THE LYNNE MASSEY COLLECTION 3: HIGHTOWN IN THE 1950s

 

HIGHTOWN IN THE 1950s  Photo: THE LYNNE MASSEY COLLECTION

A photo from the early to mid-1950s showing an area still easily recognisable as Hightown, whether you're a long-term resident or a new member of the community.
The War Memorial, dedicated in 1933, has pride of place in its own little enclosure where Hightown leads down into Lower Street and Wheelock Street (nowadays, of course, the street leads up rather than down from Wheelock Street and St Michael's Way to Lewin Street and the road to Sandbach).

The War Memorial site was, in former times, a butcher's shop and a bank.

This was also, until the outbreak of the First World War, the time-honoured place where Middlewich's Town Crier stood to bring townspeople the latest news of the day, though in latter days, when more people were able to read newspapers,  his role was reduced to that of a talking advertisement, telling everyone of forthcoming dances, jumble sales and the like. Behind the War Memorial is a row of shops leading up to the old Town Hall adjacent to the Parish Church.

MIDDLEWICH PARISH CHURCH EARLY 20th CENTURY

by Dave Roberts

Surprisingly this is the first time that St Michael & All Angels church has featured in our Middlewich Diary in its own right, although its tower has, of course, been seen many times over the last seven years in the background of many pictures from many different  eras.
That tower always comes in useful when we're trying to put an old Middlewich photo into the context of the town we know today.
It is, as Sherlock Holmes said of Dr Watson in His Last Bow, 'the one fixed point in a changing age' - or, in this case, several changing ages.
At the end of June 2011,when the Middlewich Diary was only a month old, Geraldine Williams (from whose postcard collection this image is taken) said:
'What I like about all these pictures (in The Middlewich Diary) is the way that the Parish Church sits there benignly over the years, solid as a rock, no matter what mayhem, in the name of progress, is taking place all around it.'
And in our link on the (now defunct) Salt Town Site to the St Michael's website we called the church 'the centrepiece of Middlewich and its Pride and Joy'.
It's undeniably the town's most photographed, most cherished, most famous and most beautiful building.
Its history has been well-documented elsewhere and we will, no doubt, be seeing a lot more of Middlewich's Parish Church before we're done, but briefly:
The Church was built during the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries (it is generally regarded by most architectural historians as a 15th Century building) but incorporates parts of at least one earlier building dating back to the 11th century.
In 1643 it was famously the scene of a Royalist defeat in the first Battle of Middlewich during the English Civil War.
The Church was extensively restored by the Victorians, which explains the veritable forest of pinnacles all around the building.
The Middlewich Diary being the Middlewich Diary, of course, even the publication of this straightforward picture of the church gives rise to puzzlement and conjecture.
We're wondering just where this picture was taken from, and when.
As explained above, the image comes from Geraldine Williams' album of postcards sent by Miss Mary E (Polly) Gallimore to various friends and relations between 1904 and 1907.
This particular card was never posted and thus has no date or message on it and so may possibly be of a later vintage than most of the others in the collection.
As far as we are aware it was only possible to take this particular shot of the church once that cluster of buildings adjoining the churchyard and bounded on the left by Hightown and on the right by Leadsmithy Street had been demolished:

Or would it have been possible to get the shot by standing somewhere near where Middlewich Carpets and Flooring now is, without those buildings getting in the way?
Was there, perhaps, a passageway between the churchyard and the shops to the right, running down from Hightown to Leadsmithy Street, its entrance where the red hand is in the section of the photo shown below?
This would be where the current footpath runs between the two streets.
A Heritage Society plaque informs us that the slope in question was once called 'Halfpenny Hill'
Would it have been sufficiently wide in those days to enable the photographer to take his photo of the church?

Was the churchyard perhaps extended when the block of shops was knocked down, enabling the classic view of the church in our main picture to be obtained, probably just before or just after World War I?
So there's another  Middlewich Diary can of worms opened....
The attractive railings around the churchyard, by the way, were taken away for scrap as part of the war effort during World War II, as were so many of their kind.
The railings at the Chester Road entrance to Middlewich Cemetery, however, were spared due to the rarity of their design and construction.

ST MICHAEL & ALL ANGELS WEBSITE

First published 12th April 2012
Re-published 13th April 2018

THE VENABLES SCREENS PROJECT

Middlewich Heritage Trust

THE VENABLES SCREEN PROJECT

by Kerry Kirwan

Middlewich Town Council Heritage Development Officer

What's in a surname?

That's one of the questions as we explore the world of the Venables family, Barons of Kinderton?

Not heard of them?

The Barony of Kinderton ran from the Norman Conquest up to the mid-nineteenth century; a family of myth, war, intrigue and power based here in Kinderton, Middlewich.

The Venables Screens Project has been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and focuses on two large oak screens painted with heraldic shields dating back to the 13th century which can be found in the church of St Michael & All Angels.

These rare survivors were commissioned by the Baron of Kinderton in 1632; they were removed from the Baron's chapel and placed in the bell tower, where you'll find them today, in quite poor condition.

These uniquie screens are not only important for genealogy and heraldry, but also history and the story of the Norman 'barony' in Cheshire.

This HLF funded project has provided an opportunity for local people to rediscover the Venables; on Thursday 12 April we will be holding an event at Middlewich library to celebrate and share what we have learnt.

During the day we will be getting creative, running Children's workshops at Middlewich library from 11am until 3pm, where families can learn about their own heraldry and make their own shields. 

So if you're looking for something to do with the kids, come along and discover your very own coat of arms!

At 7.30pm local author and historian Tony Bostock will tell the story of the Venables Screens themselves. What have we uncovered so far? This will be followed by a short talk on what we have discovered during our research.

The night will be finished off by a presentation on the St Michael & All Angels Restoration Project.

A fact-filled night out for free! So come along and join us!

We hope you can join us. Please pass the word on via friends, Facebook, Twitter etc.

This is the last event for this Heritage Lottery funded project.

Middlewich Heritage Trust

MIDDLEWICH HERITAGE TRUST ON FACEBOOK

MIDDLEWICH KIDS COMMUNITY CHOIR

Postponed from

MONDAY 26th February

DIRECT EMAIL LINK

AERIAL VIEW OF MIDDLEWICH 2018 by Chris Fuchs

                      MIDDLEWICH 2018. DRONE PICTURE BY CHRIS FUCHS

Chris Fuchs writes:

Hello there,

I follow the Middlewich Diary with interest and liked the picture in the article from 14th Jan which shows an aerial picture of the town from 1968.

Courtesy of Elaine Carlin

LINK: 1967 AERIAL VIEW

I fly a drone and recently attempted to take a similar picture myself for comparison. It's a fairly large panorama at around 60MB so can be quite slow to load and zoom.   

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Obviously it's rather difficult to discern anything very much from the original photo as shown above, but this is no ordinary photograph.

If you go to the link provided by Chris:

MIDDLEWICH AERIAL VIEW 2018

you'll see a much enlarged version, in which some familiar landmarks can be made out.

Not only that; if you click  on this symbol:

you'll be able to zoom in on the picture and see modern day Middlewich in astonishing detail, from Andersen Boats on the left, to St Michael's Church in the middle, and on to Holmes Chapel Road on the right.

These are the instructions for viewing the picture on a pc. Obviously methods will differ for other types of computer and mobile phones.

Here are a just a few of the screenshots we've been able to obtain:

The classic view of St Michael & All Angels Church. To the left of the church is the end of Queen Street, and the King Arms Hotel. St Michael's Way curves away to the right, with Pepper Street on the extreme right. In the foreground are Forshaw's Funeral Services, Lex House (Waters Edge Medical Centre) and the Wharfinger's Cottage on the Town Wharf. 

The Holmes Chapel Road railway bridge ('Station Bridge') is on the left and the railway line itself can be seen heading off towards Sandbach and Crewe. This is the suggested site for the new Middlewich Station. In the background are the ugly industrial boxes of Midpoint 18 (now re-christened 'Ma6nitude', though how it is supposed to be pronounced  is anyone's guess)

Lewin Street: Left to right - Halfpenny Court, the library and 'Katy's Corner'

Queen Street. And it's a definite case of 'I can see our house from here!' Just look to the left of that large building in the middle of the photo. That's the Middlewich United Reformed Church (formerly the Congregational Church) and our house, not to mention the Middlewich Diary's multi-million pound office complex, is next door but one. You can just see our white framed back bedroom window. Below that, the white building with the black roof is our kitchen. I knew you'd be impressed. To the right of the 'Congs' is one of the town's architectural gems, no 25 Queen Street, a listed building and described as being built 'in the early 19th century'. Across the road is Fountain Fields (now known to many as 'Tesco Park', due to the proximity of the firm's main Middlewich store (or, as Middlewich folk have it, 'Big Tesco'). Beyond the Tesco store, the  white building marks the top end of Southway and the fringe of St Ann's Road. On the extreme left of the photo, just before Queen Street gives way to King Edward Street, is the Vicarage, which we will all, sooner or later, have to learn to call the Rectory. Top left are the Victorian Beech Street and West Street.

Kinderton Street: (l to r): The Kinderton Hotel, The Boar's Head, The Factory Shop

Lewin Street and its junction with Sutton Lane, which runs away to the top of the picture, crossing the Shropshire Union Canal and heading into the distance. The surprisingly large sprawl of the British legion Club is right centre

Hough Construction HQ in Brooks Lane. The Sandbach-Middlewich-Northwich railway runs along the top of the photo

Back to Lewin Street and the familiar sight of the Victoria Building (Now re-christened, quite rightly, 'The Town Hall')and behind it the Victoria Hall (previously the Town Hall Function Suite and, before that, the Civic Hall). To the right of Victoria Building we can just see the Post Office and the Narrowboat Inn. In the background beyond the fire station and the Wych Centre is the seemingly postage-stamp sized Market Field, looking impossibly small but nevertheless the main venue for the FAB Festival each year. Top left is the Oaklands Medical Centre, and top right is the Community Centre.

- you'll no doubt be able to see much more as you zoom in and scan the photograph.Our thanks to Chris for sending us the link to this amazing photograph.

Just imagine how valuable Chris's photo and others like it will be to people living fifty years from now who want to learn about Middlewich in 2018.

There will undoubtedly be changes to the town over that period, possibly changes much more drastic than the ones which have happened since 1967/8.

How fortunate those future historians will be to have access to superb material like this.

Dave Roberts

Editor.

THE VENABLES SCREENS RESTORATION PROJECT

Middlewich Heritage Trust

Direct email link:

heritage@middlewich.org.uk

MIDDLEWICH CHURCH circa 1906

by Malcolm Hough

Here is another post card of the church, which I have not seen before, and bought recently off eBay for £4.50. Worth every penny!

I don’t have a date for it , but it is likely to be the early 1900’s (see below - Ed).

The rear of the postcard  states that the postage cost is a Half-Penny for inland and One Penny for foreign destinations.

There is also a dividing line to separate the address from the communication and I believe this line came into use around 1905, according to a post card collectors site I was looking at a few years ago.

Bottom left you can  see where lines have been drawn, or scratched, to write the Middlewich name on the front of the card before printing.

I remember the very talented sign-writers doing something similar with chalk at Foden’s before the use of transfers.

I'm not exactly sure where the picture was taken from.

To me it does not look like it was taken at ground level. You can just about make out the Kings Arms pub sign; half way down left-hand side and you can also see the gap in the shadow where the entrance to Queen Street is. 

The trees are quite small as well.

Editor's Note:

I think Malcolm's estimate of the early 1900s as a date for this postcard is correct. Look at this view which was taken from the end of Lewin Street, looking towards the Church and Town Hall, and we know to date from 1906.

Hightown 1906. From Middlewich 1900-1950 by Allan Earl (Cheshire Country Publishing 1994)

The Church (or what we can see of it) and the old Town Hall to its left appear to look exactly the same in this photo as they do in  Malcolm's postcard, so I think 1906 is about right. Incidentally, on the photo from Allan Earl's book you can just see, behind the cluster of buildings around the churchyard, the top of one of the chimneys at the Pepper Street salt works belching out black smoke.

Returning, briefly, to Malcolm's postcard, it's also interesting to note that the entrance into the Churchyard seems to be a lot further away from the church than it is at present. Is this a trick of perspective? Or were there two entrances in this section of wall in those days? just below the Town Hall you can see what might be the present day entrance (these days minus its gate) in the form of a distinct 'V' shape in the wall. You'll also notice that the arrangement of the churchyard itself is also a lot different. Of course,we know that the current layout, with its pathways made from old headstones and gravestones only dates back to the early 1970s.

But take a close look at the Town Hall in both pictures. Here's an enlargement of part of Malcolm's postcard.

It's the old Town Hall all right - the one which was demolished in the early 1970s and stood on the ground next to the churchyard where the 'Roman Amphitheatre' is now, but it appears to have what's known as a colonnade - a row of pillars at the front of it.

Here's the Town Hall as we remember it...

...and from this we can see that the gaps between those arches appear to have been  filled in at a later date to form a door and two windows. Did this occur, perhaps, in the early 1930s when the rear part of the Hall was demolished for road-widening and the Urban District Council moved its offices to Victoria Building (now, somewhat ironically, itself re-christened 'Middlewich Town Hall'?) It would be interesting to get hold of a clearer picture from the early 20th century of the front of this venerable building to see just what the entrance really looked like before these alterations. - Dave Roberts