Sandstone Ridge

(WORK IN PROGRESS)

The Sandstone Trail is a 55-kilometre (34 mi) long-distance walkers' path, following sandstone ridges running north–south from Frodsham in central Cheshire to Whitchurch just over the Shropshire border. The path was created in 1974 and extended in the 1990s. Much of the route follows the Mid Cheshire Ridge but in places the trail also passes through the Cheshire Plain, including farmland, woodland and canal towpaths. The ridge and trail are easily accessible from Chester and even a short walk along it will touch on many interesting sites, from hill-forts to a nuclear bunker.

Geology
The hills are composed of a range of sandstones of Permian and Triassic age. North–south faulting is in part responsible for elevating harder-wearing strata above the general level of the Cheshire Plain. Typically the higher summits are formed from the Helsby Sandstone. For an overview of the geology of the River Dee Valley see: River Dee Geology.

Hill Forts and Castles


Hill forts in Britain are known from the Bronze Age, but overall the great period of hill fort construction was during the Iron Age, between 200 BC and the Roman conquest. Although there are over 1,300 hill forts in England, they are concentrated in the south of the country, with only a few in Cheshire. Eddisbury is the largest and most complex of the Cheshire hill forts. The Cheshire hill forts differ from the southern hill-forts in one important respect: they belong to the late Bronze Age and the early to mid Iron Age. It has been suggested that the once widespread view that the Cheshire area was a hillfort dominated region at the time of the Roman invasion is false - an alternative view is that the hillforts were built early and abandoned by the Middle Iron Age (i.e after c500 BC).

Ormerod described the Eddisbury Hill Fort in 1819, wrongly attributing it to Æthelflæd:


 * 'With respect to the camp of Eddisbury we have the authority of the old chronicles for its being formed by Ethelfleda in the year 914, at the time when Chester was newly fortified and enlarged by her husband Ethelred. It is erected at a point calculated to command the British road, as well as the Roman road from Condate to Deva. The form is nearly oval, and its situation within the enclosure called the old pale, on the summit of the hill which gives name to the Hundred. It contains 11 acres, 3 roods, and 10 poles, of statute measure, and extends 250 yards in breadth, and 400 in length, exclusive of the projection of rock at the south east angle. The eastern side is irregular, being defended by a natural precipice, the other parts, being accessible by a gentle slope, are defended by a ditch and double rampart, with an entrance to the West. The ditch is about twelve yards wide, the ramparts, which are constructed with red stone, now buried under the soil accumulated by the lapse of centuries, are still fourteen feet high in some places. No other vestiges of buildings are distinguishable'.

While it is likely that Æthelflæd restored the fort to some extent, the original is much older.

The forts form two geographical groups of three, with Maiden Castle (Bickerton) on its own in the south of the county; Eddisbury hill fort is in the southern group with Kelsborrow Castle and Oakmere hill fort. Helsby Hillfort, Bradley and Woodhouses, form the Northern group.

Pits dating from the 4th millennium BC indicate the site of Beeston Castle may have been 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 - excavations there in the 1980s located a bronze-working hearth together with crucible and mould fragments. The associated metalwork was of the Ewart Park phase (c 800-700 BC), but metalworking may have begun at the site much earlier. The source of copper was perhaps the vein that runs along the eastern side of the mid Cheshire ridge. Mines at Bickerton were commercially exploited during the nineteenth century (hence the pub called "The Coppermine"), and it is possible that mines were located nearby in the prehistoric period (some details on the mines can be found here).

There was another Iron-Age fort at Burton Point, which like "Blacon Point" once projected into the Dee estuary. To the south of the fort is a burial site that was excavated in 1878, revealing the remains of between 50 and 60 burials. It is not known whether these are of an early Christian date, or if they are the remains of a shipwreck in 1637.

Frodsham
The etymology of Frodsham's name is not entirely clear. A literal translation of the Old English would give personal name of Frod or an old spelling of Ford, and ham which means a village or homestead; hence Frod's village or the Village on the Ford (Ford-ham). However, an alternative, more obscure etymology exists which suggests the name means "promontory into marsh", which would make sense considering that Frodsham had a promontory castle very close to marshland. Frodsham is unique as the name of a settlement in the British Isles. Earlier spellings of the name have included Fradsham, Frandsham, Frodisham, Ffradsam and Ffradsham. The town is of Saxon origin; its 11th-century church is mentioned in the Domesday Book. Frodsham was an important manor of the medieval Earls of Chester and was created a borough in the early 13th century, probably by Ranulf de Blondeville. The mouth of the River Weaver, where it joins the Mersey, made Frodsham into a significant port for the coasting trade, particularly for the export of Cheshire salt, brought down the Weaver from Northwich and Nantwich.

The Bear's Paw, Frodsham
The "Bears Paw" (it is actually a Lion's Paw) is said to be used in the coat of arms of the Savage family, Lords of the Manor of Frodsham from the early 17th Century. John Savage, 2nd Earl Rivers, a Catholic Royalist and past mayor of Chester, had his seat at Halton Castle and the great manor house at Clifton near Runcorn, called Rocksavage. When Earl Rivers returned to Cheshire after the Civil War with Rocksavage being ransacked and uninhabitable, and Halton Castle dismantled, Earl Rivers retired to Frodsham Castle where he was stripped of the family honours and estates. He died on 10th October 1654. A few hours after his death with his body lying within, Frodsham Castle was set on fire and burned down - it was completely destroyed. There was another "Bear's Paw" at the end of Frodsham Street in Chester, it was demolished in 1956. The pub in Frodsham is on "Main Street", a relatively rare street name in the UK (there are about half a dozen). In the 18th century the Bear's Paw at Frodsham was the 'Bears Paw Hotel and Posting House'; Royal Mail coaches called there when travelling between Chester, Warrington and Manchester. When the Lancashire, Cheshire and Birkenhead Railway opened in 1850, Frodsham station was near the hotel and 'Railway Hotel' was added to its title. In 1903–04 the front and side of the building were restored by the Chester firm of architects run by John Douglas.

Sources and Links

 * Smith, Arthur R. (2009), "The Bears Paw - a brief history", Journal of the Frodsham & District History Society, Frodsham: Frodsham & District History Society (39), pp. 20–22
 * Historic England;

Castle Park and Synagogue Well
Castle Park is a manor house, park and gardens in Frodsham. The house is built on the site of Frodsham Castle, which burnt down in 1654. In the late 18th century the first house on the site, "Park Palace", was built by Robert Wainwright Ashley, a lawyer in the town. On his death the house was inherited by his eldest son, Major Daniel Ashley, but mortgaged to Philip Humberston of Chester. In 1851 it was bought by Joseph Stubs of Warrington (of the firm Peter Stubs Ltd), a manufacturer of engineers’ tools. He started to develop and extend the house and outbuildings and commissioned the noted landscaper Edward Kemp to lay out the woods and gardens. Stubs died before the work was completed and the house was purchased by Edward Abbot Wright, a Quaker cotton manufacturer from Oldham. The house then came to be known as "Castle Park", and, when the last of Wright's daughters died, was left to the inhabitants of the town. The stables have housed the Castle Park Art Center since 1986. Edward Abbot Wright, (who was a director of the Oldham-Manchester-Birkenhead Railway) once missed a train at Frodsham because the stable clock was slow and he ordered that in future it should be kept 3 minutes fast - it is still checked each day to make sure that it is.

The "Synagogue Well" is located in Castle Park Charles Hope in his 1893 notes, writes:


 * “The Synagogue Well, evidently one of great antiquity, and, before an attempt was made to improve it, of most picturesque appearance, is in the grounds of Park Place, Frodsham, late belonging to Joseph Stubs, Esq.”

William Beaumont in his 1888 "An Account of the Ancient Town of Frodsham in Cheshire" records in comparison to a similar site in the county:


 * “Such a fount there is at Frodsham, called ‘The Synagogue Well,’ which sends forth waters as copious and as limpid as that once frequented by Numa. It seems as if such a fount was necessary near an ancient castle; for as this fount rises close to the site of Frodsham Castle, so at the foot of Beeston Castle there is a similar spring. They both spring from the living rock, and both have a large square stone basin to receive the surplus water as it flows away.”

Synagogues often feature ritual baths called Mikveh or Mikvah, but there is no evidence other than the name that there was ever a synagogue hereabouts.

Sources and Links

 * Castle Park Art Center;
 * The mysterious Synagogue Well of Frodsham;

Frodsham Caves
These, surprisingly large, sandstone caves are a well-known landmark on the east side of Manley Road. The enclosure is part of a local dairy farm and consequently the caves are often used for shelter by cattle (wellies recommended).

Sources and Links

 * Beneath the Ridge;

Barrows
There is a small cluster of round barrows close by the trail although a detour of some miles is needed to see them all. In Ormerod's History of Cheshire the following description is given a group of tumuli on Delamere Forest:


 * "A mile south east of the foot of the hill of Eddisbury, at the lower of a small natural lake called Fish Pool, are the tumuli known by name of the Seven Lows undoubtedly the "VII Loos" alluded to Leland as the "marks of men of warre" and much spoken of in his time. They are ranged in a form nearly semicircular and are of different sizes varying in diameter at the base from 105 to 40 feet. In a note at the foot of the page the measurements are detailed thus: Beginning at the tumulus in the annexed plan and following the semicircle the measure in diameter at the base 105, 45, 40, 105, 66, and 68 feet. The seventh has been carried away to form a road".

The individual barrows are listed below - note that almost all are in very poor condition, not accessible or hardly visible from rights of way.

Sources and Links

 * The Archaeological Journal
 * High Billinge - on private land but can (just) be seen from a nearby road;
 * Seven Lows - more or less completely destroyed. The urn found in one of the "Seven Lows of Delamere" after an "accidental opening", is now in the British Museum;
 * Gallowsclough Cob - one of the best-recorded excavations in the Central Ridge area;
 * Glead Hill Cob - In 1879 a Mr John Harrison of the New Pale was levelling this large tumulus for the foundations of a house when "ten or twelve large urns (filled with burnt bones) were met with". Nothing much to see today.
 * Castle Cob - This mound 25m in diameter and 4m high is now located in a private garden, surmounted by a water tank and a summer house;

Related Pages

 * Beeston Castle;

Sources and Links

 * Walking Cheshire's Sandstone Trail;
 * Chester Cheshire and Beyond;
 * Sandstone Trail on Wikipedia;