Warrington
Warrington photos (62 available)
Warrington maps (2 available)
Map of Cheshire
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Warrington books (14 available)
Warrington Photographic Memories
Paperback
Macclesfield Town and City Memories
Hardback
- 53 photos on Warrington appear in 2 Frith books - View photos of Warrington
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Warrington and Cheshire
Warrington memories
Read and share memories of Warrington and Cheshire inspired by Frith photos
Ike Smith''s Hardware and Bicycle Store
My grandfather, Isaac Smith, had a hardware and bicycle shop on these premises, known universally as the 'Tudor Cottages', from some time towards the close of WW1 to the late 1930s. The premises were owned by Rylands Bros, the nearby wire works, at which Ike (also Ikey) had worked at one time (I infer from census records), and at which his oldest son Arthur later worked until 1955. He set up his business, my father told me, with the compensation he received from being temporarily blinded (for about 6 months), while working on top secret poison gas research while he was a foreman at Warrington Gas Works, sometime around 1916. The whole family, including the children, were apparently required to sign ...read more here
Contributed by stan smith
The Queen's Visit.
I remember as a youngster my mum and dad talking of the Queen's forthcoming visit to Warrington and how the statue of Oliver Cromwell was to be covered so as not to upset her. They eventually moved the statue to a less visible place and the side of the Academy.
Contributed by Ian Miller
Sad Demise
Sadly we see very few ships passing down the Manchester Ship Canal these days. When I was a kid I lived in Latchford not far from the locks. We used to spend many hours watching the ships pass through the locks on there way to Liverpool or Manchester. We were occasionally rewarded by a pack of cigarettes or sweets thrown by the crew to us kids. Happy days.
Contributed by Ian Miller
Childhood
My friend and I would await the arrival of American ships on their way to Manchester. We would shout "got any gum chum?!" to the crews. We would occasionally be rewarded by a packet of sweets being thrown from the ship. Far tastier than the English equivalent!
Contributed by Harry Roscoe
Happy times
The building at the top of the picture with the advert on was a grocers called Hendrey Millings. I worked there as a young man and had my first encounter with the opposite sex!!!
Contributed by leslie edge
Extracts From Warrington & Cheshire books
Although a church dedicated to St Elphin is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, there had probably been a place of worship here from the 7th century. The site of the Parish Church was a natural centre for a settlement, on raised ground overlooking the ancient ford over the Mersey. By the early 13th century it stood at the heart of the medieval village of Warrington, and adjoining the lord of the manor’s castle. Much of the present building dates from Victorian reconstruction work commissioned by Rector William Quekett between 1858-62.
An extract from from"Warrington Photographic Memories".
St Katherine’s Chapel was part of the complex which formed Warrington Teachers’ Training College. In the early hours of 28 December 1923 a devastating fire swept through the main buildings beside the Parish Church, and by daylight only a blackened shell remained. The chapel survived, and later became a community centre in the new housing estate at St Katherine’s Way.
An extract from from"Warrington Photographic Memories".
Oliver Cromwell did not sleep here! However, popular history associates these Tudor cottages on the corner of Eldon Street with Cromwell’s visit to Warrington in 1648 whilst pursuing the Scottish army. He actually lodged next door at the Spotted Leopard Inn (later the General Wolfe pub). At the time of this photograph, Mason’s Stores were selling herb beer from one of the cottages!
An extract from from"Warrington Photographic Memories".
By 1894, the Old Fox Inn had closed its doors in the face of competition from the newer Crown and Sceptre Inn to its left. A variety of tenants succeeded Beswick, including Charlie Lee’s oyster shop and Lewis’ Old Curiosity Shop, before demolition threatened in 1912 with the widening of Buttermarket Street. In an attempt to preserve the 17th-century building, its timbers were carefully numbered and it was dismantled for re-assembly on a new site. The grandiose scheme came to nothing as the First World War intervened, and the remains of the Old Fox lay rotting in Victoria Park.
An extract from from"Warrington Photographic Memories".
Warrington’s Town Hall was originally Bank Hall, built between 1749-50 by the world-famous architect James Gibbs as a home for a local businessman, Thomas Patten. Gibbs had previously designed St Martin in the Fields church in London and the Radcliffe Library in Oxford, whilst Patten’s wealth came from his copper works at Bank Quay. The building was bought from the family to become Warrington’s Town Hall in 1872. The ornate gates replaced the brick wall which the Pattens had erected in Sankey Street to give them privacy from curious passers-by. Warrington’s ratepayers demanded the right to see their new seat of government!
An extract from from"Warrington Photographic Memories".