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Name on town war
memorial inspired research |
BEING a true Dabber (born at the Barony
Hospital), I will start by saying this website is wonderful and
helping a lot with my family tree research and a good all-in-all
read.
I have, in the past
couple of years, started to research the Hayes family of
Nantwich. I was inspired when I found out that my great
grandfather William Henry
 Hayes, who was killed in the First
World War, is listed on the Nantwich Memorial (see below). With the 100-year
anniversary of his death coming up I thought it very
appropriate.
I have found that William Henry
Hayes’s father, Samuel Hayes, was the first Hayes from my family
to settle in Nantwich. He was born in Wolverhampton about 1851
and moved to Manchester with his family when he was about seven-ish.
The first time he turns
up in Nantwich is when he gets a 20-year-old girl, called Emily
Galley, pregnant. A year later they are married and have another
child a few months after that.
Did a lot of people in the late 1800s come to Nantwich for
work or would this have been rare?
In the 1881
census Emily Galley lived in 6 Gas Alley. When Samuel Hayes
and Emily Galley have their first child in the September of
1881 she lived at 6 Wych House Bank. Are these two houses the same? There doesn’t seem to be
a 4, 5, or
6 Wych House Bank on the 1881 Census, but there are 4, 5 and 6 Gas Alley. Very confusing. I
am hoping you can help me on this one.
PAUL HAYES, Nantwich
MARCH 2014
Paul,
Certainly some people came to Nantwich
looking for work in the late 1800s but I
The inscription on the war
memorial on The Square.
Pictured top: The Welsh Row
end of Wych House Bank today. The row of cottages
extended to the River Weaver, opposite the Mill.
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wouldn’t say a lot. The biggest employer was the Railway
Works at Crewe and that is where most of the men would tend to go.
 Regarding your question
about the street names, they were separate streets. Weaver Bank is
the first street on the left going down Welsh Row, Wych House
Bank is the second, while Gas Alley was a
separate row of cottages behind Welsh Row accessed from an alleyway
on the town centre side of The Black Lion pub. The area where the
houses stood is now a car
park off St Anne's Lane.
You are right that there is
no 4,5 or 6 Wych House Bank in the 1881 Census. I think they could
well have been demolished earlier. I assume that the September
address you refer to is taken from the birth certificate.
It might be useful to look
at the 1871 and 1891 Censuses and see if that can throw any light on
the question. I had a quick look at the 1871 Census and found the
Galley family living in Mill Street.
Pictures: Top right, the
Black Lion pub with the alley to the left. Above left, a close-up of Gas Alley leading
to about nine homes. Above, right: Gas Alley seen from the car park
- where houses would have stood.
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Further thoughts on the
Enoch Moulton item from a website visitor |
Andrew,
I HAVE just been
browsing through your
website pages and came
across your piece about
Enoch Moulton ("I have found that I have a lot of
relatives in Nantwich". (Ask Andrew 3.htm).
Enoch Moulton certainly
had the green grocery
shop in Beam Street. My
mother knew the
daughters as Madge and
Millie Moulton and even
though they were married
she always used the
Moulton surname. Madge
(Marjorie?) was
certainly married to
Stanley Davies who had a
building business in
Hospital Street.
They lived in one of the
terraced houses at the
bottom of Crewe Road and
had a son Billy - a few
years older than me -
and, I think, a daughter
whose name I can't
remember. I think Millie
must have been a widow.
I know nothing of her
husband.
Millie used to help out
with the Red Cross; her
picture often appeared
in the local papers. On
these occasions she
could be seen wearing a
uniform. The name
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Millie might have been spelled Milly.
Now for a bit I am not sure of. I think the Davies who was Deputy Clerk
to Nantwich Rural District Council when Frank Davenport was the Clerk
was Stanley's brother.
With regard to the plane crashes (this page). The test pilot of a Victor
bomber that crashed into the Irish Sea on August 20, 1959, Squadron
Leader Ray Morgan, was married to my mother's cousin, Doris Potter's
daughter, Pamela. All five on the aircraft died. I seem to remember
their daughter attended Nuthurst School - as did my father Sam, donkey's
years before!
J OHN BARLOW
NOVEMBER 2013
John, Many thanks for
all this. Andrew
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We are trying to trace
school where family worked during the war |
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Andrew
MY mum was billeted in Nantwich in Mill Street during the Second World
War, from 1941 to '42, with her brother.
Her aunty worked as a parlour
maid at a girls boarding school on Hospital Street. My mum also held a
temporary position there at the age of 15 with her mother.
We were trying to locate the name of the school. Mum remembers the
headmistress being Miss Birkenshaw.
Can you fill in the gaps, please?
PAUL SKAIFE
OCTOBER 2013
Andrew replies:
I can tell you that the school you are referring to was Nuthurst School.
It was established in 1881 and occupied premises in Hospital Street
adjacent to Churche's Mansion.
It provided accommodation for 16 girls but was also a day school.
It had a kindergarten and took boys up to the age of 10.
I'm not sure when it closed but probably, I would think, in the
early 1960s.
The buildings still stand but are now converted into private
houses.
I hope this helps. |
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This e-mail was subsequently received
from a regular website visitor:
Andrew,
I
just read your article on Nuthurst School.
In 1971, I was living in Shavington and we got new next-door
neighbours. The wife was a teacher.
She applied for a teaching job at Nuthurst School and came to see me
to ask where the school was (they had just moved from the
Potteries).
Anyway, she did get the job.
I know it was late 1971 because my daughter was born in January 1972
and my neighbour used to come and see the baby every day after
school.
So I know it was still open then but I’m not sure when it closed
because we came to Canada in 1975.
Keep up the good work.
"A Dabber's Nantwich" is the most informative website about
Nantwich.
We love it and check the pages every day.
[See also this page]
Qualicum Beach, Vancouver Island,
British Columbia, Canada.
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Can you give me more
information about Parkfield House? |
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Dear Mr Lamberton,
I'M trying to find out as much as possible about the Parkfield House
area (where Parkfield Drive is now), Nantwich. Are there any more photographs of
the house and grounds available apart from those in the chapter in the
book 'Lost Houses of Nantwich' which I have
already
I've lived on Parkfield Drive, next to 'The Old Stables',
for 27 years, but have only been able to find out a very small amount of
information from various sources.
I would like if possible,
to look at the layout of the estate, buildings, orchards etc. I do have
the Ordnance Survey map of Nantwich 1908, and that does show the area.
ANN FARRINGTON, Nantwich
OCTOBER 2013
Andrew replies:
Hello Ann. I can help you
with more information. The 1899 OS 2nd Edition map for Nantwich shows
the house and surrounds. Also, not that long ago a good photo of the
house frontage came to light in the Nantwich Museum archives.
Are you familiar with the book
about A.N.Hornby (who lived at Parkfield House) called "The Cricketing Squire" by William Henry Hoole?
A postcard of Parkfield House,
courtesy of Nantwich Museum
Left: Parkfield House and its grounds can
clearly be seen on the right of the 1899 Ordnance Survey map, 2nd
edition, of Nantwich.
The drive to the property can be seen emerging on
to Wellington Road just north of Park Road, at the bottom of the map.
Down the left-hand side of the map is Shrewbridge Lane, now called
Shrewbridge Road, at the side of which stands Brookfield House, now a
home for elderly people. |
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Ann later replied:
Very many thanks for showing me the
photograph and map. It's the first time I have seen Parkfield House in
full. What a fascinating building.
It's such a shame all these old
houses disappeared (mind you we'd be homeless if Parkfield House was
still here!).
When I retired I joined the U3A
local history group in Wistaston and asked |
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other members if they knew anything, but there
were only a few vague memories!
However, with the old tithe
maps I can start researching into the people who lived there before and
after A.N.Hornby. As yet I haven't read 'The Cricketing Squire', but
it's in the library, so I've reserved it!
Very many thanks again for your help.
Ann |
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Was there a Royal Oak in Swine Market? |
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Andrew's reply:
There was not a public house in Swine Market called the Royal Oak.
There was one, however, just around the corner at 4 Beam Street, which
was originally called The Star.
A front room of this establishment was used as a recruiting office
during the Napoleonic Wars circa 1805.
I have a picture of the building with Eva Wainwright-Stubbs, the
landlady, standing outside, taken around 1914.
The picture is taken from my book
"Lost Houses in Nantwich" and can be seen in
Old Nantwich Pictures on this website. |
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Andrew received a question in an unsigned e-mail, strictly against the
"rules" of Ask Andrew, but it is interesting and serves as a link to an
article about the Oak, so for once we will let it go!
Was there a pub in Swine Market, Nantwich, called The Royal Oak. If
so, when did it close? |
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For a change,
Andrew has a question for YOU . . .
In which northern city can you find Nantwich Drive and Crewe Road?
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Andrew says:
I think Lord Crewe probably owned land here years ago, hence the
Crewe Road. There is / was a Crewe Toll.
Regarding Nantwich Drive, I have been researching the
Christie-Miller family who lived at Stapeley House.
The family owned quite a bit of land in the Portobello / Edinburgh
area and there are now streets there called Christie-Miller Drive, Stapeley Avenue and Nantwich Drive.
There is also a huge Christie-Miller mausoleum.
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A house with
"pretentions" of the Arts and Crafts style of building |
I'VE
just
been
perusing
your
website
about
Nantwich
and
found it
fascinating.
I've
been
trying
to find
out
something
about
the
origins
of my
friends'
house,
39
Millfields,
for
them.
Using
various
maps
I've
worked
out that
it was
probably
built
about
1911
but,
quite
unusually
around
here, it
has
pretensions
to the
Arts and
Crafts
Style of
house
more
common
in the
South
and
would
have
been
rather
grand
compared
with
other
existing
homes in
Marsh
Lane /
Newtown.
Originally
it would
have
occupied
the
whole of
the area
marked
48 on
the
Tithe
map of
the
area.
Carved
into the
bannister
railings
are
initials:
M and
D. The
1911
Census
isn't
much
help -
perhaps
it
wasn't
occupied
then.
The
other
houses
in
Millfields
were all
built
sometime
later-
starting
in the
1930s I
reckon.
Do have
any
knowledge
at all
about
who
might
have had
it
built?
Or an
architect?
HELEN
MORRIS,
Nantwich
SEPTEMBER
2013
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Andrew replies:
Helen, I can tell you something about
the first owner of 39 Millfields.
It would appear to have
been the home of Wilfred Harlock, no doubt and probably, head of the
local family business of Stretch and Harlock. They not only had the
business premises on The Square - which still stand - but also had,
at some time previously, the clothing factory on the site of
Townsend House, Welsh Row.
We find him on the 1911
Census with his wife, a visitor and a servant, in Millfields.
In a 1934 directory, he is listed as
Wilfred Harlock MBE JP, living at The Cottage, Millfields. which I
think is No. 39.
I don’t know why he was
awarded the MBE, maybe for services to the clothing industry. He was
still at No 39 in 1939.
The house must have been
built shortly before 1911 but I do not know who the architect was.
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