Heritage and Art

The heritage posts on the blog cover topics from early prehistory to the present day.  Most of these posts will be straightforward attempts to accurately represent different aspects of the area’s prehistory and history.   There is a hyperlinked list of the blog’s heritage posts at the end of this page, as well as links to the Cheshire Proverbs series.

The Cuppin Street rescue excavation in Chester one lunchtime, 1986 or 87. My photo.

Sites, monuments and buildings of all types and ages will eventually find their way onto the blog.  A steady obsession with 19th Century long distance shipping will doubtless find an outlet here as well, via the former port of Chester and (yes, I know it’s a stretch) Birkenhead and Liverpool.

I would very much like to incorporate local research into homes, buildings and families.  If you have anything you would like to talk about contributing, it would be super to hear from you.

To make the site more navigable I have add links below in roughly chronological order, from prehistory to the present, to act as a table of contents for the heritage posts on the blog, so that those interested in particular time periods will be able to follow the story in a logical  sequence.  Below that is a list of the ongoing Cheshire Proverb series.

Heritage posts in roughly chronological order (by historical date)

Beeston Crag Prehistory #1 – The Earlier Prehistory at Beeston Castle

Who was Brymbo Man, what is the Mold Cape, and why do they matter?
Early Bronze Age of northeast Wales series:

#1 – Introduction to the region, its sites, and the excavations of Bryn y Ffynnon and Bryn yr Ellyllon
#2 – What do we know about Bryn y Ffynnon and Brymbo Man?
#3 – What do we know about Bryn yr Ellyllon and the Mold Cape?
#4 – Pulling together some of the threads 

The prehistoric copper mines at the Great Orme’s Head

Archaeology and heritage at Caer Drewyn Iron Age hillfort at Corwen

An impressive permanent exhibit of decorated Roman tombstones in Chester’s Grosvenor Museum

A Touch of Rome #1:  Background to Roman Chester and the Roman road network
A Touch of Rome #2:  A walk along Watling Street West, the Roman road from Chester passing through Aldford and just east of Churton en route to Whitchurch

The Rossett Roman Villa #1:  What is a Roman villa and who lived in them? 
The Rossett Roman Villa #2:  Background to the Rossett Roman villa excavation
The Rossett Roman Villa #3:   The 2021 excavation’s excellent  Open Day

Exhibition overview: Hidden Holt – The Story of a Roman Site.  An exhibition at Wrexham Museum about the Roman tile and pottery works at Holt by the river Dee

The 1991 discovery of an important Roman inscription at the Holt tileworks

The Roman bath-house at Prestatyn

A 6th-7th century Egyptian pilgrim vase found at Meols on the Wirral.

The Cheshire log boats in context, from prehistory through the early  medieval period

The Shocklach motte-and-bailey castles at Castleton, southeast of Farndon dating to c.1100.

Chester St Werburgh’s Abbey and Cathedral.  A first visit and a short(ish) outline history
Heritage Festival Tour by Nick Fry: Chester Cathedral’s Medieval Architecture
St Werburgh, Queen Æthelflæd, pilgrim badges and the shrine in St Werburgh’s Abbey, now Chester Cathedral
A roof boss in St Werburgh’s Abbey / Chester Cathedral: the murder of Thomas Becket

Miracles, myths, demons and the occasional grin: Medieval Misericords in the Chester-Wrexham area #1 (Chester Cathedral, All Saints’s Gresford, St Oswald’s Malpas and St Andrew’s Bebington)
Medieval Misericords in the Chester-Wrexham Area #2
Medieval Misericords in the Chester-Wrexham Area #3

Valle Crucis Abbey #1 – An introduction to Valle Crucis Abbey 1201-1535 near Llangollen 
Valle Crucis Abbey #2 – How the Valle Crucis abbey buildings were used
Valle Crucis Abbey #3 – The architectural history of Valle Crucis
Valle Crucis Abbey #4 – Patrons, abbots and priors
Valle Crucis Abbey #5 – The Monastic Community

Beeston Castle #1 – Ranulf III’s 1220 castle: Who was Ranulf?
Beeston Castle #2  – The walk, the castle, the visit

Event by Chester University:  Telling Stories from Handling Medieval and Early Modern Historic Objects

The historical background to Edward 1’s castles in northeast Wales

Flint Castle founded in 1277: Edward I’s first permanent foothold in northeast Wales

A visit to Dafydd ap Gruffydd’s 1278 castle at Caergwrle in northeast Wales

Edward I’s 1282 Denbigh Castle and Town Walls

The Talbot hound in Churton-by-Aldford, first appearing on the  Grosvenor family coat of arms in 1597

The splendid Grade-1 listed Llangar Church near Corwen, founded in the 13th century and abandoned in 1856 with painted walls, box pews and a lovely churchyard

Uplifting colours and designs at the 17th century Rhug Chapel, Corwen

The Bishop Bennet Way: Who was Bishop Bennet and why do we travel his Way? (18th Century)

A visit to the lovely Georgian St Deiniol’s Parish Church, Worthenbury, built 1735-39

A visit to the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct near Llangollen – Thomas Telford’s 1805 iron trough 126ft over the Dee

Thomas Telford and William Hazledine’s Eaton Hall Estate “Iron Bridge” at Aldford, 1824

The 1854 turnpike from Chester to Worthenbury via Churton, with a branch to Farndon – Part 1, Background
The 1854 turnpike from Chester to Worthenbury via Churton, with a branch to Farndon – Part 2, The Turnpike

Exhibition: Tales from Terracottapolis at Ty Pawb, Wrexham (exhibition about the terracotta manufacturing heritage of Wrexham).

A late 19th Century bottle found in my garden:  The Chester Lion Brewery Co., 1846-1902

Another late 19th Century bottle from my garden:  J.F. Edisbury and Co,, Pharmacy.

Fragment of a late 19th Century Codd-neck bottle found in my garden

The 1858 Barnston Memorial to Roger Barnston, who died in the Indian Mutiny of 1857

S.S. Great Eastern,16th February 1867 – The world’s biggest ship under refit on the Mersey. An introduction to the great ship and her relationship with the river Mersey

The 1898 mileposts between Farndon, Churton, Aldford and Huntington
Two more of the 1898 mileposts located

Churton commercial residents listed in the late 19th and early 20th Century Postal Directories, with relevant gravestones in Farndon and Aldford churchyard cemeteries

Comparing an early 1900s Churton postcard with a 1911 map and a modern photograph.  Spot the difference 🙂

Willow pattern china from my garden, date uncertain, with a history of the design

A Chester Local List Workshop – what is local listing all about?

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Art exhibitions and events

Exhibition: Tales from Terracottapolis at Ty Pawb, Wrexham (rich exhibition about the terracotta manufacturing heritage of Wrexham, including Antony Gormley’s Brick Man)

Exhibition: The luxuriant Blanket Coverage at Ty Pawb, Wrexham (exhibition about modern woven blankets, both hand-woven and produced on jacquard looms – sensational!) July 2nd – September 24th

Exhibition: The Tailor’s Tale at Tŷ Pawb gallery, Wrexham (super exhibition about the 1852 magnificent Tailor’s Quilt on loan from St Fagan’s Museum, and the influences it has had on modern design and textile art) July 2nd – September 24th


Object Histories from the Garden series

(in order of discovery, not in chronological order)

#1 – A late 19th Century bottle found in my garden:  The Chester Lion Brewery Co., 1846-1902

#2 – Another late 19th Century bottle from my garden:  J.F. Edisbury and Co,, Pharmacy.

#3 – The head of a small curly-headed top-hatted figurine

#4 – A Dinky Toy Sepcat Jaguar in my garden, late 1970s

#5 – Fragment of a late 19th Century Codd-neck bottle found in my garden

#6 – A piece of a 19th century / early 20th century  Hamilton / Torpedo bottle in my garden

#7 – Willow pattern china from my garden, probably early-mid 20th Century, with a history of the design

#8 – Pieces of 19th century clay tobacco pipe

#9 – A Golliwog on a child’s cup

#10 – 19th century mocha and annular ware sherds


Cheshire Proverbs Series

Link to the entire series, as it develops.  Alternatively, here is a complete list of the proverbs one by one (ongoing):

 

 

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