Blacon

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Overview

Blacon was originally known as Blakon Hill and was owned by the Marquess of Crewe. Prior to this ownership has been described as follows:

• It was granted at the Norman Conquest to the ancestor of the Mainwaring family and passed by marriage with their heiress to the Trussell family and from them in the same manner to John De Vere, fifteenth Earl of Oxford, whose grandson, Edward, the poet Earl, alienated the estate in the time of Queen Elizabeth. The Norris family of Speke, Lancashire, were then residing at Blacon Hall.' About this time the manor passed by purchase to the Crewe family and was owned by the The Marquis of Crewe until his death on 20 June 1945.

The Parish of Blacon cum Crabwall was formed in 1923, and on 1 April 1936, under the Cheshire County Review Order, 1936, most of the parish was transferred to Chester County Borough. The estate of Crabwall was granted by the Mainwarings to the Arneway family in the early 13th century. John Arneway, mayor of Chester 1268–78, granted it to the abbot of Chester as an endowment to maintain his chantries in the abbey church and St. Bridget's. After the Dissolution the estate was given to a younger branch of the Gamull family of Buerton, who built a residence there in the early 17th century, demolished by c. 1800. The estate remained in the hands of the Gamulls' descendants until the 19th century, when it was sold to Philip Stapleton Humberston. Its later history has not been traced. Crabwall Hall originally comprised a small brick house refronted in the early 19th century and was much extended in 1987 to form a luxury hotel.

Wikipedia informs us that Blacon is situated adjacent to the Welsh border and is located on a hill, one mile to the north-west of, and overlooking Chester. The village is built on what was previously farming land and is surrounded by open countryside. Blacon has views across to the city centre of Chester and to the Welsh hills some twenty miles to the west. Other nearby places include Saughall to the north, Newtown, Chester to the north-east, Upton and to the east, the village of Mollington.

A Brief History

Blacon was originally outside of the boundaries of Chester. The northern boundary wss defined in part by the stream known as the Bishop's Ditch, Flookersbrook, Bache Brook and Finchett's Gutter. The shaded area shows where the River Dee estuary used to flood before the river was "tamed".

Several examples of the arms of the Crewe family (a lion's paw emerging from a crown) can be seen around Blacon.

In recent years, Blacon has had its problems. It has gained a reputation as a deprived social-housing estate, but on the other hand a significant effort has been made to improve the area, with some positive results. It was not always like that.

Blacon Point was originally an area of high ground around which the River Dee curved before reaching the port of Chester. As a result of the silting of the Dee, the area below Blacon Point became land rather than water and is generally referred to as Sealand. This silting may have been caused by deforestation around the upper reaches of the Dee, leading to increased soil erosion and transport of silt by the river.

The large social housing estate was built between 1948 and 1968 and covers an area of 1.2 square miles with a population of 13,400. The railway station closed in the 1960s.

Links

• Blacon on Wikipedia;
• Dig report and detailed history;
• The Golf Club History;
• Blacon cum Crabwall: on Genuki;