WHIT WEDNESDAY PROCESSION IN HIGHTOWN 1949

by Dave Roberts
Here's a photo from Mike Jennings, who tells us that his mother knows the names of everyone pictured in this Whit Wednesday walk in Hightown in the early 1950s.
It took us a while to arrive at a proper description for this photograph. At first we thought it might have been a May Day procession (and my description, when the Facebook link was created for this entry talked of a 'maypole', largely because of the ribbons; it reminded me of the maypole we had a Wimboldsley school in the 1950s which I myself used to dance expertly around, if anyone can imagine me doing such a thing), but the obvious religious flavour of the occasion made us think again, particularly when Geraldine Williams said, 'Is it definitely a May Day procession? It's obviously a church group (check the surplice on the fellow holding up the pole); and it's a bit short for a maypole - he would be in great danger of strangulation once the dance got going unless there's an extension somewhere! And is it my imagination or had they caught the short straw in the order of procession and were following a horse-drawn vehicle (judging by the state of the road!)'
Geraldine also had some ideas on who some of the people in the picture might be: 'I think I recognise the tall girl in the centre, who has allowed the compulsory hair ribbon with bow to slip down to a more flattering position! I also think I know the second girl from the left, but I'll await Mrs Jennings' verdict.'
Cliff Astles also recognised at least one of the people in the picture: 'One of them, for sure, is my wife Barbara Elaine Astles, nee Evans of 6 Cross Lane. She is on the far left of the picture'.
Barbara added, 'It was a St Michael's Church event and took place every Whitsuntide. We would walk from the church along Wheelock Street, stopping a number of times to perform a maypole dance - winding in and out of the ribbons. I can't remember if we went back to the church, but there were always crowds of people watching the procession as we went along Wheelock Street'.
The setting will, of course, be familiar by now to even the newest Middlewich newcomer, partly because it's still very recognisable with Fitton's butcher's shop and the Natwest Bank (then known by the rather more dignified title of the 'Westminster Bank' and soon to be just a memory) to the right.
Finally, Mike Jennings got back in touch to say: 'Hi Dave, I've just checked the original photo of the "May Day Parade". It was sent as a letter to my mother who was serving with the ATS in Singapore at the time. The information on it confirms that it was 'The Whit Wednesday Walk 1949'.
We'll be re-publishing this entry soon with Mrs Jennings information about the people in the picture, along with some additional photos of other Whitsun walks in Middlewich which have come to light..

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NAVIGATION INN circa1894

by Dave Roberts

The publication of this well known Middlewich picture arises from this diary entry in which we were debating  the location in Kinderton Street of that old thatched building which we originally identified as being where the Seabank Car Park stands today.

An alternative interpretation was put forward by Glen Leigh which would have made the building on the extreme left of that picture the Navigation Inn, seen here in or around 1894.

To my delight my old school mate Andrew Craig got in touch to say that his family has a copy of the above photograph and it shows members of his family from that period.

Andrew writes:

My Great Grandparents Charles and Hannah Dean ran the Navigation Inn from 1890 to 1896. Great Auntie Nancy (born 1892) is holding Charles' hand, Hannah is in the doorway at bottom right. The other children could be Grandfather Percy (born 1888) or Great Uncle Fred (born 1886) and Great Auntie Lizzie (born 1885). I can't find any other identities.

We're able to say for certain that  this photograph  was  taken in or around 1894 because that was the year that Charles Frederick Lawrence's celebrated History of Middlewich was published.

The advertisement below was taken from that book

Advertisement from 'The History of Middlewich' (1894) by C F Lawrence

The Navigation, like the still extant Big Lock and Kings Lock pubs was a 'stack pub' - i.e. it was built on two levels, with the lower storey on the canal and the upper one opening out onto Kinderton Street/Mill Lane.
Like the Big Lock the Navigation provided groceries and provisions to the people working the boats and it is an indication of the isolated lives, away from normal society, that the boat people led that it was worthwhile providing a service here, so close to the town centre.
The fact that this facility and the one at the Big Lock, just a matter of yards away, could both thrive shows how busy the canals were at that time with commercial traffic.
The advertisement also informs an eager public that the premises had recently been 'considerably enlarged' and our second photograph (below) enables us to see how the pub looked before and after that enlargement.

After reading Andrew's contribution, Geraldine Williams wrote:

My sister Eileen, who sadly passed away recently, had been following a genealogy course with the U3A and, in one of the last conversations we had, was excitedly telling me that she had discovered that our Grandmother, Harriet Lannon's father (William Bull Whittaker) had been the licensee of the Navigation. Now there seems to be proof that the Deans were there from 1890-96. However, our Grandmother, who,lived in Seddon Street at the time of her wedding, was married in 1912 so, counting back, she could well have grown up at the Navigation at some point. I do so hope that Eileen was correct.

This photograph, then, must have been taken some time before 1894 and shows the Navigation in unrebuilt form with Mill Lane (which in the present day leads down to Town Bridge Motors) running off to the right between the pub and the shop with the interesting old lamp on it, where now stands that bungalow adorned with solar panels..

St Michael's Church also helps give us our present-day bearings. 

Kinderton Street at that time passed over the Town Bridge (just beyond the Navigation) and then made a right turn before resuming its course and becoming Lower Street (now incorporated into St Michael's Way), running alongside the churchyard.
This unexpected dog-leg was the renowned 'Awkward Turn To The Lompon' which puzzled us for so long.

Just over the bridge we can glimpse that shop with the parapet frontage we've seen before..
The buildings on the left are on what is now the Seabank carpark and disappeared, along with everything else in this picture (except the Church, of course), in 1931 when the old Town Bridge was demolished to make way for the present structure.
Incidentally, this picture is featured on page 95 of Images of England - Middlewich (Tempus Publishing 2007) by J Brian Curzon and Paul Hurley but is labelled (by Brian ) 'Mill Lane looking towards Town Bridge from the direction of Sandbach'

Finally, here's our standard reference Town Bridge/Kinderton Street picture which, though taken a long time ago, before one half of Kinderton Street was demolished, can still be used to indicate the sites of long-lost buildings. The place where the Navigation stood all those years ago is circled (rather inelegantly) in red..
It will be appreciated that it is difficult to be sure about the precise location as road alignments were considerably altered when the new Town Bridge replaced the old.
For a description of this picture see this posting.

Many thanks to Andrew Craig and Geraldine Williams for their help in compiling this entry

MIDDLEWICH WHAT'S ON GUIDE 2013

Hopefully dispelling once and for all the old myth that 'nothing ever happens in Middlewich' is this very impressive booklet from the Town Council listing just what is happening in Middlewich this year.
Everything from the Artisan Market to the FAB Festival, the Classic Car & Bike Show (formerly the Transport Festival) to the Annual Middlewich Show, the Middlewich Beer Festival and the Town Bonfire right through to the Christmas Fayre. And those are just a few of the events going on this year.
There's also information about the Roman Trail and the Wych & Water Trail, and a lot more, including a list of community websites (including this one!) and a guide to the shops, businesses and services in Middlewich Town Centre.
And if you think the booklet looks great, wait until you seen the online version:

MIDDLEWICH TOWN COUNCIL: ONLINE 'WHAT'S ON' GUIDE

KINDERTON STREET - EARLY 20th CENTURY - Updated.

This Middlewich Diary entry was first published on 5th April 2012 and  re-published on 23rd April 2012 and 2nd April 2013.(see below)

by Dave Roberts
This is another of those classic  postcards which Middlewich people old and new will recognise instantly from books full of photographs of 'Old Middlewich' or framed copies on pub walls.
And as soon as we look at it we have a vague feeling that we know the exact area it represents (admittedly the 'Kinderton Street, Middlewich' caption is a major clue).
That picturesque half-timbered group of cottages has to be where the Seabank car park is in the present day, with Seabank itself running off on the left down to the River Croco and the canal, just as it does today.
That would make the building on the extreme left the present-day Kinderton Hotel.
But what is the building on the extreme right? It's certainly not the Talbot Hotel which would be further down the hill on the other side of it.
And that piece of wall is very reminiscent of the one that ran along King Street past Moreton's farm and around the corner into the top end of Kinderton Street, which probably indicates nothing more than the fact that the two walls were built by the same local builder in his own distinctive style.
As late as 1948 there were buildings all the way down this side of Kinderton Street to the Town Bridge, as seen in this rather blurry enlargement from one of the pictures in the Phillip Shales collection

I can never remember there being any buildings between Costello's shop and the Talbot, from the late fifties until demolition of every building on that side of the street from the Talbot to Moreton's farmhouse in the mid-seventies (except for Flag Alley which was behind the right hand side of the Talbot and at right angles to it) so the buildings we can glimpse here must have disappeared sometime in the early 1950s.
Is that large one on the extreme right the same building shown on the right of our main picture?
Note that even in 1948 the other side of the street appears to have been cleared and become a car park, so our picturesque thatched cottages and the building(s) next to them were long gone by then.
Returning to the main picture, we can also note, to the right, the usual  bystanders looking at the photographer in the  usual suspicious way. I'm not sure what the contrivance standing next to them is. Could it be a motorbike?
And on the left is another example for Geraldine Williams' collection of interesting Middlewich street lamps.
If you look carefully to the right of it, there's someone lurking underneath that tree with a ladder.

Facebook Feedback:


Geraldine Williams I can remember the buildings rext to The Talbot and thought that they existed until the early 60s. One of the families was called Bland, and there was also  a Mrs Something (hyphen) Bailey.
Flag Alley was also in existence then and I always assumed that the land between them and Costello's shop formed their gardens (there was some cultivation), But when you think about it, the clue's in the name 'Alley' and presumably the land was the site of  the big building which had been demolished.

Dave Roberts It's difficult to remember now, but we moved to King Street in (I think) 1959. Our route in and out of town was always Kinderton Street, and I don't remember those buildings ever being there. I may be wrong, of course. What we really need is some clear pictures of that side of the street before demolition, but the only ones I've ever seen show The Talbot and the row which began with Costello's shop with a huge gap in between the two, which is how I remember it.

E MAIL FEEDBACK:

This has been received from Bill Eaton:

The building on the right is the gable end of the three cottages that joined onto The Talbot public house. At the end of the wall near to that building were steps leading to two more cottages that faced towards Costello's shop with gardens at the front.
(This will be what I remember as 'Flag Alley'. I delivered rate demands there when i worked for the Middlewich UDC - Ed.)
 Wilkinson's lived in the first one and, at the top of their garden were two more cottages which faced onto Kinderton Street.
Bill Hewitt, a local coal merchant, lived in one. He had access to the rear of the buildings and he kept his cart and stabled his horse there (the building behind Costello's shop?). The entrance to the other ran to the rear past Costello's outside loo. (see this entry, and associated links - Ed) I hope this helps in some way.


We've tried to reply to  Bill's e mail, but unfortunately our email provider won't allow us to for some obscure reason. If you're reading this, Bill, many thanks -Ed.

Geraldine Williams writes:

This has thrown up a lot of questions in my mind.
That certainly looks like a motorbike, which could put the picture just before the turn of the century (see  'An Awkward turn to the Lompon' for a picture of  another motorbike not too far away - Ed).
There only seems to be a twopenny-ha'penny bridge on Seabank, which could only have crossed the Croco.
Wouldn't there have been a means of crossing the canal there?
I wonder when the thatched cottage disappeared? I can understand that going to the wall, but the building next to it seems to have been quite substantial. Would it have survived until the rebuilding of the Town Bridge?
And wasn't Moreton's Farm in an unusual place - i.e. tacked onto a row of houses with virtually no land? I know Bert Moreton used the land behind the houses in King Street, but even so...
Perhaps the mill pool was formed later than the farm?

UPDATE (2nd APRIL 2013):

On Facebook Glen Leigh writes:

Hi Dave, I was reading the comments about the location of this image and a member of my family born in Middlewich 1940's is 99% sure that the large building on the right is the early Talbot before extension. So the left turn could have been a route to the old gas works where Town bridge motors area is today.

Thanks Glen. An interesting theory. This would make the building on the extreme left the Navigation Inn, immediately next to the old town bridge.
 I wonder what other people think? We welcome further comments - Ed.

(see also Glen's comment, below)

SEE: TWO ALTERNATIVES

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MIDDLEWICH WHARF AT NIGHT by JIM MOORES

Middlewich Wharf, Easter Sunday 2013

We've used many many photographs on the Middlewich Diary over the last eighteen months or so, the vast majority of them  to illustrate something about Middlewich's history or to record a recent event for posterity.

But we're publishing this superb shot of Middlewich Wharf for its own sake, simply because it's such an excellent and atmospheric picture.

It's by Jim Moores who runs the Canals and Rivers of Middlewich Facebook page and also contributes to Bill Armsden's Middlewich Photographers group.

These sites contain some really excellent photographs, both by Jim and by the growing band of local photographers who are busy recording the passing Middlewich scene for future generations to enjoy.

Dave Roberts

SEE ALSO: MIDDLEWICH SUNSET MAY 2013 by FIONA BAKER

12th APRIL 2020

REVIVING A MID-CHESHIRE EASTER TRADITION

Leo's first Good Friday ball.

As our salt town days recede further and further into history it's interesting to hear of a tradition which seems to be unique to Winsford and Middlewich and was brought to our attention by Margaret Poniznik who wrote a post on Facebook asking if everyone had bought their Good Friday balls ready for Easter.
The whole idea seemed to be news to a lot of people, including me, but Margaret pointed out that the custom had been mentioned in a short Middlewich Guardian article.

MIDDLEWICH TOWN CENTRE PUZZLE PICTURE

Here's one for all our Middlewich aficionados. The puzzle we're trying to work out is the date of this picture of Middlewich Town Centre. There are various clues and indicators to be taken into account.
First of all, notice that the weather vane is securely in place atop St Michael's Church Tower. This went missing for a few years and, we seem to recall, was refurbished and put back in place just before one of the original Folk & Boat Festivals, which puts the date after 1990.
Below the church the late and unlamented 'piazza' is still in place, awaiting replacement by the much superior 'Roman Amphitheatre' we know today.
In front of the piazza you can just make out the old bus shelter with a sign indicating that we're still in the Cheshire County Council era.
Why, incidentally, did they put those steps in on the right of this lacklustre structure when there's a perfectly good pavement running right alongside? We'll probably never know.
On the left the Vaults car-park is still in unrebuilt form and a blackboard proudly announces the presence of BIG SCREEN SKY TV, so we're also in the early years of  satellite TV in pubs. Nowadays all pubs showing SKY TV have massive banners outside proclaiming the existence of SKY on the premises and the BIG SCREEN bit is taken for granted.
Middlewich's tall and quite elegant lamp posts are still in place, albeit painted grey instead of municipal green and there's no sign yet of the horrendous 'glorified patio heaters' we have complained about in more recent years.
And what, we wonder, are those pipes doing running across the road?
On the right of the picture is a collection of buildings which merits closer inspection...

On the left our poor beleagured butchered butcher's shop has become home to a video shop called 'Titles', although one of the windows seems to have been broken.
The hideous green wooden panelling which so disfigured this formerly beautiful shop has not yet been introduced, giving us the possibly unique sight of a video shop with MEAT PURVEYORS on the front.
In 2013 the shop looks much smarter as the home of the Balti Spice Takeaway.
Next door, sporting a white logo rather than the current red one, is...er...the Natwest Bank, about which the least said the better...
And to its right is the never-to-be-forgotten Dillon's, now part of Tesco's dwindling Middlewich empire.
'See you Down Dillon's!' was the cry in those days.
The red and white sign to the right of the shop is indicating that Dillon's was, at the time, the home to Middlewich Post Office, now situated in Lewin Street.
This picture rather makes it look as if the Post Office was a separate establishment but it was, as people will well remember, actually at the rear of Dillon's.
We think this picture was taken sometime between 2000 and 2005, but we are, as ever, open to correction.
UPDATE (27th March): In fact, we've already been corrected. Bill Armsden says:
'The street lights are still the old type, so do we know when the street lamps were changed? 24 Self Video were at No 12 Hightown during 2001/2 and by that time 'Titles' had gone and Balti Spice were there. So, before 2000 is my guess because that was the year we moved back here and Baltic Spice were already trading. Asking Baltic Spice when they opened for business might help date this picture too.'
(See also Bill's comment, below)
So when did the Town Centre look like this?
Middlewich, it's over to you...