West Frontage Upper Bridge Street Warrington 04 Jan 2016

Bridge Street is one of the main thoroughfares of

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, England, linking the

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

centre to

Warrington Bridge Warrington Bridge is the name given to several historical bridges crossing the River Mersey in the town of Warrington, England. The current structure is the sixth to stand in this location and was constructed 1909–15 by Alfred Thorne & Sons. For ...

across the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed part ...

. The location earned nationwide recognition in the aftermath of the

Warrington bombings The Warrington bombings were two separate bomb attacks that took place during early 1993 in Warrington, Cheshire, England. The first attack happened on 26 February, when a bomb exploded at a gas storage facility. This first explosion caused ex ...

of 1993, where 2 people were killed and another 56 people were injured.

History

In the 18th century,

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the s ...

lodged at a silver smiths on Bridge Street whilst printing his works on prison reform, as commemorated in a plaque erected by the Warrington Society in 1906. One of the buildings to house the

Warrington Academy Warrington Academy, active as a teaching establishment from 1756 to 1782, was a prominent dissenting academy, that is, a school or college set up by those who dissented from the established Church of England. It was located in Warrington (then p ...

was located at the street's southern end. The street was widened in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and formed part of the

Warrington Corporation Tramways Warrington Corporation Tramways was the owner and operator of an electric tramway system in the early 20th century serving the town of Warrington, at the time a county borough of Lancashire, England. History Construction The town of Warrington ...

network. It was the site of a fatal IRA

bomb attack The following is a list of terrorist incidents that have not been carried out by a state or its forces (see state terrorism and state-sponsored terrorism). Assassinations are listed at List of assassinated people. Definitions of terroris ...

in 1993. A public art installation, the River of Life, has been located in Bridge Street since 1996 as a memorial to those killed and injured.

Architecture

The

faience Faience or faïence (; ) is the general English language term for fine tin-glazed pottery. The invention of a white pottery glaze suitable for painted decoration, by the addition of an oxide of tin to the slip of a lead glaze, was a major ad ...

-clad elevations of on the western frontage of upper Bridge Street are a particularly noteworthy examples of late Victorian and Edwardian architectural elegance. Above street level these remain largely unaltered. A rebuilt version of the Warrington Academy currently houses the offices of the ''

Warrington Guardian The ''Warrington Guardian'' is a local newspaper that has been published in Warrington, England, since 1853, originally published weekly on Saturdays.''The Literary and Educational Yearbook for 1859'', p. 287 In 1856 it was bought by Alexander Ma ...

''.

Conservation area

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

based on Bridge Street was designated in 1980. This was extended in 1995 to include the former Garnett Cabinet Works on the adjacent Barbauld Street.

Notes

{{Reflist Geography of Warrington