Manchester
& the Northwest Region of England
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Virtual Encyclopaedia of Greater Manchester
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Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside,
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The
County of Cheshire
Cheshire
Townships, Cities & Major Villages
Alphabetical
Listing Continued:
Sandbach
Sandbach
is a township in the old Northwich Hundred and in 1936 the civil
parish was extended to include large parts of Bradwall, Elton
and Wheelock. It also includes the hamlets of Boothlane Head,
Brickhouses, Ettiley Heath, Forge Fields, Hindheath, Marsh Green,
all of which became part of Sandbach Urban District.
Sandbach was an Anglo-Saxon settlement by the 7th century AD,
and was part of the Kingdom of Mercia, which was then probably
the most powerful of all the northern Saxon kingdoms. The township
claims to own two of England's finest Christian Saxon memorials
- its ancient crosses. These two surviving engraved monuments
illustrate the story of life of Christ and were savagely defaced
by Puritans in the 17th century. However, extensive restoration
in 1816 has brought them back to life and they are a popular attraction
to visitors and serious students alike. They commemorate the establishment
of a Christian Minster at Sandbach and possibly to the whole of
middle England.
In 1579 a Royal Charter was granted by Queen Elizabeth I for a
Thursday Market, which is still in existence and attracts traders
and shoppers from across the whole county, and has long established
Sandbach as a major county market town.
In the early 19th century, Sandbach was an important coaching
halt on the road from London and Birmingham to Liverpool and Manchester.
However, the building of the railway station on the Manchester-Crewe
main line effectively brought coaching to an end.
Contemporary Sandbach benefits from its proximity to the M6 Motorway.
The Trent and Mersey Canal also passes through the district's
beautiful countryside which has opened the area up to pleasure
boating in the summertime. Since the 1974 Local Government reorganisations,
Sandbach Urban District has been part of the new Borough of Congleton.
Tarvin
Tarvin is
a small township located about 5½ miles north-east of Chester,
and has been celebrated for its cheese making since before the
17th century. It is located in the old Eddisbury Hundred and includes
the hamlets of Austins Hill, Broombank, part of Duddon Heath,
Old Moss, Oscroft, part of Tarvin Sands, Weetwood and part of
Willington Corner. The town's ancient parish church is St. Andrew.
The area is known for it's supposedly Roman Bridges, which are
situated about 1½ miles from the village centre, though
some historians put them at a later date.
The Romans called the town "Tervyn", from the
Latin "terminus", meaning end. After the Roman
withdrew from Britain in the 5th century AD, the land was divided
into large parishes, each governed by a church leader. After the
Norman Invasion in 1066, William the Conqueror occupied Chester
and the surrounding townships, but little changed in the township
as it belonged to the local bishop and was thereby protected from
confiscation. By 1551 the town was still known as "Tervin"
and as "Tervine" in 1599, but sometime after
this it gradually assumed the name Tarvin. Certainly, by 1657
records show that one "Richard Tarvin of Temperley"
had married Sibell Travis at Bowdon, suggesting that the name
change was complete by that time. The township has two very fine
half-timbered Tudor cottages and many fine Georgian buildings.
Tarporley
Tarporley
has a long and ancient history; its earliest record is in 1292,
when the township of "Torpelei" was granted a
Royal Charter. Further, by 1297, it had been recognised as a Borough
with its own elected Mayor and market. Tarporley is one of the
larger villages in the heart of the Cheshire countryside.
Research seems to suggest, however, that there had been earlier
settlements near Tarporley in the nearby iron age hillforts at
Eddisbury Hill and Maiden Castle.
The village lies, providentially, on the old and well-trodden
trade and stagecoach route from London to Chester, as well as
being located on one of the old Roman salt roads of Cheshire,
and therefore had always benefitted from passing trade.
The
village itself developed over many centuries along this trade
road, the present-day High Street, and by the 19th century it
possessed many hotels and inns the to cater for passing travellers.
By the end of the 18th century, the digging of the Chester and
Ellesmere Canal (now the Shropshire Union) and the addition of
a nearby railway station at Beeston on the Chester and Crewe Railway
served only to increase the number of passing travellers and the
village grew wealthy on the trade that this through traffic produced.
There are several buildings of note in Tarporley, including the
Manor House which dates from 1586. Nearby is St Helens Church
and the 18th century Swan Hotel which is the home of the celebrated
Cheshire Hunt.
Tilston
A township
in Tilston Parish, in the ancient Broxton Hundred which includes
the hamlets of Hob Hill and Lowcross Hill and lies three miles
northwest of Malpas and twelve miles from Chester. Tilston was
a Romano-British settlement in the late 2nd century AD and was
probably known as "Bovivum".
After the Norman Invasion of 1066, Chester and the surrounding
townships offered stiff resistance and were the last of the English
towns to submit. The vanquished and confiscated Saxon lands were
given by William I to his nephew, Hugh Lupus (also known as Hugh
the Wolf), who he also created Earl of Chester. He in turn gave
parcels of his new possessions to his own faithful supporters,
and the manor of Tilston was given to a Norman knight called Eynion
- he was thereafter known as Sir Eynion de'Tilston. By the time
of the Domesday Survey of 1086, Tilston appears to have been the
largest and regarded as the most important of the townships around
Chester. At that time it is recorded as being in the Barony of
Malpas.
The
ancient church of St. Mary's in the township, despite having been
extensively restored in the late 19th century, largely dates from
1659 but there was a church on the site at least as early as the
time of King Henry III in the mid 13th century.
By the
end of the 19th century the Manor of Tilston belonged to Lord
John Tollemache, whose family lived at nearby Peckforton Castle.
Warburton
A township
and parish in the ancient Bucklow Hundred which includes the hamlet
of Moss Brow. In 1933 the parish boundary was altered in order
to follow the course of the Manchester Ship Canal and was transferred
to Trafford Metropolitan Borough in the County of Greater Manchester
in Local Government reorganisation in 1974, thereby taking it
completely out of the County of Cheshire.
Warburton was also an ancient ecclesiastical Cheshire parish.
It was in Bucklow poor law Union (which was called Altrincham
Union until 1895). In 1920 part of it was added to Rixton with
Glazebrook civil parish, Lancashire. In 1933 there was an exchange
of areas with Rixton with Glazebrook civil parish, Lancashire.
Rare artefacts from the early Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman periods
of occupation as well as Saxon have been excavated in the district,
suggesting settlements had existed here as far back as 2000 BC.
Warburton or "Warburvium" as the Romans probably
called it, played an important part as a bridgehead on the northern
banks of the River Mersey, as Roman troops tied to push forward
the invasion of Lancashire in the 1st century AD. Later, it became
an affluent settlement with a large farmstead or villa being built
in the area.
During
Saxon times it was known as "Wareburghtune", named after
the ancient St Werburgh's Church, rebuilt in the 12th century
with later Tudor and Jacobean additions.
Around 1190, Norbertine White Canons from Normandy were given
land in Warburton where they founded an abbey (the area now known
as Abbey Croft).
It was at Warburton that a Toll Bridge was built over the Manchester
Ship Canal, to accompany the original one that crossed the River
Mersey at this point. Warburton retains much of this historic
atmosphere, as well as many of its half-timbered houses and old
farm buildings, which have been carefully preserved among the
more recent residential developments which have taken place.
Warrington
Warrington
traces its history back to the Bronze Age, when, around 1000 BC,
communities are known to have existed at Grappenhall, Winwick
and Croft, when it emerged as a safe crossing point over the River
Mersey.
Romans Warrington was known as Veratinum which over time
became an important centre for the manufacture of metal products,
glass and pottery.
In the 5th Century Saxons had established a settlement nearby.
The district of Thelwall had already been referred to in the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle in 919 AD, and by the time of the Domesday Survey of
1086 there was recorded an already exiting Saxon church dedicated
to St Elphin. After the Norman Conquest, the Manor of Warrington
was given to Paganus de Vilars, a Norman baron of the Boteler
Family, who encouraged the rebuilding of the old Saxon town.
The town's market was recognised by Royal Charter in 1277. In
1495, the Earl of Derby built a stone bridge over the Mersey which
survived until the early 19th century.
During the Civil Wars, in 1642, the Earl of Derby made Warrington
his headquarters and in 1643 Parliamentarian forces led by Sir
William Brereton attacked the town but were forced to retreat
when the Earl of Derby set fire to the town centre. However, the
town eventually fell and in 1648 Oliver Cromwell stayed in the
town. After the Civil War new industries like sail making, pin-making
and copper smelting were established.
Warrington expanded as an industrial centre, thanks to its strategic
location on the Mersey and the building of the Sankey and Bridgewater
Canals.
In 1847 the town acquired the status of a Municipal Borough and
began extensive renewal of the town centre. In 1899 the town was
made a County Borough, and grew wealthy by virtue of its new railway
network and the building of the Manchester Ship Canal.
In 1968 Warrington was designated a 'New Town', and saw extensive
developments at Risley, Great Sankey, Burtonwood and Appleton.
In 1974, Local Government reorganisation brought many surrounding
rural areas into the Borough, including Stockton Heath, Appleton,
Lymm and Culcheth.
Warrington's location as a "crossover town" located
as it is on the intersection of the M6, M56 and M62 motorways
has been instrumental in attracting new industry to the area.
In 1998, the Borough Council was designated a Unitary Authority
has made Warrington totally independent of Cheshire County Council
control. The Borough's
present population is around 180,000 people.
West
Kirby
West Kirby
is a township in West Kirby Parish, part of the old Norman Wirral
Hundred. It was incorporated into Hoylake-cum-West Kirby Civil
Parish in 1894 and was transferred to the newly created County
of Merseyside as a result of Local Government reorganisation in
1974. It includes the hamlet of Darmonds Green. The township is
on the north-west coast of the Wirral Peninsula, on the east side
of the estuary of River Dee. The west side of the River Dee is
North Wales. West Kirby is located about 12 miles from the City
of Liverpool and about 20 miles from Chester.
The Domesday Survey of 1086 AD shows that at that time the lands
belonged to Robert de Rodelent, to whom it had been granted after
the Norman conquest. Rodelent is known to have made a grant of
some of his land holdings to the Abbey of St. Ebruf in Normandy,
who later sold them, as well as the church and the township, to
the Abbey of St. Werburga in Chester.
The growth of modern West Kirby really began in 1886, when the
wonder of the age - the steam engine - arrived. People began to
realise that they could work across the Mersey in Liverpool during
the day but escape to the cleaner, more peaceful and healthier
surroundings of this part of Wirral to live. Hence, West Kirby
became a major dormitory town for the Greater Merseyside conurbation.
In 1871 Hoylake and West Kirby together had 2,118 residents; thirty
years later this figure had increased fivefold to 10,991.
There
is a small sandy beach which is probably the most popular windsurfing
location in the North-west of England, and the township also has
a Lifeboat Station. The adjacent Marine Lake is available all
year for sailboarding, dinghy sailing and canoeing.The
shore between the Marine Lake and Red Rocks is a high tide roost
for thousands of wading birds and a Mecca for bird watchers. In
the winter months Dunlin and Knot should be seen in their thousands
with Bar Tailed Godwit, Ringed Plover and Grey Plover. The Marine
Lake also hosts Goldeneye, Red-breasted Mergansers and Cormorants.
Wilmslow
Wilmslow was
a civil parish created in 1894 from parts of Bollin Fee, Fulshaw
and Pownall Fee. In 1936 the township was extended to include
parts of the parishes of Cheadle & Gatley (now part of Stockport
in Greater Manchester), Handforth and Styal. At that time part
of Wilmslow parish was also transferred to Alderley Edge. Wilmslow
included the hamlets of Carrwood, Colshaw, Davenport Green, Dean
Row, Finney Green, Fulshaw Park, Harden Park, Hilltop, Hollinlane,
Hough, Lacey Green, part of Lindow, Morley, Oversley, The Parsonage,
Pownall Green, Shady Grove, Stanneyland and Styal.
Wilmslow is fairly well-to-do residential town in Cheshire, located
about 12 miles of Manchester in the valleys of the River Dean
and the River Bollin. The township was once an important stagecoach
stop between London and Manchester.
Wilmslow is not mentioned in the Domesday Survey, and its place
name is therefore difficult to define. The most likely theory
of the place name is that it was the burial place of the first
William de Bolyn, who was also known as Williams Lowe, and who
changed his name to Wilmslowe. In medieval times the land was
predominantly agricultural with a few large landowners. The district
still has extensive parklands and an ancient map shows that Fulshaw
and Morley were once densely wooded.
Nowadays, Wilmslow is a major dormitory area for Manchester and
a much sought after and desirable area to live in, located as
it is at the very southern edge of the Greater Manchester conurbation
and surrounded on three sides by the rolling Cheshire countryside.
Wrenbury
The quiet
country township of Wrenbury was a Parish in the old Nantwich
Hundred which included the hamlets of Porters Hill, Wrenbury Heath
and Wrenburywood. It is currently in the Wrenbury Ward of Crewe
and Nantwich Borough Council, within the Cholmondeley Electoral
Division of Cheshire County Council and in the Eddisbury Parliamentary
Constituency.
It was recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086 as "Wareneberie"
and changed its name to "Wrennebury" in 1230
which probably translates from old English as 'old forest inhabited
by wrens'.
In the mid-14th century, during the reign of Edward III, the estate
of Wrenbury was held by John de Wrenbury and passed through the
female line to the Olton family and then to the Starkey family
who lived at Wrenbury Hall.
In 1643, during the English Civil War, Wrenbury Hall served as
accommodation for the Parliamentarian forces as they prepared
for the fateful Battle of Nantwich in which Royalist troops were
thoroughly routed.
The Starkey family and their descendants continued to hold the
Hall and surrounding lands until 1920, when the Hall and about
164 acres of land were sold to Cheshire County Council.
The village itself has the fine church of St. Margaret's, which
dates from about 1500, though a church has existed on the site
since the 12th century. Wrenbury also boasts a delightful canal
wharf at Wrenbury Mill, on its outskirts - part of the beautiful
Llangollen Canal. It is now a canal hire boat company base and
has a distinctive lifting road bridge across the canal alongside
the celebrated Dusty Miller Pub Restaurant.
