Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Wellington to Crewe railway line finally crossed at Coole Pilate. Mickley Hall had a
moat but there are slightly more conspicuous defences at Hack House, a 35m radio mast and
a radar scanner at what was one of the first radar stations in the Second World War. Mostly
below the ground is the 1950s secret nuclear bunker that was prepared for Cold War use,
3,300m
2
of rooms with blast doors, Government headquarters, a decontamination room, a
missile early warning system and a BBC studio. On show are nuclear weapons and military
vehicles and there is a NAAFI style cafeteria.
Nantwich, a salt town until 1856 because of the underlying rocks, means trading settlement
of famous buildings. In 1583 there was a 20-day blaze, following which there was a national
collection and Elizabeth I had the town rebuilt with timber from Delamere Forest. The 14th
century St Mary's church in red sandstone was greatly restored in 1885 and has an octagonal
tower, fine stone carvings and carved choirstalls, with grotesque oak misericords of knights,
monks and dragons and other beasts. Nantwich Town Museum covers the Civil War and fire
service and also has a dairy.
Telford had planned to join his line end-on to the Nantwich spur of the Chester Canal on
level ground but he reckoned without Dorfold Hall. This is one of the two best Jacobean
houses in the county, built in 1616 for Ralph Wilbraham. The driveway and lodge were added
in 1862 and there is landscaping by William Nesfield including an avenue of ancient limes
and a Spanish chestnut that is said to be a 1,000-year-old relic of Delamere Forest. During the
six-week Siege of Nantwich in 1644 it was occupied by each side. The Royalists camped in
the grounds. The siege was lifted on January 25th so in remembrance Nantwich people wear
holly on Holly Holy Day, the nearest Saturday to this date.
Nantwich Basin, with its marina and restored quality cheese warehouses, was formerly
the terminus of the branch from Hurleston. The narrow but direct Birmingham & Liverpool
Junction Canal passes through an automatic stop gate and makes an oblique junction with the
broad Chester Canal, now a vetch-edged contour canal. The Chester Canal could not afford
to pay for the land so the landowners blocked the canal twice, once for a year, until rent was
handed over.
The A51 crosses over by Henhull Wharf, used for roadstone. Conspicuous may be a giant
sculpture of straw bales, a different design each year by Snugbury's Ice Cream at Park Farm.
The demolition of Telford's Junction House here led directly to the formation of the Land-
mark Trust to restore important old buildings.
Barbridge was briefly a foundry site. It has the Old Barbridge Inn and then the Jolly Tar
beyond Barbridge Aqueduct at Barbridge Junction. There was a transhipment dock with a
roof spanning the canal where it narrows by a former stop lock. A long low building included
a boatmen's mission church with a wooden cross on the end. The blind exit from the Mid-
dlewich Branch has resulted in many accidents over the years and these continue today. Much
