Town in Cheshire, England
Widnes
Widnes once crossed the Mersey on a hanging platform, built the chemicals that powered Victorian Britain, and beat Australia's best rugby league side at Old Trafford.
.JPG){kind=link}
Key information
- County
- Cheshire
- Nation
- England
- Population
- About 61,000 (2011 Census)
- Known for
- Pioneering chemical industry, rugby league, the Mersey bridges
- What locals are called
- Widnesians
- Famous people
- Martin Offiah, Jonathan Davies, Alex Murphy (all part of the town's rugby league story)
- Football clubs
- Widnes FC (non-league); rugby league is the main sport
About Widnes
The town that made the chemicals
Widnes was a modest Mersey-side village until 1847, when John Hutchinson set up an alkali works here. Within a few decades the place was one of the great centres of the British chemical industry. The attraction was practical. Salt came from Cheshire, coal from the Lancashire coalfield, and the river and canals carried everything in and out. The chemical makers used the Leblanc process to turn salt into soda ash, which went into soap, glass and textiles. William Gossage, a soap and alkali maker, became one of the town's best-known industrialists, working on Spike Island beside the canal. The area's chemical works made Widnes famous across the country, though not always for its air quality.
A bridge that carried a gondola
For centuries, crossing the Mersey between Widnes and Runcorn meant a ferry. In 1905 the Widnes–Runcorn Transporter Bridge opened, with a platform hung from cables that carried carts, passengers and vehicles across the river. It worked until 1961, when it was replaced by a steel arch bridge. That bridge first opened as the Runcorn Bridge, then was renamed the Silver Jubilee Bridge in 1977. Traffic eventually outgrew it. The Mersey Gateway Bridge, a cable-stayed crossing, opened on 14 October 2017 and took much of the load. Locals now have two big bridges to argue about.
The Chemics and the day they beat Canberra
Rugby league is the sport that matters in Widnes. The club's nickname, the Chemics, comes straight from the town's industry, and the team has been a fixture of the game for well over a century. The golden age came in the late 1970s and 1980s. Widnes won the Challenge Cup in 1975, 1979, 1981 and 1984, earning a reputation as one of the toughest teams in the sport. The finest night may have been in 1989, when Widnes beat the Australian champions Canberra Raiders 30–18 at Old Trafford in the World Club Challenge. That side included Martin Offiah, whose speed made him one of the most thrilling wingers of his era, and the Welsh half-back Jonathan Davies. The club now plays as the Widnes Vikings.
A canal that started something
The Sankey Canal, opened in 1757 and often called the first true canal of the Industrial Revolution, was extended to reach Widnes in 1833. It brought coal to the works and took out chemicals, and it helped the town grow. The stretch near Spike Island is now a place for walks. It sits beside the remains of industrial Widnes, where old docks and works once dominated the riverbank. Visitors who want the story told properly can head for Catalyst Science Discovery Centre, devoted to the chemical industry. It began life as the Museum of the Chemical Industry in 1982 and took the Catalyst name in 1989. It sits on a hill above the river, close to the place where so much of it began.
What it's like now
Widnes has moved on from its smoky past. Parks and green spaces, including Victoria Park, give the town a gentler side, and the riverside is a place for walking rather than industry. The town's location is still its great advantage. It sits between Liverpool and Manchester, with the Mersey on one side and good road and rail links to both cities. Locals call themselves Widnesians, and they usually have strong views on which bridge is better and which Chemics team was the greatest.