The New International Encyclopædia/Cheshire

CHESHIRE, chĕsh′ēr (for Chestershire, from Chester, the capital of the county + shire). A maritime county in the west of England, bounded north by the river Mersey and partly by the Irish Sea (Map: England, D 3). Its area is 1009 square miles. The surface forms an extensive, nearly level plain between the Derbyshire and Welsh mountains, chiefly occupied by grazing and dairy tracts, which are among the most important in England. Dairy farming and cheese-making are the principal agricultural industries. Cheshire is also an important manufacturing county. The chief mineral products are rock salt and coal. The chief towns are Chester (the county town), Macclesfield, Stockport, Congleton, Knutsford, and Birkenhead. Population, in 1891, 730,058; in 1901, 814,550.