Wistaston

Wistaston is a village in the county of Cheshire in the north-west of England, approximately two miles from Crewe town centre and three miles from Nantwich.

History

Wistaston

The trail is along Broughton Lane and Church Lane in Wistaston

In the Domesday Survey of 1086, the area north of the road between Crewe and Nantwich (now the A534) was called Wistanestune based on the hall and the church. The whole area was a going concern having a population of 25 to 30 people. It contained valuable woodland and arable land, with deer roaming about. It had been worth thirty shillings, but after William the Conqueror’s devastation of Cheshire, it was worth ten shillings in 1086. The Domesday Survey was completed in less than a year and is an important indicator of life in England at that time. There are several local villages with the suffix ‘tune’ or ‘ton’, meaning a ‘farmstead’.

Several local streets have been named after people who have lived in Wistaston Hall - Broughton Lane, Stewart Street, Hammond Street and Walthall Street. Alton Street, which formed the northern boundary of the estate, was named after the family seat in Derbyshire.

A walk along Broughton Lane and Church Lane - an historical trail

At the Crewe Road end of Broughton Lane stood the Toll Gate Cottage where the keeper of the toll gate lived. He ensured that travellers paid their dues to contribute to the maintenance of the highways. In January 1870 the toll gate keeper was James Lovatt. The Crewe Chronicle reported that he shot at James Lockitt, a Nantwich shoemaker, for shouting insults at him. Toll keepers were not popular. Toll Gate Cottage was demolished in 1924.

Yew Tree Farm and Yew Tree Villa stood on opposite sides of Broughton Lane, near Yew Tree Road. Yew trees are still in evidence there.

Milton Drive leads into the ‘Poets’ Estate’. John Milton’s third wife Elizabeth Minshull lived at Wells (Welds) Green (demolished April 2006). She was 26 years old when they married in London on 24th February 1664. He was blind. They were married for 10 years. Milton wrote ‘Paradise Lost’ which he started in 1650. He died in November 1674.

The area known as Joey the Swan was a fish pool or ‘stew’ dug out in about 1870. The soil was thrown up in front of the hall and a ‘clinker’ wall built to retain it. The swan called ‘Joey’ was a local ‘character’! What if the creature on the pool had been a Canada goose called Marmaduke - would the area now be named after it?

Wistaston Hall has been a home, a country club, a hunting lodge and a school. It is now St Therese’s Retreat run by the Oblate Brothers who purchased it in 1943.

The Wistaston Memorial Hall was opened by Lady Barlow, Chairman of the Cheshire Rural Community Council on Saturday 26 March 1949. Above the main door is a plaque sacred to the memory of the sixteen men of Wistaston who gave their lives in the Second World War.

The Bowling Club was opened on 4 April 1959 by Walter Holmes. The single membership fee then was 15 shillings.

The Wistaston Jubilee Tennis Club’s two courts were opened on 16 June 1979 by the Mayor of the Borough, Councillor Cyril Peake and by the Chairman of the Wistaston Parish Council, Councillor Peter Walker.

The building next to the Memorial Hall is called Wistaston Villa and can be traced back to 1675. On the left side of this house was the ‘Rents Office’ where money was paid quarterly to the estate - the entrance door has been ‘bricked up’.

The original all-age Wistaston National School was opened in 1874.

The present St Mary’s Church was consecrated by the Bishop of Chester on 22 July 1828. The cost of building it was about £1,600.

At the end of Church Lane, on opposite sides of the road, stand two houses of historical interest:

Hunts Bank Cottage was once the Walthall Family Dower House, where the widow of the lord of the manor lived.
Kings Lyn which was once a Maternity home. Many Wistonians were born there.

World War II

Sacred to the memory of the men of Wistaston who gave their lives in the War 1939-45

Lieutenant Richard Alexander Joseph BOLTON. 6th Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment, who died on Thursday 9th September 1943, aged 35. Buried in the Ranchi War Cemetery, India.

Telegraphist Arthur CORNALL. HMS Egret, Royal Navy, who died on Friday 27th August 1943, aged 33. Named on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

Corporal Reginald Alexander DUDLEY. Royal Engineers, who died on Tuesday 19th January 1943, aged 24. Buried at the Basra War Cemetery, Iraq.

Lieutenant-Commander Roy Berryman EDWARDS DSO. HMS Watchful, Royal Navy, who died on Thursday 11th June 1942, aged 39. Named on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

Second Radio Officer Derek Aubrey GRESTY. SS Fort Athabaska (London) - Merchant Navy, who died on Thursday 2nd December 1943, aged 23. Named on the Tower Hill Memorial, London.

Fusilier Stanley HASSALL. 2nd Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, who died on Wednesday 3rd May 1944, aged 24. Buried at the Beach Head War Cemetery, Anzio, Italy.

Driver Robert Walker HILTON. Royal Corps of Signals, who died on Monday 8th September 1941, aged 25. Buried in Crewe (Coppenhall) Cemetery.

Sergeant George Alfred HINTON. 53rd Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who died on Tuesday 26th November 1940, aged 28. Named on the Runnymede Memorial, Surrey.

Lieutenant Ronald Arthur HULSE. 91st Regiment, Royal Artillery, who died on Saturday 17th June 1944, aged 29. Buried in the Tel El Kebir War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt.

Private John William LOWE. 11th Battalion, Parachute Regiment, Army Air Corps, who died on Saturday 26th February 1944, aged 23. Buried in St Mary’s Churchyard, Wistaston.

Leading Seaman Thomas Henry Kenneth PARSONAGE. HMS Firedrake, Royal Navy, who died on Thursday 17th December 1942, aged 31. Named on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

Lance Sergeant George POWELL. Royal Corps of Signals, who died on Monday 27th May 1940, aged 21. Buried in the Hazebrouck Communal Cemetery, Nord, France.

Acting Sub Lieutenant Thomas Eric RICHARDS. HMS Grebe, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, who died on Monday 15th December 1941, aged 20. Named on the Lee-on-Solent Memorial, Hampshire.

Sub-Lieutenant Frank Judson TOMKINSON. Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, who died on Tuesday 27th July 1943, aged 20 Buried at St Marys Churchyard, Acton, near Nantwich.

Captain Reginald Frederick TUCKER. Royal Engineers, who died on Monday 25th September 1939, aged 35. Buried in the Brest (Kerfautras) Cemetery, Finistere, France.

Flight Lieutenant Maurice Norman WAUGH. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who died on Sunday 14th February 1943, aged 31. Buried at the Ibadan Military Cemetery, Nigeria.

The names of these sixteen brave men are recorded on the permanently-lit plaque above the main door to Wistaston Memorial Hall. “Sons of this place, let this of you be said, That you who live are worthy of your dead. These gave their lives that you who live may reap, A richer harvest ere you fall asleep”.

“Thank you for giving up your life and letting us live a good life” Hannah Carroll, November 1998, aged 7, Wistaston Westfield Infant School.

Events

There are many events in the village each year including the annual Village Fete where people parade through the streets, which is followed by the crowning of the Rose Queen.