Nantwich Castle
Nantwich Castle was a Norman castle in Nantwich, Cheshire, England, built before 1180 to guard a ford across the River Weaver. The castle is first documented in 1288. It was last recorded in 1462, and was in ruins by 1485. No trace now remains above ground; excavations in 1978 near the Crown Inn uncovered terracing and two ditches, one or both of which possibly formed the castle's bailey.
History
The castle was in existence before 1180. There is little evidence either for who founded it or for its precise date of foundation. Some sources assume it was probably built by William Malbank, the first baron of Nantwich. However, local historian Eric Garton cites one document in which it is referred to as "the Castle of Piers Malbanke", whose existence is not otherwise recorded; he might have been one of the brothers of William Malbank, or of his heirs, Hugh and William. Archaeological evidence suggests that the castle stood on slightly elevated ground between the River Weaver and the modern High Street and Mill Street, probably near the Crown Inn. This is one of the highest points in Nantwich, and would have commanded a strong position near the ford of the Weaver, which was located to the south of the existing bridge.
Nantwich
Coordinates: 53°04′01″N 2°31′19″W / 53.067°N 2.522°W
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.
