightly higher areas in Farnworth and Appleton. To the south of the town a spur projecting into the river forms the West Bank area of Widnes; together with a spur projecting northwards from Runcorn these form Runcorn Gap, a narrowing of the River Mersey. Runcorn Gap is crossed by Runcorn Railway Bridge , carrying the Liverpool branch of the West Coast Main Line, and
6962-529: The Sankey Canal and the railway making alkali by the Leblanc process . This was an ideal site for the factory because all the raw materials could be transported there by the waterways and railway, and the finished products could similarly be transported anywhere else in the country or overseas. Further chemical factories were soon built nearby by entrepreneurs including John McClellan , William Gossage , Frederic Muspratt , Holbrook Gaskell and Henry Deacon . The town grew rapidly as housing and social provision
7080-417: The South Branch, to Gerrard's Bridge on the Middle Branch, and to Penny Bridge on the North Branch, all in the county palatine of Lancaster." The canal was open and carrying coal by 1757; carriage of all goods was charged at a flat rate of 10d (ten old pence – £0.04, equivalent to £7 when adjusted for inflation) per ton . Upon its opening it became Britain's first canal of the Industrial Revolution. As
7198-463: The UK in 2019, 31.23% voted for the Brexit Party, with Labour polling 21.91%, the Liberal Democrats 17.15% and the Green Party 12.48%. The Conservatives came fifth in the region with 7.55% of votes cast. The earliest known language spoken in the North West was a dialect of the Brythonic language spoken across much of Britain from at least the Iron Age up to the arrival of English in the first millennium AD. Fragments of this early language are seen in
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#17327724608927316-417: The University of Manchester in 2004 under Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov . At the Calico Printers' Association in Manchester in 1941, John Rex Whinfield and James Tennant Dickson discovered polyethylene terephthalate , known as PET, a common polyester compound found in plastic bottles and food, and also known as Terylene or Dacron. Cheslene and Crepes of Macclesfield discovered crimplene ,
7434-401: The bedrock is covered by drift . Most of this consists of till except near the bank of the Mersey where it is recent alluvium . When borings were made in the 1870s prior to the building of chemical works a deep gorge measuring around 100 feet (30 m) was found in the bedrock which was filled with glacial deposits . From this it was concluded that before the Ice Age the Mersey had flowed in
7552-407: The centre of St Helens as part of the town's Eastside development. A feasibility study for this work was funded by a grant from the Single Regeneration Budget Fund, while at the other end of the canal, the Widnes Waterfront plan, published by Halton Council, and the new Mersey crossing between Widnes and Runcorn were expected to lead to further restoration at Widnes. One major obstacle is that the canal
7670-447: The chemical companies making alkali by the Leblanc process combined to form the United Alkali Company , later one of the constituent companies of ICI . This involved practically all of the chemical industries in Widnes, which was considered to be the principal centre of the new company. However, during the 1890s the chemical business in Widnes went into decline as more efficient methods of making alkali were developed elsewhere. During
7788-493: The chemical processes. In 1888 the town was described as "the dirtiest, ugliest and most depressing town in England" and in 1905 as a "poisonous hell-town". Their especial ugliness is, however, never more marked than when the spring is making beautiful every nook and corner of England, for the spring never comes hither. It never comes because, neither at Widnes nor St. Helens, is there any place in which it can manifest itself. The foul gases which, belched forth night and day from
7906-399: The development of rugby within all sections of the local community by promoting links with local schools, local authorities and the Rugby Football Union constituency body. Widnes Cricket Club was founded in 1865 and has its ground in Beaconsfield Road. Moorfield Sports & Social Club in Moorfield Road hosts sports including football, rugby league, cricket and bowls. At Highfield Road there
8024-528: The dominant party in the region by seat count, with the Conservatives total now standing at 27. The Conservatives made two gains in Cheshire, three gains in Lancashire, five gains in Greater Manchester, notably including Andy Burnham 's former seat of Leigh. In the 2017 general election , the area was dominated by the Labour Party. Fifty-five per cent of the region's electorate voted Labour, 36.3% Conservative, 5.4% Liberal Democrat, 1.9% UKIP and 1.1% Greens; however, by number of parliamentary seats, Labour have 54,
8142-414: The early decades of the 20th century there was a revival in the local economy, particularly as the United Alkali Company began to manufacture new products. Improvements were being made to the structure of the town, in particular the opening of the Widnes–Runcorn Transporter Bridge in 1905 which gave the first direct link over the Mersey for road traffic. In 1909 the town became the first in Britain to have
8260-485: The existence of the atomic nucleus . Sir J. J. Thomson of Cheetham Hill discovered the electron (given its name in 1891 by George Johnstone Stoney ) in April 1897 and received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1906; his son George Paget Thomson would win the Nobel Prize for Physics 1937 for discovering electron diffraction (at the University of Aberdeen). John Dalton , from Cumbria and moved to Manchester, developed atomic theory . William Sturgeon of Lancashire invented
8378-496: The fabric that is now referred to as polyester. ICI Dyestuffs at Hexagon House , in Blackley in north Manchester, discovered Procion dyes. At the Winnington Laboratory on 27 March 1933, Eric Fawcett and Reginald Gibson discovered polythene in an ICI laboratory in Northwich, when reacting benzaldehyde with ethene at a pressure of 2,000 atmospheres ; the process was improved in 1935 by Michael Perrin . Widnes Widnes ( / ˈ w ɪ d n ə s / WID -nəss )
8496-471: The flagship store being a Marks & Spencer shop. Other businesses involved in the development are Next , New Look , Boots , River Island and British Home Stores . The Outfit out-of-town chain outlet incorporates fashion brands, including Dorothy Perkins , Miss Selfridge , Topman , Wallis and Burton . Other businesses included in the development are Wilko , Costa Coffee , Halfords , Buzz Bingo and KFC . In Autumn 2011 construction began of
8614-608: The flats, swing bridges were constructed where roads crossed the canal. When the railways were built, they too had to cross in similar fashion. The exception was near the newly built town in Newton-Le-Willows that was to become Earlestown , where George Stephenson erected the Sankey Viaduct for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway , leaving 70-foot (21 m) headroom for the flats' sails. The canal's immediate commercial success, followed soon after by that of
8732-617: The following subdivisions : After abolition of the Greater Manchester and Merseyside County Councils in 1986, power was transferred to the metropolitan boroughs , making them equivalent to unitary authorities. In April 2011, Greater Manchester gained a top-tier administrative body in the form of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority , which means the 10 Greater Manchester boroughs are once again second-tier authorities. North West England
8850-541: The growing chemical industries of Liverpool, although iron ore and corn were important cargoes. The industries rapidly expanded, and spread along the line of the canal to St Helens, Haydock , Newton le Willows and Widnes, which were small villages until this period. The canal was an important factor in the industrial growth of the region. The line of the canal was surveyed by Henry Berry and William Taylor, for which they charged £66. Berry, who had previously worked with Thomas Steers , Liverpool ’s first dock engineer, on
8968-555: The inscriptions and place names of the Roman era. In some parts of the region, the Brythonic dialect developed into the medieval language known today as Cumbric , which continued to be spoken perhaps as late as the 12th century in the north of Cumbria. This early Celtic heritage remains today in place names such as Carlisle , Penrith and Eccles , and many river names such as Cocker , Kent and Eden . English may have been spoken in
9086-527: The largest minority in the region (as Liverpool has one of the oldest Chinese settlements in Europe), and still do to the far north where Chinese is spoken by small but significant communities. Since the enlargement of the EU, over one million Poles have immigrated to the UK, a large number of them settling in the North West. Places such as Crewe as well as larger cities make Polish written information available for
9204-538: The local minority populations. In the Eurostat Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), North West is a level-1 NUTS region, coded "UKD", which (since 2015) is subdivided as follows: Population > 400,000 Population > 100,000 Population > 70,000 Population > 50,000 Population > 30,000 Population > 20,000 Population > 10,000 Population > 5,000 The five largest metropolitan areas in
9322-543: The many factories, rot the clothes, the teeth, and, in the end, the bodies or the workers, have killed every tree and every blade of grass for miles around. The demand for workers meant that, in addition to people from other areas of the United Kingdom, including Ireland, large numbers of workers came from other countries. From the late 1880s significant numbers arrived from Poland and Lithuania who were fleeing from persecution and poverty in their home countries. Immigrants also came from other areas, in particular Wales. In 1890
9440-469: The mountainous regions of the Lake District and Pennines. In winter, the most severe weather occurs in the more exposed and elevated areas of the North West, once again mainly the Lake District and Pennine areas. Source: Office for National Statistics Mid Year Population Estimates in 2008 North West England's population accounts for just over 13% of England's overall population. 37.86% of
9558-531: The name have been Vidnes, Wydnes and Wydness. There is little evidence of any early human occupation of the area although a flint arrowhead was discovered at Pex Hill, suggesting there was some human presence in the Stone Age . Pex Hill is a disused quarry , located to the north of the town. Roman roads by-passed the area but some Roman coins were found where the Ditton railway station stands today. In
9676-413: The nineteenth century as well as the high number of English recusants in Lancashire . Of the nine regions of England, the North West has the fourth-highest GVA per capita —the highest outside southern England. Despite this the region has above average multiple deprivation with wealth heavily concentrated on very affluent areas like rural Cheshire, rural Lancashire, and south Cumbria. As measured by
9794-488: The old heavy chemical factories have closed to be replaced by more modern factories. Much of the land previously polluted by the old dirty chemical processes has been reclaimed, and there have been improvements in the cleanliness and environment of the town. Widnes is unparished with the exception of Halebank . The local authority is Halton Borough Council for which the town is divided into nine electoral wards , each electing three councillors. From Saxon times Widnes
9912-522: The origin of the name Widnes is that it comes from the Danish words vid , meaning wide, and noese , meaning nose and that it refers to the promontory projecting into the River Mersey. However, the Widnes promontory is not particularly wide and another possible explanation is the first part derives from the Danish ved , meaning a wood and possibly referring to a tree-covered promontory. Earlier spellings of
10030-490: The people living in Widnes, 64.3% declared themselves to be Christian, higher than the national average in England of 46.3% but down from 79.9% in 2011. 29.5% stated that they had "no religion" and 4.7% made no religious claims. Those stating their religions as Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Islam, Sikh or other amounted to 1.5%. The Anglican churches are administered by the Diocese of Liverpool . The longest established church
10148-582: The period, had proposed a link from the Sankey, via an aqueduct across the Mersey, to the Bridgewater Canal and the Mersey and Irwell Navigation, but this was never implemented. The Sankey Canal was built for Mersey Flats , the common sailing craft of the local rivers; they were used on the Mersey, Irwell and Weaver and along the Lancashire and North Wales coasts. To allow for the masts of
10266-486: The population, and 1.1% Black (80,600). 0.6% of the population (39,900) are Chinese and 0.5% (36,500) of people belong to another ethnic group. North West England is a very diverse region, with Manchester and Liverpool amongst the most diverse cities in Europe. 19.4% of Blackburn with Darwen 's population are Muslim, the third-highest among all local authorities in the United Kingdom and the highest outside London. Areas such as Moss Side in Greater Manchester are home to
10384-602: The proposals for elected regional assemblies in England put on hold. The regional leaders' forum, 4NW is based on Waterside Drive in Wigan . The former North West England European Parliament constituency had the same boundaries as the Region. Ten English regions were established by the government in 1994. At that time, Merseyside , which already had its own Government Office, formerly the Merseyside Task Force,
10502-582: The public, to much controversy. Other immigrant languages with a presence in the North West are Spanish, mainly amongst the Latin American communities in Liverpool and Manchester , as well as various other Eastern European and Asian languages. The most taught languages in schools across the North West are English, French and Spanish. German and Italian are available at more senior levels and, in cities such as Manchester and Liverpool, even Urdu and Mandarin are being taught to help maintain links between
10620-488: The rate one shilling (£0.05) per ton. The line of this extension was surveyed by John Eyes, who acted as principal witness to see the bill through Parliament. An early trial of steam power took place on 16 June 1797, when, according to the Billing's Liverpool Advertiser , dated 26 June, John Smith's "vessel heavily laden with copper slag, passed along the Sankey Canal ... by the application of steam only ... it appears, that
10738-416: The region (based on specific wards within those borough areas) are, in descending order—Liverpool, Manchester, Knowsley, Blackpool, Salford, Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Rochdale, Barrow-in-Furness, Halton, Hyndburn, Oldham, Pendle, St Helens, Preston, Bolton, Tameside, Wirral, Wigan, Copeland, Sefton, and Rossendale. In 2007 when Cheshire still had district councils, the least deprived council districts in
10856-399: The region by council district, in descending order, were—Congleton, Ribble Valley, Macclesfield, and South Lakeland. These areas have Conservative MPs, except South Lakeland has a Lib Dem and Labour MPs. At county level, before it was split into two, Cheshire was the least deprived, followed by Trafford, and by Warrington and Stockport. In March 2011, the overall unemployment claimant count
10974-591: The region, comprising Cumbria and northern Lancashire, is largely rural, as is the far south which encompasses parts of the Cheshire Plain and Peak District. The region includes parts of three National parks (all of the Lake District , and small parts of the Peak District and the Yorkshire Dales ) and three areas of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (all of Arnside and Silverdale and
11092-403: The schools pupils were transferred to Wade Deacon High School, though still operating from the same site. This continued until March 2013 when Wade Deacon High School's new build was completed; demolition of the old school began in August 2013 and was completed by the end of that year. The site is currently being developed into a housing estate and a cemetery. The major sporting body in the town
11210-617: The sections from one another. The route of the canal passes through the Sankey Valley Park and the towpath from Sankey Bridges to Widnes now forms part of the Trans Pennine Trail . There are plans to restore the canal, and perhaps to extend it northwards to join the main canal system via the Leeds and Liverpool Canal . The total cost of this would be in excess of £100m and it is therefore a long-term project. There are, however, plans to dig out an infilled section in
11328-505: The then more prosperous Sankey Canal Company merged to form the St Helens Canal and Railway Company. The ending of the sugar traffic in 1959 led to the closure of the canal in 1963. North of the sugar works, closure had taken place in 1931, and fixed bridges quickly replaced the old wooden swing bridges. Restoration of the canal began in 1980, when work began on the section between Bewsey and Liverpool Road, Great Sankey, funded by
11446-601: The title of the act states, in addition to the mainline between the Mersey and Parr, three branches were built to nearby collieries: the South Branch to Boardman's Stone Bridge, Parr; the Middle Branch to Gerrard's Bridge; and the North Branch to Penny Bridge. A second act of Parliament, the Sankey Brook Navigation Act 1762 ( 2 Geo. 3 . c. 56), was obtained on 8 April 1762, amending the earlier act, and
11564-678: The town and three nursery schools. The three secondary schools are Saints Peter and Paul Catholic High School , Ormiston Chadwick Academy and Wade Deacon High School . The former colleges, Halton College and Widnes and Runcorn Sixth Form College, merged in 2006 to form Riverside College . There are three special schools . Also in Widnes is the Woodview Child Development Centre in Crow Wood Lane. Kingsway Learning Centre offers opportunities for Adult Learning, Basic Skills and Skills for Success. As part of
11682-462: The town. The Greenoaks Centre, a mall which was opened in 1995 is adjacent to the long-established Widnes Market which has both a market hall and an open market. Also adjacent is a Morrisons supermarket. In the Simms Cross area a large Asda superstore opened in 2004, replacing its old store in nearby Ditton. A new shopping development, known as Widnes Shopping Park, opened on 18 March 2010,
11800-541: The town. The listed churches are the Anglican churches of St Luke's Church, Farnworth (and its adjacent bridewell ), and St Mary's, West Bank , the Roman Catholic churches of St Michael's , St Marie's and St Bede's, and the two chapels in the cemetery. The railway stations of Widnes and Hough Green are listed, as are the former Widnes Town Hall and the former power house of the transporter bridge. Widnes
11918-480: The town. This provides a link for freight arriving by road, air or sea to be transferred to the rail network. In 2010 the first phase of Stobart Park, a "multimodal logistics service for warehousing and distribution", and part of the Stobart Group , was opened. This consists of a 520,000 square feet (48,000 m ) refrigerated warehouse for Tesco . In 2014 work began on the new Mersey Gateway bridge which
12036-438: The vessel after a course of 10 miles [16 km], returned the same evening to St Helens whence it had set out". The boat was powered by a Newcomen engine working a paddle crankshaft through a beam and connecting rod. To counter competition from the new railways, another extension was planned from Fiddler's Ferry across Cuerdley and Widnes Salt Marshes to Widnes Wharf, on the west bank of the River Mersey near Runcorn Gap, creating
12154-625: The villages of Cronton and Cuerdley . In the 1750s the Sankey Canal was constructed. This linked the area of St. Helens with the River Mersey at Sankey Bridges , near Warrington and was in operation by 1757. It was extended to Fiddler's Ferry in 1762 and then in 1833 a further extension to Woodend was opened. In the same year the St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway was opened. The railway connected St Helens with an area in Woodend which
12272-472: The west is Speke , a suburb of Liverpool . Before the Industrial Revolution , Widnes was a small settlement on marsh and moorland . In 1847, the chemist and industrialist John Hutchinson established a chemical factory at Spike Island . The town grew in population and rapidly became a major centre of the chemical industry . The demand for labour was met by large-scale immigration from Ireland , Poland , Lithuania and Wales . The town continues to be
12390-567: The west with Penketh to the east. The A557 road passes through the town linking Runcorn to the south, via the Silver Jubilee Bridge, with the M62 motorway , some 2.5 miles (4 km) to the north. The Mersey Gateway will replace the Silver Jubilee Bridge by mid-October 2017. Widnes is 6 miles (10 km) from Liverpool John Lennon Airport and 25 miles (40 km) from Manchester Airport . There are nineteen primary schools in
12508-603: The world". A staircase lock was built on the Sankey Canal and a second staircase was built later when the Ravenhead Branch was constructed in 1775. They are known respectively as the Old Double Lock and the New Double Lock. The latter was restored by St. Helens Borough Council in 1992, although it has no navigable waterway either above or below it. North West England North West England
12626-619: Was 4.2% for the region. Inside the region the highest was Liverpool with 6.8%, followed by Knowsley on 6.3%, Halton with 5.5% and Rochdale with 5.1%. The lowest claimant count is in Eden (Cumbria) and Ribble Valley (Lancashire) each with 1.3%, followed by South Lakeland with 1.4%. In the 2019 general election , the Conservatives gained ten seats, from the Labour Party, with no other seats changing hands. Labour held 42 of their 52 seats, albeit many with slimmed down majorities. They remain
12744-413: Was 741 to 870 mm, which was slightly below the average for the UK. The average number of days in the year when snow is on the ground is 0 to 6, which is low for the United Kingdom. The average number of days of air frost is 2 to 39, which is also low. Widnes was a small settlement until industrialisation in the nineteenth century which led to significant population growth. In the 2021 census, of
12862-474: Was abolished and its territory amalgamated with Runcorn to form the borough of Halton within the county of Cheshire. In 1998 the borough of Halton became a unitary authority . In 2009, the council entered into an agreement with the five metropolitan district councils of Merseyside to form the Liverpool City Region . Widnes is in the Widnes and Halewood constituency for representation in
12980-406: Was closed due to high levels of arsenic found in the soil. Reportedly, by 1891, 500 acres (2.0 km) of nearby Widnes and Ditton Marshes were buried under an average depth of 12 feet (3.7 m) of toxic galligu from alkali operations near the Sankey Canal. The galligu detritus was estimated at 10 million tonnes in total weight. In 1845 the St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway Company and
13098-638: Was completed and open to the public in October 2017. A new six lane toll bridge over the River Mersey between the towns of Runcorn and Widnes was built to relieve the congested and ageing Silver Jubilee Bridge . The new bridge and access roads are a major strategic transport route linking the Liverpool city-region including Liverpool John Lennon Airport and the Port of Liverpool to North West England. There has been considerable development of shopping areas in
13216-596: Was entitled "An Act to amend and render more effectual, an Act made in the Twenty-eighth Year of the Reign of his late Majesty King George the Second, for making navigable Sankey Brook, in the county of Lancaster, and for the extending and improving the said Navigation". This authorised the extension of the navigation to Fiddler's Ferry on the River Mersey, and to take an additional toll of two-pence per ton, making
13334-402: Was made for the factory workers. Soon the villages of Farnworth, Appleton, Ditton and Upton were subsumed within the developing town of Widnes. Woodend became known as West Bank. The substances produced included soap, borax, soda ash, salt cake and bleaching powder. Other industries developed including iron and copper works. The town became heavily polluted with smoke and the by-products of
13452-626: Was part of the hundred of West Derby in Lancashire. Modern local government in the town of Widnes began with the creation of the Widnes Local Board in 1865, prior to which the town had been part of the administrative district of Prescot . In 1892, the town received a Charter of Incorporation forming the Municipal Borough of Widnes . In 1974, as part of the Local Government Act 1972 , Widnes Borough Council
13570-718: Was regarded as a separate region. In 1998, Merseyside was merged into the North West region. This action was controversial in some quarters. Regional Government Offices were abolished in April 2011 by the Coalition Government. Sir Ernest Marsden (of Blackburn) and Hans Geiger conducted the Geiger–Marsden experiment at the University of Manchester in 1909, where the Geiger counter was invented, which demonstrated
13688-454: Was repeated with a 77% majority for Dan Carden (Labour), when an astonishing 85.7% of the electorate voted for him (the Conservatives came second with 8.6%). In the by-election of 2012 , Manchester Central has the record for the lowest turnout in the UK—18%. Gwyneth Dunwoody , for Crewe and Nantwich, was the longest serving female MP until her death in 2008. In the final European Elections in
13806-461: Was reportedly the case that, due to the pollution of a local Leblanc alkali works , "The mud deposited in the Sankey Brook, near St Helens, has been found to contain no less than 2.26 percent of arsenic ... The water of the Sankey Brook is so acid that iron fittings cannot safely be used in the barges and lock gates." In 2004, St Michael's Golf Course, a municipal golf course in nearby Widnes built atop 30 hectares of land from old chemical waste tips
13924-551: Was to become known as Spike Island . The termini of the canal and railway were adjacent and here Widnes Dock , the world's first railway dock, was established. Despite these transport links and the emergence of the chemical industry at nearby Runcorn and elsewhere in the Mersey Valley, the Industrial Revolution did not arrive at Widnes until 14 years later, with the arrival at Spike Island of John Hutchinson . John Hutchinson built his first factory in 1847 on land between
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