Widnes

"WIDNES, a township and town in the parish of Prescot, hundred of West Derby, county Lancaster, 5 miles S.E. of Prescot, 6 from Warrington, and 13 N.W. of Liverpool. It has stations on the Manchester and Liverpool and St. Helen's section of the London and North-Western, and Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire railways. It is situated opposite Runcorn on the navigable river Mersey, here joined by the Sankey canal, and on the Liverpool and St. Helen's, and Warrington and Garston railways. The township includes the town of Widnes, with a population, in 1861, of 4,803, the ecclesiastical district of St. Mary's, with 3,872, the villages of Appleton, Fearnworth, Widnes Docks, and Wood-End, and the hamlets of Hanging Birch, Lane End, Lunt's Heath, and Upton. There are extensive chemical, soap, alkali, and copper smelting works, oil mills, boat-building yards, factories for watch and clock movements, and brickfields. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Chester. The church of St. Mary was erected in 1856. The Wesleyans have a chapel. There are National, British, and Wesleyan schools. The Marquis of Cholmondeley is lord of the manor."

"FARNWORTH, a chapelry in the parish of Prescot, hundred of West Derby, county palatine Lancaster, 4 miles S.E. of Prescot, and 82 N.W. of Warrington, its post town. It includes the townships of Bold, Cronton, Ditton, and Widness. The St. Helens and Lancashire and Yorkshire railway has a station here. Sailcloth, canvas, and watch movements are manufactured in this neighbourhood. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Chester, value £172, in the gift of the vicar of the parish. The church is an ancient structure, with handsome E. window, dedicated to St. Luke. The grammar school founded by Bishop Smith in the reign of Henry VIII. has an endowment of £50 per annum. In the vicinity are a number of respectable residences."

"LUNT'S HEATH, a hamlet in the parish of Prescot, and township of Widnes, county palatine of Lancaster, 5 miles S.E. of Prescot. It is situated in the vicinity of the river Mersey."

"LANE ENDS, a hamlet in the parish of Prescot, and township of Widnes, county Lancaster, 5 miles S.E. of Prescot."

"HANGING BIRCH, a hamlet in the parish of Prescot, and township of Widnes, county Lancaster, 4 miles S.E. of Prescot."

"FARNWORTH, a village in the township of Widness, parish of Prescot, hundred of West Derby, county palatine Lancaster,"

"APPLETON, a village in the township of Widness, in the parish of Prescot, hundred of West Derby, in the county palatine of Lancaster, 5 miles to the S.E. of Prescot. The river Mersey flows to the south of the village, which is a station on the St. Helen's branch of the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway. The Wesleyan Methodists have a chapel here."

"FARNWORTH, a village, a chapelry, and a sub-district, in Prescot parish and district, Lancashire. The village stands near the St. Helen's and Runcorn Gap railway, 2¾ miles N by E of Runcorn Gap, and 4¾ SE of Prescot; and has a station on the railway, and a post office under Warrington. The chapelry is partly in Warrington district; and was constituted in 1859. Pop. of the Warrington d. part, 1,539; of the whole, 6,447. Houses in the W. d. part, 283; in the whole, 1,191. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Chester. Value, £300.* Patron, the Vicar of Prescot. The church is ancient, and was recently restored. Another church, at Widnes Dock, was built in 1858, and designed with a view to enlargement. There is a free grammar-school. William Smith, the founder of Brasenose college, Oxford, and bishop of Lincoln, was born in this chapelry, at Peel House. The sub-district comprises the townships of Widnes, Cronton, Ditton, and Bold. Acres, 10,861. Pop., 8,879. Houses, 1,599."