Northwich

NORTHWICH, a market-town, and the head of a union, in the parochial chapelry of Witton, parish of Great Budworth, hundred of Northwich, S. division of the county of Chester, 17½ miles (E. N. E.) from Chester, and 173 (N. W.) from London; containing 1368 inhabitants. The name of this place is intended to point out its situation with regard to the other wiches, or salt-towns. Camden states that it was called by the Britons Hellath, or Hellah Du, meaning the Black Salt Town; it is situated on the line of the northern Watlingstreet, and the same author is of opinion that its brine springs were used by the Romans. At the Norman survey it constituted part of the demesne belonging to the earldom of Chester, and eventually the estate passed to the crown: in the reign of Richard III., the manor was granted, with many others, to the Derby family; but it has since been alienated. During the civil commotions, in 1643, the town was fortified, and the parliamentary forces had a garrison here: the first attack of the royalists was unsuccessful, but on the arrival of a reinforcement, they obtained possession of the town, which they garrisoned; it was, however, subsequently retaken by the parliamentarians, and retained by them during the remainder of the war. What is usually considered, from the contiguity of the streets, to constitute the town, lies on the verges of the townships of Witton, Castle-Northwich, Winnington, Leftwich, Marston, and Anderton, at the confluence of the rivers Dane and Weaver, and at the intersection of the road from Chester to Manchester with that from London to Liverpool. It is regularly built, and the streets are paved and lighted; many of the houses are ancient: the inhabitants are supplied with water conveyed by pipes from a reservoir.

The commercial prosperity of Northwich is entirely dependent on its numerous brine-springs and extensive mines of rock-salt. The trade is so great as to produce an annual export of upwards of 400,000 tons from the springs alone: these were discovered at a very early period, and are usually more than 100 yards in depth; the water is so intensely impregnated as to be fit for immediate evaporation. The mines of rock-salt were discovered in 1670; the upper stratum lying about 60 yards below the surface of the earth is ten yards thick. About 1773, the lower stratum, of superior quality and ten feet in thickness, was discovered, at the depth of 110 yards, the intermediate space being occupied by a solid mass of stone: this lower bed alone is now worked. The pits include an area of two, three, or four acres, one of them as many as thirty acres, and, when highly illuminated, present a singularly magnificent appearance, the light being reflected from all points in every variety of hue, as from a promiscuous assemblage of mirrors and prisms. The rock-salt is conveyed down the Weaver: one-third undergoes a refining process at Frodsham, and at the works on the Lancashire side of the Mersey, and the remainder is sent to Liverpool, whence it is exported to Ireland and the ports of the Baltic.

The number of vessels employed in conveying salt to Liverpool, and which return with coal, is about 300, of from 90 to 100 tons' burthen; and many others are engaged exclusively in the importation, from Liverpool, of timber, grain, wine, spirituous liquors, raw cotton, grocery, &c., these vessels frequently taking back oak timber. Facilities of water-carriage are also supplied by the Grand Trunk canal, which passes in a semicircular direction through the salt-works, about one mile to the north; and about two miles distant, on the road to Chester, is the Hartford station of the Liverpool and Birmingham railway. Some vessels of small burthen are built. The market, which is held by prescription, is on Friday; and there are fairs on April 10th, for cattle only, and on August 2nd and December 6th, both which are numerously attended by manufacturers from Manchester, Yorkshire, and Birmingham, with their respective goods, and by venders of Irish linen. A commodious range of booths for the use of the dealers was erected about a quarter of a mile from the town by Mr. Mort, a late lord of the manor; but these booths have since been converted into a market-hall, and booths have been erected in the town by Mr. Heywood, the present lord. Courts leet and baron are held, at which constables and other officers are appointed. The powers of the county debt-court of Northwich, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Northwich, and the township of Great Budworth. The general quarter-sessions, formerly held here once in the year, were removed to Knutsford in 1784. A church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, has been built and endowed by the Weaver Navigation Company; it is in the early English style: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Bishop of Chester; net income, £150. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans; and a national school. A savings' bank was established in 1818. The poor-law union of Northwich comprises 60 parishes or places, containing a population of 29,018.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.