Newton
Overview
Newton is a suburb in the north-east of Chester, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Including the locale of Plas Newton, the area is contiguous with Upton to the north and Hoole to the south.
A Brief History
The earliest known owner of land at Flookersbrook was Arni of Neston (see: "Open Doomesday") - and his lands passed to William son of Nigel, or fitz Nigel. Arni is possibly a Viking name, and it has been suggested, in "Viking Wirral" that his burial place is at "Arnehow" at Oxton - now a park known as "The Arno". William FitzNigel is probaly the same who succeeded his father Nigel as baron of Halton and Constable of Chester. His gift to St Werburgh’s of "Neutona" (Newton by Chester, a manor of 1 hide) with the service of Hugh fitz Udard, was included in the almost certainly forged confirmation of Earl Richard of Avranches dated 1119 (Barraclough, Charters of the Earls of Chester, 14–16, no. 8) RSLC vol CXXVI
- "Willelmus constabularius dedit Neutonam simul cum servicio Hugonis filii Udardi de quatuor bovatis, et cum servicio Wiceberni de duabus bovatis."
"Udard" or "Odard" is often said to be the ancestor of the Duttons, but there is considerable doubt about much of the ancestry of Cheshire gentry. The arguments that this is a forgery hinge on the fact that there seems little reason for a young earl of 25, who in 1119 could not have known he was to drown the following year in the wreck of the "White Ship", to draw up such a convenient list of donations to the church made "in meo tempore ecclesie sancte Werburge Cestrie" ("in my time to the church of St Werburgh of Chester"). Also, Richard was in Normandy from October 1118 and for most of 1119 and into 1120. Richard did spend some time in England, but monks are sometimes notorious for faking grants of land. A (possibly also) forged confirmation in the name of Earl Ranulf II adds the information that his deed was witnessed by Ralph the steward, who was in the habit of donating his master's property to the church while Ranulf was held by enemies.
The transfer of Newton (including Flookersbrook) from someone of possible Viking ancestry to the Normans (by conquest), and then to the Church (under dubious circumstances), was the start of a recorded series of disputes over the ownership and access to the Flookersbrook corner of Hoole (or as some might see it, Newton) which continued for centuries.
At the Dissolution the manor passed to the dean and chapter, but was among those holdings alienated in the 1550s, and by the 1580s it was held by the Hurleston family of Picton, from whom it passed by marriage to John Needham, later 10th Viscount Kilmorey, in 1738. Much of the township remained in the hands of the Needhams until the mid 1930s. Thereafter their land was sold off, the Newton Hall housing estate being built over it 1957–60. Newton Hall, residence of the Hurlestons and later let to tenants or sold, stands in Plas Newton Lane. Built c. 1700, it is two-storeyed, of brick with stone dressings.
Leading Cestrian families held land in the fields of Newton and built up estates there. In the earlier 13th century the township gave its name to a family which had extensive holdings under the abbot and was perhaps descended from the Duttons. A little later the Erneys family acquired land in Newton, receiving grants from Geoffrey of Dutton and the Newton family among others. In the later 13th and early 14th century the mayoral family of Brickhill also acquired a considerable estate in the township. Lands there later escheated to the city corporation, and by the later 17th century the city was making inclosures in the town fields of Newton.
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