Partington is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Cheshire, it lies on the southern bank of the Manchester Ship Canal, opposite Cadishead on the northern bank. It has a population of 7,327. The completion of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894 transformed Partington into a major coal-exporting port and attracted other industries. Until 2007 Shell Chemicals UK operated a major petrochemicals manufacturing complex in Carrington, Partington's closest neighbour to the east. The gas storage facility in the north-eastern corner of the town was once a gasworks and another significant employer. Shortly after the Second World War, local authorities made an effort to rehouse people away from Victorian slums in inner-city Manchester. An area of Partington became an overspill estate and is now one of the most deprived parts of Greater Manchester. The Cheshire Lines Committee opened a railway line through the town in 1873, but it closed in 1964. History Partington, first recorded in 1260, was in the medieval and post-medieval parish of Bowdon. The name derives from Old English: the first element may be a personal name such as Pearta or Pærta, or part "land divided up into partitions" followed by inga, meaning "people of"; the suffix tun means "farmstead". The village consisted of dispersed farmsteads, with no nucleated centre. It was surrounded by wetlands on all sides, reducing the amount of land available for agriculture. According to the hearth tax returns of 1664, Partington had a population of 99. In 1755 a paper mill on the River Mersey was opened in Partington, the first factory to be established in present-day Trafford. Erlam Farmhouse dates from the late 18th century and is a Grade II listed building. Also protected as a Grade II listed building are the stocks on the village green. Its stone pillars are from the 18th century, although the wooden restraints were replaced in the 20th century. The completion of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894 transformed Partington into a major coal-exporting port. The canal was widened to for three-quarters of a mile (1.2 km) to allow for the construction of a coaling basin, equipped with four hydraulic coal hoists. Partington was the nearest port to the Lancashire Coalfields, and brought the south Yorkshire collieries closer to the sea. Between 1898 and 1911, exports of