2 CHESHIRE. [ KELLY's rington; the docks here will always be accessible, instead London and North Western and Great Western joint of at- spring tides only, and the Ship canal will be con­ line and another to Over. The :Manchester, Sheffield and necied at this point with the London and North Western Lincolnshire railway have a line from Stockport through railway, tohe Runcorn and "'\-Yeston canal, the- Runcorn Hyde and Dukinfield to Stalybridge, one from Stockport and Latchford canal, and, via the river Mersey, with the to Manchester and another to Macclesfield. This com­ ' town of Widnes (Lancashire), and the Sankey Navi­ pany opened, in 1896, a new line from Dee Bridge, gation, having on its northern bend three locks: beyond passing through Parkgate and Upton to Bidston junction this the junction of the river Weaver necessitates sluices, on the Wirral railway, and to the Mersey tunnel at ten in number, forming here the river wall of the canal Birkenhead. The Midland railway enters the county and constructed to allow free access of the waters of the from the extreme north-east at 1\Iarple, passing through Mersey. The canal, from the spot at which it emerges Hyde to Manchester. The North Staffordshire railway into the estuary of the Mersey, is separated from it by have a branch line from Stoke, Staffordshire, through a strongly constructed wall up to the entrance locks at Congleton and Macclesfield to Manchester .and another Ea.stham, respectively 6oo feet long and So feet wide, to Crewe. The Manchester, South Junctwn and Al­ 350 feet long and 50 wide, and ISO by 30; the sills of the trincham railway connects those places and has a station gates are II feet lower than the deepest dock sills at at Sale. From Birkenhead t1he Wirral railway starts, Liverpool or Birkenhead, a.nd the channel approaching passing through Walla.sey and Hoylake to its terminus at them is dredged three feet deeper than the lock sills. West Kirby; this branch has a line from 1Va.llasey to New Ellesmere Port is the only outlet for the Shropshire Union Bri~hton. The Lanca.shire, Derbyshire and East Coast system of eanals. The locks on the Manchester canal are not Railwav Co. have obtained powC'rs to construct a line single, but are in sets of different sizes to avoid waste from 1Varrington through Knutsford and Maccle:<fieldl in of water in the passage of vessels of various tonnage, this county; a.nd passing through Buxton anrl Chester­ and besides the principal locks there are subsidiary locks field in Derbyshire and Lincr,ln to Sutton on the Lincoln­ at Weston Marsh, 'We:>ton ~Iersey, Bridgewater and shire coast, and the first sod wa.s cut June. r8g2. Runcorn (Old Quay). Vessels will be able to navigate The Plinerals worked in Cheshire are fire-clay, coal, the canal with safety at a speed of five miles an hour, salt, sand stone, limestone, freest one, millstones, mar!. and it is estimated that the passage from the entrance Co.al is largely worked near Stockport, and is found in at Eastham to Manchester will be accomplished in eight Wirral; the amount raised in 1894 was 781,637 tons. hours, which is much less time than is at present taken Salt is a great industry in this county and obtained in to cart goods from ship to rail in Liverpool and thence large quantities from mines and salt springs at North­ by rail to Manchester. The docks at '\Veston Point are wich, :Xantwich, Middlewich and Winsford; it is manu­ joined to the great Cheshire salt field by the Weaver factured for the supply of England and for the export Navigation, over which a million tons of salt is carried trade ; for particulars of the production and manufacture­ yearly for exportation. At Runcorn, the Ship Canal see Northwich, pa.ge 4ro. The quantity of rock salt Company, as the owners of the Bridgewater docks, are raised in 1894 was 138,277 tons, value [35,686, and salt connected with the Staffordshire potteries and coal and from brine I,445,365 tons, value £484,479· Fire-clay was iron industries by the Trent and Mersey and Bridge­ rai>'ed to the extent of 12,568 tons in 1894· water canals. At Partingt.on and Barton, the Wigan and From its contiguity to South Lancashire the manu­ Worsley coal-fields are only a few miles from the canal. factures of that district have extended into this county. The Partington coa.l basin again, with its s! acres of includinct thoseJ of cott-on and silk, fustian, woollen, water space and a half mile of quayage, giving an area worsted,~ flax, lace, ribbons and trimmings, hose, boots of 20 acres, is only 8 miles from the nearest Lancashire and hats; cotton printing and dyeing are also carried colliery, and about 40 miles from the nearest South on. Ship-building, chiefly on the Mersey, rope-making Yorkshire coal-field, which at present has no available and sail-cloth; also manufacture of chemicals, soap­ outlet on the west coast. The Eastham section of the boiling and tallow chandlery, but salt is the :principal canal was flooded 19 June, 1891, and the first flotilla of product of the county. The paper manufacture 1s small, traffic from Ellesmere Port passed down into the Mersey and ~o is that of pottery. Brewing and ~alting are not on the following IS July; on 15 September, 1891, the carried on so extensively as in many other shires. water was admitted up to '\Yeston Point, and on 25 Bricks are made extensively; there are some small November, 1893• the canal was entirely filled with water. works for the copper, lead and zinc manufactures, and The district affected by the ::\'Ianchester Ship canal there are some machine works. contains over 150 important towns, roo of which have a By the .Act I Wm. IV. cap. 70, abolishin~ the palatine population of more than ro,ooo, and in eleven of these jurisdiction, the shire is joined with the North Wales the population ex:ceeds roo,ooo; the total population of circuit, andl it has one court of quarter sessions. Chester this area may be taken at 7,soo,ooo, and it is also rich is the shire town and seat of the assizes and quarter in minerals and great industries. The offices of the SP!'Sions. The county is divided into r6 petty sessional Company are at 41 Spring gardens, Manchester; Alfred divisions. H. Whitworth, secretary. The shire contains 469 and parts of to civil parishes, The other canals include the Grand Trunk, or Trent and is within the province of York, and forms a diocese and Mersey canal, the Chester and Nantwich canal, the C()mprising the whole of the county of Chester, with the 1\facclesfield canal, the Ellesmere canal, Shropshire Union county of the city of Chester. It is divided into the canal and the Peak Forest canal. arehde~aconries of Chester and Macclesfield. Chester Cheshire is connected with the great system of railways archdeaconrv is subdivided into the rural deaneries of by several lines, chiefly connecting with the south and Birkenhead,- Chester, Frodsham, Malpas, Middlewich, continuing the Lancashire communication. The London Nantwich and Wirral; 1\facclesfield archdeaconry is and North Western railway is the chief of these, subdivided int-o the rural deaneries of Bowdon, Congleton, passing from the south by Stafford, Crewe, "'\-Vinsford Macclesfield, Mottram and Stockport. and Warrington to the north, and by Runcorn across .Although the number of townships is large, yet the the Mersey to Liverpool. Fro!ll Crewe branches pass to number of parishes is small ; for the single townships do Sandbach junction, Stockport and Manchester on the not constitute parishes as in the south of England, but north-east, to Chester on the north-west, on the south­ many townships are united for ecclesiastical purposes as west through Whitchurch to Shropshire and South a parish. The largest of these parishes are :- Wales, on the south-east to the Pottery District. From Ohester lines run to Holyhead in North Wales, and --------------------·------· through Shrewsbury to the Welsh borders and to South Area. Population Wales, Another line connects Macclesfield with Stafford­ in r8g1. shire, and there is also a line from Stockport through Cheadle and Lymm to Warrington. At Crewe are the great engineering works of the London and North Western railway. The London and North Western and Stockport .................... 22,624 n6,433 Great Western joint railway have branch lines from Prestbury .................... 58,858 52,791 Chester through Hooton junction to Birkenhead, through Mottram .................... 20,501 25,156 Helsby junction to Frodsham junction and Runcorn, Great Hudworth .......... .. 40·995 29,7II from Hooton junction to West Kirby, where it joins the Coppenhall ........... , .... .. 2,871 32,926 Wirral railway, and one from Whitchurch through Malpas Bow don ....................... 18,049 28,626 to Ohester. The Great Western railway have a branch Runcorn .................... ~ !8,474 28,66o line from Shrewsbury to Crewe. The Cheshire Lines Astbury ........ , .............. , . 21,204 17,401 Committees railway have branches from Sandbach through Cheadle .............. , ........ 6,307 I9,921 Middlewich, Northwich, Knutsford, Altrincham and '\\'allasey .................... 3,408 33,22 9 Bowdon to Manchester and Stockport, also to Cheadle Sandbach .................... 16,497 10,766 and from Northwich to Chester, and to Helsby on the .