Editing Padgate (section)

===Overview===
[[Historic counties of England|Historically]] part of [[Lancashire]], until 1838 Padgate was an area of farmland in the Fearnhead district. It was only with the establishment of a parish and the building of Christ Church Padgate that a recognisable community arose. 
  
Following boundary changes in 1974, Padgate, along with the rest of Warrington, became part of the county of Cheshire. It is now a largely residential, suburban district. It was the site of an R.A.F training camp and home of a teacher training college, now the Padgate Campus of the University of Chester.

Padgate has a railway station, three churches, a number of schools, a community centre and, next to the railway line, a large area of land and playing fields known as Bennett's Recreation Ground. This was the home of the [[Warrington Wizards|Woolston Rovers]] [[rugby league]] side and also the Cheshire Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps with their headquarters Kennedy Hall. This is also home to Greenall's Padgate St Oswald's reserves football team of the [[Mid Cheshire Football League]] reserve division. Greenall's Padgate St Oswald's first team play at Tetley Walker's Club, Long Lane, Warrington.

[[File:The Famous King and Queen pub - geograph.org.uk - 27007.jpg|thumb|right|The Famous King and Queen pub]]
The centre of Padgate (the area around the railway station, Christ Church and the community centre) is separated from the main commercial centre by Padgate Lane, which connects the two, approximately three quarters of a mile apart.

Padgate is in the parliamentary constituency of Warrington North.

Geographically the area is on the east side of Warrington. It is north of the River Mersey and enclosed to the east by the M6 motorway. Topographically the land in the area is flat, being in the Mersey valley.

Padgate Brook, a tributary of the Mersey, runs to the western edge of Padgate, and is in turn fed by numerous smaller waterways (Spittle Brook, Blackbrook, Spa Brook, Cinnamon Brook, Cross Brook, Cockshot Burn) originating in Peel Hall Meadows and other outlying rural stretches of land to the north. To the east, Birchwood Brook also feeds the Mersey.