THIS week we take a look at Middlewich – this ancient market town is one of the Wiches or Wyches, joining Northwich and Nantwich from which salt has been drawn for centuries.
In fact, it is the middle of the two other Wiches, hence the name. The Romans were the first to discover the brine that flowed freely and founded the town calling it Salinae after the salt.
A train pulls into Middlewich Station in the 1950s
The town featured in the English Civil War when two battles took place here with the church as a centrepiece; they were titled the 1st, and 2nd Battle of Middlewich in 1643, between the Royalists, commanded by Sir Thomas Aston and the Parliamentarians commanded by Sir William Brereton.
On one occasion the Royalists crowded into the church leaving a cannon in the graveyard to fight off troops coming from all directions, especially down Dog Lane, now Queen Street.
The road leading up the side of the church to the former 'Dog Lane'
Sir Thomas wrote: “I found all the Foote wedged up in the Church, like billetts in a woodpile, noe one man at his Arms, trusting there only to the cannon to scoure the two cheife streetes which lay."
The noble knight is scathing about his incompetent and mutinous troops but managed to escape himself via Kinderton!
Those in the church were shot or captured including Sir Edward Moseley and other officers together with 400 common soldiers and weapons for 500 men.
When describing the first battle, Sir William Brereton quoted ‘God hath not given many more complete victories’.
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In the 2nd Battle of Middlewich, about nine months later, Sir William suffered his only major defeat in the war when the Parliamentarians lost due to Royalist assistance from Irish troops.
Middlewich still has the odd battle but this time to re-open its railway station, something in this day and age that is long overdue, especially as the infrastructure is mainly still in place, and then, of course, is a battle to get a bypass built to get rid of the constant log jams.
The photograph was taken from the very high church tower proving to me that I am not as fit as I once was!
The view from the St Michael's Church tower
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