Middlewich is a town in the unitary authority of

Cheshire East Cheshire East is a unitary authority area with borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The local authority is Cheshire East Council. Towns within the area include Crewe, Macclesfield, Congleton, Sandbach, Wilmslow, H ...

and the ceremonial county of

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county tow ...

, England, east of

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

, east of

Winsford Winsford is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the River Weaver south of Northwich and west of Middlewich. It grew around the salt mining indust ...

, southeast of

Northwich {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

and northwest of Sandbach. The population at the 2011 Census was 13,595. Middlewich lies at the confluence of three rivers, the Dane, Croco and Wheelock. Three canals also pass through the town, the Shropshire Union, Trent and Mersey, and the

Wardle Canal The Wardle Canal is the shortest canal in the UK, at . The canal, in Middlewich, Cheshire, connects the Trent and Mersey Canal to the Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal, terminating with a single lock known as Wardle Lock. It was ...

, as well as three major roads, the A533, A54 and A530; Middlewich also has good motorway links to the nearby cities of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

. The town's population has doubled since 1970 despite a reduction in the number of manufacturing jobs in salt and textile manufacturing, suggesting that many of the new residents live in Middlewich for reasons other than local employment. Since 1990 there have been initiatives to increase the volume of tourism into the town, through events such as the annual folk and boat festival, the Roman and Norman festivals, and regular farmers' markets. In 2014, it was rated one of the most attractive

postcode A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or numerical digit, digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, includ ...

areas to live in England.

History

In the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

Middlewich is spelt "Mildestvich"; the termination ''wic'' or ''wyc'' in

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

refers to a settlement, village or dwelling. It is also supposed that "wich" or "wych" refers to a salt town, with Middlewich being the middle town between

and Nantwich. Middlewich was founded by the Romans, who gave it the name ''Salinae'' because of its surrounding salt deposits. It became one of the major Roman sites for salt production, an activity that was centred on the township of

Kinderton Kinderton is an electoral ward in Middlewich, Cheshire, England. Kinderton was also historically the name of a township in Middlewich on the opposite side of the River Croco from the current ward. In the Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales ...

, about a quarter of a mile north of the present-day parish church of St. Michael and All Angels. It has been suggested that pre-Roman salt production also occurred in the same area, but there is no supporting archaeological evidence. Whittaker's ''History of Manchester'' claims that the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

Cornovii The Cornovii is the name by which two, or three, tribes were known in Roman Britain. One tribe was in the area centred on present-day Shropshire, one was in Caithness in northernmost Scotland, and there was probably one in Cornwall. The name h ...

made Kinderton their capital, but it is more likely that the Cornovii inhabited Kinderton for its salt-making potential. There was once thought to have been a medieval castle at Kinderton, but that is now thought to have been unlikely. Middlewich lies across the King Street fault, which roughly follows the

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

, King Street, from

to Middlewich. During their occupation the Romans built a fort at Harbutts Field (), and excavations to the south of the fort have found further evidence of Roman activity including a well and part of a preserved

. An excavation in 2004, in Buckley's Field, also uncovered signs of Roman occupation. Salt manufacture has remained the principal industry for the past 2,000 years, and it has shaped the town's history and geography. Before the Norman invasion of England in 1066, there is thought to have been one

brine Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for ...

pit in Middlewich, between the River Croco and the current Lewin Street.Earl, ''Middlewich 900–1900''. In the

the area is described as being "wasted", having been cleared by King William around 1070 as an "act of rage against his rebellious barons". Gilbert de Venables became the first Baron of Kinderton shortly after the Norman Conquest, the title being conferred by

Hugh Lupus Hugh d'Avranches ( 1047 – 27 July 1101), nicknamed ''le Gros'' (the Large) or ''Lupus'' (the Wolf), was from 1071 the second Norman Earl of Chester and one of the great magnates of early Norman England. Early life and career Hugh d'Avra ...

. A

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals ...

was built to the east of the town and became the baronial seat of the Venables family. A Jacobean screen in the church of St Michael and All Angels has the carved Venables coat of arms. The title "Baron of Kinderton" is now vested in the Lord Vernon. On 13 March 1643 the town was the scene of the first Battle of Middlewich, between the Parliamentarians, under Sir William Brereton, and the Royalist supporters of King Charles I of England, under Sir Thomas Aston. The second Battle of Middlewich took place on 26 December 1643, and claimed the lives of about 200 Parliamentarians, along with a number of

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gov ...

s under the command of

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...

. The population of Middlewich rose during the 19th and 20th centuries. Some of this rise is attributable to a number of parishes being combined, for example parts of Newton were added to Middlewich in 1894, with Sutton having previously been added to Newton in 1892. Some will also be due to a general increase in population of the United Kingdom, and some of the increase would have been required to provide a labour force for the increased number, and scale, of salt and chemical works in the town. In the middle of the 19th century Middlewich was described as a town with principal works being the surrounding farming district, a silk factory, and the salt works in Kinderton and Newton. In 1887 the town was described as having an antique appearance, with its principal trade being salt, along with fruit and vegetables, and small silk and heavy cotton works. The town had one bank and one newspaper. By 1911 the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition mentions the existence of chemical works and the manufacture of

condensed milk Condensed milk is cow's milk from which water has been removed (roughly 60% of it). It is most often found with sugar added, in the form of ''sweetened condensed milk'' (SCM), to the extent that the terms "condensed milk" and "sweetened condense ...

. In common with the rest of the United Kingdom, Middlewich's young male population was decimated during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. The

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...

, near to the parish church, lists the names of the 136 men who died in that conflict, representing around 10% of the male population of the town aged between 15 and 45. Forty-two of Middlewich's inhabitants lost their lives in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, with a further fatality in the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

. The Brunner Mond salt works in Brooks Lane also erected a cenotaph in memory of the 16 men from the works killed in the First World War, and the two who died during the Second World War. In the period between the end of the First World War until shortly after the Second World War, there was extensive housebuilding in the town; a significant number of houses were built in the King Street area to the north, the area bounded between Nantwich Road and St. Anne's Road to the west, and especially in Cledford to the south. The 1970s commenced with the building of a new road, St. Michael's Way, which allowed traffic moving from east to west through the town to bypass the main shopping street, Wheelock Street. Along with the bypass there was significant remodelling of the town centre, with the old town hall and library being demolished. This bypass successfully eased the flow of traffic away from the main shopping street, but the joining of three major roads remains a bottleneck, which will be eased by a proposed eastern bypass. Since the early 1980s Middlewich has seen a significant quantity of new housing development, initially in the Sutton Lane and Hayhurst Avenue areas. New developments have recently been built on the sites of old salt workings to the south of the Roman Fort at Harbutt's Field, near the Norman

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or kn ...

's moated

at Kinderton Manor, and on the site of the old railway station. One of the latest developments is on the old silk works next to the Big Lock public house. In common with other local towns such as Holmes Chapel,

and

, people are attracted to Middlewich because of its good road links via the M6 motorway and the relatively low price and availability of suitable building land.

Governance

Middlewich has lain within the county boundaries of

since a very early time. At the time of the Domesday survey (1086) Middlewich was in the hundred of Middlewich, but by the 14th century it had become part of the Northwich hundred, although a small part of the then large parish of Middlewich extended into the hundred of Eddisbury. Following the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level un ...

, Middlewich became an

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (his ...

. In 1974, as part of the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, Middlewich Urban District was abolished and its territory passed into the borough of

Congleton Congleton is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The town is by the River Dane, south of Manchester and north of Stoke on Trent. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 26,482. Topon ...

. Since 1 April 2009 the town has been served by Cheshire East Council. The town also has a

town council A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities. Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions. Republic of Ireland Town Councils in the Republic of Ireland were the second ti ...

, which is responsible for presiding over local issues in Middlewich and is based at Middlewich Town Hall. Middlewich is in the parliamentary constituency of

. The current MP is

Fiona Bruce Fiona Elizabeth Bruce (born 25 April 1964) is a British journalist, newsreader, and television presenter. She joined the BBC as a researcher for '' Panorama'' in 1989, and has since become the first female newsreader on the ''BBC News at Ten' ...

for the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, elected in the 2010 General Election. Previously,

Ann Winterton Jane Ann, Lady Winterton (''née'' Hodgson; born 6 March 1941 in Sutton Coldfield) is a retired British Conservative Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Congleton from 1983 to 2010. She is married to Sir Nicholas Winter ...

, also a member of the Conservative Party, had been the MP since the constituency's creation in 1983.

Geography

Middlewich is located at (53.192, −2.443), on the confluence of three rivers, the Dane, the Croco and the Wheelock. The town is approximately from junction 18 of the M6 motorway. The main westward traffic route between the motorway and

, and also southbound traffic to

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...

, go through the town. There are three canals in Middlewich, the Middlewich Branch of the

Shropshire Union Canal The Shropshire Union Canal, nicknamed the "Shroppie", is a navigable canal in England. The Llangollen and Montgomery canals are the modern names of branches of the Shropshire Union (SU) system and lie partially in Wales. The canal lies in ...

, the

Trent and Mersey Canal The Trent and Mersey Canal is a canal in Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire in north-central England. It is a "narrow canal" for the vast majority of its length, but at the extremities to the east of Burton upon Trent and north of M ...

, and the

, the United Kingdom's shortest canal at long. The town sits less than above sea level, on Upper Triassic Mercia

mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from '' shale'' by its lack of fissility (parallel layering).Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.' ...

laid down with large salt deposits as part of the Cheshire plain, a

boulder clay Boulder clay is an unsorted agglomeration of clastic sediment that is unstratified and structureless and contains gravel of various sizes, shapes, and compositions distributed at random in a fine-grained matrix. The fine-grained matrix consists o ...

plain separating the hills of

North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, ...

and the

Peak District The Peak District is an Highland, upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It includes the Dark Peak, whe ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, formed following the retreat of

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...

s. The climate is generally

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout ...

with few extremes of temperature or weather. The mean average temperature is slightly above average for the United Kingdom as is the average amount of sunshine. The average annual rainfall is slightly below the average for the UK. There are few days when snow is lying on the ground, although there are some days of air frost.

Demography

At the 2001 UK census, the Middlewich wards of Cledford and Kinderton had a total population of 13,101. Middlewich's population is relatively young; the proportion of children (aged 0–15) is 3% higher than the national average. Households are larger than average, consistent with a younger population, with an average of 2.51 people per household, compared to the national average of 2.36. Approximately 25% are single person households, compared to 30% nationally; the majority (almost 85%) of Middlewich's housing stock is owner-occupied. Three-quarters of the 9,500 people between the ages of 16 and 74 are classed as "economically active", that is, either in full or part-time employment, or full-time students. Unemployment runs at around 2.2%, compared to 3.4% nationally. Eighty-seven percent of households own at least one car, primarily used for travel to and from work; nearly 77% of residents travel to work by car, 10% work from home, and the remainder use public transport, walk, or cycle. At the 2001 census, 16.3% of the population of Middlewich either did not answer the question about religion, or stated that they had no religion. The breakdown for Congleton showed that 99.3% of those that replied, and did not state that they had no religion, were Christian; the figures for Middlewich will be broadly similar.

Economy

Middlewich has a traditional high street, with small shops on Wheelock Street and Lewin Street. There are also five supermarkets,

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues an ...

, Lidl, Tesco Express and

Morrisons Wm Morrison Supermarkets, trading as Morrisons, is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland, as well as one in Gibraltar. The company is headq ...

. Historically the major employers have been the salt industry and agriculture. Salt is still manufactured at British Salt, which employs around 125 people. The close proximity to the M6 motorway has led to the creation of a large distribution and business park, with companies such as

and ERF locating to the site. Approximately 300 people are employed at the Ideal Standard factory, which since 1937 has been making vitreous china sanitaryware. Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in Cheshire, and Congleton East Council has recognised the importance of Middlewich's canals in its attempts to promote tourism in the borough. Visitors to the 2003 Middlewich Folk and Boat Festival were estimated to have spent £2.3 million in the town over the two days of the festival. Power for the town is provided from the National Grid for electricity, and National Grid Gas plc for natural gas. Fresh water supply and foul water collection is by

United Utilities United Utilities Group plc (UU), the United Kingdom's largest listed water company, was founded in 1995 as a result of the merger of North West Water and NORWEB. The group manages the regulated water and waste water network in North West Engla ...

Culture and community

A highly regarded folk and boat festival has been run in the town every year since 1990, except for 2001 when it was cancelled because of a

foot and mouth Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) or hoof-and-mouth disease (HMD) is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, including domestic and wild bovids. The virus causes a high fever lasting two to six days, follow ...

epidemic. It was also cancelled in 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic. During the three-day festival (which takes place over a long weekend) folk artists play at a number of locations in the town, and it is estimated to bring in an extra 30,000 visitors to the town during the festival period, along with 400 narrowboats. In addition to this annual event there have been a number of ad-hoc events, including the Middlewich Roman Festival in 2001. This Roman Festival led to a Heritage lottery fund grant which allowed the construction of a

Roman theatre Roman theatres derive from and are part of the overall evolution of earlier Greek theatres. Indeed, much of the architectural influence the Romans came from the Greeks, and theatre structural design was no different from other buildings. However ...

at the Bull Ring near to St Michaels and All Angels church. Since its construction this has regularly been used for other purposes, such as an open-air music stage and an ice-rink. Following the Roman festival in 2001, further Roman festivals were held in 2003 and 2007. Tim Strickland, a consultant archaeologist, was awarded a MBE for services to archaeology for his work in organising the Roman Middlewich Project. In 2005 a Norman Festival was put on in the town, and there are plans for an Industrial Festival. A series of arts and music events "@ the Bull Ring" was started in 2006. The local newspapers are the ''Middlewich Guardian'' and ''Middlewich Chronicle''. A radio station, Cheshire FM, was launched in 2007, covering the mid-Cheshire area including Middlewich – this closed in 2012. In 2013 a new local radio station was launched, Mid-Cheshire Radio covering Middlewich and the nearby towns of Northwich and Winsford. The library, in Lewin Street, was built in the 1970s to replace the old library which was demolished to build St Michael's Way. It has examples of finds from Middlewich's Roman past on display. Fountain Fields on Queen Street is a traditional town park, with a number of facilities including a bowling green. It has been owned by the council since 1926. Middlewich has had a football club since at least 1902. The current club, Middlewich Town, was formed in 1998, and plays in the

Mid-Cheshire League The Cheshire Association Football League is a football competition based in Cheshire, England, which until 2007 was known as the Mid-Cheshire Association Football League. From season 2017–18, the league operates four divisions: the Premier D ...

. Middlewich also has a cricket club on Croxton Lane. There is a leisure centre which shares facilities with the high school. Middlewich is one of two large towns in the former borough of Congleton without a public swimming pool, in spite of the various initiatives that have been started to provide one. Middlewich's hospital is

Leighton Hospital Leighton Hospital is a hospital located to the northwest of the town of Crewe in the county of Cheshire, England. It is managed by the Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. History Built at a cost of £6 million, Leighton Hospital was off ...

near

, part of the Mid Cheshire Hospitals

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

Trust.

Primary care Primary care is the day-to-day healthcare given by a health care provider. Typically this provider acts as the first contact and principal point of continuing care for patients within a healthcare system, and coordinates other specialist care ...

services are provided by the Central and Eastern Cheshire

Primary Care Trust Primary care trusts (PCTs) were part of the National Health Service in England from 2001 to 2013. PCTs were largely administrative bodies, responsible for commissioning primary, community and secondary health services from providers. Until 31 May ...

. GP services are provided by two medical practices. There are two dental practices.

Landmarks and religious sites

The principal landmark in Middlewich is the

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

parish church of St Michael and All Angels, parts of which date back to the 12th century, although the majority was built during the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. There was a general remodelling of the church during the 19th century, which included removing the whitewash from its interior to reveal the sandstone appearance seen today. The church was the site of fierce fighting in the first and

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ea ...

Battles of Middlewich during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I (" Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of r ...

. Other landmarks include: the Roman Theatre built on the Bull Ring on the site of the old town hall and library; and the town bridge, opened in 1931 as a replacement for an earlier bridge. Middlewich has a town cemetery with a twin chapel dating from 1859 by Bellamy & Hardy; it contains the

Commonwealth war graves The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations ...

of 21 British service personnel, 17 from World War I and 4 from World War II. The Victoria technical school and library, which was opened in 1897, is a red brick and red terracotta building, "with a cupola but otherwise vaguely in the Loire style". Since 1900, the building on Lewin Street has been used as offices by the

Town Council A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities. Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions. Republic of Ireland Town Councils in the Republic of Ireland were the second ti ...

. One mile north of the town centre along King Street lies Ravenscroft Hall, which dates from 1837. There are places of worship for five Christian denominations within the town:

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

United Reformed Church The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2022 it has approximately 40,000 members in 1,284 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers. Origins and history The United Reformed Church resulte ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestantism, Protestant Charismatic Christianity, Charismatic Christian movement Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

Church was built in 2000 in Booth Lane, replacing the earlier chapel in Lewin Street. Middlewich

( /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Middlewich_-_URC.jpg Image was founded in 1797, with the current church (the second on this site) in Queen Street being built in 1870, and completed in 1871. The church celebrated its bicentenary in 1997 with the publication of a history of the church, ''Two Hundred Years (not out)''.

masses were held in a cottage near the cemetery from 1848 until the building of the first Catholic church in the town in Wych House Lane in 1864. This church was enlarged to include the first Catholic school in the town in 1869. The church was later replaced by the modern St Mary's Catholic Church on New King Street ( /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Middlewich_-_St_Marys.jpg Image in 1890, with the stone cross from the church on Wych House Lane being kept within the porch of the new church. Middlewich Community Church ( /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Middlewich_-_Middlewich_Community_Church.jpg Image is a relatively new

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestantism, Protestant Charismatic Christianity, Charismatic Christian movement works in Brooks Lane.

Transport

Middlewich lies on the A533 road linking it to

and

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool to the northwest across the River Mersey. ...

in the north, and Sandbach to the south, the A54 linking it to

and

to the west and Holmes Chapel and Buxton to the east, and A530 linking it to

and Nantwich to the south. Middlewich lies on a railway branch line between Sandbach and

, but Middlewich railway station—opened in 1868 and closed to passenger traffic in 1959—has been demolished. The branch line is still used by freight trains. The closest railway station is at

, away. Efforts to get the line reopened to passenger traffic and have a new station built have been on going for nearly 30 years. In 2018, a request from the government to create an outline business case was announced. The request is being handled by Cheshire East Council in conjunction with Cheshire West and Chester Council and the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership and will consider the cost and benefits of reopening the line and building new stations at Middlewich and Gadbrook Park. Following a petition in 1766, the

was diverted from its original course to provide transport to the town, and now links with a branch of the

. The link between the two canals, which was opened in 1833, is actually a third canal known as the

; at about in length, it is the shortest canal in the United Kingdom. Middlewich is from

Manchester Airport Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2019, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger numbers and the busiest of those ...

, the busiest airport in the UK outside London, and from

Liverpool John Lennon Airport Liverpool John Lennon Airport is an international airport in Liverpool, England, on the estuary of the River Mersey south-east of Liverpool city centre. Scheduled domestic, European, North African and Middle Eastern services are operat ...

Education

There were three schools in Middlewich in the mid-19th century: the British School in Newton Bank; the National School in Cow Lane (Brooks Lane); and the Grammar School, close to the site of the largest Tesco store. A Church of England school was erected in Lewin Street in 1854 and extended in 1871. It soon became known as the National School, with the result that the earlier school was demolished. The later National School was itself demolished in the 1980s and is the site of the ''Salinae Day Care Centre'', opened in 1995. At the turn of the 20th century two new schools were built: St Mary's Catholic school, whose keystone was laid in 1899 by Col. France-Hayhurst, and the secondary school, opened by France-Hayhurst in 1906. At the start of the 21st century there were seven schools in Middlewich: one infant, one junior, four primary schools and one secondary school. Cledford Primary School tends to accept students from the South of the town. It has now amalgamated with Cledford Infant And Nursery School. It is also in federation with Gainsborugh Primary School. Middlewich Primary School caters for children from the older, northern, part of the town, whilst St Mary's Catholic Primary School receives Catholic children from the town. Work began on the original buildings for the secondary school, Middlewich High School, in 1906, with later additions improving the teaching areas and providing a sports hall which could also be used by the wider community. The school opened on 1 November 1906. In 2007 it was ranked 34 out of 50 by GCSE results for schools in Cheshire in the 2007 league tables. Byley Primary School and Wimboldsley Community Primary School serve children from outside the immediate bounds of the town.

Notable residents

Notable residents include the theologians

John Hulse John Hulse (15 March 1708 – 14 December 1790) was an English clergyman. He is now known mainly as the founder of the series of Hulsean Lectures at the University of Cambridge. Early life John Hulse was born at Middlewich, in Cheshire, the eld ...

(1708–1790) who founded the Hulsean lectures at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, and Theophilus Lindsey (1723 OS1808) who inspired the Feathers Tavern Petition against clerical subscription to the

Thirty-Nine Articles The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion (commonly abbreviated as the Thirty-nine Articles or the XXXIX Articles) are the historically defining statements of doctrines and practices of the Church of England with respect to the controversies of the ...

, and so helped start one of the most profound debates within the

in the 18th century. Elizabeth Ashbridge (1713–55), an 18th-century

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

minister, was born in the town, as was William Benbow (1787–1864), a nonconformist preacher, pamphleteer and publisher. He was a prominent figure of the

Reform Movement A reform movement or reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary m ...

for widening the franchise. The France-Hayhurst family were local landowners responsible for the development of the

model village A model village is a type of mostly self-contained community, built from the late 18th century onwards by landowners and business magnates to house their workers. Although the villages are located close to the workplace, they are generally phys ...

at Bostock, and Charles Frederick Lawrence (1873–1940) was a local

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

who documented much of the early history of Middlewich, and also discovered a

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

stone celt whilst digging in the town.Barry, ''Memories of Middlewich'' John Wright Oakes (1820–1887) born at Sproston House, was a

landscape painter Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent composi ...

who exhibited regularly at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

Craig McDean Craig McDean (born 1964 in England) is a British fashion photographer, originally from Middlewich, now based in New York City. Life McDean originally trained and worked as a car mechanic before studying photography at Mid Cheshire College (OND ...

(born 1964) is a British fashion photographer who was born in the town and is now based in New York City. James Hargreaves (1834–1915) was a chemist and inventor, who, along with Thomas Bird, developed a process for the

electrolysis In chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis is a technique that uses direct electric current (DC) to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction. Electrolysis is commercially important as a stage in the separation of elements from n ...

using

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

diaphragms. In 1899, he became director of the newly opened General Electrolytic Alkali Company at Middlewich.Hardie, ''A history of the chemical industry in Widnes'', pp. 193–194, 197. Jack Wilkinson (1931–1996), also born in the town, was an English footballer for eight years who scored 81 goals in 158 league games.

References

Bibliography

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External links

;Historical links
Middlewich town council site on Roman Middlewich
;Other links
Congleton Borough Council's Middlewich pageMiddlewich cemetery death recordsCheshire Market Towns
{{authority control Towns in Cheshire Civil parishes in Cheshire