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Widnes stands on the north bank
of the Mersey Estuary, where it narrows to form the Runcorn
Gap, opposite Runcorn.
Once in Lancashire, the area
became part of Cheshire in 1974 following a reorganisation
of local government.
Until the 19th century this was
a rural area, consisting of just a few villages.
Development began in 1847 when
a chemical factory, producing alkali, was opened at Spike
Island. This was soon followed by several others and
the town grew rapidly as social amenities and housing was
built for the factory employees.
By 1862 the town was producing
more alkali than any place in the world, as well as soap,
borax and bleaching powder, and there was also an iron and
copper works. In the 1890 the companies producing alkali
combined to form the United Alkali Company.
Widnes became heavily polluted
by smoke and the by-products of these industries.
The 1905 Widnes-Runcorn Transporter
Bridge, spanning the river Mersey, gave the town access to
Runcorn for the first time. In 1961 the Runcorn-Widnes
Bridge (or Silver Jubilee Bridge), replaced it.
Spike Island in the Mersey Estuary,
the birthplace of the British chemical industry, is now a
reclaimed toxic waste site.
The island is at the centre of
the Mersey Forest, one of the UK's Community Forests.
A surviving warehouse on the island houses the Catalyst Museum.
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Widnes
Catalyst Museum Mersey Road, Widnes WA8 0DF
