Winsford is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the River Weaver south of Northwich and west of Middlewich. It grew around the salt mining industry after the river was canalised in the 18th century, allowing freight to be conveyed northwards to the Port of Runcorn on the River Mersey. The town of Winsford has an estimated population of 35,000 in 2023, with the wider area being approximately 37,000. Winsford is part of the wider Northwich/Winsford conurbation with an estimated population in 2023 of 110,000. Winsford is split into three areas: Over on the western side of the River Weaver, Wharton on the eastern side, and Swanlow and Dene. History Early origins Winsford consists of three ancient parishes, St Chads, Over and Wharton, which in the 19th century were combined. The name “Winsford” is of uncertain origin but is thought to derive from Wain’s or Wynne’s and Ford (Mr Wain's crossing point of the river Weaver). The Norman Earls of Chester had a hunting lodge or summer palace at Darnhall in Over parish. There was an enclosed area where deer and wild boar were kept to be hunted by the Earl and his guests. King Henry III annexed the title and its lands and spent time at Darnhall. In 1270 at the behest of his son, Henry III gave the estate to the Cistercians, who built Darnhall Abbey in 1274. However the land was not suitable for the grand scale of building envisaged, and the locals were not cooperative, so the monks left Darnhall to found Vale Royal Abbey in Whitegate in 1281. A charter to hold a Wednesday market and an annual fair at Over was granted on 24 November 1280 by Edward I to the Abbot and convent of Vale Royal Abbey. From this charter can be traced the origins of the market that is still held in the town. Expansion Winsford began to significantly expand after 1721, when parliament gave permission for locks and other improvements on the River Weaver to go ahead which allowed sea-going vessels to reach Winsford from the port of Liverpool. At first, this was the closest that barges carrying china clay from Cornwall could get to the Potteries district of north Staffordshire. Locally produced salt was also transported to the Potteries, for use in the manufacture of