Gowy



The Gowy and the Weaver rise in almost the same field at Peckforton. The head of the Gowy is about sixteen miles from where it empties into the Mersey estuary as the crow flies, but the wandering of the river adds at least nine more miles to that: it used to wander even more before many of its meanderings were straighened out. Surprisingly, this short and often insignificant looking river and its branches have been made to work incredibly hard, they powered around twentry or more water-mills. The Gowy flows entirely within Cheshire.

Early maps and descriptions give a seemingly improbable course for the Gowy, with the river splitting in two at least twice with branches emptying into the River Dee via Aldford Brook and Backford Gap. Ormerod cites a very peculiar version of the course of the Gowy, with it actually dividing the Wirral from the rest of Cheshire by flowing into both the Dee (as Flookersbrook) and the Mersey:


 * "That, therefore, which they call the Gowy, hath his head not far from Bunbury, and runneth north-west by Beeston Castle, to Teerton and Huxley, where it divideth itself into two parts ; one goeth west to Tattenhall, Gosburn, Lea Hall, and at Aldford falleth into the Dee. The other part goeth northwards to Stapleford, Hocknel-plat, and Barrow (where it taketh in a brook that Cometh from Tarporley and Tarvin), and so passeth to Plemstow-bridge, Trafford, Picton, and Thornton, where it divideth itself again into two parts; one of which keepeth its course north-west to Stanley, Stanney, and Poole, and afterwards falleth into the Marsey. The other part goeth south-west to Stoke, Croughton, Chorlton, the Baits, and so falleth into the Dee, hard by Chester, being there called Flooker's-brook, and divideth Wirral from the rest of Cheshire; and therefore some imagine that it is called Wirral."

This supposed course of the river is used to define parts of the bounary of the Broxton Hundred. However, it may well be that significant parts of the river were diverted at various times and in various places, particularly to power water-mills, or to prevent or reduce flooding.

The Source
<== CLICK ON THE WALKING MAN TO GET MAPS, LIDAR ETC.

The official source of the Gowy is near grid-reference SJ539563. From Peckforton Moss the stream flows northwards through the hamlet of Peckforton, where the first mill down from the source of the river Gowy was located. Only scant signs of the millpond remain, but surprisingly the remains of the mill can be stumbled upon. Even the millstones have been located due to the work of landscape geographer David Keogh. Inscriptions on some of the surviving stonework appears to give a date of 1698, although it is unclear whether that is meant as a date of building or later graffiti. In corn mills rotation about a vertical axis was required to drive its stones. The horizontal rotation was converted into the vertical rotation by means of gearing, which also enabled the runner stones to turn faster than the waterwheel. The usual arrangement has been for the waterwheel to turn a horizontal shaft on which is also mounted a large "pit wheel". This meshes with the "wallower", mounted on a vertical shaft, which turns the (larger) "great spur wheel" (mounted on the same shaft). This large face wheel, set with pegs, in turn, turned a smaller wheel (such as a lantern gear) known as a "stone nut", which was attached to the shaft that drove the runner stone. The number of runner stones that could be turned depended directly upon the supply of water available. As waterwheel technology improved mills became more efficient, and by the 19th century, it was common for the great spur wheel to drive several stone nuts, so that a single water wheel could drive as many as four stones.

The river has only fallen a few feet to reach this point and so the fact that it has the strength to power a mill is remarkable. The river already has less than 300 feet to fall before it reaches the tidal waters of the Mersey. In 1901 a local farmer found a neolithic stone hammer near here. The hammer was made of Cumberland granite and must have been either traded 5-6k years ago or made locally from a glacial "erratic".

Peckforton appears in the Domesday survey of 1086, when it was held by Wulfric (possibly Wulfric Spot). The survey lists land for two ploughs. Peckforton fell in the ancient parish of Bunbury in the Eddisbury Hundred.



Near the head of the river Gowy, a red sandstone carving depicting an elephant bearing a castle as a howdah stands in the garden of Laundry Cottage on Stone House Lane in Peckforton village. It dates from around 1859 and is listed at grade II. It was carved by John or William Watson, a local stonemason then working on Peckforton Castle who also carved stone lions now at Spurstow and Tattenhall. The elephant and the castle are each carved from a single piece of stone, which derives from the same quarry as Peckforton Castle. The elephant has a tasselled saddle, supporting the castle which has three tiers, with a turreted gatehouse and a keep with turrets at the corner. Some of the castle windows are glazed. The original purpose of the carving is unclear. The device formed part of the crest of the Worshipful Company of Cutlers and is often associated with public houses, but there has never been a pub called The Elephant and the Castle in Peckforton. An elephant also appears in the arms of the Corbett family, local landowners before 1626. The "canting" arms of the Corbets is usually a raven (from "corvus"), but the "crest" on the top of the shield is an elephant and castle. There are links between the Corbets and the Cottons of Combermere Abbey - Stapleton Cotton, 1st Viscount Combermere (14 November 1773 – 21 February 1865) extensively modified Combermere, saw military service in India, and was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Star of India on 19 August 1861. Maybe the elephant was intended for Cotton - the elephant and castle is actually used as a heraldic motif at Combermere and Cotton once famously confronted a tiger while hunting on an elephant. According to one local source, the carving was originally intended as a beehive, although there is no evidence it has ever been used as one (curiously the "canting" arms of the Beestons, as featured at Bunbury Church, has bees). The elephant is one of several listed structures in Peckforton.



Peckforton Castle was built between 1844 and 1850 for John Tollemache, the largest landowner in Cheshire at the time, owning 28,651 acres (115.95 km2). His estate exceeded those of the Duke of Westminster who owned 15,138 acres (61.26 km2), Lord Crewe with 10,148 acres (41.07 km2) and Lord Cholmondeley with 16,992 acres (68.76 km2). He was described by William Ewart Gladstone as "the greatest estate manager of his day". Tollemache's first choice of architect was George Latham of Nantwich, but he was not appointed, and was paid £2,000 in compensation. Instead Tollemache appointed Anthony Salvin, who had a greater reputation and more experience, and who had already carried out work on the Tollemache manor house, Helmingham Hall in Suffolk. The castle was built by Dean and Son of Leftwich, with Joseph Cookson of Tarporley acting as clerk of works. Stone was obtained from a quarry about 1 mile (2 km) to the west of the site, and a railway was built to carry the stone. The castle cost £60,000.

Even at it's very source the waters of the river Gowy are robbed away by man. The headwaters actually seep down from Bulkeley Hill, where the remains of a tramway used in the construction of the Bulkeley Hill reservoir and water main, including a massive anti-surge valve at the top of the tramway can still be seen. There are foundations for a haulage angine at the top of the line, and a crossing point half-way. The climb up the track is approximately 105 metres of ascent. The tramway is on the route of the water-main supplying the water to the Potteries. This is actually a far more modern structure than might be thought. It was only in 1937 that the Staffordshire Potteries Water Board gained authority for the erection of pumping stations at Peckforton and Tower Wood in Cheshire, with a reservoir on Bulkeley Hill, whence the water would gravitate to a large storage reservoir at Cooper’s Green near Audley, for distribution to Tunstall and the Potteries. Most of these enterprises were held up by the Second World War and it wasn't until 1953 that the Peckforton scheme and its linking aqueduct to Audley had been completed. There are two boreholes where water is pumped from the Sherwood Sandstone aquifer which is near to the surface: Close to the Coppermine Inn (three pumping stations) and at Peckforton Gap. There is a holding reservoir at the Gap, from where water is pumped up 110 metres to a covered reservoir on Bulkeley Hill at 210 metres above sea level. From there a 27 inch steel pipe feeds the water under gravity to the reservoir at Cooper’s Green, Audley, 140 metres above sea level. While the sandstone under the Cheshire plain contains a vast aquifier the level has been affected to the point where the deep well at Beeston Castle is now dry and the springs and seepages which feed the Gowy are no-doubt much diminished.

These upper sections of the river Gowy appear to have either been shifted in their course several times or some of the early mapping is innaccurate, and drainage ditches may have been mistaken for the course of the river. In places the river even appears to dissappear beneath the ground. Some modern maps even label the river Gowy as the stream which flows from Spurstow Hall, through Woodworth Green, towards the canal at Calveley and only joins the true Gowy at Tilstone.

Peckforton
This has been a source of some confusion. Roughly opposite the marshy remains of Peckforton Mere and the now drained ground which was Ridley Pool was a cottage provided with stone faces. This is not the noted "image house", although it has been confused with it in some guidebooks. Coward mentions the confusion in his "Cheshire Traditions and History".

By Stone House Lane stands the ancient Peckforton Oak on its grassy knoll. Known locally as the ‘Big Oak’, this huge tree was already old when John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, preached beneath its branches in October 1749. The tree later survived the freak "Peckforton Cyclone", a tornado which occurred on the evening of 27th October 1913. According to a contemporary eyewitness, "a dark column of spinning air approached from the south, accompanied by thunder, lightning and torrential rain". During "four violent hours", Castlegate Farm, below Beeston Castle, lost its roof, hundreds of mature trees were uprooted, several cattle were hurled over a hedge: three of the cattle were killed, and a local man was hurled sixty metres into his neighbour’s orchard. As reported at the time:


 * "The storm in Cheshire destroyed Lord Tollemache's extensive greenhouses at Peckforton Castle, while on the hill opposite hundreds of trees were uprooted. “According to most accounts the storm lasted two or three minutes only.”

In fact, the "storm" lasted for at least five hours, but moved quickly and spent only a few minutes at each place. The storm responsible was first noted in South Devon at 1600 on Monday 27 October 1913 and it tracked more or less NNE, as far north as Cheshire where it passed Runcorn at approximately 2100, heading into Lancashire. Six people were killed in South Wales. The storm tracked along its course leaving scores injured and much property damaged. The windspeed was not recorded, as no weather stations in the affected area seem to have had an anemometer and estimates of its strength are thus based on damage done. Changes in air pressure, however, were recorded in several places. They revealed a sudden fall followed by a return to the previous pressure after an interval of fifteen to thirty minutes. The Albion Steam Coal Colliery, at Cilfynydd, was situated within a few metres of the western edge of the tornado track and a drop in pressure from 29.20 to 28.91 inches (988.8 to 979.0 millibars), was recorded. It was followed by an almost immediate rise.

Mr. H. Billet of the Meteorological Office, at the request of the M.P. for East Glamorganshire, Clement Edwards, was sent to the region visited by the storm and spent three days in South Wales collecting information. His report was published in September 1914 as a Geophysical Memoir. The Met office investigators stated:


 * "This fall of 0.3 inch, or 1/100 of the normal atmospheric pressure of 15lbs to the square inch, means a sudden change in the atmospheric pressure of 0.15 lb per square inch, or about 20 lbs per square foot. Such a change of pressure, if applied suddenly to the outside of a closed building, must produce an effect similar to an explosion within, and it is thus easy to understand how windows or even whole walls are blown outwards, as at the generating station at Treforest".

Actually, to shatter buildings in this way the peak overpressure might have been as high as 3 psi, with wind speeds possibly over 102mph. The Met Office investigation concluded with these points:


 * ". . . a genuine tornado of the type common enough in parts of America . . . The straight track with clean cut lateral limits, the violent electrical phenomena, the heavy rainfall, the roaring noise, the sudden decrease of barometric pressure, resulting in the blowing out of walls of buildings, as if by explosion from within, are all features which are common in descriptions of American tornadoes. The width of the track, three hundred yards and the rate of advance, 36 miles per hour, are of the same magnitude as in American tornadoes".

Peckforton Mere


The "fort" at Peckforton Mere used to be much larger during the prehistoric period and the promontory to the east of it which houses the fort would have jutted out into it. The River Gowy originally flowed out of the mere on the north side and this formed the northern defence of the fort. The present stream course lies further north than the original river and has been diverted by recent drainage operations. The fort has a bank and external ditch cutting off a piece of high ground which used to be a promontory and curving around it on the north and south sides, leaving the west side open to be defended in antiquity by the mere and the old course of the Gowy. The original bank and ditch are only partially visible as upstanding earthworks and can only be made out on the LIDAR with some difficulty, although the shape of the promontory is fairly clear. The fort, thought to be iron age, survives reasonably well in spite of the ploughing which has reduced some of its defences. It is small compared to a very similar site at Oakmere in Cheshire. The enclosed area is enough to support a collection of buildings for a single family settlement rather than a larger farming village.


 * Geograph;

Beeston
Beeston Crag, on which Beeston Castle is built, is one of a chain of rocky hills stretching across the Cheshire Plain. Like the neighbouring Peckforton Hills it is formed from easterly dipping layers of sandstone of Triassic age, part of a thicker sequence known as the New Red Sandstone. The lower slopes of the hill are formed from sandstones of the Wilmslow Sandstone Formation whilst those above are formed from the Helsby Sandstone Formation which is around 245 million years old. Both sandstones were quarried at multiple sites within the castle grounds but these workings are long abandoned. The hill is capped by a small outcrop of sandstones assigned to the Tarporley Siltstone Formation (and formerly known as the Keuper Waterstones).

Along the eastern margin of the hill is the Peckforton Fault, a major north-south aligned geological fault which downthrows the strata to the east by about 200m. A low ridge of glacial moraine extends east from the castle lodge and is interpreted as marking an ice front during the retreat (or stagnation in situ) of the Irish Sea ice sheet which had invaded Cheshire from the northwest during the last ice age. To avoid this moraine the Gowy takes a detour to the east.

Pits dating from the 4th millennium BC indicate the site of Beeston Castle was inhabited or used as a communal gathering place during the Neolithic period. Archaeologists have discovered Neolithic flint arrow heads on the crag, as well as the remains of a Bronze Age community, and of an Iron Age hill fort. The rampart associated with the Bronze Age activity on the crag has been dated to around 1270–830 BC; seven circular buildings were identified as being either late Bronze Age or early Iron Age in origin. It may have been a specialist metalworking site.



There are many legends surrounding Beeston Castle. Local legend holds that Richard II hid his extensive Royal Treasure hereabouts before sailing to Ireland to quell an uprising in 1399. Richard never reclaimed his treasure as he was captured, upon his return, at Flint by Henry Bollingbrooke (Duke of Lancaster, and later Henry IV) and imprisoned at Chester Castle for a while in 1399. Many attempts have been made to find the "treasure" over the years and none of them have been successful. Stories have suggested that there are "secret" passageways leading from the well to a nearby farmhouse, a possible escape or re-supply route if the castle was under siege. Local legends place the treasure at the foot of the castle well (said to be around 365 feet deep - an impressive feat of mediaeval engineering) or in passages running off the well. Other tales tell of "demons" guarding the treasure in the well, the sight of which would instantly drive the beholder mad or strike them dumb. However the well has been explored by camera and neither demons nor treasure were encountered.

The "real" Image House
The Image House is at the corner of the A49 and Betty's lane. This features in "The Shiny Night" by Beatrice Tunstall. The story, supposedly based on "one of the very few real events of witchcraft in Cheshire", is about a young poacher named Seth Shone who in some versions kills a gamekeeper, is transported to Botany Bay for eight years (or in some versions seven years), returns to "Clock Abbot", as Bunbury is called in the book, and sets about getting his revenge on his enemies. These enemies are some combination of the local squire, his gamekeeper, several of his men or the local constable depending on the version. He makes images of them, names them and curses them violently, and places these "Voodoo dolls" on the walls of his house for all to see. The house still has a porch supported on carved oak posts with sandstone heads as caps and stone carved male figures, wearing hats, which flank the first floor windows. Beatrice Tunstall, author of The Shiny Night (1931), The Long Day Closes (1934) and The Dark Lady (1939) had her home on the walls of Chester near the Northgate.

The present cottage, is dated early C19, of red brick in Flemish Bond with a slate roof, on two storeys, with 2 bays, and lean-to additions to south gable and a rear (west) sandstone plinth. The boarded door in the front porch is supported on carved oak posts with sandstone heads as caps. There are stone carved male figures, wearing hats, which flank the first floor windows. The 1839 Tithe maps have a different layout of buildings on the site (with a single building) and have the land owned by John Tollemanch and a cottage in the tennancy of Robert Vickers.

There are a few problems with the legend as recorded. "Botany Bay" was intended as a penal colony in 1788, but the site offered neither a secure anchorage nor a reliable source of freshwater. Sydney Cove offered both of these, being serviced by a freshwater creek and so that was settled instead: in fact the actual book has him in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) and returning before 1837. A part of the legend is that Shone was able to build the house in a day and have a fire lit in the hearth. "Tŷ unnos" (pl.: tai unnos; English: one night house, also hafodunnos) is an old Welsh tradition that has parallels in other folk traditions in other areas of the British Isles. It was believed by some that if a person could build a house on common land in one night, the land then belonged to them as a freehold. There are other variations on this tradition, for example that the test was to have a fire burning in the hearth by the following morning and the squatter could then extend the land around by the distance they could throw an axe from the four corners of the house. There are several problems with this aspect of the tale: Tŷ unnos has no status in English common law and a two-storey brick house cannot be built in a day (even with "the help of friends") as the mortar in the lower walls would not set quickly enough.

Seth's curse apparently backfires on him with the 1865-66 "Rinderpest" epidemic. This did affect the area seriously, placing the county of Cheshire in debt for thiry years, although landlord Tollemanch apparently did a good deal to help out those affected.

Bunbury
Archaeology suggests almost continuous occupation of the site since very early times. Bunbury was reputedly derived from Buna-burh, meaning the "redoubt of Buna". Just prior to 1066 it was held by a certain Dedol of Tiverton. It was listed as Boleberie in the Domesday Survey of 1086 and the lord of the fief was Robert FitzHugh. A Norman family later acquired the surname of De Boneberi, and were linked to Rake Hall during and after the reign of King Stephen. They were allegedly a cadet line of the Norman family of De St Pierre, associated with Hugh of Avranches, Earl of Chester. Much later, in the era of the English Civil War and on the date of 23 December 1642 some of the prominent gentlemen of Cheshire met in Bunbury and drew up the Bunbury Agreement (see below). The terms of the agreement were intended to keep Cheshire neutral during the English Civil War. It proved to be a forlorn hope because the national strategic importance of Cheshire and the city port of Chester meant that national interests overruled local ones.



There have been many descriptions of Bunbury Church written over the years. One of the earlier being that of Rylands and Beazley. Other are referenced on the Church Website. Rylands notes one tomb which has an interesting link to Chester. It bears the inscription:


 * "George Lowe into rest November 24, 1876 | aged 83 years entered [a textfollows]. On the other side, in gothic letters: Beneath rest the mortal remains of | George Cliff Lowe | born October 5th-1821 and died at Newhaven, U.S.A., August 17th-1872. |"

The Lowe family of Chester were noted goldsmiths with a shop in Bridge Street (it is still there in 2020 and contains a small family museum). They were also at times clock-makers and Rylands notes that George (1793- 1876) was a goldsmith at Gloucester, and subsequently went to live at Bunbury; he repaired the Ridley Chapel, and, in 1873, gave a new clock to the church in memory of his son George Cliff Lowe. A later member of the Lowe family was to decide to run away to sea rather than join the family business: he was Harold Lowe (21 November 1882 – 12 May 1944) the fifth officer of the RMS Titanic.

Hugh Calveley
Sir Hugh Calveley - whose tomb (one of the best of its time) is here although he may not be, was born the youngest son of David de Calveley of Lea, and his wife, Joanna. The family held the manor of Calveley in Bunbury. Estimates of the year of his birth range from 1315 to 1333. It is possible that he was a close relative, maybe even a half-brother, of Sir Robert Knollys. Along with many other Englishmen, the young Hugh Calveley served in Brittany, supporting Jean de Montfort's English-backed bid to become Duke of Brittany against the French-backed claimant, Charles de Blois, during the Breton War of Succession. An anonymous Breton poet's account of the Combat of the Thirty in 1351 has "Hue de Caverle" as a knight fighting on the English side (where he was defeated, captured, to be ransomed later). One estimate of the date of his knighthood is 1346, though documents from 1354 do not refer to him as a knight, and there is some evidence that he was only knighted later, in 1361. In 1359 Sir Robert Knolles and Calveley invaded the Rhône Valley. The city of Le Puy fell to them in July. The campaign ended when their way to Avignon was barred by the army of Thomas de la Marche, Deputy for Louis II, Duke of Bourbon, at which point both English commanders retreated. At the Battle of Auray on 29 September 1364, Calveley had the command of the reserve division of the forces of Jean de Montfort, under the command of Sir John Chandos. Charles de Blois was killed at Auray, enabling Jean de Montfort to claim the Duchy without further conflict.

After the conclusion of the Breton civil war, Calveley, along with many other soldiers, found himself unemployed. These soldiers, banding together in the "Free Companies" (i.e. mercenaries), continued to support themselves by raiding widely, causing a huge problem for the Kingdom of France. The solution to the problem was found when Aragon, France and the Papacy agreed to provide money to pay for the Free Companies to wage a campaign to support Count Enrique of Trastamara's bid for the throne of Castile, which at the time was held by Enrique's half-brother, Pedro of Castile. Calveley signed up as the most prominent of the English captains on this campaign, in which he was involved from 1365 to 1367. When hostilities resumed between England and France in 1369, Calveley was once again involved, first in raiding the possessions of Gascon nobles who had defected to the French. He took part in at least three further campaigns in the period to 1374; notably, he was one of the joint commanders of the English army disastrously defeated by Bertrand du Guesclin at the Battle of Pontvallain, 4 December 1370, though he managed to escape. From 1375 to 1378, Calveley was governor of Calais, an important port. Thereafter, he became one of the two Admirals of the English fleet, taking part in several sea battles. In July 1379, he was involved in a raid on Brittany led by Sir John Arundel, Marshal of England. On their return voyage, 20 ships and about 1000 men were lost at sea in a storm. Calveley was one of only 8 survivors.

There is no clear evidence for or against Calveley being buried at Bunbury, and the tomb may be merely a cenotaph erected by his campaign companion (and probably close relative), Sir Robert Knollys. In an attempt to clarify this uncertainty the tomb was opened on 25 April 1848, and according to Jno.Fenna, Churchwarden:


 * "I found the fragments of an oak coffin, apparently of uncommon size, almost crumbled to dust; the handles of the sides being iron were nearly entire. By the side of his coffin lay a lead coffin quite fresh, with the initials D.M.C. which I suppose to be that of Dame Mary Calveley. I measured some of the bones, which I have no doubt were Sir Hugh's, from their extraordinary size, . . the thigh-bone, was two inches or more larger than the average size of men. He is supposed to have measured seven feet six inches in height when he lived. There is a mark on the wall in Bunbury Church [probably lost in the 1865 restoration] which old people say was the memorandum of his height."

Despite the above statement, later historians consider the bones


 * “were quite clearly those of Dame Mary Calveley (ob.1705) and her husband, another Sir Hugh Calveley (ob.1648).”

This later Mary Calveley built Bridge House in Lower Bridge Street, Chester after the death of her husband left her a young and very wealthy widow.


 * details on the tomb;

Edward Burghall
Perhaps one of the most interesting facts about Beeston relates to the diary of Edward Burghall, then the Puritan schoolmaster of Bunbury who supposedly records the fate of the unfortunate Captain Steel of Beeston Castle in 1643/4 which had always been taken as a primary source. However when James Hall was preparing his "History of Nantwich" he discovered that parts of the supposed "diary" are a virtual copy of the diary of Thomas Malbon of Nantwich (actually written in 1651) and Edward Burghall (who died in poverty in 1665) is essentially a forger as regards parts of his supposed diary. See Hall's Memorials of the Civil War for a comparison between the two works. Edward Burghall's memorial is Bunbury's St. Boniface Church (built 1386), whereupon he is decribed as a "Paineful Schoole Mr".

George Beeston - Elizabethan Sea-Captain
The manor of Beeston, but not the castle, was owned by the de Bunburys, who later took the name Beeston. Sir George Beeston (1500-1801, who has a memorial in St Boniface's Church, Bunbury) was, again acccording to local legend, commander (at the age of 89 if Ormerod is to be believd) of the Dreadnought at the time of the Spanish Armada in 1588. In fact, Sir George Beeston was only born in 1520, although he did command the Dreadnought. In February 1588, at Queenborough, he commanded the four ‘great ships’ that were to sail with Charles Howard, 2nd Lord Howard of Effingham, and after the Armada battle he was knighted by Howard on board the Ark Royal. The latin inscription on his tomb may be translated as:


 * "Here lies buried George Beeston, knight, a promoter of valour and truth; having been brought up from his youth in the arts of war he was chosen one of his company of pensioners by the invincible King Henry the Eighth, when he besieged Boulogne [1544]; he merited [the same] under Edward the Sixth in the battle against the Scots at Musselburgh [1547]. Afterwards under the same King, under Mary, and under Elizabeth, in the naval engagements as captain or vice-captain of the fleet, by whom, after that most mighty Spanish fleet of 1588, had been vanquished, he was honoured with the order of knighthood; and now, his years pressing heavily on him, when he had admirably approved his integrity to princes, and his bravery to his adversaries, acceptable to God, and dear to good men, and long expecting Christ, in the year 1601 and in the ... of his age, he fell asleep in Him, so that he may rise again in Him with joy. And together with him rests a most beloved wife, Alice, daughter of [Thomas] Davenport of Henbury, esquire, a matron most holy, chaste, and liberal to the poor, who, when she had lived in matrimony 66 years, and had borne to her husband three sons, John, Hugh, and Hugh, and as many daughters, Ann, Jane, and Dorothy, passed into the heavenly country in the year 1591 and in the [refer below] year of her age, with Christ for ever to live. The dutifulness of their son Hugh Beeston, esquire, the younger, Receiver General of all the revenues of the Crown as well as in the county palatine of Chester as in the counties of North Wales, set up this monument to parents most excellent and beloved."

Bunbury Mill


The mill has quite an interesting history, because it is said that there has been a corn mill on the site as far back as 1290. Bunbury is the only mill on the Gowy which is an overshot mill, as it it the only place where the gradient is steep enough. The other mills are less powerful undershot mills. The present building dates from about 1844, when an earlier mill was apparently destroyed by fire. Curiously, the 1839 Tithe map does not indicate the clear presence of an active mill but refers to the "site of the mill pool" and has the mill buildings marked as a house and garden owned by Sir Thomas Champness and occupied by a William Fenna. A William Fenna was churchwarden at Bunbury in 1718 (he is associated with the provision of the church candelabra) and the Fenna's seem to have been a moderately prosperous local family.

The mill was initially used to produce flour and animal feed. Bad flooding occurred in 1960, when there was a violent storm, which amongst other things, uprooted trees close to the mill and blocked the weir gate. The miller, Tom Parker, whose name still appears on the outside of the building, was unable to free the tree, and the build-up of water eventually burst the millpond wall, flooding the mill and wrecking the machinery. This forced the mill to close, as renovations would have been far too costly, and the products were no longer in high demand.

Nantwich Rural District Council bought the site to use it for water treatment. It was supposed to be destroyed 6 years later, but the locals gathered to protest, as they wanted the mill to be repaired, not only for reasons of heritage, but also to create more jobs in the area. By 1977, Bunbury Mill was back up and running. But this time it was owned by North West Water Authority, part of United Utilities, which is the organization that first turned it into a museum and education centre. The mill closed once again in 2010, but volunteers were kind enough to keep an eye on the machinery, and make sure everything was in working order. The Bunbury Watermill Trust was then established, and in April 2012 the mill was given to the Trust, reopening it to visitors. The group Friends of Bunbury Mill has been established to support the work of the trustees. Tours of the working mill are available. The site includes the mill pond, a wildlife pool and 2 acres of grounds. Facilities include a picnic area and a visitor centre with a café and public toilets. There are many other listed buildings in Bunbury.


 * Geograph;

The Bunbury Agreement
At the start of the First English Civil War, after a summer of skirmishes in Cheshire, Henry Mainwaring and Mr. Marbury of Marbury Hall (for Parliament) and Lord Kilmorey and Sir Orlando Bridgeman, son of the Bishop of Chester (for the Royalists) agreed to meet on December 23rd 1642 at Bunbury. It must have been clear to all that families were deeply divided on both sides of the conflict and that Cheshire would be devastated by full-scale war.

They agreed that all fighting in Cheshire would end. All prisoners would be released, property taken during the conflict returned to its owners and any losses compensated by a levy on both sides. Fortifications were to be removed at Chester, Nantwich, Stockport, Knutsford and Northwich and their combined forces would escort any external forces out of the county. Both parties agreed that there were to be no further troop movements through Cheshire, and that they would not to raise any more troops locally. Everything depending on the agreement of their national commanders, whom they would urge to settle their differences peacefully.



Given the national strategic importance of Cheshire, it proved impossible for the local gentry to agree a local neutrality pact that their national commanders would agree to. Geographically Cheshire lies between the Pennines and the north Welsh foothills and so whoever controlled Cheshire controlled the western route to north west England and Scotland as well as an important route into north Wales. For Parliament the control of Cheshire would mean separating the King's northern supporters from the King and his army at Oxford. It could also stop the King bringing in reinforcements from his Irish army through the port of Chester. During the summer the King's supporters had not been idle and Chester's defences had been strengthened with the Commissioners of Array arranging to man the defences. In addition the city's corporation raised an additional 300 men to assist them, that were paid for by a monthly assessment (local tax) on all inhabitants. These preparations continued in December when the corporation raised more money through another assessment for additional weapons and fortifications.

Unfortunately this Bunbury Agreement was never to be ratified.

Tilstone
Even just before the start of of the Industrial Revolution, improvements to the river Weaver after 1730 served to channel trade from central Cheshire away from Chester to the Mersey, and the Trent and Mersey Canal Act of 1766 threatened to strengthen still further the dominance of Liverpool over the Dee. Despite that threat, no apparent opposition to the Trent and Mersey Bill was voiced in Chester, but within two years of its passage there was a proposal for a canal to link Chester to the new canal at Middlewich and surveys were commissioned from, among others, the canal engineer James Brindley. The original plan for the Chester Canal was for a canal linking the south Cheshire town of Middlewich on the Trent and Mersey Canal with the River Dee at Chester, with a branch to Nantwich, providing a route for produce (including salt) from Nantwich to reach Chester and, beyond it, the sea via the Dee Navigation of 1737. The relevant section of the Trent and Mersey would be open in 1771, although the final (tunnel) section to the Potteries was not completed until 1777. However there were difficulties with the Trent and Mersey Canal Company, and its owner the Duke of Bridgewater, who were jealous of their own lucrative traffic and put up a prolonged and robust opposition to any link with the proposed Chester Canal.

The limited plan authorised 1772 permitted the building of a canal 14 feet wide from Chester to Nantwich and Middlewich. This had immediate effects on Chester: Queen Street having been constructed fairly rapidly around 1777, with much development by two individuals in particular: John Chamberlaine (who was much involved with the canal) and Roger Rogerson. The development of the street was obviously also connected with the development of the Chester-Nantwich canal. From the 1770s city development was especially concentrated north of Foregate Street, beginning with Queen Street and expanding later to include Bold Square and Seller and Egerton Streets before 1820. The overall canal project was seriously undermined, however, by a requirement that the new canal should end at least 100 yards away from the Trent and Mersey Canal at Middlewich, requiring overland portage rather than allowing for a functional junction. As a result, the Middlewich branch of the Chester Canal was not begun, and the branch to Nantwich became the course of the final section of the Chester Canal.

By late 1777, the canal company had spent all of the share capital of £42,000 and another £19,000, which had been raised as a loan guaranteed by Samuel Egerton of Tatton. He was a shareholder in the company and related to the Duke of Bridgewater. They applied for another Act of Parliament, which allowed them to raise another £25,000, by additional calls on existing shareholders, and to borrow £30,000 as a mortgage. They succeeded in raising £6,000 by making additional calls, and borrowed £4,000 from Richard Reynolds, an ironmaster from Ketley, who was responsible for several of the East Shropshire Canals, including the Wombridge Canal and the Ketley Canal. Shareholders who could not provide funds on the additional calls found themselves deprived of their existing shares. When the canal between Chester and Nantwich opened in 1779, it was a dead end and attracted little traffic other than a moderately successful and fast passenger trade, leading to financial disaster for its backers who at one stage saw the share price in the canal company fall to 1% of the initial value. John Aikin wrote:


 * "For want of money the branch to Middlewich was never cut; and thus the principal objects of the undertaking, the carriage of salt from that place to Chester, and the communication (though not the absolute junction) with the Grand Trunk being never effected, the sceme has proved more totally abortive than any other in the kingdom."

No dividends were paid during the canal company between 1772 and 1813. By the end of 1781, the company had no money and was unable to meet interest payments on the loans. They decided to forfeit the canal to Egerton, the main mortgagee, but he did not respond to their offer. Part of the canal was even abandonned in 1787, when Beeston staircase locks collapsed, and there was no money to fund repairs. The canal was only saved when it was extended from Chester to Elesmere Port and used as a central link in what was to become the Shropshire Union Canal.



A Mill for every Lock?
For the next few miles the Gowy and the Chester Canal run alongside each other. The construction of the canal provided a small head of water at each of the locks. Co-incidently, many of the locks have at some time had mills associated with them even if there is often little to see on the ground today. It is possible to speculate as to why the locks and the mills are associated, although it may be co-incidence. The mills whould have been placed a distance apart to allow a head of water to build up, and were possibly located where the change in gradient also favoured a lock. The mills might have been located by bridges, which would facilitate the building of locks.

Tilstone Bank
At Tilstone Bank the Gowy meets up with the Chester Canal and the railway, which both make use of the River Gowy valley to cross through what is effectively a gap in the sandstone ridge of central Cheshire. This is the gap which Beeston Castle defends.

The settlement of Tilstone was an important crossing point of the River Gowy and Chester Canal. The lower part of the village owes its development to the flour mill which was located here and canal activities. There was once an extensive mill-pond between the railway and the canal. This pond was fed both by the Gowy and by a brook at its eastern end, although earlier maps show that the Gowy had to be divered to arrange for this filling: originally it flowed into the outlet of the mill-pond. The mill stands on sloping ground, with two storeys at the front and three at the back. At the front are three symmetrical bays with a central doorway. The loading bay and hoist at the rear have been retained. It has been converted into a house and the mill-pond drained (although some modern maps still show it). At the time of the 1838 tithe maps the land was owned by John Tollemache and the mill occupied by Samuel Stones.

The circular lengthsman’s huts at Tilstone and Stone Locks, together with another at Tarvin Road Lock, are unique to the Chester Canal. The one at Tilstone Lock has been restored by volunteers working with CRT Heritage staff. Tilstone Lock still has the metal guard rails to protect the side of the lock from rope wear. There are attractive sweeping by-washes at all of the locks on this section.



Between Beeston and Bunbury, on a bend of the busy A49, is an impressive black and white building of the traditional Cheshire style. This is the Wild Boar Hotel, which used to be the Wild Boar restaurant and pub/grill room. In the past it has been known as Beeston Towers and was a girls' school. The original part of the building is mock Tudor, built 1886, with extensions added later. The house was built as a residence by John Naylor, born in Grappenhall, Cheshire in 1844. His father was John Naylor, a coal and slate dealer in Warrington and his mother was Ellen Naylor. He was the eldest of four children. His only brother was Robert Naylor who was three years younger. John worked for some years as a merchant and in 1871 he and his brother Robert decided to undertake a walk of about 1300 miles from the top to the bottom of the United Kingdom. They completed the distance in nine weeks. In 1916 some years after his brother’s death John Naylor wrote a book "From John O'Groats to Land's End" detailing the journey. In the introduction Naylor writes:

John Naylor died in 1923 and the house was put on the market.
 * "It was a big undertaking, especially as we had resolved not to journey by the shortest route, but to walk from one great object of interest to another, and to see and learn as much as possible of the country we passed through on our way. We were to walk the whole of the distance between the north-eastern extremity of Scotland and the south-western extremity of England, and not to cross a ferry or accept or take a ride in any kind of conveyance whatever. We were also to abstain from all intoxicating drink, not to smoke cigars or tobacco, and to walk so that at the end of the journey we should have maintained an average of twenty-five miles per day"

Beeston Brook
There is a Brook Farm (sometimes Mill Farm) here on the Gowy near Beeston Stone Lock and the Tithe Maps again show signs of a mill-pond and buildings, owned by John Earlham and occupied by William Rutter. The OS maps do not show anything, but LIDAR confirms the position of the mill-pond and some of the associated sluices.

Beeston Iron Lock was constructed in 1828. Flanged cast iron plates were bolted together to form the walls and floor, providing a novel solution to problems with 'running sand' under the original stone locks. It is estimated that the iron lock weighs about 10% of the weight of a conventional lock on the canal. It is a grade II* listed structure and a scheduled ancient monument, and is unique in England. When the Ellesmere and Chester Canal Company was formed in 1813, both Beeston Locks were rebuilt. The canal was also realigned by the engineers, Thomas Telford and Thomas Denton. The iron lock was constructed in the same way as the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, using the riveted flanged iron plate method, pioneered by Telford and William Jessop.

Beeston Castle and Tarporley railway station was a railway station serving the villages of Tarporley, Tiverton, and Beeston in Cheshire, England. The station was originally part of the Crewe to Chester line of the Grand Junction Railway. The station opened on 1 October 1840 when it was simply known as Beeston but was renamed Beeston Castle on 1 October 1868, and again Beeston Castle and Tarporley in January 1873. The station was closed on 18 April 1966. Beeston Hall was just to the south of the station Sir George Beeston lived at this ancestral home Little, if any, of the Beeston Hall known to Sir George now survives. It was moated, and was destroyed in the Civil War, being fired on by the soldiers of Prince Rupert. On 19 March 1645 the Prince dined with the lady of the house, and after dinner, told her he was sorry to make so bad a return to her hospitality and advised her to secure her valuables, as he had to order the house to be burned that night to prevent it being garrisoned by the enemy.



There were at least ten fuel tanks, measuring appox 80 ft diameter and 10 ft deep, sunk into the hill overlooking the canal and the Gowy, and presumably served by the adjacent railway. They are said to have been constructed as part of the WW2 PLUTO (PipeLine Under The Ocean) system. Beeston Reclamation Yard is a large yard containing items of architectural salvage for sale, overlooked by a former L&NWR signalbox. One of the buildings, at the base of the "PLUTO Tanks" hill, was evidently a fuel pumping station. Its walls are lined with white tiles, and the wall backing on to the hillside, is pierced by steel pipes. False ruins and tree stumps have been built onto the hill, and there are sometimes farmed deer visible.

Wharton's Lock
Wharton Lock is where the Sandstone Trail crosses the canal and Gowy. The 1846 tithe maps show what appears to be a lost mill building and sluices on the Gowy at Wharton's Lock although this is not shown on later OS maps. The LIDAR imagery available indicates the presence of possible structures to the south of the river where the tithe map shows buildings. Census returns from 1841 and 1851 show that the miller at that time was Hugh Warton, so presumably his family gave their name to the lock (which was constructed in the 1770's by Samuel Weston), despite the slightly different spelling.

Horton's Mill


Bate's Corn Mill otherwise known as Horton's Mill on OS maps is at Bate's Mill Bridge, in Bate's Mill Lane and Tithe maps show a Peter Bate as the tenant. Nevertheless it was called Horton's Mill. The old mill was a trout farm for a while and now has its own electrical generator powered by the water-wheel, visible below the road. The 1840 Tithe Maps show the land to be in the ownership of Samuel Cooper (but tennated by Peter Bate). Other than an L-shaped mill building on the south side of the river and a bridge the Tithe Map shows no other buildings on the site, and no pub to the north. OS maps show a later increase in the size of the mill-pond and the development of buildings. It was here that some of the last witnesses to seeing Charles Moston alive noted him alive prior to his somewhat mysterious death in 1877. There are a few "Bate Mill's" in Cheshire and it is possible that either there was a family of millers by that name or the term "Bate Mill" might have some other meaning.

Brook Hole
Here the Gowy crosses under the canal and heads off northwest. They will almost meet again much further along their courses, but for now their stories separate. The River Gowy is culverted under the footpath (the Eddisbury Way) which passes under the canal here, making it a three level aqueduct. This is not apparent when travelling over the aqueduct by boat or foot. Having left it's incised valley the river become far less noticable. In places across its northern extent the river becomes almost indiscernible in the landscape as it is managed, embanked and dispersed across a network of drains and cuts, particularly around Stamford Bridge and Plemstall.

Highter Huxley Mill


Here are the remains of a watermill: C17 or earlier origins, extended early C18, rewalled in brick C19. The construction is washed brick with some timber-framing on an ashlar red sandstone base, with a Welsh slate roof. The east face shows the setting for an undershot wheel, with a small light above and to right a weatherboarded loft jettied out over the stream. The south face of is of 2 storeys and 2 bays, with a small 2-light window and stable door under cambered brick head alongside. There is some crude timber framing to the rear. The interior has a large spur wheel inscribed "1811 T Littler" which drives 2 pairs of French stones upstairs. No other machinery but wooden framework and layout survive. Tithe maps have the mill in the ownership of Henry Cholmendeley but occupied by John Bate (which seems to support the theory that Bate were a family of millers). There is an extensive leat/millpond reaching back towards Brockholes which has effectively diverted the course of the river Gowy.



Lower Huxley


Close to Lower Huxley Hall, there was a flour mill, shown as disused on the 1910 OS map. The Tithe maps appear to have the actual mill dam in the ownership of a John Robinson, and show the existence of a large millpond, but which was probably done away with when the river was straightened in the 1940s. The tithe maps also show what appears to be a leat feeding the mill.

Lower Huxley Hall dates from the late 15th century, with major additions and alterations in the 17th century. Huxley was at one time held by the Canons of St Werburgh Abbey, Chester, from whom it passed to the Benedictine Order, although it is uncertain which of their monastries controlled it. A small addition was made to the rear in the 19th century. It was originally a courtyard house, but only two wings remain. The house is designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building. The house was originally the seat of the Clive family. John Tilston inherited the property upon the death of his elder brother Henry in 1613. Their father Ralph Tilston had purchased half of the Huxley estate from a relative Ralph Huxley in 1580. During the English Civil War the house was taken over by Colonel Thomas Croxton and the Parliamentary forces on September 5, 1644 and served as a base for the Siege of Chester.

In 1659 Croxton was in command of Chester Castle when The Booth Rising took place. The rebels entered the town and called upon him to surrender. He is said to have replied


 * "that as perfidiousness in him was detestable, so the castle which he kept for the parliament of England was disputable, and if they would have it they must fight for it, for the best blood that ran in his veins in defence thereof should be as sluices to fill up the castle trenches."

He held out for about three weeks, when he was relieved by Lambert shortly after the battle at Northwich. The garrison was then in some distress for want of food. On 17 Sept. the House of Commons voted Croxton a reward for his services. He continued irreconcilable to royalism after the Restoration, and in 1663 was arrested and secured in Chester Castle on a charge of plotting a general rebellion. He probably soon died there.

In 1810 Lower Huxley was described as being a farmhouse, and was still so in 1935. It is now a private residence.

Walk Mill


The Doomsday Book, records a mill at or near the site of the Walk Mill. In 1219 a mill at Stapleford was leased to Madoc, son of Wicker Seis by William son of Henry de Stapleford, with an annual rent of one pair of gloves. In 1802 Walk Mill was leased by Randle Wilbraham to John Dutton, farmer and Thomas Howell, miller for a rent of 15 guineas. Land included in the tenancy was 1 acre, 2 roods, 11 poles of arable land – on condition that within three years they erected a new water corn mill. The present incarnation of Walk Mill, was built after 2006. The previous mill was demolished in 1960 having possibly been built in 1805 (1881 OS Map) to replace one dating from the 1660s. The present owners found that a mill had been located here when ploughing uncovered a buried millstone. A date stone engraved “RW 1668” was also found which now sits above the fire place in the millers kitchen. At the time of the Tithe maps the mill was owned by the Wilbrahams but tennanted by a Robert Phoenix.



It is a working mill also open to the public. When grinding is to take place, a sluice gate is raised from the riverbed, thus diverting the water into the now short millrace, on to the 14-foot wheel and back to the river by the tailrace. The wheel and sluice gate are new constructions, but much of the internal machinery has been rescued from other mills in the country that have been converted to private houses. According to the 1910 OS map, the present course of the river past the mill was the original leat, with the river following a line to the east of its present course. The river line was altered in 1945 by Italian POWs and the old riverbed is now part of the strangely named “Waterless Brook”. This now takes the overflow of the river when it floods. From its name the original mill was most likely a fulling mill. From the medieval period, the fulling of cloth often was undertaken in a water mill, known as a fulling mill, a walk mill, or a tuck mill, and in Wales, a pandy. In these, the cloth was beaten with wooden hammers, known as fulling stocks or fulling hammers. Fulling stocks were of two kinds, falling stocks (operating vertically) that were used only for scouring, and driving or hanging stocks. In both cases the machinery was operated by cams on the shaft of a waterwheel or on a tappet wheel, which lifted the hammer. Driving stocks were pivoted so that the foot (the head of the hammer) struck the cloth almost horizontally. The stock had a tub holding the liquor and cloth. This was somewhat rounded on the side away from the hammer, so that the cloth gradually turned, ensuring that all parts of it were milled evenly. However, the cloth was taken out about every two hours to undo plaits and wrinkles. The 'foot' was approximately triangular in shape, with notches to assist the turning of the cloth.

In Roman times, fulling was conducted by slaves working the cloth with their feet while ankle deep in tubs of human urine. Urine was so important to the fulling business that it was taxed. Stale urine, known as wash, was a source of ammonium salts and assisted in cleansing and whitening the cloth. By the medieval period, fuller's earth had been introduced for use in the process. This is a soft clay-like material occurring naturally as an impure hydrous aluminium silicate. It was used in conjunction with wash. More recently, soap has been used. The second function of fulling was to thicken cloth by matting the fibres together to give it strength and increase waterproofing (felting). This was vital in the case of woollens, made from carding wool, but not for worsted materials made from combing wool. After this stage, water was used to rinse out the foul-smelling liquor used during cleansing. Felting of wool occurs upon hammering or other mechanical agitation because the microscopic barbs on the surface of wool fibres hook together



Just upstream of the mill is what is probably the moated site of Foulk Stapleford manor which was created out of a 12th century division of the manor of Stapleford but the distinctive manorial name only became common usage after Fulk de Orby (Justice of Chester 1259-60) succeeded his father's holding in Stapleford in the mid 13th century. From the 13th century St Johns reputation was enhanced by the possession of an important relic, the so-called "Rood of Chester". It existed by 1256 or 1257, when Fulk of Orby provided a mark of silver annually for lights before it, and appears to have been enshrined in a golden cross-shaped reliquary adorned with an image. It was so greatly venerated both in the locality and much further afield that in the late 13th and early 14th century St. John's was known as the church of the Holy Cross.

The site passed through various hands before ceasing to be in use as a residence by the early 16th century. The site is bounded on the east by the old course of the River Gowy and on the west by the modern course of the Gowy - originally the extended leat to Walk Mill. The site includes a grassy platform measuring some 47-50m each way and standing c.0.3m above the neighbouring ground surface. This is clearly visible on LIDAR. There is a low inner bank running around the perimeter of the island and faint traces of surface scarps. A dry moat 18-20m wide x 1.2m deep surrounds the island and this is flanked by an outer bank up to 10m wide x 0.2m max. height.

Stapleford Mill


Ceased work by WWI and the machinery was removed during WWII. The building was demolished c 1950. John Bruen the puritan iconoclast maintained the poor of his parish by the produce of two mills in Stapleford, of which this was one. Since the mill became disused the course of the Gowy has been changed so that is diverted to follow a portion of the course of Guylane Brook and hence no longer passes the site of the mill. The road which crosses the Gowy just south of the site of the mill at "Ford Bridge" is now known as Guy Lane and is probably derived from the name of the river which was once forded at this point. The Tithe maps and the older OS maps show how the course of the river has changed over the years, apparently moving back and forth between the leat of the mill and a course some way to the west.

April 21st 1692 was the date of a pre-nuptial settlement between a John Bruen of Stapleford and Honor Winnington, daughter of Sir Francis Winnington, which included Walk Mill in Foulk Stapleford with lands and tenements. 1801 saw mention of the mill in a further complex marriage settlement involving the Wilbrahams. At the time of the Tithe maps the mill was owned by the Wilbrahams but apparently operated by Joseph Howell, recently deceased. Howell, as noted above, also appears in connection with the Walk Mill.

A prehistoric settlement of six roundhouses has been excavated near Brook House Farm. It was occupied from the Middle Bronze Age to the end of the Iron Age (approximately 1000 BC to 42 AD).

Hockenhull Platts


Clicking on the walking man icon will reveal how much the course of the river hereabouts was altered by the improvement works carried out by POW's in WW2. Although the Hockenhull bridges are in England, they are not far from the Welsh border and it is likely that their name is derived from a combination of English and Welsh roots. "Platt" is an Old English word for "bridge" and is associated with "plank". "Hock" may come from the Welsh "hocan" which means to peddle or to sell abroad. "Hen" is Welsh for "old" and "hoel" (as in Hoole) means a paved way or road. It is therefore possible that Hockenhull Platts means "the bridges on the old peddlars' way". In the alternative the bridges may be named after a local family, or the family after the bridges, ther are arguments all ways (the same is true of Platts).

In 1353 when Edward, the Black Prince, crossed the bridges, he ordered that 20 shillings should be spent on their repair. In the 17th century the surface of the road was disintegrating so badly that posts were set into the road to prevent the passage of carts, and it could be used only by pedestrians and horses. As noted above carts took a different route. Goods were carried by convoys of packhorses led by a driver (or jagger) walking in front. The pioneer female traveller Celia Fiennes crossed the bridges in 1698, as did Thomas Pennant in 1780. The present bridges probably date from the latter part of the 18th century. In 1824 Cheshire County Council proposed to divert the road from Nantwich to Chester and make it pass along Platts Lane, which would have led to the destruction of the bridges. However the land on which they stood belonged to the Marquess of Westminster, and he refused permission for the road to be diverted. Today (2020), Hockenhull Platts consists of three humpback bridges which are approached and connected by causeways. The bridges are constructed from tooled blocks of red sandstone. The parapets are plain and are surmounted by chamfered coping stones which are joined by iron ties. The carriageway is formed from a mixture of stone setts and cobbles.



At Duddon, the road passes the site of the "Headless Woman", a pub now gone. There are at least two different local legends about this. In the first the woman was called Dorothy and accidentally decapitated by her father while he was trying to save her from the Roundheads. In the other the woman is called Grace, and, during the Civil War, when the Parliamentarians were getting close, the Hockenhulls (a Royalist family) left Grace the maid in charge of their house and treasure. Despite torture, she refused to say where it was hidden and had her head taken off as a result: i.e. they chopped the head off the only person who could tell them where the treasure was. Of course, her ghost wanders round with her head in her hands, haunting the area to this very day. There used to be a headless woman figure standing in the pub car park many years ago: a ship's figurehead modified with a saw and some red paint. One day it disappeared - stolen. Now the pub has gone too, having been converted into residential use in 2018. There are a host of variants on the story some of which have Grace the maid haunting Hockenhull Platts rather than the pub.

Stamford Mill


Stamford Mill, just to the south of Stamford Bridge is now a private house, but in the 1836-51 tithe maps it was shown as a flourmill in the ownership of the Marquis of Westminster, tenanted by Joseph Rowe. Stamford Mill on the River Gowy is first recorded in a document of 1188. It was rebuilt in 1810 after being burnt down. The mill wheel and its associated machinery were removed around 1900 when the building was converted into a house, but the remains are still visible, as is the mill pond. These are best seen from across the river. Milton Brook which enters the Gowy to the north of Stamford Bridge also had a mill at Barrow and its course can be followed upstream to further mills at Tarvin, Duddon and Willington. Another branch of the Gowy, Barrow Brook, appears to have had mills at Swinfordmill and near Peel Hall at Ashton.

Plemstall
There are said to be records of a church at Plemstall as far back as the 7th century, when the Gowy used to flood the surrounding land and the locality (barely elevated) was known as the "Isle of Chester". In the Late Saxon period the Gowy is likely to have been wider and tidal. In the north-western corner of Eddisbury Hundred, the settlements of Thornton-le-Moors and Ince (0 Welsh ynys, island)would have been divided from the Wirral by tidal sands reaching up to 1.5 km inland. A legend, perhaps of the 5th or 6th century, tells of a shipwrecked fisherman who, on finding refuge here, built a church as an act of thanksgiving, dedicating it to St Peter the fisherman. It is not clear how the suggestion of an early church and a "hermitage" fit together. Also, there is a weak suggestion in Asser that Plegmund was more than a hermit when before he was selected by Alfred: Asser says that Alfred summoned four distinguished Mercian clerics and showered them with honours and entitlements in Wessex, "not counting those which Archbishop Plegmund and Bishop Werferth already possessed in Mercia". It ia also worth noting that Gervase does not actually call Plehmund a "hermit", but writes that he "for many years led an ermetic life" - which could simply mean he led an austere life.





Although the surrounding land has been drained, the church still stands in an isolated location. Once called "Plegmundeshamm" (which may be translated as "Plegmund's hemmed-in place in water meadows"), later Plemondstall, it is now Plemstall. There are some few remains of a 12th century church, but the present sandstone building of St Peter is mainly 15th century. The tower was added in 1826, replacing a wooden belfry. Most of the original glass has gone, but there are said to be fragments from the 14th century (they may possibly be slightly later). In a display case in the north aisle are (or were) a Breeches Bible of 1608, a King James Bible of 1611, a folio edition of the bible printed by Edward Whitchurche in 1549, a black letter bible of 1549 and a King James Bible of 1623. The strikingly macabre 14th century tomb of the Hurleston family is located at the rear of St. Peter's church. One noted incumbent in the latter part of the 18th century, was the Rev John Baldwin of Hoole. His son Thomas Baldwin, who was also ordained, took part in a famous balloon flight in 1786. He took off from Chester Castle. Another noted incumbent was the Rev. Joseph Hooker Toogood (rector 1907-46). Pevsner records the war memorial was carved by Toogood and in fact the industrious Toogood was responsible for improvements to the chancel screen, a new altar, the reredos and panelling for the sanctuary, the lectern, much of the north chapel and baptistry, a new cover for the font, the choirstalls and their canopy, figures for the sanctuary niches and an alms box.

Trafford Mill


The earliest documentary reference to the Trafford Mill is in the Cheshire Chamberlains' Accounts of 1302–03. Further documentary records of the mill are in 1464 in the records of the Troutbeck family and in the Land Tax returns between 1784 and 1832. The building was offered for lease in an October 1767 edition of the Chester Chronicle. It was described in that advertisement in the form it is in now as 'this new built corn mill' thus dating the building at around 1760, nearly 100 years older than previously thought. In 1851 Rupert Fernyhough was the Miller and his younger son, Frederick becmae the Miller in 1871. He died in 1893 and is buried alongside his father at Plemstall Church. In 1893 James Owen, a corn chandler, of Chester became tenant of the Mill and the last Miller, Mr Tourle started work at the age of 20 where he worked for the rest of his life. It was sold at the Shrewsbury Sale of 1917 at which time it consisted of a three-floor corn mill, including two undershot water wheels (one of which was out of repair), a drying kiln, a barn, a stable and a shippon. In 1952 it ceased to be a working mill and was taken over by the North West Water Authority (now United Utilities). It was in a derelict condition and in the 1970s it was re-roofed and other repairs were made. Further repairs were made in 1998. At this time the mill is still not open to the public in an official form. There have been numerous attempts to get charitable status set up for the mill in order to be able to make the mill a museum and add a visitor’s centre, but as yet these attempts have failed.


 * Geograph;

Mickle Trafford


Mickle Trafford ward lies to the east of Chester city a short distance from Hoole along the Warrington road (A56) and is made up of the villages of Mickle Trafford, Bridge Trafford, Wimbolds Trafford, Picton, Picton Gorse, Hoole Village and Hoole Bank. Most of the ward lies outside the A55 by-pass, although the section around Hoole Hall Hotel lies between the A55 and the A41. Most of the ward remains rural, and the area closest to Chester lies in greenbelt land. Historically, Mickle Trafford was a key river crossing point, over the Gowy, for visitors to Chester. The village is noted for its annual "well-dressing" of Plegmund's Well in honour of St Plegmund - who was selected for the see of Canterbury in 890 by King Alfred the Great. Nearby, the "Gibbet Field" is named after two 18th century highway men who were hung there (James Brown and Thomas Price, in January 1795, for the murder of a mail boy). They remained there till 1820, when the pole was taken down, the place having been previously enclosed. In the skull of Price was found a robin’s nest. There are a number of historic buildings within the ward, including Trafford Mill and the ancient church at Plemstall. The village has a very informative History Page.

The Gowy often flooded at the Traffords and both the Shrewsbury Arms and later the Nags Head provided facilities for travellers of the old coach road, and for the many foot travellers having to wait until the waters subsided from the floods. In 1648 a petition was heard about the repair of the bridge:


 * "To the Justices assembled at the Quarter Sessions at Namptwich. The peticon of the Inhabitants of the parishes of ffrodsham, Ince, Thornton, Plimstow, Barrow and Sutton. Sheweth that whereas in the late warres one arch of Trafford bridge beinge beaten downe by the Cavelleers and the other two stone arches soe ruyned for want of seasonable repaire that they are ready to fall and must of necessity bee taken downe to the foundation or sufficiently repaired, the ruins of the arch havinge stopped the principall course of the water by reason whereof all the low grounds and meadowing for divers miles adjacent have for divers yeeres past binne utterly spoyled by flooding to the greate impoverishing of the neighborhoode and also detriment of the Cytty of Chester, having most of their hay from those parts, the highway also (beinge the greate roade from the North of this Kingdome to Chester) beinge somtymes by high water soe overflowed that it impossible without greate danger, th: cost of the repair whereof,  according to the Judgment of workmen, will amount to one hundred markes at the least. May it please your worshipps that there may bee a le(v)y throughout the whole countie for the repair of the bridge."

Trafford Hall


The name Trafford is associated with the Trafford family at Bridge Trafford who played a significant part in the history of the area and are commemorated in Plemstall Church. The male Trafford line died out in 1654 when Thomas Trafford was killed at the Battle of Naseby leaving a daughter Alice who married John Barnston of Churton to whom the estates went. Mickle Trafford, Magna Trafford or Great Trafford after the Conquest belonged to the Fitzallan family. For the whole of the 14th Century, the Earl of Chester whose estate it formed part leased it to various people until taken over by the William Troutbeck in 1416. The Troutbeck line ran out in 1510 and the inheritance passed to the Talbots who became the Earls of Shrewsbury and continued to hold an interest until 1917. The Hall (probably in use as a farm) is shown in early OS maps but current LIDAR shows no trace at all. Buildings are shown on the site in maps up to the 1950's, at some time after which the last remains of the house seem to have been cleared completely. The area then became a landfil site but has now been converted into the Gowy Woodland Park.

Picton
Picton is a hamlet and former civil parish, now in the parish of Mickle Trafford and District. In 2001 it had a population of 58. Picton Hall and Picton Hall Farmhouse are designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building.

Downstream of Picton and the Traffords Quaternary geology, with Holocene aged estuarine deposits occupy the low ground along the coast inland as far as Helsby and alluvial sediments occur in the floodplain of the River Gowy. Dunham-on-the-Hill forms a bedrock ‘high’ where superficial deposits are absent and Sherwood Sandstone Group is exposed at the ground surface. Near Stoke (often "Stoak"), the Gowy is almost rejoined by the continuation of the Chester Canal to Elesmere Port. This has crossed the high ground of the Wirral by means of a fluvioglacial spillway: the Backford Gap, which has allowed the canal to avoid locks except at its ends.

Stanney Mill


An early antiquarian paper entitled "The Mersey as known to the Romans" from the "Proceedings of the Literary & Philosophical Society of Liverpool" (1873) makes some comments on this mill, but makes some errors as regards other facts and so might not be entirely trustworthy. In so far as the paper can be understood it appears to suggest that the monks of Stanlow and those of Chester at times came to disputes over the uses of the water in the lower Gowy and especialy as to the amounts of water which should be diverted along the various courses. The closure of either this mill, or alternatively Thornton Mill is debated at length in Cheshire Farming - A report of the agriculture of Cheshire (1845) by William Palin of Stapleford Hall. Both of these mills have exceptionally long leats which divert the Gowy. The Tithe maps show Rupert Fernihough being the tennant at "Little" Stanney Mill (which was owned by "Sir Henry, Edward Baronet Bunbury"). After the Dissolution, Great Stanney was acquired by the Warburton family but it was then obtained by Henry Bunbury in 1544. Ormerod, writing initially in 1818 notes that from the time of Charles I, both Great and Little Stanney descended through the Bunbury family to Sir Thomas Charles Bunbury, whose heir General Sir Henry Edward Bunbury sold them to the Dean and Chapter of Chester Cathedral. The water-courses leading to the mills of Stanney and Thornton diverge near Picton and it has been suggested that Picton actually takes its name from the fact that it is close to a "fork" in the river.

To the Mersey
The lower reaches of the River Gowy near Stanlow in Cheshire are subject to periodic flooding from combinations of river water and high tides. The River Gowy flows through the Stanlow Manufacturing Complex, an extensive area of oil refineries and other industries adjacent to the Mersey Estuary. Flooding can occur in the Stanlow complex at times; the most recent events occurred during the 1990’s. Flooding of the industrial areas is a risk to the operation of the installations. It could lead to pollution of the floodwater with oil or other chemicals and this contaminated water entering the Mersey Estuary, an area of national and international importance for birds.

The lower basin of the River Gowy was semi-tidal and only became cultivable during the 19th Century following the construction of the railways and the Manchester Ship Canal, under which the Gowy is compelled to pass through a syphon. However, much of this land floods regularly to this day. Almost all of the lower river has flood-banks to reduce the frequency of flooding. There is also a tidal gate at Folly Gates which normally stays open to let the river flow out to the estuary, but closes during high tides to prevent tidal water flowing back up the river. There are two other tidal gates which regulate the flow out of the Thornton Brook and another tributary, Gale Brook.



Gowy Meadows Nature Reserve, which was originally donated by Shell and is managed by Cheshire Wildlife Trust, covers 166 hectare on the eastern bank of the Gowy floodplain, close to the river’s confluence with the River Mersey at Stanlow. Two-thirds of the site comprises rushy pasture on the floodplain itself, with the remaining third, along the eastern side, being on drier mineral ground. A network of straight open ditches drain the peaty soils of the former tidal marshes. Many small ponds are also scatted across the reserve. Almost 145 bird species have been recorded at Gowy Meadows, including great white egret, marsh harrier, rough legged buzzard and glossy ibis. The reserve is known for aquatic invertebrates including the lesser silver water beetle and is home to more than half of the dragonfly and butterfly species recorded across Cheshire, with banded demoiselles from late-May. The reserve also hosts around 68 species of hoverflies and over 224 moth species. Wheatear appear in the fields during spring migration and there's always the chance of a special spring visitor like a ring ouzel. Summer breeders may include reed and sedge warblers, with their scratchy calls rising from the ditches along with whitethroat in the hedgerows. When winter conditions are right, the wet meadows and ponds play host to wigeon and our smallest duck, the teal. Gadwall are a becoming a regular sight on the ponds with jack snipe a visitor along with green sandpipers and little egret. Infra-red cameras have also recorded otters along the River Gowy, and field signs such as spraints are sometimes recorded. Water voles are known to use the extensive ditch system on the reserve and latrines and feeding remains can be found dotted along the ditch banks and some of the more open pond edges.



Stanlow Abbey (or Stanlaw Abbey) was a Cistercian abbey situated on Stanlow Point, on the banks of the River Mersey in the Wirral Peninsula, Cheshire, England. The abbey was founded in 1178 by John fitz Richard as a daughter abbey of Combermere Abbey. After the death of his father in 1163 John inherited his rule of Halton and the Office of the Constable of Chester, which he became the chief official of Hugh de Kevelioc, 5th Earl of Chester. After the death of Hugh in 1181 he served in the same capacity for his heir Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester. In 1166 he paid a fee of 1,000 marks to obtain his mother's possessions. His mother, Albreda de Lisours, was a daughter and heiress of Robert de Lacy (d. 1193). His younger brother Roger fitz Richard was Lord of Warkworth Castle; another brother, Robert fitz Richard, was the prior of the Knights Hospitaller in England. During the rebellion against Henry II of England in 1173, John was a loyal supporter of the king. In early May 1181, when Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath lost the King's favor and was removed from office as Justiciar of Ireland, John was sent to Ireland together with Bishop Richard Peche of Coventry to take control of Dublin. Nevertheless, they supported Hugh before he left Ireland in the construction of many castles in Leinster. The following winter, John and Bishop Richard were recalled to England, while Hugh de Lacy returned to Ireland. On 3 September 1189, John took part in the coronation of Richard I of England. In March 1190, he left England to participate in the Third Crusade. He died during the siege of Acre.



Roger de Lacy, John de Lacy and Edmund de Lacy, respectively the 7th, 8th and 9th Barons of Halton, were buried at Stanlow. The abbey was in an exposed situation near the Mersey estuary and it suffered from a series of disasters. According to the Chronicles of St. Werburgh's Abbey in Chester, there were serious floods in 1279 at Stanlow then in 1287 a violent storm destroyed the the church tower. Two years later a fire destroyed much of the abbey and a second inundation flooded it to the depth of three feet. The monks appealed to the pope for the monastery to be moved to a better site and, with the consent of pope Nicholas IV and the agreement of Edward I and Henry de Lacy, the 10th Baron, they moved to Whalley Abbey near Clitheroe, Lancashire. This move took place in 1296. However a small cell of monks remained on the site until the Reformation, the site becoming a grange of Whalley Abbey. Stanlow remained a cell of Whalley Abbey until the Dissolution when it was acquired by Sir Richard Cotton. It was sold by his son, George Cotton, to Sir John Poole and passed through this family until the death of the Rev. Sir Henry Poole, baronet, in 1820, when the manor and estates were sold to the Marquess of Cholmondeley who sold them on to the Dean and Chapter of Chester Cathedral.



The abbey is located at the north-eastern end of Stanlow Point, a low-lying promontory projecting into the River Mersey and now severed from the mainland by the Manchester Ship Canal. The monument includes both upstanding and buried remains of the monastery and the grange which succeeded it. Because the monastery and grange buildings were later incorporated into now demolished post-medieval farm buildings, the exact interpretation of the upstanding remains is uncertain but they retain a range of architectural features which identify them with the core buildings of the monastery. These upstanding remains include a sandstone wall running east-west across the site; this is two courses thick and stands 1.5-2m high and was latterly used as part of the north wall of the farmhouse and adjacent buildings. At the western end of this wall is a re-used medieval doorway 1m wide. A second sandstone wall runs north-south across the site, slightly apart from the farmhouse and at an angle to it. This wall is up to 3m high and was latterly used as the west wall of farm outbuildings. Amongst other buried features, the monument includes a tunnel cut into sandstone and running west to east. This is lined with 4 courses of sandstone blocks and formed part of the main drain which led to the River Gowy. Some dressed sandstone from the monastery was re-used in the post-medieval farm buildings and is visible in the ruins of the outbuildings. There is a revetment wall on the eastern side of the promontory constructed of re-used sandstone. Antiquarian sources record that a circular rock-cut crypt containing lead coffins and bones was revealed by flooding, although the exact location of this is now unknown. They are described as follows:


 * "scattered about are various stones, which have been carefully carved ,and four beautiful old circular columns now support the roof of a cow-house. One of the walls, in which is an ancient doorway, is still standing, and in the centre of the farm-yard is a subterranean passage, hewn out of the solid red sand-stone, passing under the buildings and emerging over 45 yards, close to where the Gowy falls into the Mersey. An other passage, which, however, the present writer did not succeed in finding, is said by Ormerod to have led to a small circular apartment, hewn also out of the solid rock, which was not discovered until a furious storm burst in upon it, and laid bare the chamber containing numerous bones and several leaden coffins. At the present day bones are still found when gardening operations are in progress, showing that Stanlaw was a favourite place of burial, and that a considerable God's acre was attached to the abbey."

Related Pages

 * Plegmund;
 * Mickle Trafford;
 * Beeston Castle;
 * Canal and Boatyard;

Sources and Links



 * Geodetective: a well-researched and well documented study of the River Gowy;
 * The River Gowy: on CheshireTrove - another brilliant guide to this river;
 * River Gowy on Wikipedia;
 * The River Gowy: by David Ackerley;
 * Craig Thornber: on THORNTON-LE-MOORS, STOAK & STANLOW ABBEY;