Place:Warrington, Lancashire, England

Watchers
NameWarrington
Alt namesWarringtonsource: from redirect
Veratinumsource: Domesday Book (1985) p 153
Walintunesource: Domesday Book (1985) p 153
Hollinfaresource: village in borough
TypeAncient parish, Borough (municipal)
Coordinates53.4°N 2.617°W
Located inLancashire, England     ( - 1974)
See alsoWest Derby Hundred, Lancashire, Englandhundred in which it was located
Warrington (metropolitan borough), Cheshire, Englandmetropolitan borough that Warrington and its environs became in 1974
Contained Places
Cemetery
Warrington Cemetery


the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Since 1974 the town of Warrington has been the centre of a metropolitan borough in Cheshire, England. Its central area stands on the northern bank of the River Mersey which, until 1974, was the boundary between Cheshire and Lancashire. In other words, prior to 1974, Warrington was a borough in Lancashire. The town centre is 18.5 miles (29.8 km) miles east of Liverpool, 16 miles (26 km) west of Manchester and 8 miles (13 km) south of St. Helens. The population in 2011 was 202,228; its population has more than doubled since its designation as a New Town in 1968.

Warrington was founded by the Romans at an important crossing place on the River Mersey. A new settlement was established by the Saxons. By the Middle Ages, Warrington had emerged as a market town at the lowest bridging point of the river. A local tradition of textile and tool production dates from this time.

Warrington was incorporated as a municipal borough in Lancashire in 1847 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. Warrington acquired county borough status upon reaching a population of 50,000 in 1900. Until 1974 was known as the County Borough of Warrington in Lancashire.

In the nationwide municipal reorganization of 1974, Warrington Borough Council was opposed to joining either Merseyside or Greater Manchester metropolitan counties. It decided to remain independent and this decision resulted in its being transferred to Cheshire. Otherwise it would have become a detached part of Lancashire with the whole of Wigan Metropolitan Borough between it and the rest of the county. The result was that Warrington became the Borough of Warrington in the County of Cheshire.

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.

The municipalities contributing parishes to the metropolitan borough in 1974 were

Image:Warrington area 1900.png

Warrington ancient parish

Warrington was an ancient parish in the West Derby Hundred. Its subsidiary townships and chapelries were Burtonwood, Poulton with Fearnhead, Woolston with Martinscroft and Rixton with Glazebrook. The names of most of these parishes have been shortened on the map.

History

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Early history

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 Bronze Age settlements also. In medieval times Warrington's importance 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. This was established while the main river crossing was via a ford approximately 1km upriver of Warrington Bridge. Warrington was the first paved town in Lancashire; the original paving was constructed in 1321.

English Civil War

Warrington was a fulcrum in the English Civil War (1642-1651). The armies of Oliver Cromwell and the Earl of Derby both stayed near the old town centre. The Marquis of Granby public house bears a plaque stating that the Earl of Derby 'had his quarters near this site'. Dents in the walls of the parish church are rumoured to have been caused by shots from cannons during the 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.

Industrial history

The expansion and urbanisation of Warrington largely coincided with 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 the age of steam came, Warrington naturally welcomed it, both as a means of transport and as a source of power for its mills.

Second World War

Many people, particularly Americans, remember Warrington best as the location of RAF Station Burtonwood (Burtonwood RAF base). During World War II, it served as the largest US Army Air Force airfield outside the United States. The RAF station continued in use by the USAAF and subsequently USAF as a staging post for men and material until its closure in 1993.

Today, the West Coast Mainline 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 the south of the borough (west to east). The M6, M56 and M62 motorways form a partial box around the town.

Research Tips

  • An Ordnance Survey map of Lancashire circa 1954 supplied by A Vision of Britain through Time
  • An Ordnance Survey map of Cheshire circa 1944 supplied by A Vision of Britain through Time
  • For information on Warrington prior to 1974 see the Borough of Warrington while it was in Lancashire.
  • See the Wikipedia articles on parishes and civil parishes for descriptions of this lowest rung of local administration. The original parishes were ecclesiastical (described as ancient parishes), under the jurisdiction of the local priest. A parish covered a specific geographical area and was sometimes equivalent to that of a manor. Sometimes, in the case of very large rural parishes, there were chapelries where a "chapel of ease" allowed parishioners to worship closer to their homes. In the 19th century the term civil parish was adopted to define parishes with a secular form of local government. In WeRelate both civil and ecclesiastical parishes are included in the type of place called a "parish". Smaller places within parishes, such as chapelries and hamlets, have been redirected into the parish in which they are located. The names of these smaller places are italicized within the text.
  • An urban district was a type of municipality in existence between 1894 and 1974. They were formed as a middle layer of administration between the county and the civil parish and were used for urban areas usually with populations of under 30,000. Inspecting the archives of a urban district will not be of much help to the genealogist or family historian, unless there is need to study land records in depth.
  • Civil registration or vital statistics and census records will be found within registration districts. To ascertain the registration district to which a parish belongs, see Registration Districts in Lancashire, part of the UK_BMD website.
  • The terms municipal borough and county borough were adopted in 1835 replacing the historic "boroughs". Municipal boroughs generally had populations between 30,000 and 50,000; while county boroughs usually had populations of over 50,000. County boroughs had local governments independent of the county in which they were located, but municipal boroughs worked in tandem with the county administration. Wikipedia explains these terms in much greater detail.
  • Lancashire Online Parish Clerks provide free online information from the various parishes, along with other data of value to family and local historians conducting research in the County of Lancashire.
  • FamilySearch Lancashire Research Wiki provides a good overview of the county and also articles on most of the individual parishes (very small or short-lived ones may have been missed).
  • Ancestry (international subscription necessary) has a number of county-wide collections of Church of England baptisms, marriages and burials, some from the 1500s, and some providing microfilm copies of the manuscript entries. There are specific collections for Liverpool (including Catholic baptisms and marriages) and for Manchester. Their databases now include electoral registers 1832-1935. Another pay site is FindMyPast.
  • A map of Lancashire circa 1888 supplied by A Vision of Britain through Time includes the boundaries between the parishes and shows the hamlets within them.
  • A map of Lancashire circa 1954 supplied by A Vision of Britain through Time is a similar map for a later timeframe.
  • GENUKI provides a website covering many sources of genealogical information for Lancashire. The organization is gradually updating the website and the volunteer organizers may not have yet picked up all the changes that have come with improving technology.
  • The Victoria County History for Lancashire, provided by British History Online, covers the whole of the county in six volumes (the seventh available volume [numbered Vol 2] covers religious institutions). The county is separated into its original hundreds and the volumes were first published between 1907 and 1914. Most parishes within each hundred are covered in detail. Maps within the text can contain historical information not available elsewhere.
  • A description of the ancient parish of Warrington from British History Online (Victoria County Histories), published 1907
  • A description of the township of Warrington from British History Online (Victoria County Histories), published 1907
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Warrington. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.