For other places with the same name, see Cheshire (disambiguation).
Cheshire is a county in north west England. It shares borders with Merseyside and Greater Manchester in the north, Derbyshire in the east, Shropshire and Staffordshire in the south, and the Welsh county of Clwyd to the west.
Prior to boundary changes in 1974 and the creation of areas like Greater Manchester and Merseyside, Cheshire included everything south of the Mersey such as Sale, Hyde, Stockport, all of Wirral, and continued up to the Welsh border near Chester. The boundary changes led to some gains and some losses, Widnes and Warrington were added to Cheshire.
The Cheshire accent is not a strong regional accent and is often associated with Received Pronunciation (RP), but several regional accents and dialects like Scouse are common in Cheshire, due to the proximity to cities like Liverpool and Manchester.
Crewe, Wilmslow and Warrington Bank Quay are on the West Coast Mainline, which gives them good connections to London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh and a variety of other destinations. Chester has more infrequent services to and from London and the Midlands, and regular services to and from North Wales, Manchester and Liverpool served by Merseyrail. These last two are largely commuter lines, so do not expect major luxury, though they pass through enjoyable country scenery. Neston station in Cheshire also serves the Borderlands Line to mid-Wirral.
Cheshire is famous for its countryside and largely unspoilt landscapes.
- Ashton Canal through Ancoats, Clayton, Droylsden, Audenshaw and Ashton-under-Lyne
- Peak Forest Canal through Dukinfield, Hyde, Woodley, Bredbury, Romiley and Marple
- Macclesfield Canal through High Lane, Higher Poynton, Bollington, Macclesfield, Bosley and Congleton
- Trent and Mersey Canal through Kidsgrove, Church Lawton, Rode Heath, Wheelock, Middlewich, Northwich and Anderton
- Bridgewater Canal through Preston Brook (near Runcorn), Lymm and Sale
- Rochdale Canal back into Manchester.
Cheshire cheese is a dense and semi-hard cheese, which is defined by its moist, crumbly texture and mild, salty taste. First mentioned in 1580 by Thomas Muffet in his book, Health's Improvement, Cheshire cheese is one of the oldest recorded named cheeses in British history. Cheshire cheese is the UK's largest-selling crumbly cheese, with sales of around 6,000 tonnes per year.
North to Manchester, east into Derbyshire over the Pennines, West into Wales.
Primary administrative division