The population in 2021 was recorded as 174,970 for the built-up area and 210,900 for the wider borough,[1][2] the latter being more than double that of 1968 when it became a new town. The population of Warrington stood at 211,200 [3] people in January 2024. Warrington is the largest town in the ceremonial county of Cheshire.
Warrington was founded by the Romans at an important crossing place on the River Mersey. A new settlement was established by the Saxon Wærings.[4] By the Middle Ages, Warrington had emerged as a market town at the lowest bridging point of the river. A local tradition of textile and tool production dates from this time.[5]
The expansion and urbanisation of Warrington coincided with the Industrial Revolution, particularly after the Mersey was made navigable in the 18th century. The West Coast Main Line runs north to south through the town, and the Liverpool to Manchester railway (the Cheshire Lines route) west to east. The Manchester Ship Canal cuts through the south of the borough (west to east). The M6, M56 and M62 motorways form a partial box around the town and are all accessible through Warrington.
The modern Borough of Warrington was formed in 1974 with the amalgamation of the former
The earliest known appearance of the name is "Weringtun", when before the Norman Conquest it was the head of a hundred.[6] An entry in the Domesday Book in AD 1086 named it as "Wallintun".[7] The root is likely the Old English word waru – meaning "those that care for, watch, guard, protect, or defend." The suffix -ing is a cognate of inge, an ethnonym for the Ingaevones said variously to mean "of Yngvi,"[8] "family, people or followers of"[9] or a genitiveplural form of an inhabitant appellation.[10] The suffix "ton" is from the Old English word tun meaning "fenced area" or "enclosure."
Church Street Conservation Area,[13] established whilst the main river crossing was via a ford approximately 1 km upriver of Warrington Bridge.[14] Warrington was the first paved town in Lancashire, which took place in 1321.[15]
The expansion and urbanisation of Warrington largely coincided with the Industrial Revolution, particularly after the Mersey was made navigable in the 18th century. As Britain became industrialised, Warrington embraced the Industrial Revolution becoming a manufacturing town and a centre of steel (particularly wire), textiles, brewing, tanning and chemical industries. The navigational properties of the River Mersey were improved, canals were built, and the town grew yet more prosperous and popular. When the age of steam came, Warrington naturally welcomed it, both as a means of transport and as a source of power for its mills.
Second World War
Warrington was the location of the
GIs
. The RAF station continued to be used by the USAAF and subsequently USAF as a staging post for men and material until its closure in 1993.
Post-war expansion
Warrington was designated a
council housing was built for families rehousing from slum clearances in Liverpool or Manchester, while Warrington's new private housing estates also became popular with homeowners.[16]
Heavy industry declined in the 1970s and 1980s but the growth of the new town led to a great increase in employment in light industry, retail, distribution and technology.
On 20 March 1993, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonated two bombs in Warrington town centre. The blasts killed two children: three-year-old Johnathan Ball died instantly, and twelve-year-old Tim Parry, from the Great Sankey area, died five days later in hospital. Around 56 other people were injured, four seriously. Their deaths provoked widespread condemnation of the organisation responsible. The blast followed a bomb attack a few weeks earlier on a gas-storage plant in Warrington.
Tim Parry's father, Colin Parry, founded The Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace (known as the Peace Centre) as part of a campaign to reconcile communities in conflict. The centre opened on the seventh anniversary of the bombing, 20 March 2000. He and his family still live in the town.
Other history
In 1981, Warrington was the first place to field a candidate for the new
In October 1987, Swedish home products retailer IKEA opened its first British store in the Burtonwood area of the town, bringing more than 200 retail jobs to the area.[19]
In 1813 improvement commissioners were appointed for the township of Warrington, being the town's first form of urban local government; prior to that the town was governed by its vestry and manorial courts.[24] The town was incorporated as a municipal borough by a royal charter dated 3 April 1847. The borough boundaries differed from the township in some areas: more rural parts of the Warrington township were excluded from the borough, whereas the built-up parts of Latchford on the south bank of the Mersey in Cheshire were included within the borough.[25]
From 1847 until 1889 the borough straddled Lancashire and Cheshire. In 1889 boroughs which straddled county boundaries were placed entirely in the county which had the majority of the population, and so the part of the borough south of the Mersey was transferred from Cheshire to Lancashire.[26] The borough boundaries were subsequently enlarged on several occasions, notably in 1890, 1933 and 1954.[27][28][29]
The town had its own police force from 1847 to 1969.[30]
After the May 2021 election the political makeup of the borough council was as follows: 36 Labour councillors, 11 Conservatives 8 Liberal Democrats, 3 Independents.[31] A Conservative councillor switched to Labour in 2022.
maritime climate with warm summers and cool winters. Rain is spread across the year, with thunderstorms only usually occurring in the summer months. Summer heat waves are rare but can cause temperatures to exceed 30 °C. Summers are usually snow free and rarely experience high winds. Winters are generally cold, with most days around 0 °C . Moreover, during occasional lengthy cold snaps, night-time temperatures have been known to fall to −12 °C with lying snow lasting for weeks. Ground frost regularly occurs from late October until late March. High winds are common in winter, although rarely above gale force
7.
Climate data for Warrington, United Kingdom (1981–2010)
brownfield reuse, and preserve nearby countryside. This is achieved by restricting inappropriate development within the designated areas, and imposing stricter conditions on permitted building.[33]
The main urban area and larger villages of the borough are exempt from the green belt area, but surrounding smaller villages, hamlets and rural areas such as Rixton, Glazebrook, Higher Walton, Kenyon, Stretton, Hatton, Broomedge are 'washed over' with the designation. The green belt was first drawn up in 1977 under Cheshire County Council,[33] and the size in the borough in 2017 amounted to 11,500 hectares (115 km2; 44 sq mi).[34]
A subsidiary aim of the green belt is to encourage recreation and leisure interests,
Mersey
Forest project, and Sow Brook.
Demography
Based on ONS statistics
Population and ethnicity
At the 2011 census, Warrington had a total population of 202,200, of which 49.6% are male and 50.4% are female.[35] The average age of the population is 38.06 years, which is slightly below the regional and national averages. In 2018 it was estimated that the current population of Warrington is 209,500.
In addition to English, a further 36 languages were recorded spoken by more than 0.01% of Warrington's population aged 3 and over in the 2011 census. Those spoken by more than 0.1% were Polish (0.88%), Slovak (0.21%), Urdu (0.14%), Latvian (0.12%) Non Mandarin or Cantonese Chinese (0.12%) and Tagalog/Filipino (0.11%).
There are around 100 churches or other Christian communities, two mosques, and a Sikh temple Guru Nanak Gurdwara which is the only Sikh place of worship in Cheshire.[36]
The most multicultural parts of Warrington are in the town centre, as well as the western and north western suburbs, such as Bewsey and Westbrook. In 2011, the town was 92.9% White British, 2.3% other White, 2.4% Asian and 0.3% Black.
Housing and social situation
At the 2011 census, the borough of Warrington had 85,100 households. From 2001 data (80,593 households), 76% were owner occupied, 17.6% were rented from the council, 4.8% were rented from other sources and 1.6% of houses had residents who lived rent free. Warrington has a population density of 10.7 residents per hectare, and 31.9% of residents describe the borough as a comfortably well-off area. 4.3% of households are deemed overcrowded. Of the total population, 5.8% of residents are on some form of benefits.
Employment and education
At 2005, the borough of Warrington had 63.6% employment, with only 2.9% of all economically active people unemployed – although a substantial rise began in 2008 due to the
recession
. 2.3% of the population are students in full-time higher education. 31.1% of the total population are economically inactive (due to retirement, ill health, or full-time carer status). According to borough statistics, of the population (in the Borough of Warrington in 2005). 26.9% are unqualified (either due to leaving school early or failing the end of school examinations). 46.4% have level 1 or 2 qualifications (level 1 being 1+ GCSE (A*-G) or "O" Level or equivalent, level 2 being 5+ GCSEs (grades A-C), 1+'A' levels/ AS levels (A-E) or equivalent). 19.7% have received level 3+ qualifications (meaning 2+ A-levels (A-E), 4+ AS-levels (A-E) or equivalent minimum).
Economy
Bridge Street, one of the main shopping streets in Warrington
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Halton and Warrington at current basic prices.[37]
There is a large Unilever factory in Warrington where powder detergents are made. In January 2020, Unilever put the plant under review owing to a fall in demand for washing powder compared with other forms of detergent.[38]
Warrington Council and Warrington & Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are major employers in the borough.
ESR Technology's main operations are located at Warrington.
Retail
The Skittles
In spite of its proximity to significant retail areas in Manchester, Liverpool, Chester and the out-of-town Trafford Centre, Warrington continues to have one of the larger shopping centres in North West England. Despite the competition, Warrington has seen an increase in its customer trade, due in part to the modernisation of the town centre. It has a shopping centre (Golden Square) first opened in 1974,[39] which has been extended to include a Primark store, and a new bus station.[40]
The old Cockhedge Textile Mill was demolished and replaced by another shopping mall. The main shopping streets are Buttermarket Street, Horsemarket Street, Sankey Street and Bridge Street. Where these four streets intersect at Market Gate, there is a redevelopment with a large fountain and "guardians" (known locally as "the skittles") designed by Howard Ben Tré. Musical instrument retailer Dawsons Music originates in the town, and was located on Sankey Street from 1898 until 2019.[41] The town also has a large indoor market which was redeveloped as part of the Time Square development which brought the return of a cinema in the town centre along with office space, restaurants, bars and retail opportunities.[42]
The town also has several other small shopping malls located in the town centre and throughout the town such as Hatters Row and Birchwood Mall.
Marks and Spencer stores in the UK. Nearby to this, there is also an ODEON Luxe cinema, which was refurbished in 2019.[citation needed
There is ten-pin bowling located in the town centre and at Winwick Quay, and indoor paintball. An indoor karting centre is located near to Bank Quay. Pitch and putt and crazy golf are available at Walton Hall and Gardens. A Laser Quest arena and a snooker club can also be found in Warrington, both located close to the town centre. Gulliver's World theme park is located in Old Hall, Apple Jack's Farm theme park is situated in Stretton.
Developments
The Omega Development Site close to the M62 on the northern edge of Warrington, on part of the site of the Burtonwood Airbase, was intended to be a major business park but has instead been developed as mainly warehousing with a large residential area.
Other planned developments in Warrington were delayed by the economic climate, but redevelopment of the Time Square area, including a new Market, multi-story car park with around 1,200 spaces, cinema, retail outlets and council offices was completed in 2020 with an estimated cost of £142 million.
Warrington is developing a new
Local Plan but plans to build 24,000 new homes were scaled back as government guidance changed. Included in the plans would be a new "Garden City Suburb" in the south of Warrington. The four main areas of growth as outlined in the planning were the waterfront around the River Mersey, the town centre, the Garden City Suburb and south west urban extension.[45]
municipal bus companies to survive in public ownership, runs most bus services within the town. Go North West and Arriva North West provide bus links to surrounding destinations such as Manchester, the Trafford Centre, Liverpool, St Helens, Runcorn, Widnes and Chester. A real-time passenger information system
is installed at some bus stops. A new bus station known as Warrington Interchange opened in 2006 at the Golden Square Shopping Centre.
The River Mersey runs through the heart of the town dividing it in two. There are only two main thoroughfares crossing the Mersey in Warrington: at Warrington Bridge at Bridge Foot and at the Kingsway Bridge. Before the M6 was built, these routes were very busy with through traffic.
The Manchester Ship Canal runs through the south of the town; three swing bridges and a high-level cantilever bridge provide crossing points. Although shipping movements on the ship canal are far less frequent than in years past, they can cause severe delay to local road traffic. The Bridgewater Canal runs through the borough from the village of Lymm to Walton Hall and Gardens, a local park/leisure area. The course of the Sankey Canal runs through the west of the town, although the only navigable section is at the lock to the River Mersey estuary at Fiddlers Ferry.
Warrington Bus Interchange
Warrington Bus Interchange in October 2009
The interchange consists of 19 departure stands, numbered from 1 to 19, all of which employ a drive-in reverse-out layout. Each stand has a computerised information screen which also ties into the
In March 2017 Warrington Borough Council made an unsuccessful bid to become the UK City of Culture in 2021.[50] However, various aspects of the town's cultural heritage gained prominence as a result of the bid such as the Grade II-listed Warrington Transporter Bridge, the last railway transporter bridge in the world, and the Warrington Academy which once earned the town the nickname of the Athens of the North.[51]
Warrington has a concert hall (the Parr Hall), an arts centre (the Pyramid), three museums, and various public libraries throughout the borough. Warrington Central Library was the first rate-supported library in the UK.[citation needed]
There is a cinema at Westbrook, and another opened in 2019 as part of a town centre redevelopment. There are several
Warrington Museum & Art Gallery is situated in Warrington's Cultural Quarter on the first floor of a building it currently shares with Warrington Central Library. The town is also home to the Museum of Policing in Cheshire,[52] located in part of the working police station, and the Warrington Museum of Freemasonry.[53]
A heritage centre for the village of Lymm was given planning permission in February 2016.[54]
Events
A number of festivals, carnivals and walking days are held annually in the Warrington area. Warrington Walking Day – originally a Sunday school festival – is held on the closest Friday to the last day of June, and the town centre is closed to traffic as churches walk together through the streets.[55]
Other festivals, besides the many walking days, include:
A regular series of free classical music concerts take place in Bold Street Methodist Church, organised by WACIDOM.[56] This charity is also responsible for the biennial Warrington Competition for Young Musicians, held at Arley Hall. Regular classical recitals also take place at Walton Hall and St Wilfrid's Church, Grappenhall. Warrington also has many musical groups, including Warrington Male Voice Choir, Gemini Musical Theatre Company (formerly Warrington Light Opera), Warrington Youth Orchestra, North Cheshire Wind Orchestra, Centenary Theatre Company and ladies a cappella choir, the Cheshire Chord Company.
Warrington has a purpose-built concert hall, the
Aristide Cavaillé-Coll
.
A number of rock and pop musicians are associated with Warrington.
UK Singles Chart
at number 11) were formed in Warrington.
The Hit Man and Her TV show featuring producer Pete Waterman (of Stock Aitken Waterman) and Michaela Strachan debuted and regularly returned to the Mr Smiths nightclub in Warrington from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. The nightclub itself closed down in 2010.[57]
Warrington is home to the Neighbourhood Weekender music festival[58] which takes place in Victoria Park during the May bank holiday weekend. The event was first launched in 2018, over 50,000 people attended the event over the two days. The event was repeated in 2019 and was scheduled to return in 2020 but did not take place as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown. The event was subsequently held in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Plans for a 2024 festival were cancelled but will take place again in 2025.[59]
Open spaces
Warrington has an array of open spaces, including parks, trails, nature reserves and gardens rich in history and visual beauty. Many of these attractions are dog friendly, and free of charge to enter, usually with man-made paths created to ensure safety. The attractions include:
Culcheth Linear park- open 24hrs, with public toilets, parking, and staff based around the park
Lymm Dam pictured at sunsetLymm dam - open 24hrs, water features, wildlife and woodland walks. Also has angling opportunities and links to the Trans Pennine trail.
New Cut heritage and ecology trail- ongoing project including linear footpaths, Paddington meadows nature reserve, and links to several other parks in the area (listed below)
Risley Moss local nature reserve - works with schools and partakes in regular subjects to help aid the life of local wildlife. Includes car parking and toilets
Sankey valley park - open 24hrs, includes picnic benches, car parking, angling opportunities and play areas.
Trans Pennine Trail - open 24hrs, suitable for cycling, walking and running. Links to many other paths in the area.
Victoria park
- includes sports facilities, changing facilities, training pitches, ASICS Stadium, play area and home to the annual Neighbourhood Weekender music festival
Walton gardens - includes gardens, Walton hall, petting zoo, play areas, mini golf and footpaths accessible to all.
Warrington is also home to other small parks and open spaces such Woolston park, Birchwood forest park and Bank park. Most open areas are dog friendly and only require unfriendly dogs to be kept under proper control by owners.
Heritage
See also:
List of Conservation Areas in Warrington
The historic core of Warrington contains many significant listed buildings, including
Rugby league is the town's premier sport in the form of Warrington Wolves, who were historically nicknamed "The Wire"[63] because of Warrington's history of wire making. In 2003 the club left Wilderspool Stadium, its home for over a century, and moved to the Halliwell Jones Stadium. Warrington RLFC are the only team to have played every season in the top flight of rugby league. They established themselves as one of the leading rugby clubs in the country by taking home the Challenge Cup for two years running in 2009 and 2010 and a further win in 2012. This was won by them for the first time since 1974.[64]
The club also reached the cup finals in 2016 and 2018, where they lost to Hull FC & Catalans Dragons respectively. In 2019, Warrington triumphed over St Helens in the Challenge Cup Final, 18-4, to lift the trophy for the 7th time. In 2011 the Wolves gained the Super League Leaders Shield for the first time (winning again in 2016), and in 2012 they appeared in the Super League Grand Final for the first time versus Leeds Rhinos with the chance to become only the third team to win the Challenge Cup/Grand Final double – however, they lost. They also reached the Grand Final again in 2013, 2016 and 2018, losing to Wigan Warriors on all occasions, Warrington's last domestic title came in 1955, when they beat Oldham at Manchester City's Maine Road. Warrington is represented in the British Amateur Rugby League Association leagues by:
Rowing in Warrington may well have been taking place for nearly 200 years. It is known that Warrington Regatta is well over 150 years old, often attracting large crowds on the riverbank.
The modern Warrington rowing club started in the mid-1980s and is based near Kingsway Bridge. Warrington is home to both recreational and competitive rowers.[citation needed]
Warrington Athletic Club is based at
Victoria Park
, where a new eight-lane synthetic track was built in 1998, after the original track was destroyed in a fire the previous year.
. Efforts to revive the venue in 1947 failed to materialise.
Warrington Wolves Basketball team was set up in 2009 and competes in the English Basketball League Division Four.[citation needed]
Warrington has four predominant rugby union teams: Warrington RUFC, Lymm RFC, Gentlemen of Moore RUFC and Eagle RUFC, who are based at Thornton Road.[citation needed]
Media
Warrington receives its television signals from the Winter Hill TV transmitter.
Warrington's longest established newspaper is the Warrington Guardian. Published weekly and costing £1, it is currently owned by Newsquest and has sales of just over 17,000.[67] Bridge Foot based Orbit News Ltd produce a monthly free news magazine, Warrington Worldwide, as well as three community magazines, Warrington Worldwide, Lymm Life (first published April 1999) and Culcheth Life (First published April 2003) and the daily news website. The free monthly newspaper Cheshire Times is also distributed in the southern half of the borough.
Susanna Wright (1697 in Warrington – 1784), colonial American poet[79] and pundit, botanist, business owner and legal scholar
Hamlet Winstanley (1698–1756), painter and engraver;[80] designer of Stanley Street in Warrington town centre. Born in Warrington and lived there in his later years before dying there.
Joseph Priestley FRS, (1733–1804), non-conformist clergyman,[84] philosopher and scientist, discoverer of oxygen; lived in Warrington and taught at the Warrington Academy between 1761 and 1767
Thomas Percival FRS FRSE FSA (1740 in Warrington − 1804), physician and author, crafted the first modern code of medical ethics
John Webster (1845 in Warrington – 1914), civil engineer who specialised in designing bridges
Jack Wilson (1894 in Warrington – 1970), partner in Wilson, Keppel and Betty, a popular British music hall and vaudeville act
Henry Woods RA (1846 in Warrington – 1921), painter and illustrator, an artist of the Neo-Venetian school
1900 to 1950
George Formby (1904–1961), entertainer, lived for many years in Warrington and is buried in Warrington Cemetery, with his father George Formby Sr, also an entertainer[102]
Geoffrey Hewitt (1934–2019) FREng, FRS, British chemical engineer notable for contributions to heat transfer and multiphase flow, in 2007 recipient of Global Energy Prize
Dave Cook (1941 in Warrington–1993), British communist activist, also known as a rock climber
Ossie Clark (1942–1996), fashion designer, raised in Warrington, attended William Beamont Secondary Technical School[106]
Edna Savage (1936 in Warrington – 2000), traditional pop singer
Tim Curry (born 1946), actor, singer and composer, born in Warrington and lived in Grappenhall
Pete Waterman OBE (born 1947), record producer, lives in Warrington, in the village of Winwick[118]
John Maines (born 1948 in Warrington), musician, trombone player and active figure in the British brass band movement as a performer, conductor, tutor, compere and concert presenter
Gareth Jones (born 1954 in Warrington), music producer and engineer notable for working with Depeche Mode
Miles Tredinnick, also known as Riff Regan (born Warrington 1955), rock musician, songwriter and a stage and screenwriter
first class cricketer, who played Test cricket for England, was born in Warrington. He played first class cricket for Lancashire between 1923 and 1947.[125]
Fred Worrall (1910 in Warrington– 1979), footballer, made 425 professional appearances
Harold 'Moggy' Palin (1916 in Warrington–1990), professional rugby league footballer
Roger Hunt (1938-2021), footballer[126] for Liverpool F.C., member of England's 1966 World Cup squad, born in Glazebury, lived in Warrington, made a Freeman of the Borough on 5 December 2016
Just before the First World War Warrington County Borough Police had 82 police officers (The Police Encyclopedia Vol 2 by Hargrave L Adam (London: Waverley Book Company) (no date but published circa 1910)).
^"Contact Us". Manchester Japanese School. Retrieved 15 February 2015. "Oughtrington Lane, Lymm, Cheshire, WA13 0RB, UK (Language Centre at Lymm High School)"
^Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; William Beamont diaries in Warrington Library; "History of the Mayor". Warrington Borough Council. Archived from the original on 11 November 2007.
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Hilden, Germany[140]
Náchod, Czech Republic[140][141]
Meung-sur-Loire, France
