Rowton
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Rowton memories
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You can also read memories of nearby places in Cheshire below.
Cheshire memories
Swimming In The Dee
My mother Mary Burghall (married name Davies) was born in Chester as were three other generations which I have traced back to 1700s.
My mother remembers well swimming in the Dee. She and her friends would walk across the medows near Allington Place and swim right across the river. One of the friends fixed a rope swing onto a branch of a tree, and my mother and her friends would spend hours swimming across to the other side. They had races and my mother remembers that she very often used to swim the fastest and nearly always beat all the others across, even the boys. She was a competent diver as well. She is now 82 years old. She still rides ...read more here
A memory of Chester contributed by Lynn Mace
Walking to School Across The Dee
My Mother Mary Burghall (Married name Davies) used to walk to school everyday across this suspension bridge. She would would walk with her brother's and sisters and friends and she often says that this was the best time of her life.
A memory of Chester contributed by Lynn Mace
wooden bridge
My uncle Bill Wright lived & worked in Chester from the war period to 1963. He was a widower and had a damp old ground floor of a rather grand house beside the wooden bridge across the Dee. My Aunts , his sisters would go up from London and stay with him and I would go every summer to stay a couple of weeks.He loved walking and would take me walking into Wales through lovely countryside.From my bedroom, through Bay windows ,I remember the mist and stillness in the early morning as swans glided along the Dee - it was magic and a memory I shall always treasure.While fishing for tadpoles I fell in the Dee and my uncle , in ...read more here
A memory of Chester contributed by charles wright
Pub Regulars
My grandfather Frederick Burghall and his wife used to have a drink in this pub once a week. They lived in nearby Handbridge. Their sons Frederick and Ernie used to have a pint also in the 70s and 80s.
Whilst doing my mother's family tree we visited the pub to see what it looked like. We had a good look around and surprised the chef by visiting the top floor. I loved the atmosphere. Hadn't really changed much I suppose even though it had been modernised.
Lynn Mace (Burghall)
A memory of Chester contributed by Lynn Mace
Extracts From Rowton & Cheshire books
With so many workers
arriving here in the 1800s
from Ireland there was a
strong Roman Catholic
presence and this
enormous church was
built in the 1870s to serve
that congregation. For
the first 23 years it was
also a collegiate church
for Jesuits with, at one time, 32 priests, 22 scholastics and 17 lay brothers.
An extract from from"Widnes and Runcorn Photographic Memories".
There have
been several
Ditchfield Halls
near here. In the
1500s and 1600s the
Dychfield family
that lived here
were strong Roman
Catholics and
refused to attend
the Protestant
services at their local
parish church at
Farnworth. Instead
they built their own
chapel but they were
still fined for not
attending the official
church services! The
last Ditchfield Hall
was demolished in
the 1960s.
An extract from from"Widnes and Runcorn Photographic Memories".
It would have been near here that the ferry landed. The first ferry was established in 1178 by the baron who owned Halton
Castle on the southern side of the estuary. His estates included lands on the northern side and, apparently, the ferry was set
up primarily so his tenants could cross the river more easily in order to pay him their taxes.
An extract from from"Widnes and Runcorn Photographic Memories".
St Mary’s Church
was consecrated in
1910 and has room
for a congregation of
over 750 people. The
church has a most
unusual feature - built
into the wall around
the churchyard,
overlooking the road,
there is a pulpit from
where, perhaps, the
vicar could harangue
those people taking
their ease here in the
gardens on a Sunday afternoon.
An extract from from"Widnes and Runcorn Photographic Memories".
Despite the title of the photograph there are, in fact, two bridges depicted here. The railway bridge,
in the foreground, was opened in 1868 when a train with 500 passengers on board crossed over. The
main part of the bridge consists of a lattice of iron girders. Built by William Baker, the chief engineer
for the London and North Western Railway, it used 48,115 rivets.
An extract from from"Widnes and Runcorn Photographic Memories".







