page_title: Runcorn
section_title: Landmarks
hierarchical_section_title: Runcorn / Landmarks
caption_attribution_description: English: Halton Castle looking down on the Mersey Gateway in Runcorn, Cheshire, England
context_page_description: Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region on the southern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. To the north across the River Mersey is Widnes, with Warrington 7 miles to the northeast and Liverpool 11 miles to the northwest.
  Runcorn was founded by Ethelfleda in 915 AD as a fortification to guard against Viking invasion at a narrowing of the River Mersey. Under Norman rule, Runcorn fell under the Barony of Halton and an Augustinian abbey was established here in 1115. It remained a small, isolated settlement until the Industrial Revolution when the extension of the Bridgewater Canal to Runcorn in 1776 established it as a port which would link Liverpool with inland Manchester and Staffordshire. The docks enabled the growth of industry, initially shipwrights and sandstone quarries. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, it was a spa and health resort but this ended with the growth of polluting industries, especially soap and chemical works.
context_section_description: There are two Grade I listed buildings and scheduled monuments in Runcorn: Halton Castle and Norton Priory. Halton Castle is one of two remaining Norman castles in Cheshire, built in 1071 and reconstructed in local sandstone in the 13th century. The castle was slighted following the Civil War and the gatehouse converted to a courthouse in 1737, now The Castle public house and a Grade II* listed building in its own right. Norton Priory, now a museum, is the most excavated monastic site in Europe, consisting of the ruins of an Abbey, 12th century undercroft and 18th century Walled Garden. Both Norton Priory and Halton Castle are managed by Norton Priory Museum Trust Limited.
  Most Grade II* listed buildings in the town are around the base of Halton Castle, including Seneschal's House (1598), Halton Old Hall (1693), Chesshyre Library (1730) and Halton Vicarage (1739). Hallwood (1710), a former mansion house, is also Grade II* listed and its former stable block is Grade II. But both have been derelict since the Tricorn public house closed in 2017. The town's 19th century Anglican churches are also listed buildings, including the Grade II* All Saints (1849) and St John's (1897), and the Grade II Holy Trinity (1838), Christ Church (1841) and St Mary's (1851).
  The Runcorn home of the Duke of Bridgewater, Bridgewater House, is a prominent landmark and Grade II listed building on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal where a flight of locks from his canal once stood. The home of a later industrialist, Thomas Johnson, became Runcorn Town Hall, a Grade II listed Italianate building with similarities to Osborne House on the Isle of White.
  The landmarks largest in scale are the three bridges which span the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal at Runcorn. Runcorn Railway Bridge and the Silver Jubilee Bridge are Grade II* and II listed buildings respectively while the Mersey Gateway Bridge was officially opened in 2018 by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duchess of Sussex. Norton Water Tower is another prominent Grade II listed landmark at 112 feet (34 m) high.
  Runcorn War Memorial is Grade II listed and commemorates those who lost their lives in the First and Second World Wars, as well as those killed in later conflicts. The garden contains a statue of Thomas Alfred Jones who was awarded the Victoria Cross in the First World War. There is a memorial in Halton Village commemorating residents who served in the Boer War.
  Runcorn Shopping City, at the heart of the New Town, was designed by Fred Roche CBE and at the time of its construction was the largest covered shopping centre in Europe. It was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1972.
caption: Halton Castle overlooking the Mersey Gateway Bridge
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