I’m very excited to part of this upcoming exhibition!

Another trip to Cheshire Record Office, this time for research into Cheshire Gamekeepers,has yielded one of my favourite document finds yet!  In the catalogue, it is entitled ‘Mock Manorial Presentment of William Tipping’ and is thought to date from around 1715.  It  is signed ‘Peter Shakerley’.  It details a poaching story, with some real life …

Continue reading ‘Fantastic Mr Foxes v. Tipping and Faulkoner’ »

The hamlet of Kermincham lies in the parish of Swettenham, about 5 miles north west of Congleton. The parish consists of several farms with geographic names, e.g Brook Farm, Ashtree Farm and some higher status dwellings. Kermincham Hall, Rowley Hall, and Kermincham House (formerly Lodge).   The accompanying farmland all surround another farmstead named Old …

Continue reading ‘Kermincham and it’s Deer Park’ »

At first glance, any modern map of Macclesfield shows a jumble of streets, roads, and lanes jostling for position.  Looking closer at individual street names reveals insights into their purpose, origin and age. Some street names have been around from the medieval period and still remain today, for example, Jordangate.  This can be found in …

Continue reading ‘Origins and Significance of some Macclesfield Street Names’ »

Boundaries of parishes have been important for generations; they dictated which church a person would be baptised, married or buried in and where they paid tithes and other taxes. The current civil parish boundaries that we are familiar with on Ordnance Survey maps often follow the same routes as former ecclesiastical ones, with the new …

Continue reading ‘Parish Boundaries’ »

To the north of Weaverham, lies the hamlet known as Bartington.  It no longer exists as a civil parish itself, having been absorbed into neighbouring Dutton in 1936.  However before this, Bartington was a settlement with ancient origins, which once had an important position on the canal network. Amongst the University of Salford Archives and Special …

Continue reading ‘The lost canal village of Bartington’ »

The Quaker Graveyard at Mobberley is an outstanding monument to the history of religious non-conformism in Cheshire. Situated on Graveyard Lane, off Newton Hall Lane, it lies just past Graveyard Farm on the left hand side. It is marked by a rectangular set of walls, in sandstone and red english bond brick, thought to date …

Continue reading ‘Mobberley Quakers’ »

Ingersley Vale lies on the River Dean between Bollington and Rainow.  By car, it is only accessible from Bollington, though most of it lies within Rainow Parish.  A walk on foot, however, is rewarded with stunning views, waterfalls and a chance to see industrial archaeology indelibly marked on the landscape. Starting out on Sugar Lane and …

Continue reading ‘Secrets of Ingersley Vale’ »

The term ‘landscape’ according to the OED was first used by Dutch painters in 1598 to describe pictoral representations of natural scenes on land.  It came from the original Dutch landschap which simply meant, an area of land.  It was initially translated as landskip: ‘In a table donne by Cæsar Sestius where hee had painted Landskipes.’   R. Haydocke tr. G. …

Continue reading ‘Scenery or Landscape?’ »