kids encyclopedia robot

Timeline of Cheshire history facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

The timeline of Cheshire history shows significant events in the history of the English county of Cheshire.

1–500 AD

DevaMinervaPlan(bq)
Model of Deva Victrix

7th century

9th century

10th century

11th century

12th century

Norton Priory
Remains of Norton Priory

13th century

14th century

  • 1306: Serious fire in Northwich.
  • 1322–25: Chester Water Tower built.
  • 1349: The black death arrives in Cheshire.
  • 1364: Doddington Castle built.
  • 20 July 1376: Charter of disafforestation of Wirral issued.
  • 1387: Major repairs to the Old Dee Bridge.
  • 1391: Norton Priory becomes a mitred abbey.
  • 1394: Richard II visits Chester with many of his nobles.
  • 1397: Lands in the march of Wales added to Cheshire, and it is promoted to the rank of principality.
  • 16 October 1398: Richard II gives 3000 marks to his Cheshire supporters at the Battle of Radcot Bridge.
  • 1399: Henry IV (then still Duke of Lancaster) seizes Chester Castle and causes Richard II to be brought there from Flint Castle, after which Richard abdicates and Henry becomes king.
  • 1399–1407: Tower built to fortify Chester's Dee Bridge.

15th century

  • 1400: Unsuccessful attack on Chester Castle by supporters of deposed Richard II.
  • July 1403: Many Cheshire gentry support the unsuccessful uprising of Henry "Hotspur" Percy against Henry IV.
  • 1422: First reference to Chester Mystery Plays.
  • 1433: Famine led to food shortages in Chester.
  • July 1438: Serious fire in Nantwich.
  • 1444: Henry VI visits Chester.
  • 1445: Fee-farm (rent payable to the Crown) for Chester is halved from £100 to £50, attributed to silting of the River Dee; further reductions agreed in 1484 and 1486.
  • 1450: A group of Cheshire gentry successfully petitions the Crown against the introduction of a parliamentary subsidy.
  • 1452, 1455, 1459: Margaret of Anjou visits Chester.
  • 23 September 1459: Many Cheshire gentry killed fighting on both sides in the Battle of Blore Heath, early in the Wars of the Roses.
  • 1470: Edward IV visits Chester.
  • April 1484: Richard III visits Chester.
  • March 1486: Henry VII visits Chester.
  • 1488: Stockport Grammar School is founded.
  • 1492, 1494: Fires in Chester's Foregate and Northgate Streets.
  • July 1493: Henry VII again visits Chester.
  • 1497: First performance of Chester Midsummer Show.

16th century

LittleMoretonHall
Little Moreton Hall
  • 1502: Macclesfield Grammar School is founded.
  • 1504-1508: Construction of the earliest part of Little Moreton Hall near Congleton.
  • 1506: Great Charter establishes Chester as a county, codifies its government, and gives the city the right to hold a court of quarter sessions.
  • April 1506: Henry VII visits Chester.
  • 1507: Outbreak of "sweating sickness" in Chester.
  • 1510: St Ursula's Hospital founded in Chester.
  • 1527: Malpas Grammar School founded.
  • 1535: Outbreak of plague in Nantwich.
  • 1536: Dissolution of Norton Priory.
  • 1536: First piped water supply for civil use in Chester established.
  • 1538: Dissolution of Vale Royal Abbey by Sir Thomas Holcroft.
  • July 1538: Dissolution of Combermere Abbey.
  • 15 August 1538: Dissolution of Chester's three friaries.
  • 20 January 1540: Dissolution of St Werburgh's Abbey.
  • 1541: St Werburgh's abbey becomes a cathedral of the Church of England known as Chester Cathedral by order of King Henry VIII. Chester becomes a diocese.
  • 1543: Cheshire sends its first members to sit in Parliament.
  • 1575: Chester Mystery Plays are banned.
Churches Mansion left
Churche's Mansion, Nantwich
  • 1577: Christopher Saxton publishes his map of Cheshire.
  • 1578: Sandbach market opens.
  • December 1583: Fire destroys much of Nantwich, but not Churche's Mansion built in 1577.
  • 1584: Elizabeth I contributes to a national fund for the rebuilding of Nantwich.
  • 1591: Stanley Palace built in Chester on the site of the former Dominican friary.

17th century

Crewe Hall (front+gate)
Crewe Hall

18th century

  • 1700: Brine springs are discovered at Winsford.
  • 1735–36: The New Cut dug along the River Dee from Chester to Connah's Quay because of silting of the river.
  • 1744: Charles Roe builds a watermill in Macclesfield and triggers start of the silk industry.
  • 12 May 1762: Creation of the title of Baron Vernon, of Kinderton in the County of Chester.
Worsley packet house closeup large image
Bridgewater Canal in Worsley
  • 1763: Cheshire Hunt founded.
  • March 1776: Bridgewater Canal complete throughout its length from Manchester to Runcorn.
  • 1777: Completion of the Trent and Mersey Canal.
  • 1779: The Chester Canal opens between Chester and Nantwich.
  • 1780: Chester Eastgate rebuilt.
  • 1780: Marston salt mine opens.
  • 1781: Chester Northgate rebuilt.
  • 1784: First mail coach runs through Cheshire, between London and Holyhead.
  • 1788: Chester Watergate rebuilt.
  • 1788–1815: Major rebuilding of Chester Castle by Thomas Harrison
  • 1795: The Chester Canal extended to Ellesmere Port.

19th century

  • July 1804: Runcorn to Latchford Canal opens.
  • 1806: The Middlewich Branch opens, linking the Shropshire Union and the Trent and Mersey Canals.
  • 1808–10: Chester Northgate rebuilt.
  • 8 May 1817: Early paper on Cheshire dialect read at Society of Antiquaries by Roger Wilbraham.
  • 1812: Delamere Forest disforested.
  • 1832: The future Queen Victoria opens the Grosvenor Bridge in Chester.
  • 1837: Crewe railway station is built in fields near to Crewe Hall.
  • 1838: First meeting of the Cheshire Agricultural Society.
  • 1839: Foundation of Chester Diocesan Training College, now the University of Chester.
  • 1840: Crewe–Chester–Birkenhead railway line opens.
  • 1843: Crewe Railway Works opens.
  • 1843: Foundation of the Chetham Society.
  • 1845: Crewe Railway Works completes its first locomotive, Columbine.
  • 24 May 1847: Five people are killed in the Dee bridge disaster when a girder of the railway bridge crossing the River Dee fractures.
  • 1848: Chester railway station opens.
  • 1855–76: George Gilbert Scott works on restoring Chester Cathedral.
  • 1857: Cheshire Constabulary founded.
  • 1862: Chester Exchange is gutted by fire.
  • 1865–66: Devastating outbreak of rinderpest (cattle plague) causes the collapse of the county's economy.
  • 1867: Grosvenor Park opens in Chester.
  • 21 May 1868: The first train crosses Runcorn Railway Bridge.
  • 1869: Railway line opens between Weaver Junction and Liverpool via Runcorn.
  • 15 October 1869: Chester Town Hall opened by Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII.
  • 1871: Population: 561,201.
  • 1874: John Brunner and Ludwig Mond found Brunner Mond in Winnington near Northwich and start manufacturing soda ash.
  • 1874: Cheshire Lines Committee opens railway line between Manchester and Chester via Altrincham.
  • 1875: Anderton Boat Lift opens.
  • 1877: Glossary of Cheshire dialect published by Egerton Leigh.
  • 11 March 1878: Foundation of the Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire.
  • 1881: The west tower of St John the Baptist's Church, Chester collapses.
  • 1886: The Grosvenor Museum opens in Chester.
  • 1886: Rail tunnel under the River Mersey opens between Liverpool and Birkenhead.
  • 1889: Cheshire County Council founded.
  • 1891: Population: 730,058.
  • 21 May 1894: Manchester Ship Canal officially opened by Queen Victoria.
  • 27 May 1899: Official opening of Eastgate Clock in Chester on Queen Victoria's 80th birthday.

20th century

Reaseheath Hall, nr Nantwich
Cheshire School of Agriculture
  • 1901: Population: 815,099.
  • 29 May 1905: Widnes-Runcorn Transporter Bridge officially opened by Sir John Brunner.
  • 1914: Completion of 800 houses were built since 1899 at Port Sunlight to house a population of 3,500.
  • 1921: Cheshire School of Agriculture opens at Worleston.
  • 1926: Imperial Chemical Industries is created.
  • 1931: Chester Zoo opens.
  • 1938: Newgate opens in Chester.
  • 1951: Chester Mystery Plays are revived.
  • 21 July 1961: Runcorn-Widnes road bridge (later named the Silver Jubilee Bridge) is opened by Princess Alexandra.
  • 1964: Runcorn New Town is designated.
  • 1969: First conservation areas designated, including Chester and Nantwich.
  • 1 April 1974: Cheshire boundaries changed by Local Government Act 1972. Runcorn and Widnes merge to form the Borough of Halton.
  • 1982: Norton Priory Museum opens.
  • 1983: Anderton Boat Lift closes.
  • 26 February 1993: IRA explosive devices go off at Warrington gasworks.
  • 20 March 1993:: IRA explosive devices kill two children and injure 54 people in Warrington.
  • 1 April 1998: Halton and Warrington become unitary authorities.

21st century

See also

kids search engine
Timeline of Cheshire history Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.