What is on the sites now?             Update

OVER the years, when properties in Nantwich have been lost, it was probably because the building had become no longer inhabitable or usable. Maybe it was a business that was either not viable or from which a firm had simply moved to new premises.   

   On this page are some Nantwich buildings which have vanished from the scene for one reason or another, with a further picture of what is currently on the site.

   The pictures were sent to me by Andrew Lamberton, one half of the writing team which produced the  books on lost properties in the area. (See this page.) The up-to-date pictures are mine.  

Click here for properties outside Nantwich town boundary

THESE are the Barony Road premises of Wilhall Engineering Co Ltd at the demolition stage.

   And on the right is the Fairfax Court apartments complex which stands there now.

   I doubt if the colour of the walls was picked up for the top floor of the apartments block, but the wall at the front of the site was clearly retained. You can pick out the same white marks in both pictures if you look closely.

First, an archaeological dig . . .                                            

BURGESSES agricultural business was sited in these buildings in St Anne's Lane, off Welsh Row. Now the site is to become the location for 62 sheltered housing apartments for the elderly, offices and a shop. The development was approved in February.

   The name St Anne's Court was approved earlier.

   But there was difference of opinion between the developers, MP Nantwich Ltd, and Nantwich Town Council about what should go on the site. 

   The council said there would be "traffic issues" as vehicles emerge from St Anne's Lane on to Welsh Row.

   Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council had previously turned down a plan for 55 apartments, stating the new homes would be too close to homes already in the area.

   Actually, a start might not be made for a while as Cheshire County Council's Historic Environment Planning Officer (Archaeology), Mark Leah, has called for a ban on building work until work has been carried out on the site. That is what happens these days - the archaeologists get a chance to dig on any historic sites that are opened up in a bid to find some of the town's history.

   Mark told me: "I have advised the Borough that any planning permission needs to be accompanied by a programme of archaeological work (following a programme of trial trenching which showed that there was archaeology across much of the site)." [An archaeology firm has already carried out such work on the northern part of the site and discovered "a lot of Roman archaeology". A report will be published in April.]

   Mark went on: "Elsewhere on the site, there is archaeology but this is buried by a thick deposit of black organic material and I have agreed with the developers that they will commission their archaeological consultant to liaise over the design of the foundations so that the archaeology can be preserved in situ."

   Another practice of today is to leave in place artefacts that would be tricky to get at - for future archaeologists to try to remove. With better means at their disposal, presumably. But the foundations of the new buildings are designed so that the artefacts are not damaged in the meantime.   

I REMEMBER the previous building to this one (above) on the site - the one that was demolished to make way for these flats. This is the Mill House complex on the corner of Millfields and Queen's Drive on the Millfields Estate. Mill House was an old people's home, but it was a disused barn at the back that I remember more.

   That was where Nantwich Players made and stored scenery for the productions they staged at the Civic Hall - before they obtained their own theatre in the centre of town.

   The Barn was a two-storey building. We used downstairs for scenery storage and used the first floor to construct and paint the scenery.

   Obviously the stairs were out as a means of moving the scenery from one floor to the other and so a slot was created in the floor between the two storeys through which the scenery could be passed. I remember one evening, as I was helping to move a piece of scenery while walking backwards, I stepped into a void that had once been floorboards. Luckily only one leg went through and no damage was done.

   Today, an impressive large complex - Mill House Extra Care housing scheme - for the over 55s, is being constructed for Wulvern Housing. It will have 21 one- and two-bedroom homes and will be for sale "on a shared ownership basis" (£71,250 for a 50% share plus £70 a week). There will be 24-hour care if needed, and a mix of able and disabled older people.

  The new homes were due to be available in May, but I read in the Nantwich Chronicle (March 19) that the first tenant has already moved in. And the show house is open.

Below and right are views of the completed complex (photographed in September).

The first page of Old Nantwich pictures | 100 Welsh Row | Changing scenes

Changing scenes outside Nantwich