Stanlow Island

The Abbey of St. Mary at Stanlaw (or Stanlow as it has been posthumously known since a Victorian cartographical error), was a Cistercian foundation situated on Stanlaw - now Stanlow Point, on the banks of the River Mersey in the Wirral Peninsula, Cheshire, England (grid reference SJ427773), near Ellesmere Port, 11 km north of Chester Castle and 12 km south-west of Halton Castle.

The River Gowy is a river in Cheshire, England, a tributary of the River Mersey. It rises in western Cheshire in the hills near Peckforton Castle, very close to the source of the River Weaver. While the Weaver flows south initially, the Gowy flows north and for several miles provides the valley used by the Shropshire Union Canal. It runs just to the east of Chester and passes through a syphon under the Manchester Ship Canal to meet the Mersey near Stanlow. Its total length is around 20 miles (32 km). Perennially popular with fishermen and home to several rare invertebrates, it has been polluted in its lower reaches in recent decades, due in part to the oil refinery at Stanlow and the arrival of the nearby M53 and M56 motorways, leading to schemes by environmental groups to clean up the area and to restock the fish population. The Gowy Meadows Nature Reserve, founded in 2002 and stretching from the A5117 to the M56, is an area of river valley peat covered with wet grassland or grazing meadows. This area of 160 hectares (395 acres), owned by Shell UK, has been created as a nature reserve by Cheshire Wildlife Trust. Surveys by the Environment Agency show that the Gowy's eel population has held up well despite a Europe-wide massive decline in numbers. The reasons for this are unclear but local anglers suggest that eel in the river may not follow normal migration patterns because of the partially closed nature of the river flow caused by the system of syphoning under the ship canal. At one time the river provided power for up to 20 watermills. Today only a few remain: Bates Mill and Walk Mill (both in private ownership), Bunbury Mill (now owned by a Trust) and Trafford Mill. The latter is owned by United Utilities plc. Bunbury Mill is open to the public at times. Trafford Mill is being developed as a museum and an educational and training resource concentrating on conservation-related activities. The river's length has been increased over the centuries as land has been reclaimed by draining the marshes. It was on the marshes at Gibbet’s Field near Mickle Trafford that James Brown and Thomas Price were hanged in January 1795 for the abduction and robbery of a mail boy.

The Shropshire Union Canal, nicknamed the "Shroppie", is a navigable canal in England. The Llangollen and Montgomery canals are the modern names of branches of the Shropshire Union (SU) system and lie partially in Wales. The canal lies in the counties of Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire in the north-west English Midlands. It links the canal system of the West Midlands, at Wolverhampton, with the River Mersey and Manchester Ship Canal at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, 66 miles (106 km) distant. The "SU main line" runs southeast from Ellesmere Port on the River Mersey to the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal at Autherley Junction in Wolverhampton. Other links are to the Llangollen Canal (at Hurleston Junction), the Middlewich Branch (at Barbridge Junction), which itself connects via the Wardle Canal with the Trent and Mersey Canal, and the River Dee (in Chester). With two connections to the Trent and Mersey (via the Middlewich Branch and the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal) the SU is part of an important circular and rural holiday route called the Four Counties Ring. The SU main line was the last trunk narrow canal route to be built in England. It was not completed until 1835 and was the last major civil engineering accomplishment of Thomas Telford. The name "Shropshire Union" comes from the amalgamation of the various component companies (Ellesmere Canal, Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal, Montgomeryshire Canal) that came together to form the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company. The main line between Nantwich and Autherley Junction was almost built as a railway although eventually it was decided to construct it as a waterway.

The Ellesmere Canal was a waterway in England and Wales that was planned to carry boat traffic between the rivers Mersey and Severn. The proposal would create a link between the Port of Liverpool and the mineral industries in north east Wales and the manufacturing centres in the West Midlands. However, the canal was never completed as intended because of its rising costs and failure to generate the expected commercial traffic. The Ellesmere Canal, which was first proposed in 1791, would have created a waterway between Netherpool, Cheshire, and Shrewsbury. However, only certain sections were completed; these were eventually incorporated into the Chester Canal, Montgomery Canal and Shropshire Union Canal. Although several major civil engineering feats were accomplished, major building work ceased following the completion of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in 1805. The northern end of the navigation's mainline ended 16 miles (25 km) from Chester at Trevor Basin near Ruabon and its southern end was at Weston Lullingfields about 9 miles (15 km) from Shrewsbury. As part of the rebranding of Britain's industrial waterways as leisure destinations, the surviving central section is now called the Llangollen Canal; even though historically its builders had no intention of sending boat traffic to Llangollen. The branch, from which the waterway now takes its name, was primarily a water feeder from the River Dee above the town. Therefore it was not built as a broad-gauge canal, hence its inherently narrow design.

Stanlow and Thornton railway station is located within the Stanlow Refinery in Cheshire, England. It lies on the Hooton–Helsby line with services operated by Northern Trains. The station is surrounded by the refinery site, so as a result most station users are refinery employees. In 2018–19 it was the joint least-used railway station in Britain, tied with Denton in Greater Manchester. In 2020/21, the station was also one of the least used stations in Britain, with 0 entries/exits. Since 3 February 2022 the station has been temporarily closed due to safety concerns of the footbridge which is the only entrypoint to the station.

Stanlow Refinery is an oil refinery owned by Essar Energy in Ellesmere Port, North West England. Until 2011 it was owned by Shell UK. The refinery is situated on the south bank of the Manchester Ship Canal, which is used to transport seaborne oil for refining and chemicals for Essar and Shell.Stanlow has a refining capacity of 12 million tonnes per year with a barrel per day capacity of 296,000. Consequently, it is the second largest in the United Kingdom after Fawley Refinery, and produces a sixth of the UK's petrol needs. Stanlow is also a large producer for commodities such as jet fuel and diesel.Although situated in North West England, the refinery serves much of England as it is linked to the UK oil pipeline network. Oil is delivered to the Tranmere Oil Terminal via ship, then pumped to Stanlow for refining and stored for delivery.

Ince Hall was a country house near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England. It stood in the grounds of the ruined Stanlow Abbey. It was a house in Italianate style that was extended by the Lancaster firm of architects Sharpe and Paley in 1849. The extension cost at least £7,448 (equivalent to £820,000 in 2021). At this time it was occupied by Eliza Jane Waldegrave, daughter of the architect Edmund Sharpe's godfather Edmund Yates. The hall was demolished in the middle of the 20th century, and its site is now occupied by the Stanlow Refinery.During the second world war Ince Hall was used by the Shell Oil company to house operations which had been evacuated from London. This included a team working on Operation Pluto ("pipelines under the ocean"), a project to supply fuel to the Allies after the 1944 Normandy landings.

Ellesmere Port Dock is a dock in Britain, situated on the Manchester Ship Canal, in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England.

The National Waterways Museum (NWM) is in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England, at the northern end of the Shropshire Union Canal where it meets the Manchester Ship Canal (grid reference SJ406771). The NWM's collections and archives focus on the Britain's navigable inland waterways, including its rivers and canals, and include canal boats, traditional clothing, painted canal decorative ware and tools. It is one of several museums and attractions operated by the Canal & River Trust, the successor to The Waterways Trust.

Gowy Meadows Nature Reserve is a 165.8-hectare (410-acre) nature reserve near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England. It consists of low-lying meadows immediately to the east of the River Gowy near its confluence with the River Mersey, south of Stanlow Oil Refinery and west of the village of Thornton-le-Moors (from where a public footpath follows Thornton Brook across the site). It is managed by the Cheshire Wildlife Trust on behalf of the landowner, Shell UK, and was founded in 2002. The M56 motorway runs along the southern edge of the reserve.The reserve consists mainly of low-lying wet pasture divided by ditches. It is part of the Gowy & Mersey Washlands Living Landscape initiative. Before the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal the Gowy would have been tidal in this area and much of the reserve would have consisted of saltmarsh with brackish creeks, whose traces can still be seen in places.

St Mary's Church is a redundant Anglican church in the small village of Thornton-le-Moors, Cheshire, England. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and it is in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.

Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet is an outlet centre in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England. Located off Junction 10 of the M53, it is the largest outlet centre in the United Kingdom, with 145 stores and the first designer outlet village in Europe, when it opened in March 1995. It is run by McArthurGlen, and has a wide range of outlet stores run by large brands. As factory outlets, the stores primarily offer goods from previous seasons at discounted prices. It is a large local employer, with its own JobCentre Plus and retail training academy. Brands include, Bose, Levi's, Fila, Burberry, The North Face, Fred Perry, Calvin Klein Jeans, Karen Millen, Polo Ralph Lauren, Molton Brown, East, Diesel, Tommy Hilfiger, Warehouse, Whittard of Chelsea, Nike Factory Store, Joules and Henri lloyd. There is a leisure park, the Coliseum, located adjacent to the centre, with more shops, Tenpin bowling alley, a Vue Cinema, Freedome and Paradise Island Adventure Golf. Places to eat across the two sites include Frankie & Benny's, Miller and Carter Grill, Nando's, Chiquito, Prezzo, Harry Ramsden's, Spudulike, TGI Friday's, Giraffe, Pizza Express and Wagamama.