Township
Cheshire
Tilston
Malpas
EDC 5/1560/2 – Joan Fitton, wife of Robert Fitton, contra Ralph Leche
CARDEN
Carden was one of the townships of the parish of Tilston in the south west of Cheshire.
The defamatory words alleged in EDC 5/1560/2 were said to have been uttered in ‘the Commen Town fylde of Carden’. A common field would have been available for use by inhabitants of the township.
Parish
Cheshire
Tattenhall
Malpas
EDC 5/1560/2 – Joan Fitton, wife of Robert Fitton, contra Ralph Leche
Parish
Cheshire
Tilston
Malpas
EDC 5/1560/2 – Joan Fitton, wife of Robert Fitton, contra Ralph Leche
EDC 5/1582/11 – Richard Massey contra John Brereton
TILSTON
The parish of Tilston lies in the south west of Cheshire, on the edge of the Broxton Hills. It comprised the townships of Tilston, Carden, Grafton, Horton and Stretton.
The advowson of the parish belonged to the divided manor of Tilston which was owned by a succession of families, the right of presentation to the living being exercised alternately by the two owners. The rectors owned the tithes.
The parish church, built of red sandstone, is situated to the south of the village of Tilston, a short distance from the village. The oldest part of the building is the tower, dating from the fifteenth century which retains its original gargoyles. There was an earlier building on the site of which nothing now remains. Within the church a chapel appropriated to Stretton Hall dates from 1659 and is situated on the north side of the building. There was a major restoration of the church by John Douglas in the nineteenth century in the course of which most of the church was rebuilt.
Outside the church, the gate piers in sandstone feature skull and crossbones and the date 1688 is inscribed to the right. There is the base of a medieval cross in the churchyard, which had been altered to incorporate a sundial.
The area of the parish remains largely rural.
Sources:
George Ormerod, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester (second edition, revised and enlarged by T. Helsby, London, 1882), vol. ii, pp. 694-698
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Harrison
Edward
Male
Unknown
Although Edward Harrison’s parish is unusually not stated in the libel, the cause at EDC 5/1/8 concerns the tithes of Over and it may be that he lived in the area of the parish of Whitegate of which the parochial status was in dispute at the time.
EDC 5/1/8 – defendant
Young
Robert
Male
Unknown
Although Robert Young’s parish is unusually not given in the libel, the cause at EDC 5/1/8 concerns the tithes of Over and it may be that he lived in the area of the parish of Whitegate of which the parochial status was in dispute at the time.
EDC 5/1/8 – defendant
Barker
Benedict
Male
Unknown
Although Benedict Barker’s parish is unusually not given in the libel, the cause at EDC 5/1/8 concerns the tithes of Over and it may be that he lived in the area of the parish of Whitegate of which the parochial status was in dispute at that time.
EDC 5/1/8 – defendant
Done (Downe/ Donne)
Ralph
Male
Over
Unmarried
Clerk; vicar of Over
CCEd person ID 33204
Career:
Ralph Done was instituted vicar of Over on 30 June 1525, following the death of the previous incumbent.
In 1555, while he was still vicar and Queen Mary had restored Catholicism in England, he was accused of having married Alice, his servant. If he had been married, he would have been deprived of his living as the Catholic church did not permit its clergy to marry. He appeared before the Consistory Court and admitted that he had committed fornication with Alice and fathered several children but had never married her. He was able to establish his innocence by compurgation ‘with four hands’ and four local clergy duly swore that they believed he had not been married.
He continued as vicar but had been replaced by December 1562.
Further notes: The parish of Over had been wholly impropriated by the nunnery of Chester, although the tithes of the parish had passed to Vale Royal Abbey by grant and lease by 1475. When the nunnery surrendered to the Crown in 1540 the bishop of Chester acquired the rectory and advowson of Over. However, the tithes of the parish became a contentious issue following the dissolution of Vale Royal Abbey in 1538 when the nuns’ lease came to an end.
Additionally, the church just outside the abbey gate, known as Whitegate, had passed into the hands of the King in 1538 but Ralph Done, as vicar of Over, claimed that this was not a parish church, but a chapelry of the parish of Over which entitled him to the tithes arising. An Act of Parliament was passed in 1542 which created the parish of Whitegate, separate from Over, thus ending any claim by Over to the Whitegate tithes.
Sources:
A P Baggs, Ann J Kettle, S J Lander, A T Thacker, David Wardle, ‘House of Benedictine nuns: The priory of Chester’, in A History of the County of Chester: Volume 3, ed. C R Elrington, B E Harris( London, 1980), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/ches/vol3/pp146-150 [accessed 28 December 2024].
George Ormerod, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester (second edition, revised and enlarged by T. Helsby, London, 1882), vol. 2, p. 185
Cheshire Sheaf, 3rd series, xxiv, p. 27.
CALS EDC 1/14 ff. 39v-40.
EDC 5/1/8 – plaintiff
Parish
Cheshire
Over
Middlewich
EDC 5/1/8 – Ralph Done, vicar of Over, contra Robert Young, Edward Harrison & Benedict Barker
OVER
The parish of Over comprised three townships, Over with the hamlets of Swanlow and Winsford, Oulton Lowe and Wettenhall. The area of Whitegate was arguably part of the parish, but within the demesne of Vale Royal Abbey. When the Abbey was dissolved in 1538 the vicar of Over claimed that Whitegate was a chapelry of his parish. The controversy was ended by an Act of Parliament in 1542 which confirmed the position of Whitegate as a parish, separate from Over.
The parish was granted to the nuns of Chester by the earls of Chester in the late 12th century, but although rights to the tithes had passed to Vale Royal Abbey by grant and lease by 1475, the nuns retained the right of presentation. Following the surrender of the convent in 1540 the appropriation of the parish passed to the bishops of Chester.
The parish church of Over, dedicated to St Chad, is situated in a ‘retired glen’ near the banks of the River Weaver set back from the road. It is still almost entirely surrounded by fields apart from a timber-framed building near the gates. This was once the Blue Bell Inn. The church is unusual in being so secluded as parish churches were more often situated on high ground in a prominent position.
This remote position gave rise to a legend that the church was originally built in the middle of Over but Devil seized it and was carrying it away when the monks of nearby Vale Royal Abbey heard what was happening and began to ring their bells. This caused Satan to drop the church which drifted to earth and landed without damage in its present position.
Despite this unusual episode the building has undergone much reconstruction work over the centuries of its existence and is basically a 15th and 16th century structure, having been comprehensively rebuilt by Hugh Starkey of Oulton in the mid-16th century. In common with many churches, it underwent extensive repairs and was extended during the 19th century and in 1904 the north wall was rebuilt in line with the 1894 vestry extension. The churchyard was extended at about the same time.
The parish now forms part of the town of Winsford, formed in 1894 by combining Over and Wharton. An unusual Boer War Memorial, now housed in the shopping centre, reflects Winsford’s growing civic identity.
The salt mining industry developed in the area from the eighteenth century and Winsford is currently the site of the largest rock salt mine in the country. Other industries, such as engineering, developed during the nineteenth century and after the Second World War large housing developments were built and the population grew rapidly, leading to increased demand for jobs. A development just outside the town proudly advertises itself as ‘Britain’s FIRST industrial Business Improvement District’.
The image of the Devil and Over church is from Egerton Leigh, Ballads & Legends of Cheshire (London, 1867) courtesy of HathiTrust. My thanks to Stuart Allen for drawing my attention to this image.
Sources:
A P Baggs, Ann J Kettle, S J Lander, A T Thacker, David Wardle, ‘House of Benedictine nuns: The priory of Chester’, in A History of the County of Chester: Volume 3, ed. C R Elrington, B E Harris( London, 1980), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/ches/vol3/pp146-150 [accessed 28 December 2024]
Tony Bostock, Winsford: a History of a Cheshire Town and its People (Northwich, 2016)
George Ormerod, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester (second edition, revised and enlarged by T. Helsby, London, 1882), vol. ii, pp. 181-195
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