Widnes
Encyclopedia
Widnes is an industrial town within the borough of Halton
, in Cheshire
, England, with an urban area population of 57,663 in 2004. It is located 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 and 8 miles (13 km) to the east is the town of Warrington
, and downstream to the west is the neighbouring area of Speke, of the city of Liverpool
. Historically
part of Lancashire
, the town later came under Cheshire for administrative purposes in the 1974 local government reorganisation.
Prior to the Industrial Revolution
Widnes consisted of a small number of separate settlements on land which was mainly marsh
or moorland
. In 1847 the first chemical
factory was established and the town rapidly became a major centre of the chemical industry
. The demand for labour was met by the immigration of large numbers of workers from Ireland, Poland
, Lithuania
and Wales
. The town continues to be a major manufacturer of chemicals and there has been a degree of diversification of the town's industries.
Widnes lies on the southern route of the Liverpool to Manchester
railway line. The main roads passing through the town are the A557 in a north–south direction and the A562
which runs east–west. The Sankey Canal
(now disused) terminates in an area of the town known as Spike Island.
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 the name have been Vidnes, Wydnes and Wydness.
arrow
head 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 road
s by-passed the area but some Roman
coins were found where the Ditton railway station stands today. In the 9th century Viking
s had 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 the 1930s found nothing to confirm this.
Following the Norman conquest, William the Conqueror
granted the Earldom of Lancaster to Roger de Poictou who in turn granted the barony of Widnes to Yorfrid. Yorfrid had no sons and his elder daughter married William FitzNigel, the second Baron of Halton
. On Yorfrid's death the barony of Widnes passed to that of Halton. The current St. Luke's a Norman
church was built in Farnworth. Its date of origin is uncertain but it is likely that this was 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 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 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 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 McClelland, William Gossage
, Frederic Muspratt
, Holbrook Gaskell
and Henry Deacon
. The town grew rapidly as housing and social provision 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-product
s of 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".
The demand for workers meant that, in addition to people from other areas of the United Kingdom, large numbers of workers came from other countries. Initially these were Irish
but 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 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.
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 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 the Second World War more slums were cleared and there was ongoing growth and variation in the chemical industry. By the 1950s the town had 45 major chemical factories.
In 1961 the Silver Jubilee Bridge replaced the outdated Transporter Bridge and in recent years many of 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.
From Saxon
times Widnes was part of the hundred of West Derby
in Lancashire. Modern local government in the town of Widnes commenced 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 giving it borough status
. In 1974, as part of the Local Government Act 1972
, Widnes Borough Council was abolished and its territory amalgamated with Runcorn to form the borough of Halton. This became a district council of Cheshire, the outcome of local representation to avoid becoming part of the proposed Metropolitan County of Merseyside
. In 1998 the borough of Halton became a unitary authority
. However, in 2009 the council agreed to becoming part of the arrangements with the five Merseyside County's constituent metropolitan district councils as 'Liverpool City Region', in effect reversing its opposition to integration in the 1970s; its UA status is the same as that of the MDCs.
In 1885 Widnes became a parliamentary constituency and elected its first Member of Parliament
. Widnes is now in the European parliamentary
constituency of North West England
. The UK parliamentary constituency is Halton
and the current Member of Parliament is Derek Twigg
. The local authority is the borough of Halton and the town is divided into nine electoral wards.
, carrying the Liverpool branch of the West Coast Main Line, and 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 the River Mersey. A second crossing of the Mersey is planned, to be known as the Mersey Gateway.
Drainage of the Widnes area is into the Mersey via Dutton, Steward's and Bower's Brooks. The bedrock
of the area is rock from the Sherwood sandstone
group. There are a few outcrop
s of sandstone but elsewhere the bedrock is covered by drift
. Most of this consists of till
except near the bank of the Mersey where it is recent alluvium
. Large areas are also covered by industrial waste.
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 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 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.
The population of Halton in 2004 was 118,915 and it is the most densely populated district in Cheshire at 14.9 persons per hectare. The change in population during the 20th century is shown in the following table.
In 2003 Halton had the largest proportion of the population in Cheshire in the age groups under 5, 5 to 15 and 16 to pension age and, at 16.1% the lowest proportion of people at pension age or older. At 1.2% the proportion of non-white ethnic groups in 2001 equalled the lowest in all local authorities in Cheshire. At 11.5 per 1,000 population, the live birth rate in Halton and Warrington, is the highest in the county. At 121 the standardised mortality ratio and at 21.5% the percentage of persons with limiting long-term illness are considerably the highest in Cheshire.
There has been an increase in the number of households from 47,214 in 1991 to 52,501 in 2006. The average household size has reduced from 2.70 in 1991 to 2.44 in 2001. 89.8% of houses had central heating in 2001 compared with 75.8% in 2001. The type of housing has also changed with an increase from 15.5% to 19.2% in detached houses from 1991 to 2001, an increase over the same years in semi-detached houses from 30.0% to 33.0% and a corresponding decrease in terraced houses from 44.0% to 37.5%. The percentage of dwellings in council tax bands A-B is, at 69% the highest in any Cheshire local authority while the percentages in bands E-F (8%) and G-H (1%) are the lowest.
Widnes continues to be an industrial town and its major industry is still the manufacture of chemicals although there has been some diversification in recent years. In 2006 a new freight park, known as the 3MG Mersey Multimodal Gateway, was opened in the Ditton area of the town. This provides a link for freight arriving by road, air or sea to be transferred to the rail network. It is expected to create up to 5,000 new jobs.
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 520000 ft2 refrigerated warehouse for Tesco
.
In October 2011 it was confirmed that a detailed funding agreement for the Mersey Gateway
project had been signed off by Government. The project is to build a new six lane toll bridge over the Mersey between the towns of Runcorn and Widnes that will relieve the congested and aging Silver Jubilee Bridge. It is forseen that the new route will become a major strategic transport route linking the Liverpool city-region and the north west to the rest of the country and will also support sustained growth at Liverpool Ports and Liverpool John Lennon Airport
and improve business productivity throughout the Mersey corridor. Due to the complexity of the project, and the potential for bidders to propose different technical, financial and legal solutions, Halton Council will use the procurement regulations’ competitive dialogue procedure to procure the project. The procurement process is expected to take two years, with a final contract being awarded towards the end of 2013.
There has been considerable development of shopping areas in 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 an Asda
supermarket opened in 2004. A new shopping development, known as Widnes Shopping Park, opened on 18 March 2010, the flagship store being a Marks and 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 Wilkinson, Costa Coffee
, Halfords
, Gala Bingo and KFC
.
In Autumn 2011 construction began of a Tesco Extra 24-hour store. The glass fronted 120,000 sq ft store is being built on the old B&Q site next to Ashley Way and is scheduled to be completed and open by March 2012. The store will be built on stilts allowing a car park to be built underneath the store for around 600 cars.
As a town with a relatively short history, Widnes has few historical sites. However 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 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
.
Much of the architecture of the town is undistinguished but there are a number of listed buildings, many of them in the more outlying areas but some are scattered throughout the town. The listed churches are the Anglican
churches of St Luke's, 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 chapel
s in the cemetery
. The railway stations
of Widnes North and Hough Green are listed, as are the former town hall and the former power house
of the transporter bridge.
railway line. There are two stations, Hough Green
and Widnes
from which services are operated by Northern Rail
and East Midlands Trains
. Northern Rail operate frequent services to Liverpool and Manchester city centre from Hough Green and Widnes. East Midlands Trains link Widnes station at hourly intervals throughout the day to Liverpool, Manchester, Stockport
, Sheffield
, Nottingham
and Norwich
.
However passengers to and from London, the Midlands and the South are likely to use Runcorn station and make the short journey across the Silver Jubilee Bridge by bus or taxi.
Three bus companies provide local public transport services: Halton Transport
, Arriva and Liverpool Merseypride.
The A562 road
passes through Widnes linking Liverpool to the west with Penketh
to the east. The A577 road passes though 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.
Widnes is 6 miles (10 km) from Liverpool John Lennon Airport
and 25 miles (40 km) from Manchester Airport.
s. The three secondary schools are Saints Peter & Paul Catholic College, The Bankfield School and Wade Deacon High School
. As part of the Building Schools for the Future
program, Fairfield High School has closed down and merged with 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.
A*–C level grades, including and excluding English and Maths in 2007.
showed that of the people living in the borough of Halton, 83.8% declared themselves to be Christian
, 8.7% stated that they had "no religion" and for 7.0% their religion was not stated. Those declaring other religions (Buddhism
, Hinduism
, Jewish, Islam
, Sikh
and "other religions") amounted to 0.5%.
The Anglican
churches are administered by the Diocese of Liverpool
. The longest established church is St Luke's, 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 the Archdiocese of Liverpool
. There are eight churches in Widnes, namely St Bede's
in Appleton, Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in Mayfield Avenue, St John Fisher in Moorfield Road, St Marie's
in Lugsdale Road, St Michael's
in St Michael's Road, St Pius X in Sefton Avenue and St Raphael's in Liverpool 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 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.
Trinity Methodist
Church is in Peelhouse Lane and there are Methodist churches in Farnworth and Halebank. There is a Baptist
church in Deacon Road and Evangelical
Christian churches at The Foundry in Lugsdale Road and in Ditton. The Jehovah's Witnesses
have a Kingdom Hall
in Moorfield Road and The Widnes National Spiritualist
Church is in Lacey Road.
Rugby League
Football Club who play in the Engage Super League and were winners of the Northern Rail Cup
in 2007and 2009. Their home ground is Stobart Stadium Halton
in Lowerhouse Lane, which is owned and run by Halton Borough Council. In addition to being 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. Stobart Stadium Halton is also the temporary home of St Helens RLFC, they are using the stadium for the 2011 season while their new stadium in St Helens
is completed.
In Heath Road is a rugby union club, Widnes Rugby Union Football Club (otherwise known as 'the wids'), an amateur sports club which is managed and administered by volunteers. The players are all club members and pay subscriptions. The club welcomes and encourages 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 have their ground in Beaconsfield Road. Moorfield Sports & Social Club in Moorfield Road hosts sports including Football, rugby league, cricket and bowls. In Highfield Road is a private golf club. Other sports facilities are available.
in Runcorn. It is now closed and its future is uncertain. Adjacent to the hall, in Lacey Street, is another converted chapel, the Queen's Hall Studio, a venue for music and live performance. This closed in 2004, but after years of campaigning by the volunteer group Loose, and with the support of the Big Lottery Fund
and other donors, it re-opened on 17 April 2010. Widnes does not have a cinema at present but one is planned as part of the Widnes Waterfront development, which also promises an ice rink and a bowling centre.
There is a tradition that the song Homeward Bound
was written by Paul Simon
on a Widnes station. However a quote from Paul Simon reads as follows: "If you know Widnes, then you'll understand how I was desperately trying to get back to London as quickly as possible. Homeward Bound came out of that feeling."
Also, the song "Stars of Track and Field" by Scottish indie rock
band Belle and Sebastian, from the album If You're Feeling Sinister
makes reference to the town of Widnes in the lyrics, as does the song "Watch Your Step" by Elvis Costello
from his album Trust.
Victoria Park is in the Appleton area of the town and has a number of attractions, including a cafeteria and refreshment kiosk, a bandstand, model boating lake, tennis and basketball courts, bowling greens, a skateboarding facility, glasshouses with a pets' corner and a butterfly house. Hough Green Park is in the Ditton area of the town. Crow Wood Park is in the eastern part of Widnes and Sunnybank is a large area of open ground also in the eastern part of the town. There are a number of nature reserve
s. Pickerings Pasture is an area of wildflower meadows overlooking the River Mersey which was built on the site of a former household and industrial landfill
. The other nature reserves in the town are Clincton Wood and Hale Road Woodlands.
Kingsway Leisure Centre has a swimming pool and a gym
in addition to a sports hall. There are a number of football, cricket and rugby league clubs in the town. St Michael’s Golf Course was a municipal golf course which was built on reclaimed industrial waste land but high levels of arsenic
have been found in the soil and at present it is closed. There is a private golf club in Highfield Road.
The Hive Phase I, due for completion in Autumn 2011, will comprise of a 5-screen cinema (Reel Cinemas), a 24 lane bowling alley, a 36,000 sq ft ice rink (Planet Ice), and a bar and restaurant (Frankie and Benny’s), with car parking for 600 cars. Up to 10,000 sq ft (929 sq m) of retail space and a restaurant space available (now confirmed as Nando’s), with planning permission sought for a second stand-alone restaurant.
There is no hospital in Widnes. For acute medical care patients go to Warrington Hospital which is administered by the North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust or to Whiston Hospital which is administered by the St Helens & Knowsley NHS Trust. Primary care services are provided by the Halton and St Helens Primary Care Trust. This is in a state of change following the recent merger of the Halton and the St Helens Primary Care Trusts. General practitioner
services are provided in health centres and in separate medical practices. There are dental practices providing a mixture of National Health Service and private dental care.
church. They were William Smyth
(c.1460–1514) who became Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield
, then Bishop of Lincoln
and who built the grammar school
in the village, Richard Barnes
(1532–1587) who became Bishop of Carlisle
, then Bishop of Durham, and Richard Bancroft
(1544–1610) who became Bishop of London
and then Archbishop of Canterbury
.
During the late 19th century a number of prominent chemists and industrialists lived in Widnes. Amongst these was Ludwig Mond
, co-founder of Brunner Mond & Company
. He lived in The Hollies, Farnworth and there his two sons were born, both of whom became notable. Sir Robert Mond
(1867–1938) became a chemist and archaeologist and his younger brother Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett
(1868–1930) became an industrialist, financier and politician.
Charles Glover Barkla
(1877–1944) who was born in Widnes was the winner of the 1917 Nobel prize in physics
. Born in the village of Farnworth was Roy Chadwick
(1893–1947), the designer of the Avro Lancaster
bomber. Thomas Mottershead
(1893–1917), also born in Widnes, joined the Royal Flying Corps
during the First World War; he was awarded the Victoria Cross
and the Distinguished Conduct Medal
posthumously for his gallantry. Another Widnes man, Thomas Wilkinson
(1898–1942) of the Royal Naval Reserve, was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously in the Second World War.
Jack Ashley
(b. 1922) was born in Widnes and was a local councillor there. He was then a Member of Parliament
for Stoke-on-Trent
for many years. He became a Companion of Honour in 1975 and was invested as a Privy Council
lor in 1979. In 1992 he was made a life peer
as Baron Ashley of Stoke, of Widnes in the County of Cheshire. Gordon Oakes
(1931–2005) who was born and educated in Widnes became a local Member of Parliament and a government minister.
Vince Karalius
(1932–2008), international rugby league
player, was born in Widnes. Andrew Higginson
(b. 1977) is a professional snooker player from Widnes. Melanie Chisholm
(b. 1974), who was born in Merseyside
and went to school in Widnes, is a former Spice Girl
known as Mel C or Sporty Spice. Actor David Dawson
(b. 1982) was born and raised in Widnes. Former Tour de France
rider Paul Sherwen
was born in Widnes.
Halton (borough)
Halton is a local government district in North West England, with borough status and administered by a unitary authority. It was created in 1974 as a district of Cheshire, and became a unitary authority area on 1 April 1998. It consists of the towns of Widnes and Runcorn and the civil parishes of...
, in Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, England, with an urban area population of 57,663 in 2004. It is located on the northern bank of the River Mersey
River Mersey
The River Mersey is a river in North West England. It is around long, stretching from Stockport, Greater Manchester, and ending at Liverpool Bay, Merseyside. For centuries, it formed part of the ancient county divide between Lancashire and Cheshire....
where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. Directly to the south across the Mersey is the town of Runcorn
Runcorn
Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port within the borough of Halton in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. In 2009, its population was estimated to be 61,500. The town is on the southern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form Runcorn Gap. Directly to the north...
. Upstream and 8 miles (13 km) to the east is the town of Warrington
Warrington
Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...
, and downstream to the west is the neighbouring area of Speke, of the city of Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. Historically
Historic counties of England
The historic counties of England are subdivisions of England established for administration by the Normans and in most cases based on earlier Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and shires...
part of Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, the town later came under Cheshire for administrative purposes in the 1974 local government reorganisation.
Prior to the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
Widnes consisted of a small number of separate settlements on land which was mainly marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
or moorland
Moorland
Moorland or moor is a type of habitat, in the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome, found in upland areas, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils and heavy fog...
. In 1847 the first chemical
Chemical substance
In chemistry, a chemical substance is a form of matter that has constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. It cannot be separated into components by physical separation methods, i.e. without breaking chemical bonds. They can be solids, liquids or gases.Chemical substances are...
factory was established and the town rapidly became a major centre of the chemical industry
Chemical industry
The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials into more than 70,000 different products.-Products:...
. The demand for labour was met by the immigration of large numbers of workers from Ireland, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. The town continues to be a major manufacturer of chemicals and there has been a degree of diversification of the town's industries.
Widnes lies on the southern route of the Liverpool to Manchester
Liverpool to Manchester Lines
There are two Liverpool to Manchester railway lines between the cities of Liverpool and Manchester in the North West of England. The 'Northern Route' via and to either or follows the route of the original Liverpool and Manchester Railway...
railway line. The main roads passing through the town are the A557 in a north–south direction and the A562
A562 road
The A562 is a road in England which runs from Liverpool to Warrington.At Liverpool the road is known at first as Parliament Street, then Upper Parliament Street, Smithdown Road, Allerton Road, Menlove Avenue, Hillfoot Road, Hillfoot Avenue and Higher Road, before joining Speke Boulevard.It ends in...
which runs east–west. The Sankey Canal
Sankey Canal
The Sankey Canal, which is also known as the Sankey Brook Navigation and the St Helens Canal, is a canal in Cheshire, extending into Merseyside, in the northwest of England, connecting St Helens with the River Mersey...
(now disused) terminates in an area of the town known as Spike Island.
Toponymy
The most usual explanation for the origin of the name Widnes is that it comes from the DanishDanish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
words vid, meaning wide, and noese, meaning nose and that it refers to the promontory
Promontory
Promontory may refer to:*Promontory, a prominent mass of land which overlooks lower lying land or a body of water*Promontory, Utah, the location where the United States first Transcontinental Railroad was completed...
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 the name have been Vidnes, Wydnes and Wydness.
Early history
There is little evidence of any early human occupation of the area although a flintFlint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
arrow
Arrow
An arrow is a shafted projectile that is shot with a bow. It predates recorded history and is common to most cultures.An arrow usually consists of a shaft with an arrowhead attached to the front end, with fletchings and a nock at the other.- History:...
head was discovered at Pex Hill, suggesting there was some human presence in the Stone Age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
. Pex Hill is a disused quarry, located to the north of the town. Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...
s by-passed the area but some Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
coins were found where the Ditton railway station stands today. In the 9th century Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
s had invaded the country and Widnes was at the extreme south of the Danelaw
Danelaw
The Danelaw, as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , is a historical name given to the part of England in which the laws of the "Danes" held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. It is contrasted with "West Saxon law" and "Mercian law". The term has been extended by modern historians to...
. 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
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
. 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 the 1930s found nothing to confirm this.
Following the Norman conquest, William the Conqueror
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
granted the Earldom of Lancaster to Roger de Poictou who in turn granted the barony of Widnes to Yorfrid. Yorfrid had no sons and his elder daughter married William FitzNigel, the second Baron of Halton
Barony of Halton
The Barony of Halton, in Cheshire, England, comprised a succession of 15 barons who held under the overlordship of the County Palatine of Chester ruled by the Earl of Chester. It was not therefore an English feudal barony which was under full royal jurisdiction, which is the usual sense of the...
. On Yorfrid's death the barony of Widnes passed to that of Halton. The current St. Luke's a Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
church was built in Farnworth. Its date of origin is uncertain but it is likely that this was around 1180. In 1500 the South Chapel was added to the church and in 1507 a grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
was established in Farnworth both were endowments from Bishop William Smyth
William Smyth
William Smyth was Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield from 1493 to 1496 and then Bishop of Lincoln until his death. He held political offices, the most important being Lord President of the Council of Wales and the Marches. He became very wealthy and was a benefactor of a number of institutions...
. Until the middle of the 19th century the area consisted of the scattered hamlets of Farnworth, Appleton, Ditton, Upton and Woodend. Nearby were the villages of Cronton
Cronton
Cronton is a village and civil parish within Borough of Knowsley, in England. The village is surrounded by green belt land. Over the county border in Cheshire, Widnes town centre is to the south-southeast.-History:...
and Cuerdley
Cuerdley
Cuerdley is a civil parish in Warrington, Cheshire, England. It has a population of 107 and much of its area is farmland. A large part of Cuerdley is occupied by the Fiddlers Ferry Power Station....
.
In the 1750s the Sankey Canal
Sankey Canal
The Sankey Canal, which is also known as the Sankey Brook Navigation and the St Helens Canal, is a canal in Cheshire, extending into Merseyside, in the northwest of England, connecting St Helens with the River Mersey...
was constructed. This linked the area of St Helens
St Helens, Merseyside
St Helens is a large town in Merseyside, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens with a population of just over 100,000, part of an urban area with a total population of 176,843 at the time of the 2001 Census...
with the River Mersey at Sankey Bridges
Sankey Bridges
Sankey Bridges is part of the parish of great sankey in Warrington, a unitary authority in the north-west of England. Located around the crossing of the main turnpike road between Warrington, Prescot and Liverpool over the Sankey Brook, it became home to many industries after the opening of the...
, 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
St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway
St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway, later known as St Helens Railway, was an early railway company in Lancashire, England, which opened in 1833. It ran originally from the town of St Helens to the area which would later develop into the town of Widnes. Branches were opened to Garston, Warrington...
was opened. The railway connected St Helens with an area in Woodend which was to become known as Spike Island
Spike Island (Halton)
Spike Island, Halton Borough, Widnes, England, a birthplace of the British chemical industry, is a reclaimed toxic waste site. The island is in the Mersey Estuary, a Ramsar Convention site....
. The termini of the canal and railway were adjacent and here Widnes Dock
Widnes Dock
Widnes Dock was situated on the River Mersey at Widnes.It was built in 1833 between the end of the Sankey Canal and the St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway. It was the first rail-to-ship facility in the world. The remains of the dock are to be found on Spike Island.-External links:*...
, 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 (industrialist)
John Hutchinson was a chemist and industrialist who established the first chemical factory in Widnes, Lancashire, England. He moved from working in a chemical factory in St Helens and built his own chemical factory in 1847 in the Woodend area of Widnes near to Widnes Dock by the junction of the...
.
Coming of the chemical industry
Leblanc process
The Leblanc process was the industrial process for the production of soda ash used throughout the 19th century, named after its inventor, Nicolas Leblanc. It involved two stages: Production of sodium sulfate from sodium chloride, followed by reaction of the sodium sulfate with coal and calcium...
. 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 McClelland, William Gossage
William Gossage
William Gossage was a chemical manufacturer who established a soap making business in Widnes, Lancashire, England.-Early life:...
, Frederic Muspratt
Frederic Muspratt
Frederic Muspratt was a chemist and industrialist who established a chemical factory in Widnes, Lancashire, England....
, Holbrook Gaskell
Holbrook Gaskell
Holbrook Gaskell was a British industrialist, and an art and plant collector.-Early life:Holbrook Gaskell was born in Wavertree, Liverpool. He was the eldest son of Roger Gaskell, a sailcloth manufacturer, from his marriage to his cousin Anne Hunter. He was baptised on the 11 April 1813 at...
and Henry Deacon
Henry Deacon (industrialist)
Henry Deacon was a chemist and industrialist who established a chemical factory in Widnes, Lancashire, England.Henry Deacon's father was also named Henry Deacon and his mother was Esther Deacon, his father's cousin. The family were members of the Sandemanian church, one of whose members, Michael...
. The town grew rapidly as housing and social provision 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
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
and copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
works. The town became heavily polluted with smoke
Smoke
Smoke is a collection of airborne solid and liquid particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwanted by-product of fires , but may also be used for pest...
and the by-product
By-product
A by-product is a secondary product derived from a manufacturing process or chemical reaction. It is not the primary product or service being produced.A by-product can be useful and marketable or it can be considered waste....
s of 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".
The demand for workers meant that, in addition to people from other areas of the United Kingdom, large numbers of workers came from other countries. Initially these were Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
but 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 the chemical companies making alkali by the Leblanc process combined to form the United Alkali Company
United Alkali Company
United Alkali Company Limited was a British chemical company formed in 1890. Producer of soda ash by the Leblanc process and used in the glass, textile, soap, and paper industries. It became one of the top four British chemical companies merged in 1926 with Brunner Mond, Nobel Explosives and...
, later one of the constituent companies of ICI
Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...
. 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.
Recent history
During the early decades of the 20th century there was a revival, 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 BridgeWidnes-Runcorn Transporter Bridge
The Runcorn-Widnes Transporter Bridge crossed the river Mersey and Manchester Ship Canal linking the towns of Runcorn and Widnes. It was completed in 1905, it was Britain's first transporter bridge and the largest of its type ever built in the world. It continued in use until 1961 when it was...
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 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 the Second World War more slums were cleared and there was ongoing growth and variation in the chemical industry. By the 1950s the town had 45 major chemical factories.
In 1961 the Silver Jubilee Bridge replaced the outdated Transporter Bridge and in recent years many of 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.
Governance
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
times Widnes was part of the hundred of West Derby
West Derby (hundred)
The hundred of West Derby was an ancient division of the historic county of Lancashire, in northern England. It was sometimes known as West Derbyshire, the name alluding to its judicial centre being the township of West Derby .It covered the southwest of Lancashire, containing the ancient...
in Lancashire. Modern local government in the town of Widnes commenced with the creation of the Widnes Local Board in 1865, prior to which the town had been part of the administrative district of Prescot
Prescot
Prescot is a town and civil parish, within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England. It is 8 miles to the east of Liverpool city centre and lies within the historic boundaries of Lancashire. At the 2001 Census, the population was 11,184 .Prescot marks the beginning of the...
. In 1892 the town received a Charter of Incorporation giving it borough status
Municipal borough
Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002...
. In 1974, as part of the Local Government Act 1972
Local Government Act 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....
, Widnes Borough Council was abolished and its territory amalgamated with Runcorn to form the borough of Halton. This became a district council of Cheshire, the outcome of local representation to avoid becoming part of the proposed Metropolitan County of Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
. In 1998 the borough of Halton became a unitary authority
Unitary authority
A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...
. However, in 2009 the council agreed to becoming part of the arrangements with the five Merseyside County's constituent metropolitan district councils as 'Liverpool City Region', in effect reversing its opposition to integration in the 1970s; its UA status is the same as that of the MDCs.
In 1885 Widnes became a parliamentary constituency and elected its first Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
. Widnes is now in the European parliamentary
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
constituency of North West England
North West England (European Parliament constituency)
North West England is a constituency of the European Parliament. For the 2009 elections it elects 8 MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.-Boundaries:...
. The UK parliamentary constituency is Halton
Halton (UK Parliament constituency)
Halton is a county constituency in Cheshire, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-History:The constituency was created in 1983...
and the current Member of Parliament is Derek Twigg
Derek Twigg
John Derek Twigg is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Halton since 1997.-Early life:...
. The local authority is the borough of Halton and the town is divided into nine electoral wards.
Geography
Widnes is situated on the north bank of 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 BridgeRuncorn Railway Bridge
The Runcorn Railway Bridge, which is also known as the Ethelfleda Bridge or the Britannia Bridge, crosses the River Mersey at Runcorn Gap from Runcorn to Widnes in Cheshire, England. It was built for the London and North Western Railway to a design by William Baker, chief engineer of the railway...
, carrying the Liverpool branch of the West Coast Main Line, and 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 the River Mersey. A second crossing of the Mersey is planned, to be known as the Mersey Gateway.
Drainage of the Widnes area is into the Mersey via Dutton, Steward's and Bower's Brooks. The bedrock
Bedrock
In stratigraphy, bedrock is the native consolidated rock underlying the surface of a terrestrial planet, usually the Earth. Above the bedrock is usually an area of broken and weathered unconsolidated rock in the basal subsoil...
of the area is rock from the Sherwood sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
group. There are a few outcrop
Outcrop
An outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth. -Features:Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficial deposits are covered by a mantle of soil and vegetation and cannot be...
s of sandstone but elsewhere the bedrock is covered by drift
Drift (geology)
In geology, drift is the name for all material of glacial origin found anywhere on land or at sea , including sediment and large rocks...
. Most of this consists of till
Till
thumb|right|Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material , and this characteristic, known as matrix support, is diagnostic of till....
except near the bank of the Mersey where it is recent alluvium
Alluvium
Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...
. Large areas are also covered by industrial waste.
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
Till
thumb|right|Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material , and this characteristic, known as matrix support, is diagnostic of till....
. From this it was concluded that before the Ice Age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
the Mersey had flowed in 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
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...
, the climate is generally temperate
Temperate
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...
with few extremes of temperature or weather. The mean average temperature in the years 1971 to 2000 was 9.4 to 9.7°C
Celsius
Celsius is a scale and unit of measurement for temperature. It is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death...
, 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 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.
Demography
Since the borough of Halton became a unitary authority in 1998, which resulted in its having one level of local government, demographic statistics have been collated for the authority as a whole, rather than separately for the towns of Runcorn and Widnes. While the two towns have different histories and come from different historic counties, their demographic features are similar.The population of Halton in 2004 was 118,915 and it is the most densely populated district in Cheshire at 14.9 persons per hectare. The change in population during the 20th century is shown in the following table.
| Year | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1941 | 1951 | 1961 | 1971 | 1981 | 1991 | 2001 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 57,755 | 57,062 | 61,039 | 65,309 | 71,835 | 79,026 | 87,168 | 96,150 | 121,861 | 124,915 | 118,215 | ||
| Source: | |||||||||||||
In 2003 Halton had the largest proportion of the population in Cheshire in the age groups under 5, 5 to 15 and 16 to pension age and, at 16.1% the lowest proportion of people at pension age or older. At 1.2% the proportion of non-white ethnic groups in 2001 equalled the lowest in all local authorities in Cheshire. At 11.5 per 1,000 population, the live birth rate in Halton and Warrington, is the highest in the county. At 121 the standardised mortality ratio and at 21.5% the percentage of persons with limiting long-term illness are considerably the highest in Cheshire.
There has been an increase in the number of households from 47,214 in 1991 to 52,501 in 2006. The average household size has reduced from 2.70 in 1991 to 2.44 in 2001. 89.8% of houses had central heating in 2001 compared with 75.8% in 2001. The type of housing has also changed with an increase from 15.5% to 19.2% in detached houses from 1991 to 2001, an increase over the same years in semi-detached houses from 30.0% to 33.0% and a corresponding decrease in terraced houses from 44.0% to 37.5%. The percentage of dwellings in council tax bands A-B is, at 69% the highest in any Cheshire local authority while the percentages in bands E-F (8%) and G-H (1%) are the lowest.
Economy
In 2010 the first phase of Stobart Park, a "multimodal logistics service for warehousing and distribution", and part of the Stobart Group
Stobart Group
Stobart Group Ltd is a large British multimodal logistics company, with interests in Transport and Distribution, Estates, Infrastructure and Civils, Air and Biomass, through operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Belgium...
, was opened. This consists of a 520000 ft2 refrigerated warehouse for Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
.
In October 2011 it was confirmed that a detailed funding agreement for the Mersey Gateway
Mersey Gateway
The Mersey Gateway is a proposed new road bridge across the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal in north-west England. The bridge will be located approximately to the east of the existing Silver Jubilee Bridge that connects the towns of Widnes and Runcorn...
project had been signed off by Government. The project is to build a new six lane toll bridge over the Mersey between the towns of Runcorn and Widnes that will relieve the congested and aging Silver Jubilee Bridge. It is forseen that the new route will become a major strategic transport route linking the Liverpool city-region and the north west to the rest of the country and will also support sustained growth at Liverpool Ports and Liverpool John Lennon Airport
Liverpool John Lennon Airport
Liverpool John Lennon Airport is an international airport serving the city of Liverpool and the North West of England. Formerly known as Speke Airport, RAF Speke, and Liverpool Airport the airport is located within the City of Liverpool adjacent to the estuary of the River Mersey some southeast...
and improve business productivity throughout the Mersey corridor. Due to the complexity of the project, and the potential for bidders to propose different technical, financial and legal solutions, Halton Council will use the procurement regulations’ competitive dialogue procedure to procure the project. The procurement process is expected to take two years, with a final contract being awarded towards the end of 2013.
There has been considerable development of shopping areas in 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
Morrisons
Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc is the fourth largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, headquartered in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The company is usually referred to and is branded as Morrisons formerly Morrison's, and it is part of the FTSE 100 Index of companies...
supermarket. In the Simms Cross area an Asda
Asda
Asda Stores Ltd is a British supermarket chain which retails food, clothing, general merchandise, toys and financial services. It also has a mobile telephone network, , Asda Mobile...
supermarket opened in 2004. A new shopping development, known as Widnes Shopping Park, opened on 18 March 2010, the flagship store being a Marks and Spencer
Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer plc is a British retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom and over 300 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products...
shop. Other businesses involved in the development are Next, New Look, Boots, River Island
River Island
River Island is one of Britain's best known high street fashion brands and can be found in most cities across the UK. The brand also has stores in Singapore, Turkey, Poland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the Middle East.-History:...
and British Home Stores. The Outfit
Arcadia Group
The Arcadia Group Limited a British company that owns the high street clothing retailers Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Topman, Topshop, Wallis and BHS, and the out of town chain Outfit, which sells lines from the other group chains...
out-of-town chain outlet incorporates fashion brands, including Dorothy Perkins
Dorothy Perkins
Dorothy Perkins, whose trading name was inspired by a rambler rose of the same name, is a large British women's clothing retailer, active mostly in the United Kingdom.- History :...
, Miss Selfridge
Miss Selfridge
Miss Selfridge is a nationwide UK high street store which began as the young fashion section of Selfridges department store in London in 1966. Miss Selfridge got its name when Charles Clore, the owner of Selfridges at the time, saw a window display in the Bonwit Teller store in New York which...
, Topman
Topman
TOPMAN is the stand-alone fashion business counterpart of Topshop that caters exclusively to men’s clothing. A part of the Arcadia Group, which also owns Burton, Miss Selfridge, Wallis, Evans, British Home Stores and Dorothy Perkins, Topman has a chain of high-street men's clothing stores located...
, Wallis
Wallis (retailer)
Wallis is a British women's clothing retailer. The brand operates from 134 stores and 126 concessions across the UK and Republic of Ireland. Wallis is a subsidiary of the Arcadia Group and one of the many companies under ownership of Philip Green, a British retailing icon.-History:The first store...
and Burton. Other businesses included in the development are Wilkinson, Costa Coffee
Costa Coffee
Costa Coffee is a British coffeehouse company founded in 1971 by Italian brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa, as a wholesale operation supplying roasted coffee to caterers and specialist Italian coffee shops. Since 1995 it has been a subsidiary of Whitbread, since when the company has grown to over...
, Halfords
Halfords
Halfords Group plc is a leading retailer of car parts, car enhancements and bicycles operating in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Czech Republic and more recently in Poland, although it is currently pulling out of the latter two countries...
, Gala Bingo and KFC
KFC
KFC, founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky, in the United States. KFC has been a brand and operating segment, termed a concept of Yum! Brands since 1997 when that company was spun off from PepsiCo as Tricon Global...
.
In Autumn 2011 construction began of a Tesco Extra 24-hour store. The glass fronted 120,000 sq ft store is being built on the old B&Q site next to Ashley Way and is scheduled to be completed and open by March 2012. The store will be built on stilts allowing a car park to be built underneath the store for around 600 cars.
Landmarks
Towpath
A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge...
of the Sankey Canal. Adjacent to Spike Island occupying John Hutchinson's
John Hutchinson (industrialist)
John Hutchinson was a chemist and industrialist who established the first chemical factory in Widnes, Lancashire, England. He moved from working in a chemical factory in St Helens and built his own chemical factory in 1847 in the Woodend area of Widnes near to Widnes Dock by the junction of the...
former Tower Building is the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre
Catalyst (museum)
Catalyst is a science centre and museum devoted to the chemical industry. Its full title is Catalyst Science Discovery Centre. It is located in Widnes, Cheshire, in the north west of England, and situated on the north bank of the River Mersey ....
.
Much of the architecture of the town is undistinguished but there are a number of listed buildings, many of them in the more outlying areas but some are scattered throughout the town. The listed churches are the Anglican
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
churches of St Luke's, Farnworth (and its adjacent bridewell
Village lock-up
Village lock-ups are historic buildings that were used for the temporary detention of people in rural parts of England and Wales. They were often used for the confinement of drunks who were usually released the next day or to hold people being brought before the local magistrate. A typical village...
), and St Mary's, West Bank
St Mary's Church, Widnes
St Mary's Church, Widnes is in the West Bank area of Widnes, Cheshire, England. The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Liverpool, the archdeaconry of Warrington and the deanery of Widnes...
, the Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
churches of St Michael's
St Michael's Church, Ditton
St Michael's Church, Ditton, is in Ditton, an area of Widnes, Halton, Cheshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building. It is an active Roman Catholic church.-History:...
, St Marie's and St Bede's, and the two chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
s in the cemetery
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
. The railway stations
Train station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
of Widnes North and Hough Green are listed, as are the former town hall and the former power house
Power station
A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....
of the transporter bridge.
Transport
Widnes is on the southern route of the Liverpool to ManchesterLiverpool to Manchester Lines
There are two Liverpool to Manchester railway lines between the cities of Liverpool and Manchester in the North West of England. The 'Northern Route' via and to either or follows the route of the original Liverpool and Manchester Railway...
railway line. There are two stations, Hough Green
Hough Green railway station
Hough Green railway station is a railway station to the West of Widnes in Halton unitary authority in the north west of England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building...
and Widnes
Widnes railway station
Widnes railway station is a railway station in the town of Widnes, in the Halton unitary authority, in the county of Cheshire in North West England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building...
from which services are operated by Northern Rail
Northern Rail
Northern Rail is a British train operating company that has operated local passenger services in Northern England since 2004. Northern Rail's owner, Serco-Abellio, is a consortium formed of Abellio and Serco, an international operator of public transport systems...
and East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains is a British passenger train operating company. Based in Derby, it provides train services in the East Midlands, chiefly in the counties of Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Northamptonshire, and between the East Midlands and London...
. Northern Rail operate frequent services to Liverpool and Manchester city centre from Hough Green and Widnes. East Midlands Trains link Widnes station at hourly intervals throughout the day to Liverpool, Manchester, Stockport
Stockport
Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name...
, Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
and Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
.
However passengers to and from London, the Midlands and the South are likely to use Runcorn station and make the short journey across the Silver Jubilee Bridge by bus or taxi.
Three bus companies provide local public transport services: Halton Transport
Halton Transport
Halton Transport is a bus operator running within the Borough of Halton and into the surrounding area, including Warrington, St Helens, Prescot, Liverpool and Chester...
, Arriva and Liverpool Merseypride.
The A562 road
A562 road
The A562 is a road in England which runs from Liverpool to Warrington.At Liverpool the road is known at first as Parliament Street, then Upper Parliament Street, Smithdown Road, Allerton Road, Menlove Avenue, Hillfoot Road, Hillfoot Avenue and Higher Road, before joining Speke Boulevard.It ends in...
passes through Widnes linking Liverpool to the west with Penketh
Penketh
Penketh is a civil parish in the Borough of Warrington in Cheshire, England. It is about west of Warrington town centre. It has a population of 8,699.The emblem/badge of Penketh is three kingfishers.-History:...
to the east. The A577 road passes though the town linking Runcorn to the south, via the Silver Jubilee Bridge, with the M62 motorway
M62 motorway
The M62 motorway is a west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting the cities of Liverpool and Hull via Manchester and Leeds. The road also forms part of the unsigned Euroroutes E20 and E22...
, some 2.5 miles (4 km) to the north.
Widnes is 6 miles (10 km) from Liverpool John Lennon Airport
Liverpool John Lennon Airport
Liverpool John Lennon Airport is an international airport serving the city of Liverpool and the North West of England. Formerly known as Speke Airport, RAF Speke, and Liverpool Airport the airport is located within the City of Liverpool adjacent to the estuary of the River Mersey some southeast...
and 25 miles (40 km) from Manchester Airport.
Education
There are nineteen primary schools in the town and three nursery schoolNursery school
A nursery school is a school for children between the ages of one and five years, staffed by suitably qualified and other professionals who encourage and supervise educational play rather than simply providing childcare...
s. The three secondary schools are Saints Peter & Paul Catholic College, The Bankfield School and Wade Deacon High School
Wade Deacon High School
-Admissions:It currently has no sixth form but has shown interest in getting one and asking for support by parents and pupils. It is situated on Birchfield Road between the districts of Farnworth and Appleton and opposite . Widnes railway station is just north of the school, and is next door to...
. As part of the Building Schools for the Future
Building Schools for the Future
Building Schools for the Future is the name of the previous UK Government's investment programme in secondary school buildings in England. The program is very ambitious in its costs, timescales and objectives, with politicians from all English political parties supportive of the principle but...
program, Fairfield High School has closed down and merged with Wade Deacon High School
Wade Deacon High School
-Admissions:It currently has no sixth form but has shown interest in getting one and asking for support by parents and pupils. It is situated on Birchfield Road between the districts of Farnworth and Appleton and opposite . Widnes railway station is just north of the school, and is next door to...
. The former colleges, Halton College and Widnes and Runcorn Sixth Form College, merged in 2006 to form Riverside College
Riverside College, Halton
Riverside College is a further education college based over three sites in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England.The college was estsblished from the merger of Halton College and Widnes & Runcorn Sixth Form College in August 2006...
. 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.
Performance table
The following table shows the percentage of pupils gaining five GCSEGeneral Certificate of Secondary Education
The General Certificate of Secondary Education is an academic qualification awarded in a specified subject, generally taken in a number of subjects by students aged 14–16 in secondary education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is equivalent to a Level 2 and Level 1 in Key Skills...
A*–C level grades, including and excluding English and Maths in 2007.
Religion
The 2001 censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
showed that of the people living in the borough of Halton, 83.8% declared themselves to be Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
, 8.7% stated that they had "no religion" and for 7.0% their religion was not stated. Those declaring other religions (Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
, Jewish, Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
and "other religions") amounted to 0.5%.
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
churches are administered by the Diocese of Liverpool
Anglican Diocese of Liverpool
The Diocese of Liverpool is a Church of England diocese based in Liverpool, covering Merseyside north of the River Mersey along with West Lancashire, Wigan in Greater Manchester, Warrington and Widnes in Cheshire...
. The longest established church is St Luke's, Farnworth. The other Anglican churches are St Mary's
St Mary's Church, Widnes
St Mary's Church, Widnes is in the West Bank area of Widnes, Cheshire, England. The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Liverpool, the archdeaconry of Warrington and the deanery of Widnes...
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
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
churches in Widnes are part of the Archdiocese of Liverpool
Archdiocese of Liverpool
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite, of the Roman Catholic church in England. The episcopal see is the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, located in Liverpool. The Archdiocese covers the south west of the traditional county of Lancashire...
. There are eight churches in Widnes, namely St Bede's
St Bede's Church, Widnes
St Bede's Church, Widnes is in the town of Widnes, Cheshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building, and is an active Roman Catholic church....
in Appleton, Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in Mayfield Avenue, St John Fisher in Moorfield Road, St Marie's
St Marie's Church, Widnes
St Marie's Church, Widnes is a redundant Roman Catholic church in Widnes, Halton, Cheshire, England. It was built between 1862 and 1865 to accommodate large numbers of Irish immigrants who had come to work in the chemical factories. The church was opened in 1865 and designed by E. W. Pugin. It...
in Lugsdale Road, St Michael's
St Michael's Church, Ditton
St Michael's Church, Ditton, is in Ditton, an area of Widnes, Halton, Cheshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building. It is an active Roman Catholic church.-History:...
in St Michael's Road, St Pius X in Sefton Avenue and St Raphael's in Liverpool 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 is a listed building, but it has been placed on the Buildings at Risk list by the campaign group Save Britain’s Heritage
SAVE Britain's Heritage
SAVE Britain's Heritage has been described as the most influential conservation group to have been established since William Morris founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings in 1877. It was created in 1975 - European Architectural Heritage Year - by a group of journalists,...
and was identified by The Victorian Society
The Victorian Society
The Victorian Society is the national charity responsible for the study and protection of Victorian and Edwardian architecture and other arts in Britain....
on their 2008 annual list as being one of the ten most endangered Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
buildings in Britain.
Trinity Methodist
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
Church is in Peelhouse Lane and there are Methodist churches in Farnworth and Halebank. There is a Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
church in Deacon Road and Evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
Christian churches at The Foundry in Lugsdale Road and in Ditton. The Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
have a Kingdom Hall
Kingdom Hall
A Kingdom Hall is a place of worship used by Jehovah's Witnesses. The term was first suggested in 1935 by Joseph Franklin Rutherford, then president of the Watch Tower Society, for a building in Hawaii...
in Moorfield Road and The Widnes National Spiritualist
Spiritualism
Spiritualism is a belief system or religion, postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living...
Church is in Lacey Road.
Sports
The major sporting body in the town is Widnes VikingsWidnes Vikings
Widnes Vikings RLFC are an English professional rugby league club based in Widnes, Cheshire. They currently play in the Engage Super League, the top tier of European rugby league, after being awarded a license to compete in the top-flight Super League from 2012 onward...
Rugby League
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
Football Club who play in the Engage Super League and were winners of the Northern Rail Cup
National League Cup
The Championship Cup, known as the Northern Rail Cup due to sponsorship by Northern Rail, is a rugby league football competition for clubs in the United Kingdom's Championship and Championship 1 leagues, formerly known as the Rugby League National Leagues...
in 2007and 2009. Their home ground is Stobart Stadium Halton
Halton Stadium
The Stobart Stadium Halton is a rugby league stadium in Widnes, England. The Widnes Vikings play their home games there as do Everton Reserves...
in Lowerhouse Lane, which is owned and run by Halton Borough Council. In addition to being 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
Administration (insolvency)
As a legal concept, administration is a procedure under the insolvency laws of a number of common law jurisdictions. It functions as a rescue mechanism for insolvent entities and allows them to carry on running their business. The process – an alternative to liquidation – is often known as going...
. It was subsequently purchased by Steve O'Connor, a local businessman. Stobart Stadium Halton is also the temporary home of St Helens RLFC, they are using the stadium for the 2011 season while their new stadium in St Helens
St Helens, Merseyside
St Helens is a large town in Merseyside, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens with a population of just over 100,000, part of an urban area with a total population of 176,843 at the time of the 2001 Census...
is completed.
In Heath Road is a rugby union club, Widnes Rugby Union Football Club (otherwise known as 'the wids'), an amateur sports club which is managed and administered by volunteers. The players are all club members and pay subscriptions. The club welcomes and encourages 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 have their ground in Beaconsfield Road. Moorfield Sports & Social Club in Moorfield Road hosts sports including Football, rugby league, cricket and bowls. In Highfield Road is a private golf club. Other sports facilities are available.
Culture
The Queens Hall, which was a converted Methodist chapel, was in use as a theatre and concert hall until the opening of The BrindleyThe Brindley
The Brindley is a theatre and arts centre in the town of Runcorn, Cheshire, England. Located by the Bridgewater Canal, the centre is named after the canal's engineer, James Brindley. It opened in autumn 2004; the architects were John Miller and Partners...
in Runcorn. It is now closed and its future is uncertain. Adjacent to the hall, in Lacey Street, is another converted chapel, the Queen's Hall Studio, a venue for music and live performance. This closed in 2004, but after years of campaigning by the volunteer group Loose, and with the support of the Big Lottery Fund
Big Lottery Fund
The Big Lottery Fund is a grant-making non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom created by the Government to administer the funding of "good causes" following the creation of the National Lottery. It has an annual expenditure of £630 million...
and other donors, it re-opened on 17 April 2010. Widnes does not have a cinema at present but one is planned as part of the Widnes Waterfront development, which also promises an ice rink and a bowling centre.
There is a tradition that the song Homeward Bound
Homeward Bound (song)
"Homeward Bound" is an American folk song written by Paul Simon, performed by Simon and Garfunkel, produced by Bob Johnston and recorded on December 14, 1965. The song describes his longing to return home, both to his then girlfriend, Kathy Chitty in Brentwood, Essex, England, and to return to the...
was written by Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
on a Widnes station. However a quote from Paul Simon reads as follows: "If you know Widnes, then you'll understand how I was desperately trying to get back to London as quickly as possible. Homeward Bound came out of that feeling."
Also, the song "Stars of Track and Field" by Scottish indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band Belle and Sebastian, from the album If You're Feeling Sinister
If You're Feeling Sinister
If You're Feeling Sinister is the second album by Scottish pop group Belle & Sebastian, released on the independent label Jeepster Records in the United Kingdom and Matador Records in the United States...
makes reference to the town of Widnes in the lyrics, as does the song "Watch Your Step" by Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
from his album Trust.
Community facilities
The main library in Victoria Square has been refurbished. In addition to the normal services provided by a library, this library holds a large collection of material relating to railways. There is a branch library in the Ditton area of the town.Victoria Park is in the Appleton area of the town and has a number of attractions, including a cafeteria and refreshment kiosk, a bandstand, model boating lake, tennis and basketball courts, bowling greens, a skateboarding facility, glasshouses with a pets' corner and a butterfly house. Hough Green Park is in the Ditton area of the town. Crow Wood Park is in the eastern part of Widnes and Sunnybank is a large area of open ground also in the eastern part of the town. There are a number of nature reserve
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
s. Pickerings Pasture is an area of wildflower meadows overlooking the River Mersey which was built on the site of a former household and industrial landfill
Landfill
A landfill site , is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial and is the oldest form of waste treatment...
. The other nature reserves in the town are Clincton Wood and Hale Road Woodlands.
Kingsway Leisure Centre has a swimming pool and a gym
Gym
The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, that mean a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men...
in addition to a sports hall. There are a number of football, cricket and rugby league clubs in the town. St Michael’s Golf Course was a municipal golf course which was built on reclaimed industrial waste land but high levels of arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
have been found in the soil and at present it is closed. There is a private golf club in Highfield Road.
The Hive Phase I, due for completion in Autumn 2011, will comprise of a 5-screen cinema (Reel Cinemas), a 24 lane bowling alley, a 36,000 sq ft ice rink (Planet Ice), and a bar and restaurant (Frankie and Benny’s), with car parking for 600 cars. Up to 10,000 sq ft (929 sq m) of retail space and a restaurant space available (now confirmed as Nando’s), with planning permission sought for a second stand-alone restaurant.
There is no hospital in Widnes. For acute medical care patients go to Warrington Hospital which is administered by the North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust or to Whiston Hospital which is administered by the St Helens & Knowsley NHS Trust. Primary care services are provided by the Halton and St Helens Primary Care Trust. This is in a state of change following the recent merger of the Halton and the St Helens Primary Care Trusts. General practitioner
General practitioner
A general practitioner is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities...
services are provided in health centres and in separate medical practices. There are dental practices providing a mixture of National Health Service and private dental care.
Notable people
Three men born in or near the village of Farnworth achieved prominent positions in the AnglicanAnglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
church. They were William Smyth
William Smyth
William Smyth was Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield from 1493 to 1496 and then Bishop of Lincoln until his death. He held political offices, the most important being Lord President of the Council of Wales and the Marches. He became very wealthy and was a benefactor of a number of institutions...
(c.1460–1514) who became Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield
Bishop of Lichfield
The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 4,516 km² of the counties of Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West Midlands. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed...
, then Bishop of Lincoln
Bishop of Lincoln
The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. The Bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral...
and who built the grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
in the village, Richard Barnes
Richard Barnes (bishop)
Richard Barnes was an Anglican priest who served as a bishop in the Church of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.-Life:...
(1532–1587) who became Bishop of Carlisle
Bishop of Carlisle
The Bishop of Carlisle is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Carlisle in the Province of York.The diocese covers the County of Cumbria except for Alston Moor and the former Sedbergh Rural District...
, then Bishop of Durham, and Richard Bancroft
Richard Bancroft
Archbishop Richard Bancroft, DD, BD, MA, BA was an English churchman, who became Archbishop of Canterbury and the "chief overseer" of the production of the authorized version of the Bible.-Life:...
(1544–1610) who became Bishop of London
Bishop of London
The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...
and then Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
.
Ludwig Mond
Dr Ludwig Mond , was a German-born chemist and industrialist who took British nationality.-Education and career:...
, co-founder of Brunner Mond & Company
Brunner Mond
Tata Chemicals Europe is a UK-based chemicals company that is a subsidiary of Tata Chemicals Limited, itself a part of the India-based Tata Group...
. He lived in The Hollies, Farnworth and there his two sons were born, both of whom became notable. Sir Robert Mond
Robert Mond
Sir Robert Ludwig Mond FRS, FRSE was a British chemist and archaeologist.-Early life and education:Robert Mond was born at Farnworth, Widnes, Lancashire, the elder son of Ludwig Mond, chemist and industrialist...
(1867–1938) became a chemist and archaeologist and his younger brother Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett
Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett
Alfred Moritz Mond, 1st Baron Melchett PC, FRS , known as Sir Alfred Mond, Bt, between 1910 and 1928, was a British industrialist, financier and politician...
(1868–1930) became an industrialist, financier and politician.
Charles Glover Barkla
Charles Glover Barkla
Charles Glover Barkla was a British physicist, and the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1917 for his work in X-ray spectroscopy and related areas in the study of X-rays .-Biography:...
(1877–1944) who was born in Widnes was the winner of the 1917 Nobel prize in physics
Nobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
. Born in the village of Farnworth was Roy Chadwick
Roy Chadwick
Roy Chadwick, CBE, FRAeS was an aircraft designer for Avro. Born at Marsh Hall Farm, Farnworth in Widnes, son of the mechanical engineer Charles Chadwick, he was the Chief Designer for the Avro Company and was responsible for practically all of their aeroplane designs...
(1893–1947), the designer of the Avro Lancaster
Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...
bomber. Thomas Mottershead
Thomas Mottershead
Thomas Mottershead VC, DCM was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.-Background:...
(1893–1917), also born in Widnes, joined the Royal Flying Corps
Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...
during the First World War; he was awarded the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
and the Distinguished Conduct Medal
Distinguished Conduct Medal
The Distinguished Conduct Medal was an extremely high level award for bravery. It was a second level military decoration awarded to other ranks of the British Army and formerly also to non-commissioned personnel of other Commonwealth countries.The medal was instituted in 1854, during the Crimean...
posthumously for his gallantry. Another Widnes man, Thomas Wilkinson
Thomas Wilkinson (Royal Naval Reserve)
Thomas Wilkinson VC was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces....
(1898–1942) of the Royal Naval Reserve, was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously in the Second World War.
Jack Ashley
Jack Ashley, Baron Ashley of Stoke
Jack Ashley, Baron Ashley of Stoke, CH PC , is a Labour member of the United Kingdom House of Lords. He was Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent South for 26 years, from 1966 to 1992....
(b. 1922) was born in Widnes and was a local councillor there. He was then a Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...
for many years. He became a Companion of Honour in 1975 and was invested as a Privy Council
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
lor in 1979. In 1992 he was made a life peer
Life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
as Baron Ashley of Stoke, of Widnes in the County of Cheshire. Gordon Oakes
Gordon Oakes
Gordon James Oakes was a British Labour Party politician.Oakes was educated at Wade Deacon grammar school, Widnes and at Liverpool University...
(1931–2005) who was born and educated in Widnes became a local Member of Parliament and a government minister.
Vince Karalius
Vince Karalius
Vincent Peter Patrick Karalius was an English professional Rugby League World Cup winning and coach who forged a fearsome reputation both as a strong runner of the ball, and as a devastating tackler.-Club career:...
(1932–2008), international rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
player, was born in Widnes. Andrew Higginson
Andrew Higginson
Andrew Higginson is an English professional snooker player, currently living in Widnes. He is best known for reaching the final of the 2007 Welsh Open as a virtual unknown...
(b. 1977) is a professional snooker player from Widnes. Melanie Chisholm
Melanie Chisholm
Melanie Jayne Chisholm is an English singer-songwriter, actress and businesswoman professionally known simply as Melanie C . She is best known as one of the five members of the girl group Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed "Sporty Spice"...
(b. 1974), who was born in Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
and went to school in Widnes, is a former Spice Girl
Spice Girls
The Spice Girls were a British pop girl group formed in 1994. The group consisted of Victoria Beckham , Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell. They were signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe" in 1996, which hit number-one in more than 30...
known as Mel C or Sporty Spice. Actor David Dawson
David Dawson (actor)
David Dawson is a British actor. He has appeared on television in The Road to Coronation Street and Luther and on stage in Comedians, Posh and Luise Miller.-Early life:...
(b. 1982) was born and raised in Widnes. Former Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
rider Paul Sherwen
Paul Sherwen
Paul Sherwen is an English former professional racing cyclist. He is now a broadcaster on cycling, notably the Tour de France. He raced in seven editions of the Tour, finishing five, and gained a reputation for his ability to suffer over long mountain stages.-Cycling career:Born in Widnes,...
was born in Widnes.