Northwich
Northwich is situated in the heart of the Cheshire plain, at the confluence of the River Weaver and the River Dane. Not only are there the two rivers, but also the Trent and Mersey canal passes the town. The Anderton Boat Lift connects the canal and river systems together, and following its restoration in 2002 now houses a visitor centre. The town is approximately 18 miles (29 km) east of Chester and 15 miles (24 km) south of Warrington. Known for it's salt mining since Roman times, the salt beds beneath Northwich were re-discovered in the 1670s by employees of the local Smith-Barry Family. The Smith-Barrys were looking for coal, but instead discovered rock salt in the grounds of the family home, Marbury Hall. Soon salt mining started again. This mining area is now known as Dairy House Meadow. During the 19th century it became uneconomical to mine for the salt. Instead hot water was pumped through the mines that dissolved the salt and the resultant brine was pumped out and the salt extracted from the brine. This technique was known as wild brine pumping or natural brine pumping but weakened mines and led to land subsidence as mines collapsed. This subsidence affected the town and the surrounding landscape. For example collapses in 1880 formed Witton Flash as the River Weaver flowed into a huge hole caused by subsidence.
In 1874, John Brunner and Ludwig Mond founded Brunner Mond in Winnington and started manufacturing soda ash using the Solvay ammonia-soda process. This process used salt as a main raw material. The chemical industry used the subsided land for the disposal of waste from the manufacture of soda-ash. The waste was transported through a network of cranes and rails to the produce limebeds. This was a dangerous alkaline substance and caused the landscape to be abandoned as unusable. Brunner Mond later amalgamated with three other chemical companies in 1926 to form Imperial Chemical Industries, better known as ICI, which was for many years one of Europe's leading chemical companies in both chemical production and research.
In 1975 Marbury Country Park was the first area to be reclaimed from dereliction and has become a popular recreational area. In 1987 more land was reclaimed to form Furey Wood and over later years, Cheshire County Council's Land Regeneration Unit reclaimed what is now known as Anderton Nature Park, Witton Flash, Dairy House Meadows, Witton Mill Meadows, and Ashton's and Neumann's Flashes. There are now miles of pathways just a few hundred yards from the town centre giving direct access to Marbury Country Park, Anderton Boat Lift, Great Budworth, just to name a few.
The River Weaver is a river, navigable in its lower reaches, running in a curving route anti-clockwise across west Cheshire, Northern England.
Perhaps its most notable feature is the Anderton Boat Lift built in (1875), near Northwich, which links the Weaver with the Trent and Mersey Canal some 50 ft above.
The River Dane is a river mainly in Cheshire in the north west England.
The river rises in Derbyshire, close to the source of the River Goyt just to the south west of Buxton, on Axe Edge Moor. Flowing south west, it forms the border between Cheshire and Staffordshire for around 10 miles before flowing west through Congleton and past Holmes Chapel.
The point on the river where the three counties meet, at Panniers' Pool Bridge, is called the Three Shires' Head.
Passing just to the north of Middlewich it merges first with the River Croco near to the site of the old Roman fort in Harbutt's Field, and then with the River Wheelock near the aqueduct carrying the Trent and Mersey Canal, and runs the remaining five miles north to Northwich where it flows into the River Weaver.
The Floatel
12/01/08
RAOB Silver Jubilee Club
01/01/08
Town Bridge
04/05/08
British Waterways
Clock Tower
29/05/08
Plaza Bingo Hall used to be a cinema
09/01/08
The Bridges Two swing bridges, Hayhurst Bridge (built in 1898) and Town Bridge (built in 1899), cross the Weaver at Northwich. The bridges were the first two electrically-powered swing bridges in Britian and were built on floating pontoons to counteract the mine subsidence. They were designed by Colonel John Saner.
A Floating Hotel is moored near the confluence of the two rivers.
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