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

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

WINWICK

The parish of Winwick, comprising the townships of Newton, Haydock, Winwick with Hulme, Ashton, Golborne, Lowton, Kenyon, Culcheth, Houghton, Middleton and Arbury and Southworth with Croft was in the historical county of Lancashire, but parts are now in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, not far from Warrington.

The parish was said to be the richest rectory in the country and the Stanley family, earls of Derby, were patrons, owning the advowson. The wealth of the living meant that the rectors were often wealthy pluralists such as Thomas Stanley, bishop of Sodor and Man, who also held the parish of Wigan.

The existence of a church in the parish was recorded in the Domesday Book. Although some parts of the medieval building survive, there were many later additions and alterations. In common with a number of local churches the building is said to have been severely damaged by Parliamentarian troops quartered there during the Civil War when two battles were fought nearby.

The chancel was rebuilt in 1847-1849 to designs by A.W. N. Pugin, the celebrated church architect.

A grammar school at Winwick was founded in the mid-sixteenth century after the dissolution of the chantries in Winwick church and refounded with the building of a new schoolhouse in 1618-1619.

Coal mining developed in the area from the late-sixteenth century, industry such as engineering and textiles followed; the construction of the Sankey Navigation, which opened in 1757, further stimulated the coal trade and industrial development. Agriculture is still widespread in the area, however.

The black and white images are reproduced from volumes of Transactions of the Historical Society of Lancashire and Cheshire with their kind permission.

Sources:

T. C. Barker, ‘The Sankey Navigation: the first Lancashire canal’, Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, vol. 100 (1948), pp. 121-156. Available online:  https://www.hslc.org.uk/journal/vol-100-1948/

James Kendrick, ‘Warrington local sketches’, Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, vol. 29 (1876-77), pp. 33-42. Available online: https://www.hslc.org.uk/journal/vol-29-1876-1877/

T. G. Rylands, ‘Winwick and Culcheth in Lancashire: their place in history’, Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, vol. 32 (1879-80), pp. 53-66. Available online: https://www.hslc.org.uk/journal/vol-32-1879-1880/

Rev. W. A. Wickham, ‘Pugin and the re-building of Winwick chancel’, Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, vol. 59 (1907), pp. 132-160. Available online: https://www.hslc.org.uk/journal/vol-59-1907/

Historic England:
Church of St Oswald, Golborne Road (1278428)
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1278428 National Heritage List for England

‘The parish of Winwick: Introduction, church and charities’, in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1911), pp. 122-132. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol4/pp122-132 [accessed 28 November 2022].