Editing Cheshire (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Cheshire|Timeline of Cheshire history}}

===Earldom===
[[File: Doomsday Book - Counties of England - 1086.png|thumb|left|The counties of England following the [[Norman Conquest]]. Cheshire held a strategic position on the Welsh border with the [[Hundred (county division)|hundreds]] between the rivers [[River Mersey|Mersey]] and [[River Ribble|Ribble]] (Inter Ripam et Mersam) to the north.]]
[[File:Wales 1234 (Marchia Wallie and Pura Wallia).svg|thumb|The strategic location of the [[Earl of Chester|Earldom of Chester]]; the only [[county palatine]] on the Welsh Marches.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wrexham.gov.uk/english/heritage/medieval_exhibition/struggles.htm |title=Wrexham County Borough Council: The Princes and the Marcher Lords |publisher=Wrexham.gov.uk |access-date=14 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230232130/http://www.wrexham.gov.uk/english/heritage/medieval_exhibition/struggles.htm |archive-date=30 December 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref><br /><br />{{legend|#87de87|Pura Wallia (independent Wales)}}{{legend|#aaeeff|Lands gained by [[Llywelyn the Great]] in 1234}}{{legend|#ffb380|Marchia Wallie (lands controlled by Norman Marcher barons)}}]]

After the [[Norman Conquest]] of 1066 by [[William the Conqueror|William I]], dissent and resistance continued for many years after the invasion. In 1069 local resistance in Cheshire was finally put down using draconian measures as part of the [[Harrying of the North]]. The ferocity of the campaign against the English populace was enough to end all future resistance. Examples were made of major landowners such as Earl [[Edwin of Mercia]], their properties confiscated and redistributed amongst Norman barons.

The earldom was sufficiently independent from the kingdom of England that the 13th-century [[Magna Carta]] did not apply to the shire of [[Chester]], so the [[Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester|earl]] wrote up his own [[Magna Carta of Chester|Chester Charter]] at the petition of his barons.<ref name=Hewitt>{{cite book |title=Mediaeval Cheshire: An Economic and Social History of Cheshire in the Reigns of the Three Edwards |last1=Hewitt |first1=Herbert James |location=Manchester |publisher=Manchester University Press |page=9 |date=1929 }}</ref>

===County Palatine===
William I made Cheshire a [[county palatine]] and gave [[Gerbod the Fleming, 1st Earl of Chester|Gerbod the Fleming]] the new title of [[Earl of Chester]]. When Gerbod returned to [[Normandy]] in about 1070, the king used his absence to declare the earldom forfeit and gave the title to [[Hugh d'Avranches]] (nicknamed Hugh Lupus, or "wolf"). Because of Cheshire's strategic location on the [[Welsh Marches]], the Earl had complete autonomous powers to rule on behalf of the king in the county palatine.

====Hundreds====
[[File:Cheshire domesday hundreds.svg|thumb|left|Hundreds of Cheshire in Domesday Book. Areas highlighted in pink became part of [[Flintshire (historic)|Flintshire]] in Wales.]]
Cheshire in the [[Domesday Book]] (1086) is recorded as a much larger county than it is today. It included two [[hundred (division)|hundreds]], Atiscross and Exestan, that later became part of North [[Wales]]. At the time of the Domesday Book, it also included as part of Duddestan Hundred the area of land later known as [[English Maelor]] (which used to be a detached part of [[Flintshire (historic)|Flintshire]]) in Wales.<ref>{{cite book |last=Davies |first=R. |title=The Age of Conquest: Wales 1063–1415 |year=2000 }}</ref> The area between the [[River Mersey|Mersey]] and [[River Ribble|Ribble]] (referred to in the Domesday Book as "Inter Ripam et Mersam") formed part of the returns for Cheshire.<ref>Morgan (1978). pp.269c–301c,d.</ref><ref name=sylvesterp14>Sylvester (1980). p. 14.</ref> Although this has been interpreted to mean that at that time south Lancashire was part of Cheshire,<ref name=sylvesterp14/><ref>Roffe (2000)</ref> more exhaustive research indicates that the boundary between Cheshire and what was to become Lancashire remained the [[River Mersey]].<ref>Harris and Thacker (1987) write on page 252: {{blockquote|Certainly there were links between Cheshire and south Lancashire before 1000, when [[Wulfric Spot]] held lands in both territories. Wulfric's estates remained grouped together after his death when they were left to his brother Aelfhelm, and indeed there still seems to have been some kind of connexion in 1086, when south Lancashire was surveyed together with Cheshire by the Domesday commissioners. Nevertheless, the two territories do seem to have been distinguished from one another in some way and it is not certain that the shire-moot and the reeves referred to in the south Lancashire section of Domesday were the Cheshire ones.}}</ref><ref>Phillips and Phillips (2002); pp. 26–31.</ref><ref>Crosby, A. (1996) writes on page 31: {{blockquote|The Domesday Survey (1086) included south Lancashire with Cheshire for convenience, but the Mersey, the name of which means 'boundary river' is known to have divided the kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia and there is no doubt that this was the real boundary.}}</ref> With minor variations in spelling across sources, the complete list of [[hundreds of Cheshire]] at this time are: Atiscross, Bochelau, Chester, Dudestan, Exestan, Hamestan, Middlewich, Riseton, Roelau, Tunendune, Warmundestrou and Wilaveston.<ref>Harris, B. E., and Thacker, A. T. (1987); pages 340–341.</ref>

====Feudal baronies====
There were 8 feudal baronies in Chester, the barons of Kinderton, Halton, Malbank, Mold, Shipbrook, Dunham-Massey, and the honour of Chester itself. Feudal baronies or baronies by tenure were granted by the Earl as forms of [[feudal land tenure]] within the palatinate in a similar way to which the king granted [[English feudal barony|English feudal baronies]] within England proper. An example is the barony of Halton.<ref>Sanders, I.J. English Baronies, a Study of their Origin and Descent 1086–1327, Oxford, 1960, p.138, refers to the "Lord" of Halton being the hereditary constable of the County Palatine of Chester, but omits Halton from both his lists of English feudal baronies</ref> One of Hugh d'Avranche's barons has been identified as Robert Nicholls, Baron of Halton and Montebourg.<ref>Crosby, A. A History of Cheshire; Norman Chapter</ref>

====North Mersey to Lancashire====
In 1182, the land north of the Mersey became administered as part of the new county of [[Lancashire]], resolving any uncertainty about the county in which the land "Inter Ripam et Mersam" was.<ref>{{cite book |last=George |first=D. |title=Lancashire |url=https://archive.org/details/lancashireREED00georuoft |year=1991 |access-date=18 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160901105954/https://archive.org/details/lancashireREED00georuoft |archive-date=1 September 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> Over the years, the ten hundreds consolidated and changed names to leave just seven—Broxton, Bucklow, Eddisbury, Macclesfield, Nantwich, Northwich and Wirral.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cheshire ancient divisions |work=Vision of Britain website |url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10193850 |access-date=6 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070506230322/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10193850 |archive-date=6 May 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Principality: Merging of Palatine and Earldom===
[[File:Cestriae (Cheshire) Comitatus (Romanis Legionibus et Colonys olim infignis) vera et abfoluta effigies. Chriftophorus Saxton defcripfit. Francifcus Scatterus fculpfit Anno Dno 1577. RMG L8558-001.jpg|thumb|Map of Cheshire by Christopher Saxton from 1577.]]
In 1397 the county had lands in the [[march of Wales]] added to its territory, and was promoted to the rank of principality. This was because of the support the men of the county had given to King Richard II, in particular by his standing armed force of about 500 men called the "Cheshire Guard". As a result, the King's title was changed to "King of England and France, Lord of Ireland, and Prince of Chester". No other English county has been honoured in this way, although it lost the distinction on Richard's fall in 1399.<ref>Davies, R. R. 'Richard II and the Principality of Chester' in ''The Reign of Richard II: Essays in Honour of May McKisack'', ed. [[F. R. H. Du Boulay]] and Caroline Baron (1971)</ref>

===Lieutenancy: North split-off===
====District====
The [[Redcliffe-Maud Report]] of 1969 suggested that Cheshire be abolished as an administrative county, with its parts subdivided between Merseyside, Stoke-on-Trent and [what was then called] South-East Lancashire & North East Cheshire (SELNEC). A series of compromises between the report and its implementation retained Cheshire as an administrative county.

Through the [[Local Government Act 1972]], which came into effect on 1 April 1974, some areas in the north became part of the metropolitan counties of [[Greater Manchester]] and [[Merseyside]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Jones |first=B. |title=Politics UK |year=2004 |display-authors=etal}}</ref> [[Stockport]] (previously a county borough), [[Altrincham]], [[Hyde, Greater Manchester|Hyde]], [[Dukinfield]] and [[Stalybridge]] in the north-east became part of Greater Manchester. Much of the [[Wirral Peninsula]] in the north-west, including the county boroughs of Birkenhead and Wallasey, joined Merseyside as the [[Metropolitan Borough of Wirral]]. At the same time the [[Tintwistle Rural District]] was transferred to [[Derbyshire]]. The area of south Lancashire not included within either the Merseyside or Greater Manchester counties, including [[Widnes]] and the county borough of [[Warrington]], was added to the new non-metropolitan county of Cheshire.<ref name="fipqxl">Local Government Act 1972</ref>

====District and Unitary====
[[Halton (borough)|Halton]] and [[Warrington]] became unitary authorities independent of Cheshire County Council on 1 April 1998, but remain part of Cheshire for ceremonial purposes and also for fire and policing.<ref name="Ref-1">{{cite web |title=The Cheshire (Boroughs of Halton and Warrington) (Structural Change) Order 1996 |work=Office of Public Sector Information |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1996/1863/contents/made |access-date=6 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101219141424/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1996/1863/contents/made |archive-date=19 December 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref> Halton is part of [[Liverpool City Region]] [[combined authority]], which also includes the five [[metropolitan borough]]s of [[Merseyside]].

A referendum for a further local government reform connected with an elected [[regional assemblies in England|regional assembly]] was planned for 2004, but was abandoned following the decisive 'no' vote in [[2004 North East England devolution referendum|a similar referendum in North East England]].

====Unitary====
As part of the [[2009 structural changes to local government in England|local government restructuring]] in April 2009, [[Cheshire County Council]] and the Cheshire districts were abolished and replaced by two new unitary authorities, [[Cheshire East]] and [[Cheshire West and Chester]]. The existing unitary authorities of [[Halton (borough)|Halton]] and [[Warrington]] were not affected by the change.