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Middlewich

The Romans called their settlement here Salinae, meaning saltworks. Excavations have revealed outlines of their long, narrow, timber workshops, brine pits and even a jar with the word AMYRCA scratched on it - Amurca was the Latin name for brine waste which was used throughout the Empire as a cleansing agent. Middlewich Town Council publishes an informative leaflet detailing the Roman Middlewich Trail, a one mile circular walk that reveals the history and layout of the Roman town and shows how Middlewich would have looked in those days.

In modern times, it was the need for Cheshire’s salt manufacturers to get their cumbersome product to markets in the Midlands and the south which gave a great impetus to the building of canals in the county. Middlewich was particularly well-provided for with its own Middlewich Branch Canal linking the town to both the Shropshire Union and the Trent & Mersey canals. Today, most of the canal traffic comprises traditional narrow boats which can also be hired for holiday trips.

During the Civil War, Middlewich witnessed two of the bloodiest battles fought in the county. In March 1644, Royalists trapped Cromwell’s men in the narrow lanes and alleys of the town and slaughtered 200 of them. A few managed to find refuge in St Michael’s Church. The church has changed greatly since those days but still has some notable old carvings and a curiosity in the form of a carved coat of arms of the Kinderton family of nearby Kinderton Hall. Their crest shows a dragon eating a child, a reference to the occasion on which Baron Kinderton killed a local dragon as it was devouring a child. The incident apparently took place at Moston, near Sandbach, and a lane there is still called Dragon Lane.