WARRINGTON, a parish in the hundred of WEST-DERBY, county palatine of LANCASTER, comprising the market-town of Warrington, the chapelry of Burtonwood, and the townships of Poulton with Fearnhead, Rixton, and Woolston with Martinscroft, and containing 16,698 inhabitants, of which number, 13,570 are in the town of Warrington, 52 miles (S. by E.) from Lancaster, and 188 (N. W. by N.) from London. This place, which is unquestionably of very great antiquity, is by some writers supposed to have been originally a British town, and, on the invasion of the Romans under Agricola, in the year 79, to have been converted into a Roman station. This opinion rests chiefly on the circumstance of three Roman roads leading respectively from the- stations of Condate, Coccium, and Mancunium, to a ford here over the river Mersey; the vestiges of a castrum and fosse, which are still discernible 5 and in the discovery of some Roman relics, consisting of coins found on both sides of the river near the ancient ford, and other antiquities, which have been subsequently duo- up. On its occupation by the Saxons, it obtained the name of Weringtun, from the Saxon Wcering, a fortification and tun, a town, from which its present appellation is derived. It was at that time of sufficient importance to give name to a wapentake, which afterwards merged into the hundred of West Derby, and formed part of the demesne of Edward the Confessor; it had been previously the head of a deanery, of which the jurisdiction still remains. In Domesday-book it is noticed under the name of Wallintun; and in the reign of Edward I., it was in the possession of William le Boteler, who obtained for it the grant of a market, and other privileges. From the earliest period, the river Mersey at this place was passed only by the ancient ford, till the close of the fifteenth century, when Thomas, first Earl of Derby, in compliment to Henry VII., on his visit to Latham and Knowsley, in 1496, erected the first bridge of stone, soon after which, the passage of the river by the ford ceased. In the reign of Henry VIII., Leland, speaking of Warrington, says, "it is a pavid towne of a prety bignes, the paroche chirch is at the tayle of the towne j it is a better market than Manchestre." Nothing of importance is recorded of it from this period till the commencement of the parliamentary war, when the inhabitants openly declared in favour of the royal cause, and the town was garrisoned for the king. In 1643, a detachment of the parliamentary forces, stationed at Manchester, laid siege to it, on which occasion the royalists under Col. Norris, the governor, took refuge in the church, and, fortifying that edifice against the assailants, obstinately resisted their attack for five days; but the enemy having erected a battery, which they brought to bear upon it, the royalists were compelled to surrender. Their number was one thousand six hundred, of whom three hundred were taken prisoners, and ten pieces of ordnance, with a large quantity of arms and ammunition, fell into the hands of the enemy. The royalists seem, however, to have soon regained possession of the town, for in less than three months it was again attacked by the parliamentarians, who carried it by storm, when the former lost six hundred men and eight pieces of cannon. In 1648, a numerous body of Scottish troops, under the command of the Duke of Hamilton, on their retreat after the battle of Ribbledale, rallied at Warrington; and, after an obstinate but unsuccessful encounter with the parliamentarian forces under General Lambert, m which one thousand men were slain, the remainder, consisting of two thousand, surrendered themselves prisoners of war. The same general, in 1651, encountered the Scottish army, under the command of the young king, near this town, and repulsed them with. considerable loss. Towards the close of the Interregnum, Sir George Booth, Knight of the shire, who had been a strenuous supporter of the parliament, being dissatisfied with the conduct of public affairs, and anxious for the reestablishment of a free parliament under a legitimate head, raised-a considerable force, in 1658; but, after a severe engagement with the forces under General Lambert, at Winnington bridge, near Delamere Forest, he was defeated, and part of his army retreating to Warrington, the men were arrested in their flight by the parliamentary garrison stationed in that town: the services of Sir George, on this occasion, procured for him, after the Restoration, the title of Baron Delamere of Dunham Massey. Since the erection of the bridge over the Mersey, Warrington, as a military station, was regarded as commanding the entrance into the county of Lancaster 5 and, in 1745, on the approach of the army under Prince-Charles Edward, the young pretender, who was advancing from Manchester, the central arches were demolished by the Liverpool Blues, who, having thus intercepted their progress, captured part- of the rebel army, whom the'y sent prisoners to Chester castle; the bridge was repaired in, 1747, but afterwards becoming much dilapidated, it was taken down, and a wooden bridge on stone piers was erected, in 1812, at the joint expense of the counties of Chester and Lancaster. . The town, which is pleasantly situated on the river Mersey, consists of four principal streets diverging from the centre, and intersected by several smaller; they' are in general narrow and inconvenient, but are undergoing considerable improvement, under the superintendence of commissioners appointed by an act of parliament obtained in 1813: the houses are, for the greater part, of indifferent appearance, but interspersed with numerous respectable modern edifices, which form a striking contrast. It is well paved, under the provisions of the act; lighted with gas by a company incorporated in 1822, whose works, on a very extensive scale in Mersey-street, were erected at an expense of £15,000, advanced on shares of £20 each; and amply supplied with water by public works. The public subscription library was established in 1760, and is well supported. A Floral and HorticulturalSocietyarenowunited,the former of which originated in 1817, and in 1824 was extended, to embrace the objects of the latter; a mechanics' institution was established in 1825; a neat and well arranged theatre is opened occasionally; and a handsome suite of assembly-rooms has been recently erected, which are well fitted up for the purpose. About seventy stage coaches pass daily through the town, serving to give it every appearance of bustle and animation. Warrington has been long celebrated as a place of trade: until the early part of the eighteenth century the principal branches of manufacture were coarse linen and checks, to which succeeded that of sail-cloth, which was carried on so extensively, that one-half of the sailcloth for the use of the British navy is computed to have been made here; the raw material, imported from Russia into Liverpool, was conveyed up the Mersey. On the decline of this branch of business after the peace, the spinning of cotton was introduced, together with the manufacture of muslin, calico, velveteen, and other cotton goods, which, with sail-cloth on a less extensive scale, constitute a very great portion of the trade of the town, and for the sale of which two cloth halls have been, erected. There are several considerable pin-manufactories, which is the principal staple trade; and the makingof files, for which the artificers have obtained a high degree of reputation, and other articles of hardware, employs'a great number of men. The manufacture of glass and glass bottles is also extensively carried on, there being several large establishments, of which the Bank Quay Glass Company is the chief. The manufacture of flint-glass has been subject to considerable fluctuation: at one period the export trade in this article to America was exceedingly great, but it is now almost annihilated; the Americans, in order to encourage their own manufactures, having imposed a tariff on English glass, which operates in many instances as a prohibition. A considerable trade is also carried on in malt, and there are several tanneries, soap-manufactories, and breweries; the ale of this place is in high repute. In the production of these different articles of manufacture, about twenty steam-engines, equal in extent of power to nearly four hundred horses, are employed in the town and its vicinity. The soil in the neighbourhood is extremely fertile, and productive of early vegetables for the supply of the neighbouring markets: formerly large quantities of potatoes were exported to the counties bordering on the Mediterranean, but since the increase of the population in the neighbouring districts, that species of traffic has been discontinued. The Mersey and Irwell navigation affords a direct communication with Manchester, and the other districts with which that town is connected, by various canals. The Sankey canal, commencing at the river Mersey, about one mile westward of the town, and approaching very near its northern extremity, was the first formed in the county, the act for its construction having been obtained in 1755; it extends about twelve miles to the collieries near St. Helen's, is crossed by eighteen swivel bridges, and by it about one hundred thousand tons of coal, at one shilling per ton, are conveyed to Liverpool, and' for the glass-works at Warrington. In the year 1830, a railway, with two collateral branches, was constructed from this town to join the new one betweenManchester and Liverpool, at Newton in Mackerfield, and subsequently an act was obtained to extend it across the latter, until- it reached the branch from the borough of Wigan; goods are conveyed by it at rates varying from three halfpence to sixpence per ton per mile.On the river Mersey was formerly a valuable fishery, which, in 1763, was let for £400 per annum: it abounded with salmon and smelts of very superior quality, but has now greatly declined, not only in the quantity, but also in the size ana flavour, of the fish. At spring tides the water in this river rises to a height varying from ten to twelve feet at Warrington bridge, at which times vessels of from seventy to one hundred tons' burden can sail up to the quay a little above the town, where warehouses and other accommodations have been erected. The town, from its situation as regards Liverpool and Manchester, enjoys considerable traffic, having a constant communication, both by land and water, with those places. The market days are Wednesday and Saturday; the former, which is the principal, is abundantly supplied with corn, and the latter with provisions of every kind; there is also a large cattle market every alternate Wednesday. The fairs are July 18th and November 30th, each continuing ten days, for the sale of woollen cloth and other goods, and for horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs; The market hall, a neat and convenient building in the market-place, used on market days for the sale of corn, is, during the fairs, let to different tenants, for the sale of flannels and other goods; over it is a good suite of rooms, in which the assemblies were formerly held. Adjoining the market-house is the principal cloth hall, occupying three sides of a quadrangle; the ground floor is divided into shops for the sale of linen-drapery, fustians, hardware, and toys, during the fairs, and the upper part is used for the sale of cloths. There is also a cloth hall on a smaller scale in Buttermarket-street. The town is within the jurisdiction of the county magistrates, who hold a petty session for the division on the first and third Wednesdays in every month; and constables and other officers are appointed, annually in October, at the court leet of the lord of the manor. The town hall, a neat building, in which the petty sessions are held, was erected in 1820, at an expense of £2800, raised by subscription among the inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester, rated in the king's books at £40, endowed with £400 private benefaction, £600 royal bounty, and £1200 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of Lord Lilford. The ancient church, dedicated to St. Elfin, which was of Saxon origin, existed at the time of the Conquest; of this there are few remains, the site being occupied by the present church, dedicated to St. Helen, a spacious and ancient cruciform structure, of various styles of architecture, with a central tower, which, with the piers and arches supporting it, and the chancel, are parts of the original building, being a fine specimen of the decorated style of English architecture: the windows of the chancel, particularly the east window, are enriched with elegant tracery of beautiful design; the north transept is in the later style of English architecture, of an inferior character, and the nave and south transept are modern additions. Two of the ancient sepulchral chapels are remaining, in one of which is the magnificent tomb of Sir Thomas Boteler and his lady, with their effigies, the former in armour, and both surrounded by various sculptured figures; in the other, which formerly belonged to the family of Massey, are several monuments to the Patten family, one of which is embellished with an elegant specimen of Italian sculpture to the memory of Thomas Wilson Patten, Esq., who died at Naples in 1819. This church has recently received an addition of two hundred and eighty-eight sittings, of which one hundred and ninety-eight are free, the Incorporated Society for enlarging and building churches and chapels having granted £100 towards defraying the expense. Trinity chapel, in Sankey-street, is a neat and commodious edifice; the living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of Thomas Legh, Esq. The first stone of a new church, to be erected by grant from the parliamentary commissioners, and to be dedicated to St. Paul, was laid in Bewsey-street, on the 11th of August, 1829; the living will be a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Rector. There' are places of worship for Baptists, the Society of Friends, those in the late Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion, Independents, Independent and Wesleyan Methodists, Unitarians, and Roman Catholics. The free grammar school was founded and amply endowed, in 1526, by a member of the Boteler family; by a decree of the court of Chancery, in 1820, the trustees were ordered to pay the master a salary of £300 per annum, with the gratuitous use of the schoolhouse, garden, and land adjoining, and to increase it when the number of scholars should exceed thirty-- the same order directs the usher's salary to be from' £60 to £100 per annum, and the writing-master's from £40 to £60: the school, which is under the patronage of Lord Lilford, who appoints the master, is open to all boys of the parish who have attained the age of seven: the late Rt. Hon. George Tierney was educated here. The Blue-coat school, in Winwick-streetwas established in 1677, and is supported partly by subscription, and partly by an income arising from be- nefactions and legacies vested in the purchase of land, producing more than £200 per annum; this establishment has also the reversion of an estate at Sankey worth £6000, granted by John Watkins, Esq., in 1797; and the reversionary interest of an estate in the county of Bedford, given, in 1685, by Arthur BorroQj Esq.: one hundred and fifty boys and forty girls are instructed in it, of which number, fourteen boys and ten girls are also clothed. A charity school, established in 1814, in the same street, and in which one hundred and fifty girls are taught to read and sew; and an infant school, opened in 1826, are supported by subscription; and nearly three thousand children are instructed in the various Sunday schools in connexion with the established church and the dissenting congregations. A society for the relief of widows and orphans of clergymen of the archdeaconry of Chester was established in the early part of the last century, under the patronage of the bishop of the diocese, and is liberally supported. The dispensary was established in 1810, and an appropriate building erected for its use in 1818, at an expense of £1030: from this institution, to which a branch of the Royal Humane Society has been annexed, not less than one thousand persons annually derive medical relief. A ladies' society, for affording relief to lying-in women, was established in 1819'- there are also various other institutions and provident societies for promoting the religious instruction and the comfort of the poor, and divers funds for charitable uses. Orford Hall, about a mile from the town, was the residence of John Blackburne, Esq., a celebrated botanist; he was the second person that succeeded in raising the pine apple in England; he was also successful in the cultivation of the cotton tree, which he "brought to a considerable degree of perfection, and died in 1796, at the advanced age of ninety-six. Litherland, the inventor of the patent lever watch, was a native of this town. Warrington formerly' gave the title of earl to the family of Booth, which, after becoming extinct, was revived, in 1796, in the family of Grey, who are now Earls of Staniford and Warrington.