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The Lingard Arms

Which was school with Scout troop?

PUPILS of the Market Street Church of England School in 1913-14. The headmaster on the left is Mr Henry Colin Barker.

FOLLOWING a request from Gareth Robert for a chapter about "early Scouting in Nantwich" for his forthcoming book about Nantwich people and groups (his second), I have been researching the details of the Scout troops that have existed in Nantwich over the years.

   There was a troop listed as the 13th S. W. Cheshire, 3rd Nantwich (Central School). The Headmaster was H Barker, and the Scoutmaster, Ernest Ankers.

   I  wonder if you know which school was referred to as Central School in the late 1920s - early 1930s.  Manor Road? Or maybe somewhere else.

GERALD NEWBROOK                 JULY 2012

Andrew replies
I CAN tell you that H. C. Barker was the headmaster at the Nantwich Council School in Manor Road, Nantwich, in the early 1930s. This school was then called the Nantwich Council Modern School and catered for boys and girls of 11 and over.
   Attached to it was Nantwich Council Primary School which I attended. Oh happy days!

   I'm sure that this will be your central school.

FOOTNOTES: Gerald is an expert in Scouting as he is the District Archivist of the South West Cheshire District Scouts Association. The 38th S.W. Cheshire Scouts troop (Nantwich Parish Church) marked the 75th anniversary of its founding in September 2012.

"Nantwich Life" - Gareth's first book

What did the Wall Lane cottages look like?

The cottages, 36 - 40 Wall Lane in 1907, from "Lost Houses of Nantwich" by Andrew Lamberton and Robin Gray

HI, Andrew. I grew up in Wall Lane and now live in Crewe. My mother still lives there but doesn't know much of the history of the lane.

    What I've found out myself is that Wall Lane used to have a tanner's yard and was the route to the old
Wallfields Farm (a farm maybe named because the address was Wall Lane?).

    Numbers 36-40 used to be timber-framed style dwellings before they were destroyed by fire (around 1936-37) and I believe the houses were the town's last remaining "salt houses" standing that used to house the salt workers. But I don't know how true that one is!

    I've researched old maps and noticed the lane dates back a long way, but I've never found how far. Was the lane originally the main access for the town's

salt works on Snow Hill?
    I've always been fascinated about what the missing houses of Wall Lane (2 to 26) looked like. I believe these were flattened even before the Kwik Save supermarket in Beam Street was thought of and which would have been where the houses would have stood.

    I can still remember numbers 28 to 30 because those two were knocked down in the early 1980s to make room for Sproston's Builders yard that was.

    So I was wondering if you knew of any photos of the lost houses of Wall Lane. I found old pictures of the current lane and old pictures of Snow Hill / Cart Lake area, but no pictures of numbers 2 to 26.

ANDY EDGE, Crewe                                   JUNE 2012

P.S. Great website.

Andrew replies

Andy, I assume that you have seen what I have written about Wall Lane in the "Lost Houses of Nantwich" book (by myself and Robin Gray).
   I can't really add much more to that. I have not come across any photos of the houses 2 to 26 Wall Lane. It is quite possible that some of the workers in the salt houses on this side of the river could well have lived in the earlier cottages such as the black and white cottages that were at 36 to 40 Wall Lane.

   As to Wall Lane being a thoroughfare, I think that it was a lane leading to Wallfields Farm from the town but the tannery, of course, would generate traffic (and jobs) after the decline in the salt making.

A question in a quiz has me stumped

Julia later replied:

Wasn't 'The Potting Shed' just one bar?

Andrew replies:

Hello, Isobel. I was not aware of the distinction and I would be interested to hear from other Dabbers or ex-Dabbers. Certainly I always knew the whole of the

building to be nicknamed "The  Potting Shed."

   The "alleyway" you refer to is - as you will recall - Castle Street. The cinema is now Gregory's Nightclub.

   John Brough, who runs "A Dabber's Nantwich" website, thought the whole of the pub was "The Potting Shed", but he met someone the other day who said it was just one room off Castle Street, at the rear of the pub.

 I'm seeking information about the Lingard Arms    

On a personal note, Andrew told Gilda: "WHAT a terrific picture of the Lingard Arms. I was delighted with it. It's good to compare it with my two photos of the same building.
   "It's poignant to me because from 1955 to 1959  I used to cycle into Nantwich and leave my bicycle (unlocked in those days!) in the archway, walk up Pepper Street to the Square and catch the 7.50am bus to go to school. Those were the days!"

A comment from Andrew about the date of Gilda's photograph led to a change of thought by her. She wrote back: "With you dating the photo properly, you have cleared up another mystery.  My grandmother always said the couple with the dog were my great grandfather, Walter, and great-grandmother, Ellen. With thinking it was around 1910, I took it to be my great uncle.  I know now it was my great grandfather."

Gilda added: "We are also looking for information about Heap's Clothing Factory. My great, great grandfather James Heap, who died in 1907, was the owner at one time and by the looks of the family history he employed most of the family on both sides at one time or another."

Andrew's answer to this new point can be found below

    This property, now called Taylor's View, was once Heap's clothing factory on the corner of James Hall Street (left) and Arnold Street.  Above, this short length of James Hall Street was known as Heap Street while the building was a factory - or a warehouse to the factory.