Cheshire is a county in north-west England, famous for its agricultural industry. Cheshire is active in many key economic areas: automotive, bio-technology, chemical, financial services, food and drink, ICT, and tourism. The county is famous for the production of Cheshire cheese, salt and silk.
Cheshire is a mainly rural county with a high concentration of villages. Agriculture is generally based around the dairy trade and cattle are the predominant livestock. The number of holdings and hectares of agricultural land can be seen in the following table: [1]
2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Agricultural land (hectares) | 148,442 | 153,653 | 158,143 | 155,795 |
Number of holdings | 5,135 | 4,390 | 4,409 | 4,609 |
Based on holdings by EC farm type in 2005, 851 hectares were allocated to dairy farming, with another 1,178 hectares allocated to cattle and sheep.
The chemical industry in Cheshire was founded in the Roman times with the mining of salt in Middlewich and Northwich. Salt is still mined in this area by British Salt. The salt mining has led to a continued chemical industry around Northwich, with Brunner Mond based in the town. More chemical companies, including Ineos (formerly ICI) have plants at Runcorn.
The Stanlow Refinery is at Ellesmere Port. The oil refinery has operated since 1924 and has a capacity of 12 million tonnes per year.
Crewe was once the centre of the British railway industry. The Crewe railway works is a British railway engineering facility built in 1840 by the Grand Junction Railway. At is peak the works employed 20,000 people, though this is now less than 1000. The town's station remains a major railway junction.
Crewe is also the home of Bentley cars. Also within Cheshire are manufacturing plants for Jaguar and Vauxhall Motors in Ellesmere Port.
The county also has an aircraft industry. The BAE Systems facility at Woodford Aerodrome was home to the production of Avro Lancaster and Avro Vulcan bombers and the Hawker-Siddeley Nimrod. It is still part of BAE System's Military Air Solutions division. On the Cheshire border with Flintshire, Wales is the Broughton aircraft factory, more recently associated with Airbus.
Tourism in Cheshire from both within the UK and overseas continues to perform strongly. Over 8 million nights of accommodation (both UK & Overseas) and over 2.8 million visits to Cheshire were recorded during 2003. [2]
At the start of 2003, there were 22,020 VAT registered enterprises in Cheshire, increased by 7% since 1998. Most registered businesses in Cheshire were in two broad sectors, namely Business Services (31.9%) and Wholesale/ Retail (21.7%).
Between 2002 and 2003 the number businesses grew in four sectors: Public Administration and Other Services (6.0%), Hotels & Restaurants (5.1%), Construction (1.7%) and Business Services (1.0%). [2]
The county saw the largest proportional reduction between 2001 and 2002 in employment in the 'Energy and Water' sector and there was also a significant reduction in the Manufacturing sector. The largest growth during this period was in the 'Other Services' and 'Distribution, Hotels and Retail' sector. [2]
The following table is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of the non-metropolitan county of Cheshire at 2004 basic prices. [3]
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Cheshire, archaically the County Palatine of Chester, is a historic county in North West England. It is bordered by the counties of Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south, and Wales to the west. Cheshire's county town is Chester, while its largest town by population is Warrington. Other major towns include Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Nantwich, Northwich, Runcorn, Widnes, Wilmslow, and Winsford.
North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,052,000 in 2011. It is the third-most-populated region in the United Kingdom, after the South East and Greater London. The largest settlements are Manchester and Liverpool.
A farm is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used for specialized units such as arable farms, vegetable farms, fruit farms, dairy, pig and poultry farms, and land used for the production of natural fiber, biofuel and other commodities. It includes ranches, feedlots, orchards, plantations and estates, smallholdings and hobby farms, and includes the farmhouse and agricultural buildings as well as the land. In modern times the term has been extended so as to include such industrial operations as wind farms and fish farms, both of which can operate on land or sea.
Crewe is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston, Shavington cum Gresty and Wistaston.
Ellesmere Port is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Chester, 12 miles (19 km) south of Birkenhead, 16 miles (26 km) southwest of Runcorn and 11 miles (18 km) south of Liverpool. The town had a population of 61,090 in the 2011 census. Ellesmere Port also forms part of the wider Birkenhead urban area, which had a population of 325,264 in 2011.
Northwich is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It lies in the heart of the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers Weaver and Dane. The town is about 18 miles (29 km) east of Chester, 15 miles (24 km) south of Warrington, 19 miles (31 km) south of Manchester and 12 miles (19 km) south of Manchester Airport. The population of the civil parish was 19,924 in 2011 and the wider built-up area was 47,421. Northwich was named as one of the best places to live in the United Kingdom by The Sunday Times in 2014.
Middlewich is a town in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is 19.2 miles (30.9 km) east of the city of Chester, 2.9 miles (4.7 km) east of Winsford, 5.3 miles (8.5 km) southeast of Northwich and 4.7 miles (7.6 km) northwest of Sandbach. The population of the town at the 2011 Census was 13,595.
The history of Cheshire can be traced back to the Hoxnian Interglacial, between 400,000 and 380,000 years BP. Primitive tools that date to that period have been found. Stone Age remains have been found showing more permanent habitation during the Neolithic period, and by the Iron Age the area is known to have been occupied by the Celtic Cornovii tribe and possibly the Deceangli.
Winsford is a town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It lies on the River Weaver south of Northwich and west of Middlewich, and grew around the salt mining industry after the river was canalised in the 18th century, allowing freight to be conveyed northwards to the Port of Runcorn on the River Mersey.
Elton is a village and civil parish in Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire, England, 13 km (8.1 mi) northeast of Chester, between Helsby and Ellesmere Port, near the River Mersey. Its proximity to the Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal have contributed to its industrial character. The village is on the north-western edge of the Cheshire Plain, 2.5 km (1.6 mi) from Stanlow Refinery.
West Cheshire College was a further education, vocational college in the North West of England. It had over 20,000 students at its two main campuses in Ellesmere Port and Chester as well as in workplaces and community venues. In March 2017 it was merged with South Cheshire College, based in Crewe, to form Cheshire College – South & West, which as of 2020 retains the Ellesmere Port and Chester campuses.
Cheshire West and Chester is a unitary authority with borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It was established on 1 April 2009 as part of the 2009 local government changes, by virtue of an order under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007. It superseded the boroughs of Ellesmere Port and Neston and Vale Royal and the City of Chester; its council assumed the functions and responsibilities of the former Cheshire County Council within its area. The remainder of ceremonial Cheshire is composed of Cheshire East, Halton and Warrington.
Warmingham is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The village lies on the River Wheelock, 3.25 miles (5.23 km) to the north of Crewe, 3.25 miles (5.23 km) to the south of Middlewich and 3.25 miles (5.23 km) miles to the west of Sandbach. The parish also includes the small settlement of Lane Ends, with a total population of just under 250. Nearby villages include Minshull Vernon, Moston and Wimboldsley.
Northwich Woodlands is an area of 373 hectares of publicly accessible countryside near Northwich in Cheshire, England. It comprises nine separate woods, country parks, lakes and parks, many of which are connected to each other via footpaths and other rights of way. Much of the land was formerly industrial and used for mining salt and manufacturing chemicals. The extraction of salt caused subsidence leading to the formation of pools known as flashes. The land became derelict during the 20th century as the salt industry contracted. Much of the area has now been reclaimed for the purposes of conservation and recreation and forms part of the Mersey Forest initiative.
Monte Carmelo is a Brazilian municipality located in the northwest of the state of Minas Gerais. Its population as of 2020 was 47,931 people living in a total area of 1,354 km2 (523 sq mi). The city belongs to the mesoregion of Triângulo Mineiro e Alto Paranaiba and to the microregion of Patrocínio. It became a municipality in 1840.
The history of Northwich can be traced back to the Roman period. The area around Northwich has been exploited for its salt pans since this time. The town has been severely affected by salt mining with subsidence historically being a large issue. A programme of mine stabilisation has recently been undertaken.
Middlewich railway station served the Cheshire, England, salt-producing town of Middlewich between 1868 and 1960. It lay on a branch line from Sandbach to Northwich. The Mid Cheshire Rail Users' Association is campaigning for the reopening of the line to passenger traffic, and the construction of a new station at Middlewich.
The primary crops produced in Azerbaijan are agricultural cash crops, grapes, cotton, tobacco, citrus fruits, and vegetables. The first three crops account for over half of all production, and the last two together account for an additional 30 percent. Livestock, dairy products, and wine and liquors are also important farm products.
Agriculture has historically been the primary industry of the English county of Cheshire. Dairy farming has predominated, and the county was particularly known for cheese-making.