WARRINGTON, a large market and borough town of the county of Lancaster, in the hundred of West Derby. It is a place of great though doubtful antiquity. Its name is most obviously of Saxon origin, Whoering in that language signifying an armed or defended town. It is placed on the river Mersey, over which a bridge was erected in 1496, by the first earl of Derby, to facilitate the progress of King Henry VII. in the north of England. As the best passage over the river, it was the scene of frequent conflicts during the civil war, and in the reign of Charles I. In 1643 the town was twice taken by storm by the parliamentary forces. In 1648 the Scotish army made a stand here; General Lambert here repulsed the troops who accompanied Charles II. on his way to Worcester; and in 1745 the centre arches of the bridge were broken down to impede the progress of the Highlanders under the Pretender. The old bridge having been frequently repaired, has been of late replaced by an elegant and convenient new erection.

There was at one period an establishment for the education of one class of dissenters, which had men of celebrity for tutors; among others Dr Priestley, Dr Enfield, Dr Aikin, and Gilbert Wakefield. It did not continue long, partly from insufficient funds, and partly from the difficulty of maintaining due discipline, so that it was dissolved about the year 1770, leaving no traces beyond an elegant poem by Mrs Barbauld, the daughter of Dr Aikin. There are three churches, one of which, dedicated to St Elphen or St Helen, is a handsome building of red freestone, probably of Saxon origin; and it contains some curious old monuments. Two ancient chapels remain, in one of which are some modern monuments of the Pattern family; in the other the magnificent tomb of Sir Thomas Boteler and his lady: the former was murdered in his mansion at Bewsey Hall. There are places of worship for almost every sect of protestant dissenters, and a chapel for the Roman Catholics. The schools are numerous, among which are preeminent the free-school founded and endowed in 1526 by the Boteler family, and the blue-coat school, which is a flourishing institution, and richly endowed for the education of 150 boys and forty girls. There is also a great number of Sunday schools, with many other charitable institutions. Among the public buildings, the most prominent are the town-hall, the market, and the cloth-hall. There are, besides, assembly-rooms and a theatre. As the Mersey is navigable up to the bridge, it is an important auxiliary to the intercourse with Liverpool, and through that town to foreign countries. Warrington is a place of great manufacturing industry. Cotton goods and sail-cloth are largely made; as also pins, files, and gloss. It likewise supplies large quantities of malt It is a station on the railroad between Birmingham and the towns of Liverpool and Manchester, being distant from the former seventy-eight miles, and from the two latter twenty miles. It is 173 miles from London. It has a well-supplied market on Saturday, where much corn is sold.

By the reform bill, Warrington has acquired the right of returning one member to the House of Commons; and it gives the title of earl, in addition to that of Stamford, to the Grey family. The population of the town amounted in 1821 to 12,570, and in 1831 to 16,018; but the whole parish, which extends beyond the town, contained, in 1831, 19,155 inhabitants.