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Cheshire[chesh´ur] Pronunciation Key, county (1991 pop. 937,300), 901 sq mi (2,334 sq km), W central England. The county seat is Chester. The terrain is generally low, flat, and fertile. Its chief rivers are the Mersey and the Dee, which separates Cheshire from Wales. The Wirral peninsula divides the estuaries of the two rivers. The county is important agriculturally and industrially. It engages extensively in dairy farming and grows potatoes and wheat. Chief industries are;l engineering, salt mining, shipbuilding, oil refining, and the manufacture of railroad cars, textiles, textile machinery, soap, paper, and chemicals. The principal industrial centers include Northwich, Crewe, and Macclesfield.
Cheshire was made a palatinate by William I and maintained some of its privileges as such until 1830. The numerous black-and-white-timbered manor houses attest to the county's prosperity in the 16th and 17th cent. In the last century the population of the county greatly increased with the industrialization and suburbanization of the Wirral peninsula and the part of Cheshire just S of Manchester.
In 1974, most of Cheshire became part of the new nonmetropolitan county of Cheshire; NW Cheshire (including Birkenhead) became part of the former metropolitan county of Merseyside, and NE Cheshire (including Stockport) became part of the former metropolitan county of Greater Manchester. In 1998, Halton and Warrington in N Cheshire became administratively independent of the county.
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