Walk Through History with the Cheshire Image Bank

Have you ever walked down your local high street or through your local park and wondered what the scene looked like 25, 50 or even 100 years ago? Over the last year staff at Cheshire Archives and Local Studies have been doing just that in their home villages and towns, aided by the Cheshire Image Bank. Cheshire Image Bank (CIB) is an online image repository filled with over 30,000 snapshots of life in Cheshire since the 19th century, covering people, places, and events. Staff recreated images from CIB to show what has and hasn’t changed in Cheshire over the decades and centuries. We have posted these on our twitter page @CheshireRO using the hashtag #WalkThroughHistory. Some are included below, plus new views to add to our back catalogue. Take a step back in time with us, and perhaps be inspired to recreate your own Walk Through History.

Parkgate

The Square at Parkgate in the 1960s and 2020s. Parade House can be seen in the centre, with Nicholls Ice Cream Shop and Post Office next door. Parade House was built in the early 18th century as private housing but now contains shops. Nicholls was established in 1937, though our Neston Building Plans Database has a record between W. K. Nicholls (the client) and J. S. Allen (the architect) for works to a residential and retail property dated 1934. Perhaps this is when Mr Nicholls first purchased the building to turn it into the ice cream shop we see today? (Image ref: c01027).

Davenham

The Bull’s Head on London Road in the 1960s, with Church Street on the left. This pub dates to at least the 18th century when John Royle is listed as licensee. You can find previous pub landlords for an inn or pub near you using our online trade directories. Poole’s Radio and Television shop can also be seen on the left (Image ref: c00931).

Lymm

Lymm Square and Cross. The cross dates to the early to mid-17th century and was restored in 1897, as a commemoration to Queen Victoria on the occasion of her diamond jubilee. We have a blog about Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations in Cheshire, if you would like to learn more. Around the square are shops, including “Williamson’s”, “Saville Bros”, a chemist, and a sign for “Henry Milling & Co. Ltd. For quality in groceries & provisions” (Image ref: c00986).

Sandbach

In Sandbach we found ourselves outside Mary Frost’s hat shop located at 34, High Street. Miss Frost is listed as a milliner (a person who makes or sells women's hats) in the 1910 Kelly's Directory of Cheshire, and in the 1906 edition, but not in 1902, which helps us to date the image to the early 20th century (Image ref: c08060).

Sandbach Literary Institute and Parr’s Bank in the early 20th century, with the fountain visible on the left. The institute on Bradwell Road was built between 1857-8 and designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott. Parr’s Bank Limited existed between 1782 and 1919 and was founded in Warrington (Image ref: c05459).

Aldford

Aldford Parish Church, St John the Baptist, in the 1920s and 2020s. The church was built in 1866 on the site of a previous church and designed by Chester architect John Douglas (c04803). For further information on Douglas, why not check out our blog article about his life and work? We hold the baptism, marriage, and burial registers for Aldford Parish at Cheshire Record Office dating back to the 1600s, see P/91.

Middlewich

Wheelock Street shops and the White Bear Inn photographed in the 1950s. The White Bear was built around 1625 and was one of the main coaching inns for the town (Image ref: c08970). In the record office, we have archives relating to the sale of the White Bear Inn (D/8774/27), or the White Bear Hotel as it was then known, by William Roylance Court to Wilson's Brewery, at the turn of the 20th century. The White Bear was also the location for several prominent auctions of local land, of which we hold the sales catalogues for the Barony of Shipbrooke estate (135786), Croxton Bank (135804), and the Sproston Green Estate (136097).  

Lastly, to finish this Walk Through History, a 1915 postcard of Middlewich, showing the “Bull Ring” area, with the church and shops visible, including “The County Stores” and “W. Kinsey”. We can also see a sign for “The Carbinier Inn” on the left. This is quite clearly the spelling on the sign, but the 1910 Kelly’s Directory of Cheshire has it listed as the “Carabineer’s Inn”, with the licensee given as Arthur Elton. In the 1906 trade directory the licensee was John Simons, and in 1902 it was Thomas Jackson. Further back in 1878 the inn is spelled “Carbineer” and listed as an inn and posting house, under John Woodward (Image ref: c10888).

John Douglas - Chimneys and Chester

Have you ever noticed the plethora of chimney sizes and shapes in the city of Chester? You might think this is a niche subject, but once you start looking up it can be quite addictive! One of the most famous architects associated with chimneys in Chester is John Douglas, and this blog post will introduce you to him and his beautiful work. Why not make it into a tour of the city?

John Douglas was born in Sandiway in 1830 and worked prodigiously in Cheshire as an architect. He became articled (bound to a firm to undertake training in order to qualify in a profession) to the prominent Lancaster architect E.G. Paley during the 1840s. Here he gained grounding in ecclesiastical commissions which would influence some of his later work. He worked on grand houses including Eaton Hall (his principal patron being the Grosvenor family), Oakmere Hall, Shotwick Park and Broxton Hall, as well as lodges in parks, and churches, even entire rows of shops! His style was very broad, as you will see from the examples below, borrowing from European architecture with a romantic, fairy-tale flair influenced by Germanic castles. His work is characterised by half-timber, brick and terracotta, a mix of Gothic and Renaissance elements, and barley sugar twist chimneys.

From 1860 he lived and worked at No.6 Abbey Square, before moving with his family to Dee Banks and retaining No.6 as his office. Douglas went on to partner with Daniel Porter Fordham, and later Charles Howard Minshull. Douglas produced the Abbey Square Sketch Book, in three volumes dating from 1872 to 1889, consisting of sketches and architectural drawings by many contributors [ref: 220399].

Sadly Douglas’s wife and four of his five children died during his lifetime. Douglas then spent the last years of his life in Walmoor Hill, Dee Banks, a building he designed, and passed away in 1911. Douglas was a member of the Chester Archaeological Society for half a century, joining in 1861, and his obituary can be found in the 1911 edition of the society’s journal [ref: 011059];

“…his reproductions of the Cheshire style in both City and Country are a pleasing monument to this memory.”

So in memory of Douglas, here is a whistle-stop tour of several buildings associated with him which you can still see today in Chester:

• 1-11 and 13 Bath Street – built on land owned by Douglas in 1903. Incorporating sandstone, the houses are detailed, with conical-roofed turrets. No.13 was to have formed part of a projected street which would have linked up with Grosvenor Park Road, though this did not come to fruition. 
• Grosvenor Park Lodge – a Grade II Listed building, originally the park-keeper’s lodge, built 1865-7 for the second Marquess of Westminster. The external walls bear ornamental carvings representing William the Conqueror and the seven Norman Earls of Chester. The lodge is a picturesque little building, with a stone ground storey and half-timbered above, evoking older Tudor buildings. 

• Grosvenor Club and North & South Wales Bank, Eastgate Street – Douglas made additions to this building in 1908. This is now the HSBC, next to the Eastgate Clock. 

• East Side of St Werburgh Street, St Oswald’s Chambers - again built on land owned by Douglas, for S.J.R. Dickson in 1898. The buildings feature ornamental carved woodwork and are gable-fronted. Douglas purchased the street to maintain a uniformity of architecture, rather than a mix of styles being produced from different owners. 
• 29-31 Northgate Street – Douglas worked on part of the rebuilding of Shoemakers’ Row in 1902. 

• Diamond Jubilee Memorial Clock – towering above the crowds on the streets below, you can get a fantastic view from the Eastgate Clock of the chimneys and rooftops associated with Douglas. Possibly his most famous work, the clock commemorates Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee, although it was actually completed two years later in 1899. 
• 6-11 Grosvenor Park Road – high steep roofs and several gables, slender octagonal turrets, moulded red bricks and tiles, all characteristic Douglas touches. Built in 1879-80, the buildings lead to the main entrance of Grosvenor Park and its lodge also by Douglas. Built at the same time, today we can still see the Grosvenor Park Baptist Church, again featuring octagonal turrets and dramatic skylines. 
• Parker’s Buildings, Foregate Street – plus the two buildings flanking it, were designed by Douglas in 1888 and built by George Parker as model tenement buildings. The buildings were later modernised and re-opened in 1982 by the Northern Counties Housing Association Limited. 

Although many designs by Douglas are still visible today, others have been demolished, such as his work on the Little Nag’s Head Cocoa House in Foregate Street, a half-timbered, ornately carved building. Many of his other designs and schemes remain unexecuted. 

We have books, pamphlets, visual materials, correspondence, sketches, and plans at Cheshire Archives and Local Studies, so if this has inspired you to research an old Cheshire building near you, or you are interested to see which other works Douglas contributed to in the county and beyond, why not get in touch? You can also visit www.cheshireimagebank.org.uk to explore our visual collection online.