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Around the time of the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 AD, most of present-day Cheshire formed part of the territory of the Brittonic Celtic tribe [[Cornovii]], which was centred on present-day [[Shropshire]] and also covered neighbouring areas of what is now [[Staffordshire]], [[Herefordshire]], and the Welsh counties of [[Denbighshire]], [[Flintshire]], [[Montgomeryshire]] and [[Radnorshire]]. Their capital may have been at [[the Wrekin]] in Shropshire. Northern Cheshire may have been within the territory of the neighbouring tribe [[Brigantes]], which covered the majority of what is now the [[Northern England|North]] and North Midlands of England. The Romans arrived in the territory of the Cornovii in 47 AD, when a Roman army, Legio XIV Gemina, stormed the Wrekin. By c. 70 AD, Rome had established a fortress and town at the site of present-day Chester called Deva Victrix. It is likely that Cheshire's early [[Triassic]] salt deposits began being mined in the Roman era; the Romans established a settlement called ''Condate'' (present-day [[Northwich]]), which can be identified from a 3rd century road map, and it is believed that the Romans built this settlement due to the strategic river crossing of the Weaver and the presence of the brine springs. The Romans used lead salt pans to extract the salt from the brine. Salt pans and first-century brine kilns have both been found around Northwich.

Around the time of the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 AD, most of present-day Cheshire formed part of the territory of the Brittonic Celtic tribe [[Cornovii]], which was centred on present-day [[Shropshire]] and also covered neighbouring areas of what is now [[Staffordshire]], [[Herefordshire]], and the Welsh counties of [[Denbighshire]], [[Flintshire]], [[Montgomeryshire]] and [[Radnorshire]]. Their capital may have been at [[the Wrekin]] in Shropshire. Northern Cheshire may have been within the territory of the neighbouring tribe [[Brigantes]], which covered the majority of what is now the [[Northern England|North]] and North Midlands of England. The Romans arrived in the territory of the Cornovii in 47 AD, when a Roman army, Legio XIV Gemina, stormed the Wrekin. By c. 70 AD, Rome had established a fortress and town at the site of present-day Chester called Deva Victrix. It is likely that Cheshire's early [[Triassic]] salt deposits began being mined in the Roman era; the Romans established a settlement called ''Condate'' (present-day [[Northwich]]), which can be identified from a 3rd century road map, and it is believed that the Romans built this settlement due to the strategic river crossing of the Weaver and the presence of the brine springs. The Romans used lead salt pans to extract the salt from the brine. Salt pans and first-century brine kilns have both been found around Northwich.

Germanic speakers, whose dialects would develop into the [[Old English]] language, arrived in Britain from c. 450 AD. Angles arrived in Cheshire by the 6th century. A people of Anglo-Saxon Britain, the Wreocensæte (or Wrekinset), are first identified in the Tribal Hidage (dated 7th century) and their territory is thought to have corresponded approximately to modern-day Cheshire and Shropshire and adjacent parts of Wales. The name is Old English for "Wrekin-dwellers". Whether they were a Germanic or Celtic people, or of mixed background, is uncertain. They may be a continuation of the Roman-era Cornovii people. The Wreocensæte were under control of the Anglian kingdom Mercia from the 7th century. A small folk group within the Wreocensæte were the Meresæte, based near Chester. Christianity became widespread in Mercia in the mid-7th century, following Penda, the Pagan king, being slain in battle by Northumbria. Local legend, now thought pseudohistorical, states that the Sandbach Crosses were erected to commemorate the conversion to Christianity of Peada of Mercia.  

Germanic speakers, whose dialects would develop into the [[Old English]] language, arrived in Britain from c. 450 AD. Angles arrived in Cheshire by the 6th century. A people of Anglo-Saxon Britain, the Wreocensæte (or Wrekinset), are first identified in the Tribal Hidage (dated 7th century) and their territory is thought to have corresponded approximately to modern-day Cheshire and Shropshire and adjacent parts of Wales. The name is Old English for "Wrekin-dwellers". Whether they were a Germanic or Celtic people, or of mixed background, is uncertain. They may be a continuation of the Roman-era Cornovii people. The Wreocensæte were under control of the Anglian kingdom Mercia from the 7th century. A small folk group within the Wreocensæte were the Meresæte, based near Chester. Christianity became widespread in Mercia in the mid-7th century, following Penda, the Pagan king, being slain in battle by Northumbria. Local legend, now thought pseudohistorical, states that the Sandbach Crosses were erected to commemorate the conversion to Christianity of Peada of Mercia. Towards the end of the 7th century, [[Saint Werburgh]] founded a religious institution on the present site of Chester's St John's Church which later became the first cathedral.

Following the Norman conquest of 1066 by [[William the Conqueror]], dissent and resistance continued for many years after the invasion and Cheshire, being a remote part of the kingdom, far from centres of power in Normandy and the south-east of England, provided persistent resistance to the Normans. In 1069 local resistance in Cheshire was finally put down using harsh, [[genocide]]-like measures, referred to by historians as the [[Harrying of the North]] (1069-1070). The ferocity of the campaign against the English populace was enough to end all future resistance. Major local landowners such as [[Edwin, Earl of Mercia]] (died 1071), had their properties confiscated and redistributed among Norman barons.

Following the Norman conquest of 1066 by [[William the Conqueror]], dissent and resistance continued for many years after the invasion and Cheshire, being a remote part of the kingdom, far from centres of power in Normandy and the south-east of England, provided persistent resistance to the Normans. In 1069 local resistance in Cheshire was finally put down using harsh, [[genocide]]-like measures, referred to by historians as the [[Harrying of the North]] (1069-1070). The ferocity of the campaign against the English populace was enough to end all future resistance. Major local landowners such as [[Edwin, Earl of Mercia]] (died 1071), had their properties confiscated and redistributed among Norman barons.