Cuppin Street

Historic Cuppin Street
The origins of the name of Cuppin Street has been the subject of much discussion. Some claim it comes from the location of drinking ("cupping") houses, while others claim it is a contraction of "Jacobin".

Cuppin Street used to extend to Nicholas Street, but was sealed off when the ring-road was constructed in the 1960's.

In 2017 the bones of men, women, and children were excavated in an archaeological dig near the site of the Franciscan church in Chester, on Cuppin Street. 20 sets of bones were re-buried in Pantasaph, Flintshire - at the friary which founded the current Franciscan friary in Chester. The graveyard here is apparently quite extensive. In the 1990's work had to be stopped on the construction of the nearby new Magistrates Court when a supposed "plague pit" was discovered. There were also stories circulating at that time of "witches" being found buried face-down in coffins filled with tar.

A "sugar house"
On the south side of Cuppins Lane once stood five cottages which by 1740 had been demolished, and the land, in the ownership of Geo Hope and already used as a timber yard by Thomas Hincks, was let to John Kelsall, and then in early 1741 sold to Geo Prescott. Over the next decade or so the land was variously let to Wm Buckley and later his widow & Mr Linney, and Tho Adams coal merchants, before Thomas Prescott, son, heir and executor of the late George, sold it to Benjamin Wilson a sugarbaker from Liverpool in 1752/3.

The building of the three pan sugar house in Cuppins Lane was probably begun in early 1755, as a covenant to the sale of the land, dated 26 April 1753, stated that if any building being erected for the purpose of refining sugar within 3 yrs of 20 July 1752, then Benjamin Wilson should pay Thomas Prescott £50 within one month of building commencing ... Thomas Prescott's receipt for the £50 was dated 15 Feb 1755. Whether Wilson began the sugar house by himself is not known, but in 1756 he and his wife made an agreement between themselves and John Hincks of Chester and Joseph Manesty of Liverpool for the running of the business, and on 21 Mar 1757 Articles of Co-partnership were signed by Wilson, Hincks and Manesty to carry out the trade of sugar refining in premises purchased by them in the name of Benjamin Wilson from Thomas Prescott. Manesty had a half share, with Hincks and Wilson taking a quarter share, but at that time they were still short of some £16,000 funds for joint stock. The partnership does not appear to have got off to a good start, for by the beginning of 1758 questions were being asked by Hincks of Manesty's methods of buying sugar, and when in March a large bill for 55 hogsheads of raw sugar valued at over £1344 was presented by Francis Perkins of Liverpool, Wilson accused Manesty of paying too high a price for sugar, and Manesty complained in turn that there was no money available to pay the "Excise Man" for an earlier 50 hogshead order. By 1764 Manesty had been declared bankrupt and wanted whatever remained of his share back.

Wilson died in the mid 1760's. He left his estate to his wife including his interest in the sugar house, leaving instructions that after her death it should be valued and sold. The accounts at the time showed that after all bills and bonds had been paid there was just £1461 9s 11d to be shared equally between Hincks and Benjamin Wilson's executors. John Hinks, the sole surviving partner died in 1772, by which time the sugar house had made, and spent, around £40,000 profits (and run up over £16,000 in debts). Hink's Widow appears to have continued with the business and was later joined by her son. More money was invested, but they appear to have gone bust around 1781.

The Gasworks
The Chester Gaslight Company was formed in 1817 by Deed of Settlement and remained a non-statutory company. Its works were in Cuppin St and were built by the famous gas engineer Samuel Clegg. Pressure from the Chester Watch Committee and public dissatisfaction with costs led to a number of attempts to establish a rival undertaking in the town. A complete reorganisation of the works in 1845 attempted to inprove efficiency and bring down costs. In 1850 a rival company tried to establish itself - the Chester Gas Consumers Co, though this failed to raise enough capital to launch properly. In 1851 an engineer from Birkenhead gasworks, Samual Highfield, established a second company and built a gasworks at Roodee on the outskirts of Chester. The Roodee Gas Co was soon sold on and by 1855 the two companies began negotiations to amalgamate. The Chester United Gas Cowas formed in August 1856 with the chairman, E Salisbury, formerly of the Roodee Gas Co. The council was unhappy with the re-established monopoly but it did bring about the closure of the Cuppin Street works, which was causing serious pollution. The Roodee works were rebuilt in 1880 and a series of Acts of Parliament extended the area of supply to surrounding villages. In 1949, the company was nationalised and vested in the Wirral Group of the NWGB. The Roodee works closed in 1966 after pipelines had been laid to connect west Cheshire with Lancashire, north Wales, and the works at Ellesmere Port.

The School
The school was built (1882) and opened in 1883 to serve the Roman Catholic parish of St. Francis. Children living in the parish who had previously attended St. Werburgh's Schools were transferred here (see J.C. Fowler, The Development of Elementary Education in Chester, 1800-1902, 1968, p. 165). A surviving log book records that in 1909 the Education Committee refused to recognise the school as a public elementary school and that it was only recognised when it acquired enough land for a playground in 1922. It continued as a junior and infant school until September 1972 when Chester schools were reorganised into first, middle and high schools. As a result of this reorganisation St. Francis' School became an annexe to St. Clare's First and Middle School, which was opened at Hawthorn Road, Lache, in September 1972. The School is now the Unity Centre, West Cheshire's multicultural hub. It co-locates a variety of small BME community organisations who run their own activities from the Centre such as reiki, knit and natter sessions and Indian dancing. The Chester Diwali festival of light (late October) is organised from here: one of the most popular Hindu festivals, it signifies the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance, and hope over despair.