Widnes
Widnes is an industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire. 61,464 people lived there at the 2011 census. [1] It used to be in Lancashire. It is on the northern side of the River Mersey.
The Sankey Canal runs from Spike Island in Widnes to the River Mersey at Sankey Bridges, near Warrington. It opened in 1757.[2] Widnes Dock, the world's first railway dock, was built there in 1833 when the St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway opened.
It is a centre of the chemical industry. Soap, borax, soda ash, salt cake and bleaching powder are made there. Other industries developed including iron and copper works.
The Silver Jubilee Bridge connects the town to Runcorn on the other side of the Mersey. It opened in 1961.[3]
Widnes Media
St Luke's Church in Farnworth
Widnes during the late 19th century demonstrating the degree of pollution in the town
The view from Spike Island, Widnes, circa 1900. Looking eastwards along the Sankey Canal from a building near the railway bridge. Showing chemical works, chemical chimneys and a Mersey flat boat.
Spike Island was the location of the first chemical factory and is now a greenspace
Widnes Town Hall, now a listed building, was once the political centre of the town
Aerial view of Widnes from the Runcorn Gap
St Mary's Church, West Bank
Greenoaks Shopping Centre, Widnes
References
- ↑ "Custom report - Nomis - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics". www.nomisweb.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
- ↑ "Sankey (St.Helens) Canal | Canal & River Trust". canalrivertrust.org.uk. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
- ↑ "RUNCORN WIDNES ROAD BRIDGE, Non Civil Parish - 1130421 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 2023-03-30.