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Warrington Leasing

Did You Know?

The glitzy Golden Gates at the town hall in Warrington were originally designed for Sandringham Palace but were rejected by Queen Victoria who was not amused to see them displayed next to a statue of Oliver Cromwell who signed the death warrant of her predecessor, Charles I.

Warrington embraced the industrial revolution and became the centre of many industries, from copper smelting to sail-making and pin manufacture. The navigational properties of the River Mersey were improved, canals were built, and the town grew yet more prosperous and popular.

Question Time has been filmed in the past in Warrington in 2005, 2014, and 2019. 2005 saw Theresa May appear, alongside former host David Dimbleby, who chaired the debates until Fiona Bruce took over in 2019.

Historically, Warrington was located within Lancashire but, following local government reforms in 1974, it became a borough within Cheshire for administrative purposes.

Today Warrington has a population of about 209,000.  We have a thriving economy, a low unemployment rate and a high GVA, and we were ranked as one of the best places to live in the UK based on data for affordable housing, jobs, business, wellbeing, culture, transport and family life.

From Old Billy, the world’s longest-lived horse, to notable scientists, philosophers, organ builders, friars, and more recently actors and radio hosts, there are many famous figures who were born, lived or died in Warrington.

Warrington was a major centre for glassmaking between 1780 and 1820 with pressed glass being a key speciality. Notable figures included Peter Seaman, Josiah Perrin, Thomas Glazebrook, Thomas Robinson, Edward Boulton and the Cartwright family who operated out of the Bank Quay, Cockhedge and Orford Lane areas.

One of the earliest ‘performances’ of Shakespeare’s play Henry VIII may have occurred in Warrington! On Sunday 6th May 1632, nine men persuaded a Warrington ale house keeper called Gregory Harrison to let them use his loft after purchasing a ‘cann of alle’ (a can at the time was a kind of churn comprising several pints)

Warrington was founded in pre-Roman times at the crossing of the Mersey, and it became a medieval market town with tool and textile industries. Today it is an industrial area with sawmills, breweries, printers, and factories manufacturing metal and leather products and clothing.

In the 1700's and 1800's the wire industry was highly significant and this reflected in the nickname “The wire” which was given to the areas sports clubs and radio station.

In 1848 Warrington became the first town in the United Kingdom to open a rate-supported public library. It was born from a long-established private library that had been operating from the Horsemarket Street premises of the printer William Eyres since 1760