CHESHIRE

Cheshire is truly one of the most fascinating and diverse Counties in England. It includes the Wirral peninsula, sticking out between the Rivers Dee and Mersey, with large towns such as Birkenhead, somewhat run-down seaside resorts such as New Brighton, but some beautiful scenery in the interior of the Wirral; there are mountains at both ends of the County - the Welsh borders in the West, and the high Pennines in the far East where moorland Cheshire meets Yorkshire in some of the wildest country in Britain; Cheshire has its own 'stockbroker belt' south of Manchester, where pretty villages such as Prestbury are an estate agent's dream. Contrasting with the ancient and fascinating city of Chester is the new town of Runcorn; the nearby ICI complex may not look inviting, but this area holds the key to the early development of the chemical industry in Britain. Further east are the intriguing hills of Mow Cop and The Cloud - not too far away from the Peak District - whilst I have heard Macclesfield referred to as the Real Ale Capital of England. Further to the south lie pleasant small towns and villages. The fifteen uphill locks at Audlem where the Shropshire Union Canal runs out of Cheshire are said to be the hardest way to get out of the County!
In case there is any confusion over the Cheshire-Lancashire boundary, (because modern maps tend to show local authority, rather than Real County, boundaries): the boundary runs from the sea eastwards along the Mersey Estuary as far as the Vyrnwy Aqueduct east of Widnes. It then continues eastwards along the Ship Canal as far as Irlam, then mainly along the Rivers Mersey and Tame, (but with some minor diversions to the north), finally reaching the Yorkshire border at Hoarstone Edge above Chew Valley in the high Pennines. But you’ve not finished with Cheshire yet, for from this ‘triple point’ the border marches with Yorkshire eastwards for ten more miles, marked by mounds and never dipping below the 1600 foot contour, until another ‘triple point’ with Derbyshire is reached. Only a couple of hundred yards from here, the great Woodhead railway tunnel slumbers many hundreds of feet below, in disuse awaiting the return of sense to those who plan transport policy.
Thus Widnes, and nearly all of Warrington, are in Lancashire, not Cheshire, while Cheshire includes such places as Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, Hyde, Dukinfield and Stalybridge.
One of Cheshire’s most famous sons is the author Lewis Carroll, who was born at the village of Daresbury; his Cheshire Cat may have been fictitious, but there is nothing fictitious about the delicious Cheshire Cheese, often imitated, but never equaled.

Girls’ Chess in Cheshire
The Cheshire girls’ team manager is Mr George Davison.

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