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This article is about the town in Cheshire, for the village in Somerset see Winsford, Somerset.

Winsford is a town in Cheshire, England with a population of around 30,000 people. It lies south of Northwich on the River Weaver. It grew around the salt mining industry after the river was canalised in the eighteenth century, allowing freight to be conveyed northwards to the Port of Runcorn on the River Mersey. Winsford is split into two neighbourhoods: Over on the western side of the river Weaver and Wharton on the eastern side.

Aerial view / Street map of Winsford

Government

Three councils have responsibility for Winsford:

Transport links

Winsford railway station, on the main Liverpool to Birmingham line, is one mile east of the center of the town, in Wharton. The M6 motorway at junction 18 at Middlewich is the nearest motorway link, with the A54 connecting the town to it. The nearest airports are Liverpool John Lennon Airport and Manchester Airport.

Retail

//www.fow.co.uk/ Fords of Winsford is one of the largest second-hand car dealers in the UK and is situated in Wharton. Major supermarkets are Asda and Aldi in the town centre and Morrisons in Wharton. Other major chains include Argos, Boots, and Peacocks. The shopping centre is of 1970s design, with some covered areas. Please click //www.winsford.gov.uk/shopping.htm here for a list of shops in Winsford.

History

13th Century

Kings Henry III and Edward I occasionally held court at Darnhall near Winsford. The latter king founded Vale Royal Abbey at Darnhall, but then moved it in 1277 to near Whitegate. By around 1280, a charter had been granted to form a new town near the Abbey, centred on Delamere Street in Winsford. From this charter can be traced the origins of the market that is still held in the town.

18th Century

The Government gave permission for artificial improvements to be made to the River Weaver in 1721 in order to allow large barges to reach Winsford from the port of Liverpool. At first, this was the closest that barges carrying china clay from Cornwall could get to the Potteries. The clay was then taken overland by pack horses, who in turn would bring back the finished china to be sent for export through Liverpool. That trade ended in th 1780s when the Trent and Mersey Canal carried the goods through Middlewich and bypassed the town.

The canalised Weaver was the inspiration for the Duke of Bridgewater's canals and later the engineer for the Weaver Navigation, Edwin Leader Williams, designed and built the Manchester Ship Canal.

19th Century

From the 1830s, Salt became important to Winsford, partly because the salt mines under Northwich had begun to collapse and another source of salt near the river was needed. A better source of brine for making the pots was discovered in Winsford and soon the river was lined with salt factories. By 1897, Winsford produced more salt than any other town in the British Empire.

As a result, a new town developed within a mile of the old Borough of Over which had been focused on Delamere Street. Most of the early development took place on the other side of the river, with new housing, shops, pubs, chapels and a new church being built in the former hamlet of Wharton. As the wind usually blew the smoke away from Over, it became the place for the wealthier inhabitants to live. However, people who worked on the barges and other people working in Winsford started to develop along the old Over Lane, now the High Street. The old Borough tried to keep itself separate but had been connected by the 1860s.

20th Century

By the Second World War, the salt trade had declined as one company took control of all the salt works and introduced methods of manufacture that needed greatly reduced labour. Slum clearance started in the 1930s and, by the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953, there were three new housing estates on both sides of the river to replace sub standard homes. However, even in the 1960s, Winsford could be described as "one long line of mainly terraced houses from the station to Salterswall".

The town experienced a major expansion in the late 1960s and 1970s with its designation as a New Town. This saw the development of two new industrial areas on both sides of the town and new housing estates for council and private development along with the creation of the new shopping centre with its associated library, sports centre, civic hall and doctors' surgeries. The expansion in population was, however, not fully completed, leaving the town with far larger civic buildings than its population would otherwise warrant.

From a social point of view, this led to a mix in the population of the town. The original Cheshire residents experienced a wave of inhabitants from Manchester which was followed by a second and much larger wave of newcomers from Liverpool. There was (and to some extent still is) some friction between "Old" Winsfordians and the "New" Winsfordians. The term "woolyback" for "Old" Winsfordians was a common term of abuse related to their supposed rural roots. These tensions have, with the passage of time, greatly subsided.

Vale Royal Borough Council was formed in 1974 covering Winsford, Northwich and a large rural area of mid-Cheshire. In 1991, the council moved its main office from Northwich to a purpose-built headquarters in Winsford. Winsford Town Council is also housed in the same building. Since then both Cheshire Fire Service (in 1997) and Cheshire Police (in 2003) have moved headquarters from the county town of Chester to Winsford.

The relocation of these important organisations to Winsford has, to some extent, raised the house prices in the town, although they are still far lower than those in the surrounding villages and small towns such as Tarporley, Whitegate and Little Budworth.

Sites of interest

St Chad's Church

This church, off Swanlow Lane, is the most well-known local historical landmark. One of the most popular local stories is that St Chad's Church was originally built in Delamere Street, but the devil was so angry at the people's use of it that he decided to fly off with it. The monks at Vale Royal Abbey were said to have seen him and rang the abbey bells so that it was dropped in its current location. In fact, its location is probably due to it having always belonged, along with its tithes (a tax of ten percent of income of the parishioners) to the nuns of St Mary's Convent in Chester. This presumably convinced the Abbot to build the town far enough away from the Church in order to gain the tithes himself.

The "Saxon Cross"

On Weaver Street, by St John's Church of England Primary School on Delamere Street, is a rare (possibly unique) lock-up / monument built in the 19th Century. The Over Market met nearby so the Cross was used for locking up drunks, thieves and swindlers until the magistrates court at the Abbey Arms on the edge of Delamere Street was in session. The building is in the form of a stepped pyramid surmounted by a cross. The door to the lock-up is still visible but was blocked up in th 1970s.

Many invented tales of buried treasure and secret passages are told about the Cross but unfortunately none are true. The nearby street name of Saxon Crossway was invented by the Borough Council in the 1960s and refers to the remains of the Saxon Cross preserved at St Chad's Church.

Other Sites

Also of note is the Salt Union saltmine, stretching for several square miles underneath the area between Winsford and Northwich. The saltmine is a purely commercial enterprise and does not encourage tourist visits, although occasional trips can be arranged.

St John's Church on Delamere Street dates from 1863 when Lord Delamere of Vale Royal commissioned the young Sandiway architect John Douglas to build it as a memorial to his deceased wife. This is the tallest building on highest part of Over so the spire can be seen for miles around.

Historic private buildings

Knights Grange Pub, Grange Lane (17th Century)

Littler Grange, now a children's nursery. The best remaining half-timber building in Winsford, including sloping floors on part of the first floor.

Dawk House, Swanlow Lane. A largely unaltered timber framed farm, covered in white stucco probably during the reign of Queen Anne, including the date 1711.

Blue Bell Inn by St Chad's Church, now also a children's nursery. It is in fact an exact replica of a medieval building that burned down in the 1960s.

Places of Worship

For a map of some local churches click here

Recreation

Also of interest is the towns football team, Winsford United. The non-league team suffered numerous relegations and now plays in the North West Counties Football League Division 2. Support for the team has dwindled over the years, falling from a pre war peak of over 10000 to just 100. The Blues, (after the colour of their shirts) play at the Barton Stadium. Famous ex-players include Peter Bains (formerly of Mickleover Sports), Neville Southall, Wayne Collins, Stephen McCormick, Matthew "Ceefax" Doherty and Jemal Albarq. Winsford has one of the best swimming clubs in the area, //www.winsfordasc.co.uk/ Winsford ASC has achieved Swim21 club status and won the North West Division 1 spedo league, and has now been promoted to the premier league. Also of note is //www.valeroyalathleticclub.co.uk Vale Royal Athletic Club who have several international athletes training with them.

Famous Winsfordians

External links

Sources for this article

  • Main information of history of Winsford is from "It's All Over", a free booklet written by J.Brian Curzon, 2006.
  • Other information from the free booklet "Official Winsford Town Guide", Winsford Town Council, 2006.
Both publications currently available from Winsford Public Library.

Books on Winsford

  • "A Ninety Year History: Winsford Church of England Primary School 1909-1999: St Chad's Primary School" by Mary Curry, Leonie Press, 2001.
  • "The Book of Winsford" by J. Brian Curzon, Quotes, 1997 - a general introduction to the town's history.
  • "Winsford" by J. Brian Curzon, Tempus Publishing Ltd, 2001 - Mainly photographs with captions
  • "A Cheshire Parish at War: St Chad's, Over, Winsford, 1914-1925" by Ann Clayton, 1998 - who fought in the First World War from the congregation of St Chad's and what happened to them.
  • "Woollyback" by Alan Fleet, Leonie Press, 2000 - a fictional account of Winsford in the 20th Century.
  • "The Winsford and Over Branch" by RW Miller, Oakwood Press, 1999
  • "Winsford Returns" by Alan Ravenscroft,1996 - A list of all those who served in the First World War.

History of Cheshire | Towns in Cheshire

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Winsford".

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