Its main town is Ellesmere Port, an industrial town on the Mersey. The rest of the district is partly rural and partly residential including small towns such as Neston and Parkgate.
Not mentioned in the Doomsday Book, Ellesmere Port used to be part of the parish of Eastham. The modern town came into existence after the creation of a canal by Thomas Telford in 1795 as part of a project to connect the rivers Severn, Mersey and Dee. The junction connecting the Mersey and Chester canals became known as Ellesmere Port.
