Stockton Heath
| Stockton Heath | |
| Cheshire | |
|---|---|
 Victoria Square in Stockton Heath | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SJ614864 |
| Location: | 53°22’24"N, 2°34’46"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 6,396 (2001) |
| Post town: | Warrington |
| Postcode: | WA4 |
| Dialling code: | 01925 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Warrington |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Warrington South |
Stockton Heath is a village in Cheshire which has become a southern suburb of Warrington, a town whose heart is across the Mersey in Lancashire. Stockton Heath sits to the north of the Bridgewater Canal and to the south of the Manchester Ship Canal, which divides Stockton Heath from Latchford. It had a total resident population of 6,396 at the 2001 Census.
Victoria Square is at the centre of Stockton Heath and is on the crossroads of the A49 and A56. Until the 1970s, the Victoria Hotel stood on this square but its location has been redeveloped. North of the square is the main shopping area which includes the Forge Shopping Centre, developed on the site of the old forge (Caldwell's). Stockton Heath is home to a number of modern bars and restaurants, as well as traditional public houses. The Red Lion Inn dates back to the early 19th century and the Mulberry Tree on Victoria Square, opened in its present building (replacing earlier premises dating from 1725) in March 1907 [1].
Since 1988, much of the centre of Stockton Heath has been designated a conservation area to preserve its character but, at the same time, there has been redevelopment work with several new bars and restaurants moving into the centre of Stockton Heath.
History
A Roman road ran through Stockton Heath, along the route now known (appropriately) as Roman Road. There have been some excavations; more information is available at Warrington Museum.
Excavations of the large Roman industrial settlement in the suburbs of modern-day Wilderspool and Stockton Heath have unearthed a Roman mask,[1] one of only a handful found in Europe, and the first evidence of this settlement was unearthed during the early excavation of the Bridgewater Canal in Stockton Heath in 1770.[2] Primary evidence points to a probable temple to Minerva[3] on the site, a strong focus on pottery and glass bead paste making industries, and a trapezoidal building of unidentified purpose.[4] that one author suggests may have been an auxiliary fort.
Although the name Stockton Heath appears to have been conferred on the village at a later date (indeed the area itself has been described rather as "a hamlet of little consequence and no development until the 19th century"[5]), many secondary references state that a family bearing the name Stockton lived in the area from the end of the 13th century until at least the end of the 15th.[6]
In 1643, Parliamentarian forces under the command of Sir William Brereton advanced from Northwich to launch an attack on Warrington, the Lancashire headquarters of the Royalist leader James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby. Sir William's troops were routed at the "Battle of Stockton Heath".[7] Unverified local legend has it that many of the parliamentarian soldiers were buried at Hill Cliffe and Budworth. The battle is referred to in the 1859 novel Hollywood Hall by James Grant:
"A priory, situated in a wooded hollow, ruined and battered as the Royalists had left it in 1643, next caught my eye, when, riding rapidly on, I approached a wide waste common called Stockton Heath, past which the Mersey rolled amid swamps and morasses filled with rushes and willows.[8]"
The same novel frequently refers to Stockton Heath as a "waste" and makes numerous references to swamps nearby. This description contrasts sharply with the variants of "fashionable shopping village" frequently encountered in the literature of estate agents today.
Early maps refer to a hamlet by the name of Stoken[9] (or Stocken[10]) where the present village of Stockton Heath now stands. However, more detailed old maps of the area of Acton Grange show a sparsely populated hamlet and refers only to the old buildings and bridges recognisable today in street names in the area, such as Whitefield Cottage.
The Bridgewater Canal, one of two canals that pass through the village, reached Stockton Heath in 1772, the year of the death of its designer, James Brindley[11]
In the 1900s, George Formby Senior moved his young family to Stockton Heath and it was from here that his son, the more famous George Formby, began his entertainment career. Their house, Hillcrest, is a listed building.[12] George Formby Senior died in Stockton Heath in 1921.
Big Society
In 2008 the Stockton Heath Festival was founded. It is held on Mill Lane Field in Stockton Heath, although it takes place over many venues throughout Grappenhall, Appleton and Stockton Heath.
The village has a King George V Playing Field
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Stockton Heath) |
References
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/ei9beezjR9qeyQaQ6igjQQ
- ↑ Thompson, F H, 1965 Roman Cheshire
- ↑ May, T, 1904 Warrington's Roman Remains
- ↑ http://www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/visiting/heritage/archaeology/archaeology_planning_advisory/historic_towns_survey/historic_towns_survey_reports/idoc.ashx?docid=cf62df66-19e3-48c7-a7ee-3bfd953b36e9&version=-1
- ↑ http://cheshire.ivisitorguide.com/market-towns/stockton-heath
- ↑ http://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/archive/2006/06/12/History+%28History%29/791605.What_s_in_a_name_/
- ↑ An account of the Warrington Siege, by James Kendrick M.D., A new edition by H. Wells, published 1996 with an appendix containing Beamont's account of the Battle of Stockton Heath, updating James Kendrick's original paper (first published 1852) ISBN 1-901208-25-7
- ↑ from: Hollywood Hall by James Grant, Published 1859, Routledge, Warnes & Routledge, Farringdon Street, London
- ↑ H. Moll map: The County Palatine Of Chester (1724)
- ↑ A Map of Cheshire, Thomas Badeslade & W.H. Toms, 1742
- ↑ Page 12, "Walks in West Cheshire and the Wirral" by Jen Darling, Updated Edition 2007, Northern Eye Books, Tattenhall, Cheshire. First Published 1988 by Sigma Leisure, Wilmslow, Cheshire. ISBN 0-9553557-2-9
- ↑ http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1033395_fight_to_save_stars_home_
