Acton Bridge
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Map of Cheshire
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Acton Bridge books (10 available)
Acton Bridge memories
Read and share memories of Acton Bridge and Cheshire inspired by Frith photos
Island Cottage
My nanna and grandad Noden lived at Island Cottage. Grandad was a bridgekeeper along with Jack Powell and Syd Bebbington at Acton swing bridge from 1945-1960. There was an enormous flood in 1946 when my grandparents were the first to be rescued. The water rose over 12and a half feet. A Bulldog Drummond film had its location at Acton Bridge when his car was supposed to go into the river and he had to be rescued. My grandad was standing by with his rowing boat. During the 1950s the River Weaver was a very important waterway and some very big boats went up and down to I.C.I Winnington. Once when the lock gates further downstream got stuck all the water drained ...read more here
Contributed by christine ruskin
Cheshire memories
Island Cottage
My nanna and grandad Noden lived at Island Cottage. Grandad was a bridgekeeper along with Jack Powell and Syd Bebbington at Acton swing bridge from 1945-1960. There was an enormous flood in 1946 when my grandparents were the first to be rescued. The water rose over 12and a half feet. A Bulldog Drummond film had its location at Acton Bridge when his car was supposed to go into the river and he had to be rescued. My grandad was standing by with his rowing boat. During the 1950s the River Weaver was a very important waterway and some very big boats went up and down to I.C.I Winnington. Once when the lock gates further downstream got stuck all the water drained ...read more here
A memory of Acton Bridge contributed by christine ruskin
We moved to Weaverham in 1958, at that time it was a good place to bring up children, and a good place for children to grow up in. The village was surrounded by fields and woods, where we played. There was of course the usual childish mischief, knocking on doors, and swiftly running away for one. I left Weaverham in 1968 and only ever went back there to visit my folks. I have now retired, and am enjoying it, but I don't live in Weaverham and I think most of my generation have left the place now.
A memory of Weaverham contributed by Jeff Green
The old becoming new!
I arrived in Weaverham in one of its transition periods. ICI had built many houses to house its workers in all the surrounding villages including Weaverham. So Weaverham had already transformed in a way when I got there, but of course for me coming from a city like Liverpool it was a quaint, peaceful village, there just happened to be the old Weaverham and the new!
Several farms still survived and I was fortunate to work on one at weekends for a few shillings. But the days of the big farms had long gone. The one that I worked on had one milking cow and a dozen hens and that was it!
But Weaverham despite its Liverpool influx remained ...read more here
A memory of Weaverham contributed by David yates
Extracts From Acton Bridge & 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".