I HAVE been given this photograph by Gail Corfield, nee Farrington, of Wistaston. It shows her parents’ shop at 42 Welsh Row in 1955. On the back of the photograph it says: "Tom Farrington and his wife, Gwen, owned the shop from 1954 to 1957 when Mr Farrington gave up his plumbing business to take over the licence of the Red Lion (now the Bickerton Poacher). Sadly he died shortly after, but Mrs Farrington continued as licensee until 1979 when she retired.”

   The pub - as its name shows - is out in the Nantwich rural area at Bickerton. 

   The  Welsh Row, Nantwich, building still stands, and was a shop until recently. It was selling real ales, etc, a few years ago and later became a ladies' shop. It is now Meadowbank Associates, the recruitment consultants.

    Ecob's Garage, the building on the right of No 42, and four cottages - one of which was a photographer's studio at one time - were later demolished. In 2004, I took photographs (right and below) of the then exposed beams and wattle and daub on the end of the property.

   The gap left by those buildings is now the site of Wilbraham Court, a street development next to The Cheshire Cat. During excavations for the houses, a salt ship was discovered.

l Wattle and daub is made from thin tree branches (the wattle) and a mixture including mud and cattle dung (the daub) which was used as an infill between the stout oak beams from which buildings were constructed. Nantwich has a number of such buildings in the town together with, perhaps the town's most famous magpie (black and white) building, Churche's Mansion. However, the black and white decoration of the buildings is a later fashion. Originally the wattle and daub and the beams were left as they were when they were constructed.