Nantwich Bridge

Nantwich Bridge (also known as the Welsh Row Bridge and formerly the Welsh Bridge) is a stone bridge carrying Welsh Row over the River Weaver in the town of Nantwich, Cheshire, England. The existing bridge replaces a 17th-century stone bridge; it dates from 1803 and is listed at grade II. An earlier timber bridge known as the Wich Bridge is first mentioned at the end of the 14th century; it is described as having a chapel and shops on it.

Nantwich lay on the main London–Chester road, an important transport route, and the bridge was heavily used for trade and military purposes from the medieval era until the 19th century.

Background

The earliest crossing of the River Weaver was via a ford to the south of the existing bridge, near the probable site of the Norman castle. A Roman trackway running at an angle to the course of Welsh Row was found during excavations by the existing bridge in 2007. A medieval wooden causeway running beneath the modern street was also uncovered. The town's location on the main London to Chester road meant that the crossing would have seen heavy use from the medieval era, including by soldiers en route to Wales and later Ireland. The opening of Telford's road from London to Holyhead resulted in a decline in travel via this route from the 1830s.

Nantwich

Coordinates: 53°04′01″N 2°31′19″W / 53.067°N 2.522°W / 53.067; -2.522

Nantwich is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Cheshire East and the county of Cheshire, England. In 2011 Nantwich had a population of 17,424.

History

The origins of the settlement date to Roman times, when salt from Nantwich was used by the Roman garrisons at Chester (Deva Victrix) and Stoke-on-Trent as both a preservative and a condiment. Salt has been used in the production of Cheshire cheese and in the tanning industry, both products of the dairy industry based in the Cheshire Plain around the town. "Nant" comes from the Welsh for brook or stream. Wich and wych are names used to denote brine springs or wells. In 1194 there is a reference to the town as being called Nametwihc, which would indicate it was once the site of a pre-Roman Celtic nemeton or sacred grove.

In the Domesday Book, Nantwich is recorded as having eight salt houses. It had a castle and was the capital of a barony of the earls of Chester, and of one of the seven hundreds of medieval Cheshire. Nantwich is one of the few places in Cheshire to be marked on the Gough Map, which dates from 1355–66. It was first recorded as an urban area at the time of the Norman conquest, when the Normans burned the town to the ground leaving only one building standing.

Nantwich (UK Parliament constituency)

Nantwich was a parliamentary constituency in Cheshire which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected using the first-past-the-post voting system.

History

It was created for the 1955 general election, and abolished for the 1983 general election. It was then largely replaced by the revived Eddisbury constituency, while the eponymous town became part of the new Crewe and Nantwich constituency.

Boundaries

The Urban Districts of Middlewich, Nantwich, and Winsford, and parts of the Rural Districts of Nantwich, Northwich, and Tarvin.

When created in 1955, the seat was a county constituency formed as the southernmost division of Cheshire in North East England. Nantwich itself had previously been part of the Crewe constituency. The rest of the new seat had been split off from the Northwich constituency.

The redistribution for the 1983 general election was based upon a new pattern of local authorities. The Nantwich constituency was abolished in 1983.

Hundreds of Cheshire

The Hundreds of Cheshire, as with other Hundreds in England were the geographic divisions of Cheshire for administrative, military and judicial purposes. They were introduced in Cheshire some time before the Norman conquest. Later on, both the number and names of the hundreds changed by processes of land being lost from Cheshire, and merging or amalgamation of remaining hundreds. The Ancient parishes of Cheshire were usually wholly within a specific hundred, although a few were divided between two hundreds.

The hundreds at the time of the Domesday Survey

Cheshire, in the Domesday Book was recorded as a larger county than it is today. There is a small disagreement in published sources about where the northern boundary of Cheshire lay, and some parts of the border areas with Wales were disputed with the predecessors of Wales. One source states that the northern border was the River Ribble, resulting in large parts of what was to become Lancashire being at that time part of Cheshire. This area is included as "Inter Ripam et Mersam" in the Domesday Book. However, more recent sources confirm that the actual boundary at that time was the River Mersey.