Warrington

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{| border=1 cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" align="right" width=300 style=margin-left:10px Warrington Borough Geography Status:Unitary, Borough Region:North West England Ceremonial County:Cheshire Traditional Counties:Lancashire, Cheshire Area:
- TotalRanked 196th
180.64 km² Admin. HQ:Warrington Grid reference: ONS code:00EU Demographics Population:
- Total ()
- Density Ranked

/ km² Ethnicity:97.9% White Politics
Warrington Borough Council
http://www.warrington.gov.uk/ Leadership:Leader & Cabinet Executive: MPs:Helen Jones, Helen Southworth

Warrington is the largest town and borough in the county of Cheshire, in the North-West of England. The former Warrington county borough was situated in Lancashire, but it combined with the Cheshire townships of Stockton Heath and Lymm in 1974 and the new entity became part of the reorganised Cheshire County Council. Since April 1, 1998 it has been an independent unitary authority, within the geographical and ceremonial county of Cheshire. It is served by Cheshire Police and Cheshire Fire Service.

At the 2001 census the population of the entire borough, including its 18 civil parishes, was 191,084. 158,195 of these live in the Warrington Urban Area, defined by the ONS, and of these, 80,661 live in the core area.

Warrington has grown rapidly in modern times, having been designated a New Town in 1968. It is seeking city status, and to that end it has developed a cultural quarter centred on Palmyra Square. It also has one of Britain's lowest unemployment rates, with many new jobs at the hi-tech end of the market replacing traditional industries.

A brand new urban village is to be built in West Warrington, called Chapelford Urban Village, on part of the site of World War Two's largest air base, Burtonwood. It is the largest Brownfield Land redevelopment in North-West England.

Omega is also set to be built in Warrington, near to where Chapelford Urban Village is being developed. Omega is a £1 Billion redevelopment which will take between 25 and 30 years to complete. It is intended to attract world-class businesses, and also to incorporate social living as well as high quality employment.

People from Warrington are known as "Warringtonians."

History

In Roman times, Warrington was a centre of industry and was founded as a crossing place of the River Mersey for Roman soldiers to go north from their base at Deva (modern Chester). Some Roman remains have been found at Wilderspool.

In medieval times Warrington's importance was as a bridging point on the River Mersey, and it 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 in the building which survives on Church Street as The Cottage Restaurant, though it is likely that the actual place was nearby, possibly next door. 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 be have been caused by the cannons used in the Civil War.

The bridging point at Warrington was vital to the town's future growth. The Red Lion Inn on Bridge Street is an example of a building built exclusively for people using the bridge.

Warrington was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1847 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835.

By the 1890s, when Warrington acquired county borough status on reaching a population of 75,000, it was a centre of steel (particularly wire), textiles, brewing, tanning and chemical industries.

Heavy industry declined in the 1970s and 1980s but the growth of the new town around Warrington led to a great increase in employment in light industry, distribution, and technology. Travel-to-work patterns are unusual, with many residents working outside the borough and many employees living elsewhere.

The town was historically in Lancashire, and when local government was reformed in the 1970s, it was originally proposed to attach it to either Merseyside or Greater Manchester. Lobbying by the borough council prevented this, but since it would have been left with no geographic connection to Lancashire, it was made into a district of Cheshire instead. Due to a change in composition, the council changed its mind at the last minute, but to no avail.

The current borders of Warrington were thus set in 1974, covering 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. In another local government reform in the 1990s, Warrington became a unitary authority.

On the 20th March 1993, the IRA exploded two bombs in Warrington town centre. The blasts killed two children: three year old Jonathan Ball died instantly, and twelve year old Tim Parry died five days later in hospital. Their deaths provoked widespread condemnation of the Irish terrorist organisation responsible. The blast followed a bomb attack a few weeks earlier on a gas storage plant in Warrington.

Tim Parry's father founded The Peace Centre (formerly the Tim Parry Jonathan Ball Peace Centre) as part of a campaign to reconcile communities in conflict. The Centre opened on the seventh anniversary of the bombing in 2000.

Warrington is notable in political history for being the first place to field a candidate for the newly-formed SDP-Liberal Alliance. Former Home Secretary Roy Jenkins stood for MP in 1981 but lost to Labour candidate Doug Hoyle by a small number of votes.

However, many people, particularly Americans, will remember Warrington best as the location of Burtonwood RAF base, one of (if not the) largest RAF bases in England and the largest US Air Force base outside the United States. During the war, Burtonwood was visited by major celebrities like Humphrey Bogart and Bob Hope who arrived to entertain troops. The base was closed in 1993.

There was a further RAF base at Padgate, a Royal Naval air base at Stretton and an army base at the Peninsula Barracks in O'Leary Street, now used by the Territorial Army.

Warrington still remains a major transport centre, sitting at the intersection of three of Britain’s biggest motorways, the M56, the M6 and the M62. It also sits on the West Coast Main Line, one of Britain's busiest railway lines.

Arts and entertainment

Warrington has a concert hall (the Parr Hall), a new arts centre (the Pyramid), a museum, an art gallery, and a public library (the first rate-supported library in the UK). The Victorian swimming baths closed in July 2003. There is a cinema at Westbrook and one is being considered as part of a town centre redevelopment. There are several parks (see also Parks in Warrington) and nature reserves at Woolston Eyes, Risley Moss, Rixton Claypits and Paddington Meadows. There is also indoor bowling, located at Winwick Quay and indoor paintball. An indoor karting centre is located near to Bank Quay, and a Laser Tag arena (Laser Q) can be found very close to the town centre.

Culture

A number of festivals, carnivals, and walking days are held annually in the Warrington area. Warrington Walking Day is held on the closest Friday to the last day of June, and includes the annual fair.

Other festivals, besides the many walking days, include:

Appleton Bawming of the Thorn
Croft Carnival
Culcheth Community Day
Howley Carnival
Lymm May Queen
Penketh Carnival
St George's Day Parade
Thelwall Rose Queen
Winwick Carnival
Westy Carnival

Shopping

In spite of its proximity to significant retail areas in Manchester, Liverpool, Chester and the out-of-town Trafford Centre, Warrington continues to have one of the larger shopping centres in North West England. Despite this competition, Warrington has seen an increase in its customer trade, due in part to the modernisation of the town centre. It has a shopping mall (Golden Square) built in the 1970s, which is being extended to include a Debenhams store, and a new bus station. The old Cockhedge textile mill was demolished and replaced by another shopping mall. The main shopping streets are Buttermarket Street, Horsemarket Street, Sankey Street and Bridge Street. Where these four streets intersect there is an attractive award-winning redevelopment with a large fountain and "guardians" (known locally as "the skittles") designed by Howard Ben Tré. The town also has a large indoor market, and several other small shopping malls, such as Hatters Row. In the surrounding modern suburbs there are several shopping areas from small groups of shops to malls such as Birchwood Mall. IKEA chose Warrington as the location for their first store when they came to the UK, which is located next to the large out-of-town shopping area of Gemini, which has large Marks and Spencer, Toys "R" Us, and Next outlets.

Buildings

Sites of interest in Warrington include:

The Town Hall (and its golden gates) formerly a private residence, Bank Hall, built in 1750.
The Academy, a dissenters' institute where Joseph Priestley taught and which is now, after being moved from its original location, the offices of a local newspaper.
"Cromwell's Cottage" (17th century) which Oliver Cromwell is said to have visited.
The 14th Century Parish Church of St Elphin, largely Victorian with a 280-foot spire, the sixth largest in the UK.
Holy Trinity Church, 1758, at Market Gate
The fine row of late Victorian terracotta shops on Bridge Street
The Woolworths Building in Sankey Street (at least the upper storeys),
The Art Deco style Mr Smith's nightclub which was originally a large cinema
The fine industrial modernist Unilever Soapworks.
The impressive Cheshire Lines railway warehouse, currently being redeveloped as apartments.
The Warrington Transporter Bridge which is classed as a listed building.
The Barley Mow, established in 1561, is the oldest pub in Warrington.
Fiddlers Ferry Power Station

Educational institutions

Warrington is home to two colleges, Priestley College, and Warrington Collegiate. The University of Chester has a campus at Padgate that was part of Warrington Collegiate. Some of the high schools have their own post-16 provision (sixth-form).

Warrington is also home to the Peace Centre, built after the IRA bombings which occurred in the town centre in 1993. This was Warrington's model to become a city, calling itself a "City for Peace".

Transport

The town has two main railway stations. Bank Quay on the London to Glasgow and Chester - Warrington - Newton-le-Willows - Manchester lines, and Central on the Liverpool - Widnes - Manchester line and the Transpennine route. Bank Quay is much altered, but Central (built 1873) is of some architectural merit, featuring polychromatic brickwork. However, both main railway stations have suffered from years of under investment. There are also stations in the suburbs at Padgate, Sankey and Birchwood.

The town lies close to the M62, M6 and M56 motorways and midway between Liverpool and Manchester airports.

Warrington Borough Transport, one of the few municipal bus companies to survive in public ownership, runs most bus services within the town. First Group and Arriva Northwestern provide bus links to surrounding towns and cities such as Altrincham, Manchester, the Trafford Centre, Liverpool, St Helens, Runcorn and Chester. A new real-time passenger information system has been installed.

The River Mersey runs through the heart of the town dividing it into two. There are only two main thoroughfares crossing the Mersey in Warrington: at Bridgefoot and at the Kingsway Bridge. Another crossing is planned from Lower Walton to Arpley. Warrington is also divided by the Manchester Ship Canal but there are three swing bridges and a high-level cantilever bridge providing crossing points, and another high-level crossing is planned between Warrington and Runcorn. Although shipping movements on the Canal are far less frequent than in years past, they can cause severe delay to local road traffic. The picturesque Bridgewater Canal runs through the Borough from the scenic village of Lymm to Walton Hall and Gardens, a local park/leisure area.

Sports

The town's premier sports team is the Warrington Wolves Rugby League club, nicknamed "the Wire" because of Warrington's industrial history which includes, among other things, wire making. It has recently moved to the Halliwell Jones Stadium, leaving its home for over a century, Wilderspool. Soccer is represented by Warrington Town at Cantilever Park, next to the Manchester Ship Canal. Warrington Athletic Club are based at Victoria Park, where a new eight-lane synthetic track was built in 1998 after the original track was destroyed in a fire the previous year.

Famous people

18th century free-thinker and scientist Joseph Priestley lived and taught in Warrington, at the Academy
Artist Luke Fildes (1843-1927) studied at Warrington School of Art
Watchmaker and inventor Peter Litherland was born and grew up in Warrington.
Actor and singer Tim Curry was born in Grappenhall
Actress Sue Johnston formerly lived in Birchwood
Radio and television broadcaster Chris Evans was born and lived in the town for much of his life.
Author/illustrator and designer of Bob the Builder, Curtis Jobling grew up in Warrington.
Filmmaker and animator Ian Mackinnon was born in Warrington.
Singer Rick Astley was born in Warrington.
Singer Kerry Katona was born and grew up in Warrington.
Author Robin Jarvis grew up in Warrington.
Performer George Formby lived in Warrington for several years and is now buried in the town's main cemetery.
Hollyoaks actor Darren Jeffries grew up in Warrington and attended school in the town.
Actor Pete Postlethwaite was born and raised in the town.
Actress Polly Walker was born in Warrington.
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Care Services Liam Byrne was born in Warrington
1960's Fashion Designer Ossie Clark went to School in Warrington
Singer Ian Brown - lead singer of the Stone Roses - was born in Forster Street, Warrington, and lived there up to the age of six (approximately).
Tennis player Nick Brown was born in Warrington
Geneticist Neil Jackson of the University of San Francisco grew up in Warrington.

Kerry Katona, Chris Evans and Darren Jeffries all attended Padgate High School. Curtis Jobling, Ian Mackinnon and Robin Jarvis all attended Penketh High School.

Civil Parishes

Warrington District was formed from a number of Civil Parishes which were the basic unit of local government prior to 1974. These were

Some of these parishes continued in existence and are governed by Parish Councils. The District also included a part of the Parish of Bold.

Districts

Council Wards

Council meetings are chaired by the Mayor of Warrington.

New wards were introduced for the 2004 elections. The 2006 local elections left Labour with 26 seats, Liberal Democrat 25 and Conservative 6, a total of 57 Members who represent 22 wards. A "shared administration" of Lib Dem / Conservative members took control of the Council. One Labour member has since resigned the party whip.

Parliamentary constituencies

Warrington has two constituencies: Warrington North, whose MP is Helen Jones, and Warrington South, represented by Helen Southworth. Both seats are held by the Labour Party.

Twin towns

Warrington is twinned with Hilden in Germany, Lake County, Illinois in the USA, and Nachod in the Czech Republic.

Economy

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Halton and Warrington at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

Year	Regional Gross Value Added	Agriculture	Industry	Services
1995	3,636	14	1,361	2,261
2000	4,768	10	1,433	3,324
2003	5,774	18	1,399	4,356

includes hunting and forestry

includes energy and construction

includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

Components may not sum to totals due to rounding

External links

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