| Workhouses in Warrington | Cheshire Towns & Parishes | ||
| Winwick : Its History and Antiquities W Beaumont [1897] | Royal Ordnance Factory | ||
| There are some 350 Listed Buildings but the number can fluctuate with additions and occasionally deletions. Some listed structures are not actually buildings but other architectural features such as bridges, milestones. Some examples are illustrated in this leaflet. Listed Buildings are Graded I, II*, or II. Grades I and II* identify the outstanding architectural or historic interest of a small proportion, around 6% of all Listed Buildings nationally. This percentage is reflected in Warrington’s stock with 7 Grade I and 13 Grade II* List entries. Listed Buildings (sourced from Warrington Borough Council) | |||
| BC 900 | Bronze age relics show the possibility of a settlement at Grappenhall thought to be on the Irish Europe trade route |
| 79 | Roman station established at a ford over the River Merse and
named VERATINUM thought to be situated some where near Latchford
 |
| 410 | The Roman Occupation ended |
| 597 | Saxon strong holding Built on Mote Hill (near the Parish Church) and called Woeringtun |
| 642 | Battle of King Oswald and King Penda at Winwick. (Thus St.
Oswald's Church Built sometime between 629 and 1086) The Winwick pig |
| 675 | Saxons built a church (on the site of the Parish Church) |
| 923 | Edward the elder fortified Thelwall to defend against the Norsemen and Danes (see the plaque on the Pickering Arms) |
| 1066 | Estimated population of Warrington was 120 |
| 1086 | Entry in the Doomsday book listed Warrington as WALINTUNE a village over the ford near Latchford |
| 1087 | William the Conqueror granted land including Warrington to a Norman Baron, Thus becoming the Earl of Lancaster. A Barony custodial of the ford was Bestowed on Paganus de Vilars. |
| 1156 | 2nd Baron of Warrington Mathew de Vilars built A parish Church in place of the Saxon structure |
| 1212 | The Lord of Warrington was shown to include Orford, Little Sankey, Great Sankey, Burtonwood, Rixton, Glazebrook and Culcheth and the stronghold was still on Mote Hill |
| 1212 | The 5th Baron William le Boteler built a new Parish Church and established Warrington free court |
| 1216 | Estimated population was 550 |
| 1232 | Orford Hall - The first hall was a timber and plaster building with ornate chimneys and a thatched roof. It was built for the Le Norris family in 1232. The Norris family remained in the hall until 1595 after which it was purchased by Thomas Tildesley who rebuilt it in Jacobean style. |
| 1255 | A Royal Charter for a Summer Fair was granted in 1255 for
three days. Two later Charters (1277 and 1285) extended the summer fair by five days (July
6 to 13) and permitted a Winter Fair of eight days (November 29 to December 6). These
privileges were purchased by the Corporation of Warrington in 1851. The fairs were held in
the market place which lay in the angle created by Horsemarket and Sankey Streets. Warrington has held at least one traditional market fair (the main trade of which was horses, woollen cloth, butter and agricultural produce) each year for seven centuries. The first Warrington Walking Fair was held around 1832, but this was not the first fair in Warrington to have religious origins. There was an earlier Church Street fair which provided rides and confectioners' stalls, and as early as 1700, there was an annual fair which comprised of : "a number of stalls filled with confectionery cakes and toys . . merry-go-rounds to amuse the young, and caravans full of strange sights". (quotation from Defoe, "A Gentleman's Tour through Britain"). |
| 1260 | The old castle on Mote Hill was destroyed and the le Boteler's moved to Bewsey Manor |
| 1260 | At about this time the first bridge over the Mersey was built. Moving the center of town from Church St. to the Market Gate area |
| 1260 | The Hermit Friars of St Augustine moved into the town (friars Gate) |
| 1277 | The 7th Baron Sir William Fitz Almeric le Boteler secured a Royal Charter to hold a Friday market and an Eight day yearly Fair |
| 1285 | The first bridge was built in about 1285 by the local Boteler family, which charged tolls (fees) for horses and carts to cross. These bridge rights led to arguments with the Boydell family, also from the area, which had the rights to collect ferry tolls. |
| 1321 | Warrington Granted a Charter to become the first paved town in Lancashire. |
| 1364 | The 2nd bridge was built by John le Boeler, Geoffery de Warburton and Mathew de Rixton |
| 1465 | estimated population 1300 |
| 1465 | A manuscript of 1465 contains the name of Orford constantly spelt "Overforthe", which simply means "upper ford" |
| 1471 | Thomas le Boteler became the 15th Baron of Warrington |
| 1495 | a third bridge was completed in July 1495 by The 1st Earl of Derby Lord Stanley. He paid for the bridge and left money in his will to pay for the maintenance and to free it from tolls. It had been built to allow King Henry VII to visit his mother, whose second husband was Lord Stanley. It was thought to be a safer river crossing as the ferry would have been too dangerous for the large numbers of people and animals that would have been travelling with the king. It is interesting to note that this bridge was built for a special one-off event and lasted over 300 years. It was opened by Henry VII it lasted until 1813. "A handsome stone structure with 4 arches" |
| 1495 | Henry VII stayed at Bewsey Manor |
| 1504 | The bridge became a toll free crossing |
| 1522 | Thomas le Boteler founded Warrington Grammar School |
| 1540 | The demise of Warrington Friary due to Henry VIII |
| 1586 | Edward le Boteler died last of the line and virtually broke |
| 1617 | James I stays at Bewsey Hall |
| 1632 | The Black Horse pub in Sankey was built. Formerly the home of Edward Bridgeman. |
| 1642 | The Earl of derby with 2000 men set out from his headquarters by the Marquis of Granby to attack the Parlimenrty Strong Hold at Manchester |
| 1642 | Estimated population was around 2000 |
| 1643 | The town was besieged by Parliamentarians |
| 1648 | Cromwell Stayed in Church Street for 3 days |
| 1648 | On 18 August, Cromwell advanced south with his main force in pursuit of the disordered Scots. Having left a strong force at Preston to guard the prisoners and to garrison the town against a possible attack by Monro, Cromwell had only 3,000 foot and 2,500 horse and dragoons against 10,000 Scots. However, Hamilton's troops were exhausted and thoroughly demoralised. With Middleton's cavalry forming a rearguard, Hamilton withdrew from Wigan and fell back towards Warrington, desperately hoping to make contact with Lord Byron. On 19 August, the Scots made a last stand in a strong defensive position at Winwick near Warrington but were driven back by Cromwell after several hours fierce fighting. Hamilton, Callander, Langdale and Middleton fled with most of the cavalry, leaving Baillie to surrender what was left of the Scottish infantry at Warrington. Within a few days Hamilton, Langdale and Middleton were taken prisoner; the Earl of Callander escaped to Holland. Sir George Monro retreated to Scotland. Read More |
| 1659 | Sir George Booth began his own unsuccessful attempt to restore the Stuart monarchy by declaring Charles II the king at Warrington. |
| 1690 | Henry Booth, Lord Delamere, created Earl of Warrington |
| 1697 | Thomas Patten makes the Mersey navigable to Bank Quay |
| 1720 | The Mersey and Irwell Navigation makes the river passable From Manchester, Warrington and Liverpool. |
| 1729 | Warrington Work House built |
| 1745 | Oliver Cromwell, leader of the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War (1642-1649), defeated the Scottish army as it attempted to cross the bridge after the English Civil War and the bridge had its central arches destroyed in 1745 to prevent the army of Prince Charlie the Young Pretender crossing. When the bridge was repaired an additional arch and watch house were added. A 150ft (45m) single arch replacement bridge was built in 1813 but didn't last long as it was made of wood and iron plates had to be added to allow horses to pull a load across. The extra weight caused a collapse and a pier had to be added in the river to support the arch. |
| 1750 | The Patten Family built Bank hall. Now the Town Hall - Picture of Thomas Patten (1690-1772)
 (original
in Warrington museum) |
| 1757 | Sankey Canal, the first commercial canal is cut. It featured the first swing bridges. |
| 1757 | The Warrington Academy is started. One of its tutors was scientist, historian and theologian Joseph Priestly who gave his name to the Sixth Form College. |
| 1757 | The 'Warrington Advisor' becomes Lancashire's first newspaper |
| 1762 | The Greenalls' brewery in Warrington was founded in 1762. In August 1990 the Warrington-based Greenall Whitley became the first major pub-owner to franchise. Now over a third of its pubs are run as franchises. In 1991 the company closed its breweries in Warrington and Nottingham. (Carlsberg-Tetley brews Greenalls beer under licence.) In December 1996 Greenalls Group announced its intention of investing £175m in its retail pub estates. In September 1998 Greenalls announced that it was cutting its managed pub estate investment in order to spend more on its hotels, and health and fitness centres.In December 1998 Greenalls sold 124 tenanted and franchised pubs to the principle finance unit of Nomura of Japan for £370m.In August 1999 Greenalls was reported to be planning a restructuring. This was interpretaed as a defensive move intended to ward off any takeover bid. |
| 1762 | The Ferry Tavern was built at the site of the ancient ferry crossing also close to the Sankey canal. |
| 1772 | D.Bovand painted a view of Warrington
 (original in
Warrington museum) |
| 1787 | The first Boulton & Watt steam engine to be used in Lancashire is installed at Latchford cotton mill |
| 1795 | Estimated population was 8,790 |
| 1776 | The Bridge Water canal was opened by the Duke. |
| 1796 | The country's first Independent Methodist Society was established at Friar's Green near to the site of a medieval convent of Austin friars. |
| 1797 | Warrington Work house - Enden Reported - The Poor are
maintained partly at home (188 out-pensioners, of whom 65 are men, 113 women, and the rest
children), partly in a Workhouse, where there are 95 inmates (50 children under 9 years
and the rest mostly old and infirm). They are employed in spinning hair for hair cloth,
winding warp for sailcloth, etc. Half the heavy sailcloth used in the Navy was made here.
Table of diet in the Workhouse: Breakfast—Sunday, pottage and butter milk, sweatened
with treacle; Monday, Friday, bread and broth; other days, milk pottage.
Dinner—Sunday, Thursday, broth beef and vegetables; Monday, thick pottage or hasty
pudding; Saturday, butter milk and potatoes; other days, cold meat and potatoes.
Supper—Sunday, bread and cheese; other days, boiled milk or milk pottage. It appears
from the accounts published by the overseer and governor of the Workhouse that the
following was the cost of the provisions per head per week for the following periods : 1st May, 1792, to 1st May, 1793 1s. 6¾d. 1st May, 1793, to 1st May, 1794 1s. 6d. 1st May, 1794, to 1st May, 1795 1s. 4d. The Workhouse is an old one, but is kept very clean, and the Poor there seem very contented. The beds are filled with chaff, and are well provided with covering. |
| 1779 | The first Sunday School in the country, St James' Sunday School, is opened. |
| 1801 | Old Quay Canal connects Howley to Runcorn, ending reliance on Mersey tides. |
| 1807 | N. Greenings and Co. Founded in Bridge St. Latter Changed to Rylands |
| 1810 | Rylands moved to an Old cotton mill on Church St. |
| 1812 | The 4th bridge was built. It was a wooden structure with a
single arch with an span of 150ft, by Thomas Harrison and William Cole it lasted 21 years. (original in Warrington
museum) |
| 1814 | The soap works is opened by Joseph Crossfield at Bank Quay. |
| 1825 | Estimated population was 13,750 |
| 1830 | The Liverpool - Manchester Railway passes Warrington. |
| 1831 | Warrington Education Society Formed |
| 1832 | Warrington becomes a Parliamentary Borough |
| 1832 | The first MP in the town, E.G. Hornby, is returned to Parliament as a (Liberal candidate?) |
| 1832 | Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) who wrote "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" was born at Daresbury Vicarage |
| 1833 | The Parochial School in Church St. was built closed late 1960s |
| 1834 | First Walking Day |
| 1837 | The 5th bridge (Victoria Bridge)was built. it cost£5500 and
lasted until 1913
 (original in
Warrington museum) |
| 1840 | St Elphins School was built |
| 1843 | Greenings was established on Bewsey Rd. |
| 1844 | Mount School was built |
| 1844 | The Training college at the end of Church Street Was built and added to St Elphins School |
| 1846 | A company was formed to supply Warrington with piped water supply |
| 1847 | Warrington was accorded the status of a county borough and the historian and benefactor, William Beaumount of Orford Hall, was elected as the town's first Mayor. |
| 1847 | The first Mayor takes office as the town becomes a Borough - William Beamount of Orford Hall, was elected as the town's first Mayor. |
| 1848 | Warrington Library and Museum is opened. |
| 1849 | Lovely Lane Workhouse was built - The workhouse later became
Whitecross Institution and Hospital and subsequently Warrington District General Hospital.
 |
| 1851 | Warrington Work House Church St. was Demolished |
| 1853 | Dr Alexander Mackie, started the Warrington Guardian. |
| 1855 | The largest iron ship ever built at the time , The Tayleur, was launched at Bank Quay |
| 1856 | The fish market opened. |
| 1856 | The Rylands factory on Church St. was Rebuilt |
| 1858 | A set of Cannons were located by Arpley Station. A memorial
to those in the Crimean War. They were scrapped for the war effort.
 |
| 1860 | Parish Church re-opened after restoration (height of spire and vane, 277.5ft). |
| 1861 | Stated population of Warrington was 26,431 |
| 1864 | The first ever Lancashire county cricket match is played in Warrington |
| 1865 | Butchers, fishmongers, fruiters, grocers and tailors together to trade in the first of three new covered markets in the old Market Street area. |
| 1867 | Train crash at Walton Junction killed eight people. |
| 1866 | Warrington's public baths were opened. They were bought by the council in 1873. Two more pools were added in 1912. They continue to be used and are the were the training venue of Helen Slatter, who swam on the Olympic Games in Atlanta. |
| 1869 | Charles Dickens visited the Public Hall, Rylands Street. |
| 1872 | Bank Hall becomes the Town Hall at a cost of £22000 |
| 1876 | The History of Warrington's Rugby Team the Wolves can be traced back to this year. Read the full history here. |
| 1877 | Warrington Infirmary was opened. The Band of the Fourth Royal Lancashire Militia led the parade to Kendrick Street. The Infirmary was closed in 1980. |
| 1879 | Two local rugby teams Joined to Form the Warrington R.U.club. link |
| 1880 | On the 9th June a steam fire engine called 'Major' was first used at a fire in Academy Street. |
| 1881 | Recorded population of Warrington was 41,452 |
| 1881 | The River Mersey from Latchford to Richmond Island was frozen over for four days. It was great for skaters - but the cold caused great hardship for the poor. |
| 1884 | New Theatre Royal opened. |
| 1890 | Ship Canal construction at Latchford |
| 1894 | Fairfield infant School was established |
| 1894 | Manchester Ship Canal is opened. (history here) |
| 1895 | Town Hall gates bought. - presented to the town by industrialist Frederick Monks |
| 1895 | The Parr Hall opened, having been given to the town by industrialist Joseph Charlton Parr. Some of the world's finest musical talents have since appeared there. |
| 1895 | The steamship Harold smashed through Latchford Locks, causing the new Manchester Ship Canal to partially drain. The lower gates held, averting disaster. |
| 1896 | First dry soap powder produced at Crosfields Soap Works. |
| 1897 | Warrington Corporation purchased to old Warps Estate and converted it to a Park. It was renamed To Victoria Park To commemorate The Queens Jubilee year. |
| 1899 | Cromwell's statue erected |
| 1900 | Warrington becomes a County Borough |
| 1900 | Recorded population of Warrington was 64,242 |
| 1900 | The first electricity was generated in Warrington |
| 1905 | Crosfields, the Warrington soap and chemicals manufacturer, built a transporter bridge (which transfers people and goods by a transporter car pulled by a cable) across the river in 1905 to link the company's main site at Bank Quay with its cement works on the south bank of the river. A replacement was built in 1916. The second bridge cost £35,000 (the cost would have been just over £1 million today) and was designed by Sir William Arrol & Co., bridge and crane builders based in Glasgow, Scotland. The control cab was on top of one of the bridge columns, unlike the Runcorn - Widnes transporter bridge, where the driver was in the transporter car that went across the river. |
| 190? | The areas first municipal bowling green was opened at Victoria Park |
| 1902 | Warrington got it's first Tram |
| 1902 | The Technical School was opened. It Closed in 1969 and is now
used to house the councils IT and Finance dept. |
| 1903 | Warrington Golf Club opened after Warringtonian Charlie Hitchins won the English Amateur Golf championship in 1902 |
| 1906 | Christmas Day fire destroys Royal Court Theatre. Re-opened August, 1907. |
| 1907 | Beamont Elementary School was built |
| 1907 | 2 acres of land from the Clergy daughters School was used to create St Elphins park |
| 1907 | In Queen's Gardens, General Redvers Buller unveiled the statue of Lieut. Col. W. McCarthy O'Leary, who died leading Warrington soldiers in the Boer War. |
| 1908 | Bolton Elementary School was built |
| 1909 | Visit of King Edward, Queen Alexandra and Princess Victoria |
| 1912 | The first airplane landed in Warrington. |
| 1912 | Evelyn Elementary School was built |
| 1913 | The first buses ran. |
| 1913 | Visit of King George V and Queen Mary to open first part of Warrington bridge. |
| 1914 | Warrington's first cinema opened. The Star Kinema on Church Street |
| 1915 | the 6th Bridge was built and opened by King George V. (still
standing today)
 Warrington Borough Council eventually appointed local man John Webster as engineer for a new road bridge in October 1909. It cost over £26,000 (over £1½ million today) and work on the 80ft (24m) wide concrete bridge with a 134ft (40m) single span began in October 1911, when a pile driving ceremony was held to push posts into the river bed to help support the bridge. The first part of the bridge was opened in July 1913 by King George V. He performed the opening ceremony from Warrington Town Hall, which was about half a mile (one km) away, by pressing an electric button. The strength of the new bridge was tested in April 1915 when five tramcars and two steamrollers (weighing a total of 95 tons) were driven onto to it and it was officially opened in the same month. |
| 1917 | Oakwood Elementary School was built |
| 1920 | The areas first public tennis court was opened in Victoria Park |
| 1921 | Prince of Wales visit. |
| 1924 | The old Training College was demolished |
| 1925 | The War memorial unveiled - It was inscribed with the names of 1,100 Warringtonians who died in the First World War. Another 442 were added in 1945. |
| 1926 | An Aristide Cavaille-Coll organ was installed in the Parr
Hall. The only one of its type to survive intact to the present day, it is still used for
recitals.
 |
| 1928 | 14 acres of land from the old training college was added to St. Elphins park |
| 1830 | Warrington had 9 Cotton Mills Employing 1352 people. |
| 1931 | Rylands was bought by Lancashire steel to become Whitecross |
| 1934 | The Kingsway bridge was built |
| 1934 | Railway disaster at Winwick Junction, September 28th. Eleven killed, 20 injured. |
| 1935 | Orford Hall was in a state of disrepair and the costs of
restoration were thought to be too high and it was sadly demolished. |
| 1935 | The last Warrington Corporation tram ran between the town centre and Latchford. Electric trams had been operating since the turn of the century. |
| 1837 | Victoria Bridge built |
| 1939 | RAF Padgate opened |
| 1940 | RAF Burtonwood is opened- Largest USAF Base in Europe |
| 1940 | Bombs fell on a Saturday afternoon fete at the Thames Board Mills' recreation ground on Arpley Meadows. Many people were killed and injured. |
| 1942 | Town Hall fountain and railings taken down for war effort.
 |
| 1945 | As the Second World War neared its end, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth paid a visit to the town. |
| 1945 | Walton Gardens opened to the public. |
| 1946 | Bruche Police Training Centre opened. |
| 1947 | Prime Minister, Clement Atlee, unveils Parish Church Regimental Memorial. |
| 1948 | As the Cold War intensified, United States soldiers and airmen returned to Burtonwood two years after they had handed it back to the Royal Air Force. |
| 1950 | Princess Margaret opens town's Boys' Club. |
| 1951 | Warrington held an industrial exhibition in Bank Park to celebrate the Festival of Britain. A centrepiece was Hermann Goering's bullet-proof Mercedes-Benz. |
| 1951 | Warrington was able to receive television pictures for the first time following the opening of the transmitter at Sutton Coalfield. |
| 1957 | Wilderspool Bridge opened. |
| 1957 | Warrington's Automatic Telephone Exchange opened. |
| 1958 | Visit of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (May 6th). |
| 1958 | South Lancashire and East Lancashire Regiments amalgamated - the Lancashire Regiment. |
| 1959 | Close down of Burtonwood US Air Base. |
| 1960 | Royal Court Theatre in Rylands Street demolished. |
| 1960 | The South Lancashire Regiment left Peninsula Barracks after 85 years. Their colour had flown in the Napoleonic wars, the Boer War and the two World Wars. |
| 1960 | Warrington Co-operative Society centenary celebrations. |
| 1960 | The Royal Court Theatre demolished. |
| 1962 | Last passenger train on Lymm line. |
| 196 | Thellwall viaduct opened. Spanning 4.417ft crossing the Mersey and the ship canal at a height of 93ft. |
| 1965 | Risley chosen for 40,000 "overspill" town. |
| 1969 | Policing of Warrington was turned over to the Cheshire Police Force. |
| 1972 | Outline Plan of New Town published, first houses built at Longbarn. |
| 1974 | Warrington becomes part of Cheshire. |
| 1974 | The new Market opened. |
| 1977 | Woolston Park opened. |
| 1978 | The Town Hall Gates had goldleaf applied to celebrate the Queens Golden Jubilee |
| 1979 | The Queen unveiled a plaque to mark the opening of the Golden Square shopping mall. She was accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh. |
| 1980 | Birchwood Shopping Centre opened. |
| 1981 | The Academy moving in 1981: on 22nd May the people Warrington watched in disbelief as the old Academy was winched to a new adjacent site out of the way of the Bridge Foot road widening scheme. Unfortunately the old building was demolished shortly after its move and a new replica was built in its place, now home to the Warrington Guardian. |
| 1983 | Rylands Church St. factory was demolished to be replaced by Sainsbury's supermarket |
| 1984 | Cockhedge Shopping Park opened. |
| 1984 | The Prince and Princess of Wales visited Warrington on 30th May 1984 |
| 1985 | The 7th Bridge was built to compliment not replace the existing 1915 bridge at a cost of around £4.5 million |
| 1993 | RAF Burtonwood closed |
| 1993 | On 20th March 1993 an IRA terrorist bomb attack on Warrington town centre claimed the lives of two children, Jonathan Ball and Tim Parry. The River of Life memorial on Bridge Street, by the artist Stephen Broadbent, commemorates this tragic loss of young lives. |
| 1998 | Town Hall gates illuminated for the first time |
| 1998 | Warrington becomes a Unitary Authority taking responsibilities from Cheshire County Council. |
| 1998 | Wire FM 107.2 goes on air |
| 1998 | Population 191,200 |
| 2002 | The Pyramid Arts Centre opened in |
| 2003 | The last game for Warrington wolves at the Old
Wilderspool ground was on Sept 21st, they had the best attendance ever of
9,261. The New Warrington Wolves Stadium opened on the site of the Old Tetley Walkers Brewery. |
| 2003 | Population 193,200 Government forecaster, forecast a
peek in 2005 and a slight decline on from then. (We'll see) |
| 2005 | Redevelopment of Golden square Bus Station and Leigh Street car park starts. |
| 2005 | Building work starts on
new £27m Campus for Warrington Collegiate. |
| 2005 | Industrial Areas Around Church Street are redeveloped with Apartments. |
