C H ES H·J R E. - Cheshire County Council - Cheshire County ...

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CH~SHIRE
SLATER'S
Oosl is found in great plenty in numerous parts of ~ cn'fc~;'~:
parts, though in veins not rich enough to Inspire gp&enlation.
being about thirty-nine collieries at work, which altogether raise about 58",000 tons °d f milli~sl.lUln~y.~l:" to·be extracted.
(Rer Majesty's Inspector of Minea) estimate in 1871, there were about two hundJ;e . on ns r 0 Nantwich, &c.
Beds of salt have long beeu known to exist beneath the towns of Northwich, Wmsford, lfi20 dd feleWlch, :f5~b:hinLa=k,;;.a
A bed of rock·salt was discovered in 1670 during a borinl' for cosl. at a depth of 12 e t , an e d of ~t, A.bout which
a
century ago, an agent of the Duke of Bridgewater's bored 80 feet below the upper ~t bed and struck another be ovsl of thick
turned out to be from 90 to 120 feet thick, and a part of thiais noW mined at Nortbm.ch, where te1 r;rects 0f,;he{e":,e rebuilt 6r
masses of rock from below have shewn themselves by the gradusl sinking of the snrlaee, "1' ouses ve 0 ubsidence has
removed, and some have been almost .entlrely submerged, and qDite a lake has been formed ~ oneP~ whe;e the sb subsidence
been large. The various meres or lakes about the county are supposed to have been formed lD the Plts or dhO:esl,~l-kltonsof white
alter the extraction of sslt. TAe returns for1881·2 shewed there were conveyed for general and e>:port tra e, .' W' Diugsalt,and
95,799 tons of rock sslt':' The principsl pits are at Anderton, !l:arston, North,!i.ch, I:.awton, Wheelock, \=ab'aih b'aving
ton, Winsford, and Witton. At Nantwich there i. still a brine spring,whichis now utilized for the pnrpose 0 f a e ,
been found very efficaclol18 in rheumatio cases.
11I
RIvERS, CANAr.s.urn 'B.uLwAYs.-The principal rivers of Cheshire are the Dee, the Mersey, the Yleav. er , the.Dane, th:;;h t::~
the Pcover, the Wheelock and the Tame. Besides these, there are other incousiderable streams, whlch elt!'.,?,; nse in orlakes and
lands of this county and are tributary Waters to the other rivers. Cheshire contains many sheets of water, """,ed meres, d Moss
pools; among thes~ is the noble Combermere, more than a mile in length, giving name to Combl:rmere A.bbey; Chapel an Bameres
are fine pieces of water in front of Cholmoncieley Castle' the other meres ..re Bar·mere, Qnolsley-mere, Rosthem-mere, gd
mere, Pick-mere, Oak.mere. M:.re-pool,&c.-Theprincipal canals'whichbenefitthis conntyar&--the D!'ke ofBn·dgeGwate~s-r=:~:n":J,
in 1761,the communication betweenManeheater and Liverpool openedin 1772,and~ w?ole finished m 17'16; th eT ran sl (now
the Act for cntting which was passed in 17'16; the Ellesmere Canal, the Act obtamedm179S; the Chester andNant~chCa,! d the
united with the Ellesmere) obtained its Act in 1772, and was completed in 1776; and the Peak !i'orest C~l, whii h Obtsg'~ at
ssnctionof_ Government in 1794; from the latter 1I. branch was opened in November, 1881, commnmcat!ng Wlth the ersey. a 01
Lawton. .These grandworksof Isbour and art afford uninterrupted and cheap Intercourse between the towns of C~es~~'V~ay
Manche.r..er, &C.. besides commnn1cating withthe North of Euldand, Stsll'ordsbire, Sh,:opshire, "",d adj&eept countles.- .erortant
communication thronghont the county.is most extensive, both Chester and Crewe belng e>:teI!S1ve junctlons fo~ seve~~ldShire
lines. Themain lines are-the London and North·Western, the Great Westem, Or Chester and :>hr!lwsbury: ~':"ch°rth th Cheahir~
the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire jointly with the :Midland, the Manchester, SouthJunction and......... am, e
Lines Committee,and the Chester nnd Holyhead, andmany branches.
Eccr.E8I.tJITICAL .uzi, Crm:. DIVISIONS, RgPREBENUTION, &c.-By the term of the grant made to Hngh Lnpl18, when his 11l1~le,
the Conqueror, conveyed to him tho County Palatine of Chester, as before mentioned, the repr~sentat1veof.the f~rmerwas constituted
the first hereditary Earl in EDw,and· and he acquired also iura regali4 within the county, m the exerClse of which he crea~d,
el@t parliamentary bs.rons.- His descendants continued in the llORessslon of this dignity untill2S7, when John ~arlofCJ:.ester dymg
withoutissue,Henry the.Third seized upon Cheshire, giving other lands In lieu of it to the deceased Earrs Slsters; his oWl! SOD,U
Prince Edward, received theEarldom of Chester. Richard the Second, when he erected this county intoa principality, styled hlmse
Priaeep, Cutri4e. This &et being annnlled by his successor, Cheshire again became a County Ps.latine. Henry the Eighth abridged
the privileges of this County Palatine considerably. In consequence of this cnrtsilment, the county petitionedto send knightsand
bnrgesses to parliament, which prayer was granted, and in 1542 an act was passed anthorising two knights to be ret~edfor the
county and two bttrll'esses for the city of Chester. The Aesizes and the Epiphany &1ld Midsummer Quarter SesSlons for the
county are held at Chester Castle, and the Easter and :Michaelmas Quarter Sessions at Knutsford, at which latter
town is the Government prison, capable of accommodating seven hundred prisoners, and which is ranked as one of
the most. perfect prisons in the countrY. There is also a small portion of the old gaol at Chester C.stle retained
by the Government for prisoners on abort sentences and those awaiting their trial; but the principal part of t~e old
prison is· now used as a military prison. Toe county 18 in the province of York, and now alone constitntes the dl"":"se
of Chester since the erection of Liverpool into a bishopric two years ago. The old diocese was formerly very e>:tenslye,
comprising,as it,did, the whole of this county, the whole of Lancasb1re as far as tho Sha.p Fella of We8tmoreland, a large portlOn
of Yorkshire, and parts of. Flintsbire and Denbighshire, in North Wales. The now limited diccese is divided into two Archdeaconries
(Chesterand Maccieslleld), these being sub·divided, for the purposes of administration, into ten rural deaneries, viz :
-Chester, Frodaham, Malpas, Middlewich, Nantwich, Wirral, Bowdon, Congleton, Ys.celesfield and Stockport. Its benefices are 225,
&1ld the number of parochial clergy is 866. There are not a large number of parishes, for the single townships do not constitut&
parishesas inthe south of England, but many townships are uuited for ecclesiastical purPoses as a parish. The largest parishes are
those of Astbury, Bebington, Bowdon, Great Budworth, Cheadle, Coppenhall, Mottram, Preatbury, Ruucom, Stockport, Sandbach,
and Wallasey. The ane1ent cathedrsl of Chester is now exclnsively the cathedral of the county and the city of Chester, which
latter 18 & county of itatlf.. The county has & separate conrt of qnarter sessions, and is divided into seven hnndreds,
viz:-Broxton, Bucklow, Eddisbury, Maeclesfield, Nantwich, Northwich, and Wirral; fourteen petty seBslonsl divisions:­
Altrlneham, Broxton. Buoklow, Chester Castle, Daresbury, Eddisbury, Hyde, Leftwich, Nantwich, Northwich, Prestbnry,
Buncorn, Stoekport &1ld Wirral; tenpolice districts:-Broxton. Altrincham, Eddisbnry, Nsntwioh, Northwich, Wirral, Hyde,
Prestbury, StockllOrt and Buncorn; twelve highway board districts :-Audlem, East Broxton, West BroxVln, East Bucklow,
Daresbmy,East :eddiabnry, WestEddisbury, Nantwich, Northwich, Prestbury, Stockprt and Hyde, and Wirral; and eleven sub·
lieutenancy divisions :-Bronon, Bueklow-Daresbnry, East Bucklow, Edaisbury, Ms.celestleld-H,de, Macclestleld-Prestbury,
Macclestleld·Stockport, Nantwich, Northwich, Hi~her Wirral, and Lower Wirral. The city of Chester 18 a snb.lieutenancy division
of itself. There are 4llll ciVil townsQips, 11 poor law nnions, 10 registry districts, l5 municipsl boroughs