| Daresbury | |
|---|---|
 'The Ring 'O' Bells' public house, Daresbury | |
  Daresbury Location withinCheshire | |
| Population | 246 (2011 census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SJ5881 |
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Warrington |
| Postcode district | WA4 |
| Dialling code | 01925 |
| Police | Cheshire |
| Fire | Cheshire |
| Ambulance | North West |
| UK Parliament | |
| 53°20′25″N2°38′00″W / 53.3402°N 2.6332°W /53.3402; -2.6332 | |
Daresbury is a village andcivil parish in theBorough of Halton,Cheshire, England. At the2011 census, it had a population of 246.[1]
The name means "Deor's fortification", derived from anOld English personal name and the wordburh (a fortified place).[2]
The population was recorded over time at 134 in the census of 1801, 157 in 1851, 153 in 1901, 235 in 1951 and reaching 216 by 2001.[3]
Opened in 1850 on theBirkenhead Railway, the area was served byDaresbury railway station in the nearby village ofMoore. The station closed to passengers in 1952 and to goods in 1965, although the line through the station site remains in use.[4]
Daresbury was the birthplace ofAlice's Adventures in Wonderland authorLewis Carroll, in All Saints' Vicarage. The village has a Lewis Carroll Visitor Centre[5] and in the parish church ofAll Saints, a Lewis Carroll window, which includes an image of theCheshire Cat.[6]
Built in 1759,Daresbury Hall is a former Georgiancountry house which has been used as a private dwelling, military hospital and residential home. A designated Grade II*listed building since 1952,[7] it is on theHeritage at Risk Register due to being in very poor condition. A major fire in June 2016 destroyed much of the building, which has since been secured with scaffold and mothballed in a roofless condition.[8]
Daresbury was a township and chapelry inRuncorn parish ofBucklow Hundred, which became a civil parish in 1866. The village was administered as part of Runcorn Rural Sanitary District from 1875, then from 1894Runcorn Rural District.Local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974 transferred the area to theBorough of Halton.[3]
Daresbury is also anelectoral ward. However, the boundary of the ward is different from (and larger than) the parish boundary, and includes the parishes ofMoore,Sandymoor andPreston Brook. The total ward population in 2011 was 5,401.[9] Daresbury is represented nationally by theRuncorn and Helsby parliamentary constituency.
Near the village is theScience and Technology Facilities Council'sSci-Tech Daresbury science and innovation campus, which includes theDaresbury Laboratory and theCockcroft Institute. TheSynchrotron Radiation Source (SRS) facility at Daresbury Laboratory was in operation between 1981 and 2008.
Daresbury Park is to the south west of the village, at junction 11 of theM56 motorway. The 225 acres (91 ha) site provides office and warehouse space for several businesses and includes the Daresbury Park Hotel.[10]
The village of Daresbury lies to the east of the realignedA56 road. The B5356 Daresbury Lane heads eastwards from the village towardsHatton andStretton, while the A558 Daresbury Expressway heads westwards towardsRuncorn and crosses theBridgewater Canal.
In 2006, the annualCreamfields dance festival was held in Daresbury after relocating from the disused Liverpool airport site it had occupied for the six previous years. This saw 40,000 revellers partying from 3pm-6am to a line-up that included live performances fromthe Prodigy andZutons, as well as DJ sets from the likes ofSasha,Paul Oakenfold,2 Many DJ's,Green Velvet andDJ Shadow. As of 2019, the festival has been an annual event at the site.
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