Manchester
& the Northwest Region of England
Papillon
Graphics'
Virtual Encyclopaedia of Greater Manchester
Including
Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside,
Trafford & Wigan
Resistance
to the Norman Conquest of 1066 by William I and confiscation of
lands by the conquerors led to ongoing dissent and resistance
for many years after the invasion. Cheshire, as a remote northern
and independent kingdom offered stiff resistance. William therefore
forcibly imposed his will with a degree of severity and brutality
that made earlier Norse incursions pale into insignificance by
comparison. His treatment of Cheshire was particularly severe,
whole swathes of land being destroyed, villages razed, crops burnt,
livestock slaughtered and people rendered landless, homeless and
dispossessed. In particular, in 1069 a last ditch attempt at local
resistance was bitterly put down and draconian measures taken
to impress native Saxons with the futility of future resistance.
Earl Edwin of Mercia along with other major landowners were made
examples of, their properties confiscated in reprisal and lands
redistributed amongst Norman barons.
So complete
was the devastation of Cheshire that in William's own Domesday
Survey of 1086 most of the lands in Cheshire were recorded as
'wasta', or wasteland, as "abandoned or useless lands"
where they had hitherto been fertile and prosperous before the
Conquest. Macclesfield, in particular, seems to have been especially
targeted for destruction by Norman forces, as was the city of
Chester, which was besieged in 1070 and eventually sacked, largely
demolished and devastated. All this plunged the county into a
state of utter poverty, starvation and deprivation, from which
it took many decades to recover.
At Chester,
William built a castle in a defensive location overlooking the
River Dee from where it could dominate and control the city and
from whence the county would be administered. Gaps in the old
Roman wall were repaired, 10 additional guard towers built, so
that the inner city had a 2 mile defensible wall and walkway -
making Chester probably one of the most heavily defended cities
in Britain at that time.
The New Administration
Having dispossessed Edwin and usurped his governorship, King William
then created one of his faithful baron supporters, Hugh d'Avranches
(nicknamed Hugh Lupus, or 'wolf) as Earl of Chester, ruling virtually
autonomously in his name and with his full authority, and Cheshire
was thereby declared a County Palatine, a title it still holds
today. The
county continued to be ruled and administered by Norman earls
and their issue, with their own courts of law, a structured civil
service and independent powers, until the last died without male
heir in 1237. At that time the King, Henry IIIl, declared the
female line of inheritance to be invalid and took back the title,
bestowing it on his son, Prince Edward. Ever since that time the
eldest son of all English monarchs has held the title of Earl
of Chester. By
the 13th century, so important were the city and castle at Chester
regarded, that extensions were built to include a royal apartment
for King Edward I and his queen, where they stayed during the
various wars with the neighbouring Welsh.
Many other
Norman castles were subsequently constructed throughout the county
of Cheshire in order to maintain the peace and to exert control
over the disenchanted population of the region who bitterly hated
their Norman overseers for many generations.
A concentrated
line of castles protected the border on the western side of the
county from the Welsh; additionally to that at Chester, these
included motte and bailey castles at Shotwick, Dodleston, Aldford,
Pilford, Shocklach, Oldcastle and Malpas. Earlier or derelict
forts at Frodsham, Runcorn, Hale and Halton were reinforced or
replaced with stone to protect the Mersey Estuary. The central
Cheshire Plain was dominated by a new castle at Beeston, which
still overlooks it today; the southern and eastern borders were
protected at Stockport, Macclesfield and Nantwich. But in another
sense the castles which the Nomans built across England had less
to do with the defence of the kingdom than with the demonstration
of clear visible evidence that Saxon rule and culture had ceased
and that a new and permanent power now existed in the land.
Medieval
Market Towns & Fairs in Cheshire
It would take
the best part of two centuries for the racial and cultural divisions
that still existed between Saxons and Normans to be reconciled
and for a clear English culture to emerge. This is evidenced by
the improvements in trade and commerce, particularly during the
two or three centuries following the Conquest when many markets
were established by Royal Charter throughout the region. These
were made possible partly by new rights and freedoms which had
been established by Magna Carta, which laid the basis of English
Common Law and went a considerable way towards removing the injustices
which 'Norman' overlords still wrought upon common Saxon peasantry.
These commercial advancements are shown in the growth of these
market towns - Cheshire had finally recovered from the destruction
of the Norman Conquerors and deep wounds had begun to heal.
Markets had
existed in Chester, Middlewich and Nantwich well before 1066.
The Angle-Saxon suffix "-port" (meaning "market"),
illustrates the likelihood towns like Stockport had early pre-Norman
markets already in place. However, most known markets seem to
have come into being in the 12th and 13th centuries - Aldford
and Alderley were granted market rights in 1253, Macclesfield
in 1261, Congleton in 1272 and Over in 1280. Many others soon
followed, though many failed through the fierce competition that
one market town held over its neighbours. Markets at Aldford,
Coddington, Brereton and Burton had all failed and disappeared
before the start of the 14th century. There were also many other
informal or unofficial markets in many Cheshire townships, including
Sandbach and Tintwistle (then included in the county). Twenty-three
official markets were known to exist in medieval Cheshire, but
there were probably twice that number if we include unofficial
markets.
Apart
from market days, several times a year townships of any size held
fairs - predominantly cattle fairs, horse fairs or agricultural
fairs. Often these were held outside towns at important cross-roads
where they could attract passing trade, as that held south of
Tarporley, which was the site of one of the biggest cattle fairs
in medieval Cheshire.
Even though
traditional Norman and Saxon divisions had been largely forgotten,
by the early 17th century Cheshire had established its own gentry,
with leading and land-owning families still largely descended
from Norman stock. Families like the Venables, the Mainwarings,
the Davenports and the Masseys monopolised most of the land ownership
and traced their lineages directly back to the Conquest of 1066.
They also dominated trade, legal and community affairs, and tended
to marry only amongst each other.
However, the
outbreak of the English Civil Wars in 1642 was to change all that,
and divided loyalties tore apart an otherwise well established
and cohesive social fabric. Peasant and aristocrat allied with
either Royalist or Parliamentarian causes according to conscience
and irrespective of social status. The county, like many others,
saw vicious battles fought on its lands - notably, the sieges
of Nantwich and Chester caused extensive devastation and bloody
battles at townships like Middlewich wrought havoc in the surrounding
countryside of central Cheshire.
About two-thirds
of the county gentry remained fervently Royalist in their allegiances,
while the remainder were Parliamentarians. Chester was a Royalist
stronghold, while the market towns of Stockport, Knutsford, Nantwich,
Congleton, Middlewich and Northwich remained in Parliamentarian
hands.
In 1654,
England was placed under military rule and Cheshire, Lancashire
and North Staffordshire were governed by the infamous Charles
Worsley. His ruthless treatment of Royalist supporters made
his name feared and despised throughout the northwest of England.
Riots were planned, even by Parliamentarians, notably Sir George
Booth of Dunham Massey near Altrincham, in the face of Worsley's
barbarism, though these were summarily quashed and the leaders
executed.
Late in the
18th century, land enclosure and district reorganisations took
place, many large estates being reorganised and boundaries redrawn.
Industrialisation of the many mill towns in Lancashire and Manchester
saw many Cheshire farmsteads abandoned as workers sought "a
better living" in the industrial towns. Abandoned lands were
absorbed into bigger estates so that by 98% of the land in Cheshire
belonged to only 26% of its population. By 1870, enormous estates
grew up, including John Tollemache's estate at Peckforton with
over 25,000 acres, the Marquess of Cholmondeley's lands of nearly
17,000 acres and those of the Duke of Westminster at just over
15,000 acres.
Cheshire
was a wealthy county in the 19th century. It is estimated that
there are more more fine 18th and 19th century country houses
in Cheshire than any other English county. Tatton
Hall and Dunham Massey
are examples. The wealthy land-owning Egerton Family built their
impressive country seat at Tatton between 1760 and 1820, set in
its own magnificent parkland and exotic gardens, and the 17th
century house at Dunham Massey saw significant 19th century development
and expansion into its present imposing state.
Cheshire Cheese
also came into the national consciousness at this time, with some
10,000 tons being sent per year to London alone, thanks to the
completion of the Trent &
Mersey Canal which connected rural Cheshire directly to the
industrial Midlands and beyond
