Description
Nantwich, a market-town, a township, the head of a poor-law union, petty sessional division and county court district, and a parish in Cheshire. The town stands on the river Weaver, the Grand Junction Canal, 4 1/2 miles SW by W of Crewe, and 161 from London. Its name is derived from the nant or vale of the Weaver, and from the Saxon word wyche, signifying " a salt town;" was temporarily changed into Wich Malbank after William de Malbank, who once held the manor; and has frequently been written Namptwich. Salt works, which gave rise to the name, drew their supplies from brine pits or brine springs, and were early and long of great importance. Salt works are mentioned in Domesday book. The brine pits in the time of Henry III. were closed by the king's command in order to distress the Welsh, who carried on a great traffic hence in salt; but on the return of peace they were re-opened, and they continued for many years to be an increasing source of employment and sustenance to the inhabitants. As many as 400 salt works were here when Leiand wrote in the time of Henry VIII.; they were reduced to 216, some belonging to the Crown, some to the Earl of Derby, and some to local proprietors in the early part of the time of Elizabeth; they were further reduced to about 108 in consequence of the discovery of better brine pits in other parts of the vale of the Weaver in the year 1624, and they gradually declined thence till at last they became extinct. The salt spring which is supposed to have been the first discovered still exists, bears the name of the Old Bait spring, and though only 6 feet distant from the river, retains its original strength, and is used for brine baths. A battle ia said to have been fought in the vicinity beween the English and the Welsh in the time of William the Conqueror. Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, held the manor, and built a castle for defence against the Welsh. The Welsh, nevertheless, devastated the town in 1113, and attacked it again in 1146, but were then repulsed and beaten. Edward I. visited the town in 1282, and gave to several of the inhabitants a protection against seizure of comestible property on account of the approach of the Welsh army. Great fires laid waste the town in 1438 and 1583, and great pestilences scourged it in 1587 and 1596. James I. visited it in 1617, and was entertained by Mr Wilbraham. The Royalists seized it in 1642, the Parliamentarians speedily retook it and placed a strong garrison in it, and the Royalists under Lord Byron laid siege to it in Jan., 1644, pressed the siege with the utmost vigour, and were routed by a force under Fairfax. Harrison the Parliamentarian general, Gerarde the herbalist, and Whitney the poet were natives; the widow of Milton resided several years in the town, and died in it; and the Marquis of Cholmondeley takes from it the title of Baron.
The town consists chiefly of irregularly-built streets, and contains a considerable number of ancient houses. There is a one-arched stone bridge over the Weaver, and an aqueduct of the canal spans the public road. The town-hall stands on the bank of the Weaver near the stone bridge, is a brick and stone structure in the Gothic style, and contains in the lower part a corn exchange and in the upper part rooms for public meetings and concerts. The market-hall was built in 1866 at a cost of about £3500; measures 165 feet by 65, is in the Tudor style, and has in the chief front two gables and a central block tower. The Manchester and Liverpool District Bank stands in Churchyard Side, and is a stone building in the Pointed style. The parish church is partly Early English, partly Perpendicular, but chiefly Decorated; is cruciform, measures 156 feet from E to W and 111 from N to S, has a central octagonal pinnacled tower 110 feet high, also a groined roof and large windows, was restored in 1866, and contains good sedilia, splendid canopied stalls, a richly-carved but disused stone pulpit, an exquisitely carved font, and several monuments. There are Eonaan Catholic, Baptist, Congregational, Free and Primitive Methodist, Unitarian, and Wesleyan chapels, and a meeting-house for the Society of Friends. The Free Library in Pillory Street was erected in 1887. The Church House in Churchyard Side is used as a working men's club and reading-room. The Nantwich Brine and Medicinal Baths adjoining the town-hall were erected in 1883. A fine hotel was built in 1894, and stands in grounds of 70 acres. There are several political and social clubs. The workhouse stands on Beam Heath, about a mile from the centre of the town. There are four sets of almshouses and numerous other charities. The town has a head post office, a railway station on the Shrewsbury and Crewe section of the L. & N.W.R. and the Wellington, Market Drayton, and Nantwich branch of the G.W.B., is the seat of petty sessions, and is governed by a local board. Acreage of the town and township, 703; population, 7412. A newspaper is published twice a week. A weekly market is held on Saturday; a cattle market is held on every Saturday from March till June; fairs are held on the Saturday after 2 Feb., 26 March, the second Tuesday of June, 4 Sept., and 4 Dec. There are important monthly and quarterly cheese fairs. The manufacture of clothing, leather, shoes, and boots is carried on, and there are two tanneries, a corn mill, and an iron foundry. The cemetery is about a mile from the town, and has a mortuary chapel.
The parish contains also the townships of Alvaston, Wool-stanwood, and Leighton, and part of Willaston. Population, 7916. The chief residences in the neighbourhood are Crewe Hall, Cholmondeley Castle, Peckforton Castle, Doddington Hall, Doddington Park, Combermere Abbey, Dorfold Hall, and Dorford Park. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Chester; net value, ££210 with residence. Patron, Lord Houghton. A short distance from the church there is a Church of England burial ground, with a perfect little chapel dedicated to All Saints, used also for regular services. The parish, for parish council purposes, is divided into three wards, each returning three members to the urban district council.
