MUSIC IN MIDDLEWICH: CONCERT AT ST MICHAEL'S MARCH 2023

 Don't miss this superb musical event at 

St Michael & All Angels, Middlewich.

Direct email link

Information

(from the David Lyon website

TRACE THE LINE

MIDDLEWICH FOLK & BOAT FESTIVAL® 2023

 

MIDDLEWICH DIARY FOLK & BOAT FESTIVAL FACEBOOK GROUP

DICK WHITTINGTON PANTO 2022

 

DIRECT LINK: ticketsource.co.uk/lemonjellypantos

MIDDLEWICH HERITAGE TRUST TALKS PROGRAMME 2022-3

 

Kerry Kirwan writes:

Middlewich Heritage Trust are starting their first talks programme this winter. We are not a replacement for the previous Middlewich Heritage Society, which we were all sad to lose. We've been receiving comments from people who wanted to know if talks on Middlewich heritage could be put on and so the Trustees took the decision to do just that.
All the information is on the poster attached. Our first talk had to be postponed out of respect for the late Queen, so we are starting with the Romans on 13th October.
We hope people will come along and support us, any money we receive will go to support the work of the Trust, working on projects, education, exhibitions etc.

Direct email link: heritage@middlewich.org.uk

Find out more about Middlewich Heritage Trust and the Virtual Museum

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 HERITAGE TRUST TALKS 2022-2023

 

LIVE EMAIL LINK

THEN AND NOW: THE KING'S LOCK

 

THE KINGS LOCK.   Photo: The Frank Smith Collection

A familiar postcard once to be found, faded and curling around the edges, in obscure corners of Middlewich shops, along with even earlier postcard views of other favourite Middlewich scenes such as Wheelock Street, Chester Road, Fountain Fields and, of course, the Parish Church. The date of this view is a little difficult to establish, but the King's Lock's unabashed promotion of the dreaded Double Diamond beer puts it sometime around the late 60s/early 70s.

The pub was owned at this time by Ind Coope. Ind is, improbably, the name of one of the founders of the Burton-on-Trent brewery which produced DD. Mr Coope joined him in 1845. Double Diamond was originally a bottled pale ale which the brewery developed after the war to become one of the first keg beers. The supposed advantage was that the quality of the beer was 'consistent'. Consistently awful, some said. Ind Coope later became part of Tetleys, which in turn came under the Allied Breweries umbrella in later years. Double Diamond was last heard of as a keg beer in the early 1980s, though a bottled version was available until quite recently.

Ind Coope seem to have made an effort to give the old canal pub a more 'modern' look by painting it in sickly shades of green, possibly to go along with the Double Diamond beer on offer. Note that the old-fashioned lintels and other period features have been painted over. The King's Lock at the time was notorious for being somewhat compact and restricted for space (or being, as the locals had it, 'a poky hole'). It served canal users, both dwindling numbers of commercial boaters and people trying out the  burgeoning canal leisure industry, as well as locals from Booth Lane and the Avenues.

Like its near-namesake The Big Lock, the 'King's' is a 'stack pub' built on two levels; the pub at Canal level and accommodation on the lower level for horse stabling and other necessary arrangements for the canal trade.

The Big Lock, of course, differed slightly in that it was really two pubs - one at canal level along with a shop and stabling for the canal trade, and another on the top level for the residents of Webb's Lane.

It seems likely that the King's Lock, as built, included accommodation for a lock-keeper. Perhaps the lock-keeper doubled as the publican?

Photo: Gav Jackson

In Summer 2022 Gav Jackson was out and about photographing some attractive Middlewich scenes and, fortuitously, took a photo of the pub from the same angle. At first glance not a lot seems to have changed. The exterior of the pub looks a bit smarter, but the real changes have been to the interior. When the pub was re-modelled a surprising amount of space was reclaimed from somewhere and the building is now more roomy, while still retaining its cosy intimacy. The King's Lock, like so many other pubs, is now also a restaurant and has a marquee on the land at the lower level where musical performances can be seen throughout most of the year. The actual lock which gives the pub its name is on the other side of the bridge which could benefit from a fresh coat of whitewash.

Photo: Gav Jackson

The full photo by Gav Jackson, showing a little more of the surroundings of the pub in the Summer of 2022. The marquee can be seen on the left.

Many thanks to Gav for permission to use his photo.

THE JEWEL IN OUR CROWN: THE CORONATION CELEBRATIONS 1937

A fascinating record of the way Middlewich celebrated the Coronation of King George VI in 1937.

To celebrate the Queen's Jubilee in June 2012, we've restored the film's titles and set it to music, at the same time dedicating it to The People of Middlewich, Past, Present ...and Future.

Update 

2nd June 2022.

Ten years on, as H M Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Platinum Jubilee, we thought it  appropriate to re-publish this Diary entry.

WATCH IT ON YOUTUBE


First published 16th June 2012

Re-published  2nd June 2022