GREAT BUDWORTH

This parish contained one of the greatest number of townships of any parish in England and was one of the largest, by the nineteenth century it comprised some 35 townships and covered 26,676 acres.

Chapelries with varying degrees of independence were situated in the parish at Little Legh, Lower Peover, Nether Whitley, Stretton and Witton.

The church building was considered ‘one of the finest examples of ecclesiastical architecture remaining in Cheshire’ (Richards). Parts of the building date back to the fourteenth century, but there have been a number of subsequent alterations and extensions funded in part by bequests by parishioners. The tower, for example, is said to date from the sixteenth century.

A stone communion table and fifteenth-century font were discovered buried under the floor when the nave was lowered during extensive remodelling in the nineteenth century.

Prior to the dissolution of Norton Priory in 1536 the church belonged to the priory and canons of Norton were normally appointed to serve at Great Budworth. After the dissolution the parish was given by Henry VIII to his new foundation of Christ Church, Oxford.

The lax morals of the canon who held the vicarage prior to the dissolution were reported by Adam Beconsall to Thomas Cromwell in 1535. However, he continued to hold the parish until his death in 1551 when he was succeeded by the first cleric presented by Christ Church who was almost certainly not resident in the parish.

There was a school in the churchyard, founded in about 1600.

The production of salt was important in the parish which included the town of Northwich, and the transport of this commodity was facilitated by the construction of the Bridgewater Canal which passes through the parish.

Sources:

‘Henry VIII: April 1535, 1-10’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 8, January-July 1535, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1885), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol8/pp188-202 (vol. 8 no 496)

‘Bucknall – Buildwas’, in A Topographical Dictionary of England, ed. Samuel Lewis( London, 1848), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp424-428

George Ormerod, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester (second edition, revised and enlarged by T. Helsby, London, 1882), vol. i, pp. 605-611

Raymond Richards, Old Cheshire Churches (Revised and enlarged edition, Didsbury, 1973), pp. 170-175

Dorothy Sylvester, ‘Parish and Township in Cheshire and north-east Wales’, Journal of the Chester Archaeological Society, 54 (1967), pp. 23-36

WEAVERHAM

The parish of Weaverham comprised the townships of Acton, Crowton, Cuddington, Onston, Wallerscote and Weaverham, together with parts of Hartford and Norley. It is probable that salt was extracted in the area from Roman times.

The patron of the living was the abbot of Vale Royal Abbey, following the dissolution of the abbey the rectory and advowson of the vicarage was granted to the bishops of Chester, although the first presentation to the parish after the dissolution was made by Sir Thomas Holcroft who had acquired a lease of Vale Royal.

It is thought that there has been a church on the site of the present parish church since Saxon times. The present church is built largely of sandstone and, apart from the addition of a south porch, the exterior remains much as it was following rebuilding in the late fifteenth century. Inside there was later alteration including the addition of linenfold panelling and a wooden ceiling, said to have come from Vale Royal Abbey church.

Several thatched timber-framed cottages survive around Weaverham village centre, mostly dating from the seventeenth century.

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. 113-119

Raymond Richards, Old Cheshire Churches, (second edition, Manchester, 1973), pp. 345-351

HUYTON

The area of the parish comprised the townships of Huyton, Roby and Tarbock, together with the chapelry of Knowsley. The extra-parochial area of Croxteth Park bordered Knowsley to the west. The parish of Huyton was situated in the south-west of the county of Lancashire but now forms part of the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside.

The church had been granted to Burscough Priory which continued as patron until it was dissolved in 1536, following which the rectory was retained by the Crown and leased by successive monarchs. Queen Mary granted a 21-year lease to Urian Brereton, following which Queen Elizabeth leased it to Lawrence Mynter in 1568. In 1602 it was sold and eventually bought by the Molyneux family who then sold off portions, including the advowson which passed to the earls of Derby. One of the main houses of the earls of Derby, Knowsley Hall, was situated in the parish.

Although parts of the church building, notably the chancel and the tower survive from the fourteenth century, by the middle of the sixteenth century the church was in such a poor state of repair that it was said that rain came in through the roof of the chancel which was about to fall in. The surviving roof is ‘probably’ sixteenth century (Historic England). Extensions and further improvements were carried out in the nineteenth century.

There was some coal mined in Tarbock but this was soon exhausted, although coal mining continued in Huyton until the twentieth century. There was also a slate quarry in the township of Huyton. Other industries such as pottery and iron works developed in the parish during the nineteenth century. The growth of the Liverpool conurbation from the nineteenth century has meant that much of the area is now residential.

Sources:

Frederic Crooks, ‘Huyton Churchwardens, 1783-1834’, Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, vol 90 (1891 and 1892), pp. 177-179. Available online: https://www.hslc.org.uk/journal/vol-90-1938/

Christopher Haigh, Reformation and Resistance in Tudor Lancashire (Cambridge, 1975), p. 202

‘Hutton-Buscel – Huyton’, in A Topographical Dictionary of England, ed. Samuel Lewis( London, 1848), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp594-598

‘Houses of Austin canons: The priory of Burscough’, in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 2, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1908), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol2/pp148-152

‘The parish of Huyton: Introduction, church and charities’, in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1907), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol3/pp151-157

Historic England:
Church of St Michael (1075535)
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1075535  National Heritage List for England

The black and white image is reproduced from volume 90 of the Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire by kind permission of The Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire.

CHESTER, St OSWALD

This parish was also popularly known as St Werburgh because of its connection with the abbey church building dedicated to her.

Although the area of the parish probably originally comprised most of the city, it was gradually reduced in size as new parishes developed until by the sixteenth century the only area within the walls lay to the north-east of the city. However, it also included areas outside the city walls, to the north the abbot’s manor of St. Thomas outside the Northgate, together with Bache, Newton, Croughton, Wervin, and part of Blacon township, and to the east and south-east Great Boughton, Churton Heath, Huntington, Lea Newbold, and Saighton; and well outside Chester it included Iddinshall and Hilbre Island. There were dependant chapelries at  Boughton, Bruera (also known as Churton Heath)  and Wervin.

Following the dissolution of the abbey most of the tithes were granted to various impropriators by the dean and chapter of the new cathedral, who also owned the right of presentation of the vicar. The vicar had the tithes of Churton Heath and parts of Saighton and Blacon.

In the thirteenth century the altar of St Oswald, where the parishioners worshipped, was situated in the nave of the abbey church, but in about 1290 they were moved out to the chapel of St Nicholas, which was built for their use in the south-west corner of the abbey precincts.

This chapel continued to serve as the parish church until 1539, when the parishioners secured the use of the south transept of the abbey church which was to become the new cathedral following the dissolution of the monastery in 1540. The chapel building of St Nicholas was then leased by the city for use as the Common Hall.

There are four chapels along the east wall of the south transept, one, dedicated to St Oswald, has an intricately-carved reredos featuring scenes of the saint’s life. Veneration of St Nicholas continued with another of the four chapels dedicated to him and St Leonard, with a reredos featuring the crucifixion. The chapel of St George contains a reredos of the saint and the dragon.

Sources:

J S Barrow, J D Herson, A H Lawes, P J Riden, M V J Seaborne, ‘Churches and religious bodies: Medieval parish churches’, in A History of the County of Chester: Volume 5 Part 2, the City of Chester: Culture, Buildings, Institutions, ed. A T Thacker, C P Lewis( London, 2005), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/ches/vol5/pt2/pp133-156

Douglas Jones, The Church in Chester 1300-1540 (Chetham Society 3rd series, 7, 1957), pp. 44-45

George Ormerod, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, (second edition, revised and enlarged by T. Helsby, 3 vols, London: George Routledge & Sons, 1882), vol i, pp. 304-306

CHESTER

Chester was the largest town in Cheshire, sometimes known as the county of Chester, and became the seat of the new bishop following the creation of the see in 1541. This followed the dissolution of the Benedictine monastery of St Werburgh which became the new cathedral dedicated to Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary. The former abbot became the new dean. There were also a nunnery and three friaries, all of which were dissolved around 1540.

By the sixteenth century there were nine parishes in the city as well as a number of chapels, several of which fell out of use during the sixteenth century.

A cycle of Mystery Plays, originally performed on Corpus Christi Day, was performed annually over a period of three days at Whitsuntide by the early sixteenth century. Each of the craft guilds was responsible for a specific part of the plays each year and each maintained a wagon on which their part of the action took place as they processed around the town.  By the 1570s increasingly Puritan city and church authorities objected until they were banned by the archbishop of York and ceased after 1575. They have, however, been revived in recent years.

The city remains famous for the surviving Roman walls and the Rows, the first-floor shops on the four main streets of the city centre, projecting above those at street level.

There was a lively port on the River Dee, but the silting of the river led to a decline in trade by the mid-sixteenth century. The cause papers include numerous references to merchants and shop owners of Chester.

Chester’s racecourse, the Roodee, was the site of the port in Roman times, and is recognised as the oldest racecourse still in use, dating back to the early sixteenth century. Its name is derived from a cross or rood, the remains of which can still be seen.

Sources:

Laurence M. Clopper (ed.), Records of Early English Drama; Chester (Manchester, 1979).

The volumes of the Victoria County History of Cheshire covering the city of Chester are available online:

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/ches/vol5/pt1

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/ches/vol5/pt2