{"id":2226,"date":"2020-02-29T22:02:09","date_gmt":"2020-02-29T22:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/travel\/?p=2226"},"modified":"2021-06-22T12:51:47","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T11:51:47","slug":"warrington-the-five-minute-spare-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/travel\/warrington-the-five-minute-spare-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Warrington: The Five Minute Spare Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Warrington One of Cheshire\u2019s Many Hidden Gems!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Want to get to know a place but don\u2019t have much time? Do it with Five Minutes Spare!<\/a><\/p>\n

In order to get to know more about this fine town, we paid it a visit and got to grips with the locals. Want to know where to party in Warrington, what to visit or where to spend your time? We did too, so we took a peek to try and find out more. Join us for a five-minute foray into Warrington and find out if it matches up to your expectations. It certainly exceeded ours.<\/p>\n

Rumour has it that Warrington was founded by the Romans\u2026 so let\u2019s start with them, in a little camp around a crossing place in the river\u2026<\/p>\n

Long Ago and Far Away\u2026<\/h2>\n

Back in the days when England didn\u2019t exist yet, the River Mersey was a formidable obstacle for anyone travelling between Manchester and Liverpool. There was a natural fjord where it was shallower, and thus Warrington was born. Archaeological evidence shows that this Fjord has been in use since the Bronze Age, where it was presumably used as a natural crossing point in the river.<\/p>\n

There was no bridge at Warrington fjord until around 1285. Away back in the beginning of the town, however, this would have been the main reason to colonise the area. The Romans had a small settlement in Wilderspool in the same area as Warrington around 40 AD. When they left Britain around 100 AD, they would have left a small ghost town behind them.<\/p>\n

The next mention of Warrington as a town was in 1070 AD, a short few years after the Norman invasion. King William had a castle built in Warrington \u2013 again, probably because of that fjord. It was only wooden though. A strange choice for a castle built beside a river with access to river stones. It suggests it was a hurried affair.<\/p>\n

By the time of the Domesday<\/a> Survey (the first \u2018census\u2019 of England\u2019s lands) in 1086, Warrington is noted to have had only one \u2018owner\u2019 at the time, named Roger of Poitou. Roger owned one church \u2013 that was St Elphin\u2019s Church<\/a>. To this very day you can still attend a service there, although don\u2019t worry \u2013 it isn\u2019t the original building\u2026<\/p>\n

Poitou also owned two plough teams and the land made him 8 pounds a year. There were households of 8 men on the land, so that gives you an idea of how small it was. It is considered one of the smaller settlements of the time. Nevertheless, it was one of the hundred of Warrington. It would not have been named so if it wasn\u2019t an important place.<\/p>\n

A Little Later<\/h2>\n

Warrington wasn\u2019t mentioned much throughout the next few years. It would have been a sleepy little village that marked a crossing point in the river. In the 12th<\/sup> century it was granted its first charter, turning it into an official market town and allowing them to hold an annual fair. By 1277 the fair became bi-annually, and the town would have flourished.<\/p>\n

In the 13th<\/sup> century friars came to town\u2026 Augustinian Friars to be precise. They established a friary in Church Street near where the bridge was built. This would have been a direct attempt at claiming passing traffic for conversion. In 1495 it is thought that the monks had a hand in replacing the wooden bridge with a stone one. The friary was closed in 1539 by an angry Henry VIII when he declared war on the church.<\/p>\n

The last mention we found of the friary was in the late 18th<\/sup> century, when a local gentleman wrote to the paper regarding a friend of his. This young lady had frequented her aunt\u2019s home in Warrington when she was a young girl. One such summer she told him she had spied an old friar wandering the garden. Her aunt\u2019s house, they say, was on the old friary grounds<\/a>. So perhaps more of the friary survived than meets the eye.<\/p>\n

Fun Warrington Facts!<\/h2>\n

Warrington doesn\u2019t just have ghosts in every friary street, it has other interesting aspects that most people don\u2019t know about. Here are some of our Five Minutes Spare<\/a> favourite fun Warrington facts:<\/p>\n