Runcorn, a old and new town on the south bank of the River Mersey, in the North of Cheshire. Runcorn is famous for its two bridges spanning th river to Widnes, and its new town! Runcorn has a long history and in Anglo-Saxon times it was known as Runcofan. It was a key point of defense between the kingdoms of Mercia (Cheshire, Shropshire) and Northumbria (north of the Mersey). Aethelfledas Castle was build on the site on the current southern support for the Railway Bridge.. Aethelfleda was a daughter of Alfred the Great.

A group of Franciscan Monks founded a small monastery at Runcorn which was moved to Norton in 1134, which is now a visitor attraction. Halton Castle, originally a defensive stornghold, lost its importance by the time of the Civil War, and is now a ruin, which is not open the the public. In 1766 The Duke of Bridgewater built the Bridgewater Canal which opened into the Mersey with major docks at Runcorn. Salt had been mined in the Northwich Area since Roman Times and the combination of Coal and Salt being readily available at Runcorn resulted in the Founding of the First Major Chemical Works (which later became the Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd.) at Runcorn.

In addition to the chemical industry, Runcorn was a centre of other industries such as ship building, tannery, iron foundry and engineering. With the building of the Manchester Ship Canal the towns trained labour force and engineering skills led to the siting of the Ship Canal Companies main workshops at Runcorn. In 1905 the Transporter Bridge was opened and this started to open links between the two towns although they remained very much separated culturally until the opening of the Road Bridge in 1961.