Visit Warrington Places

Welcome to Visit Warrington Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Warrington

  

Warrington Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Warrington

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Warrington history

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Early history

Warrington has been a major crossing point on the River Mersey since ancient times . The first reference to a bridge at Warrington is found in 1285 . The origin of the modern town was located in the area around St Elphin’s Church, now included in the Church Street Conservation Area .

English Civil War

Warrington was a fulcrum in the English Civil War . The armies of Oliver Cromwell and the Earl of Derby both stayed near the old town centre . Dents in the walls of the parish church are rumoured to have been caused by cannons .

Industrial history

The expansion and urbanisation of Warrington largely coincided with the Industrial Revolution . As Britain became industrialised, Warrington embraced the industrial revolution becoming a manufacturing town and a centre of steel (particularly wire) and textiles .

Second World War

During World War II, RAF Burtonwood served as the largest US Army Air Force airfield outside the United States . Humphrey Bogart and Bob Hope entertained the GIs during the war . The RAF station continued to be used by the USAAF and subsequently USAF as a staging post for men and material until 1993 .

Post-war expansion

Warrington was designated a new town in 1968 and consequently the town grew in size . Many of the town’s new residents moved from Liverpool or Manchester . Heavy industry declined in the 1970s and 1980s but the growth of the new town led to a great increase in employment .

IRA bombing

The Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated two bombs in Warrington town centre in 1993 . The blasts killed two children: Johnathan Ball, three, and Tim Parry, 12, . Around 56 other people were injured, four seriously . Their deaths provoked widespread condemnation of the organisation responsible .

Other history

Warrington was the first place to field a candidate for the new Social Democratic Party . Former Home Secretary Roy Jenkins stood for Parliament but lost to Labour Party candidate Doug Hoyle . IKEA opened its first British store in the Burtonwood area of the town in 1987 .

Warrington culture & places

Warrington has a concert hall (the Parr Hall), an arts centre (the Pyramid), three museums, and various public libraries throughout the borough. Warrington Borough Council made an unsuccessful bid to become the UK City of Culture in 2021.

Museums

Warrington Museum & Art Gallery is situated in Warrington’s Cultural Quarter on the first floor of a building it currently shares with Warrington Central Library . The town is also home to the Museum of Policing in Cheshire, located in part of the working police station . A heritage centre for the village of Lymm was given planning permission in February 2016 .

Events

Warrington Walking Day – originally a Sunday school festival – is held on the closest Friday to the last day of June . The town centre is closed to traffic as churches walk together through the streets . Other festivals, besides the many walking days, include: Carnivals, carnivals and walking days .

Music

Warrington has a purpose-built concert hall, the Parr Hall, which houses a large and internationally famous concert pipe-organ made by the great nineteenth-century French organ-builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll . The Stone Roses are closely associated with the town, particularly the native lead singer Ian Brown .

Heritage

Warrington contains many significant listed buildings, including Warrington Town Hall, St Elphin’s Church and Warrington Museum . The historic core of Warrington is situated within Conservation Areas .

Warrington economy & business

Leisure

Gulliver’s World theme park is located in Old Hall, Apple Jack’s Farm is situated in Stretton . Pitch and putt and crazy golf are available at Walton Hall and Gardens . A Laser Quest arena and a snooker club can also be found in Warrington .

Developments

Warrington is developing a new Local Plan but plans to build 24,000 new homes were scaled back . The four main areas of growth as outlined in the planning were the waterfront around the River Mersey, the town centre, the Garden City Suburb and the south west urban extension .

Warrington landmarks

Churches and other religious buildings

The 14th-century Parish Church of St Elphin, largely a Victorian rebuild with a 281-foot (86 m) spire, is the sixth tallest in the UK . St Wilfrid’s Church, Grappenhall, Grade I listed medieval church, St Oswald’s Church and St Mary’s Church in Winwick are Grade II listed medieval churches .

Civic amenities

Warrington Museum & Art Gallery is Grade II listed building and one of the oldest municipal museums in the UK Warrington Town Hall (and its golden gates), formerly Bank Hall (built 1750) is home to a rare concert pipe-organ made by the great French organ-builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll Pyramid Arts Centre on Palmyra Square .

Industrial and commercial structures

Warrington Transporter Bridge is Grade II* listed building and Scheduled Ancient Monument . The Barley Mow, established in 1561, is the oldest pub in Warrington . The Cheshire Lines railway warehouse, now redeveloped as apartments .

Other

The Warrington Academy was a dissenters’ institute where Joseph Priestley once taught . After the academy moved, the building housed the offices of the local newspaper the Warrington Guardian until June 2016 .

Warrington geography / climate

Warrington is bordered by Halton, Cheshire West and Chester boroughs in the ceremonial county of Cheshire and by the metropolitan boroughs of Trafford, Salford and Wigan in Greater Manchester and St. Helens in Merseyside.

Subdivisions, suburbs and civil parishes of Warrington

The Borough of Warrington is subdivided into 18 civil parishes and various suburbs . The unparished area is an unparish area of the central town, Warrington . The Borough is divided between Appleton Thorn, Birchwood, Burtonwood and Westbrook .

Climate

Warrington has a temperate maritime climate with warm summers and cool winters . Rain is spread across the year, with thunderstorms only usually occurring in the summer months . Summer heat waves are rare but can cause temperatures to exceed 30 °C . Summers are usually snow free and rarely experience high winds . Winters are generally cold, with most days around 0 °C with lying snow lasting weeks .

You can visit Warrington places with Walkfo Warrington to hear history at Warrington’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Warrington has 56 places to visit in our interactive Warrington map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Warrington, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Warrington places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Warrington & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 56 audio facts unique to Warrington places in an interactive Warrington map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Warrington Places Map
56 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Warrington historic spots	Warrington tourist destinations	Warrington plaques	Warrington geographic features
Walkfo Warrington tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Warrington

  

Best Warrington places to visit

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Warrington has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Warrington’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Warrington’s information audio spots:

Moore Nature Reserve Moore Nature Reserve is a nature reserve in the village of Moore in Halton, Cheshire, England . Created from an area which had included a sand quarry and farmland, and run by FCC Environment who operate the nearby Arpley landfill site . The reserve is considered one of the best places in Cheshire for birdwatching .

St Thomas’ Church, Stockton Heath St Thomas’ Church is in Stockton Heath, to the south of Warrington, Cheshire, England. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.

Visit Warrington plaques