This month I am continuing a walk through the Village, from Rowton Bridge to the Legion Meadow. This is fully illustrated and with much more text in the Coronation Heritage Trail published in 2023. We leave the former boat building sites of the canal, and head up towards the village centre. The middle cottage just over the bridge was that of Jones the Salt Man who regularly provided salt for villagers during Victorian times. This month I’ve included an aerial picture kindly given to me by the High School. It gives a wonderful view of the village in recent times. Arriving at the Plough Lane crossroads it’s hard to image that it was once the main packhorse route to London, leaving the parish at Hockenhull Platts, over the three magnificent pack horse bridges. So important, that they were once maintained by the Black Prince in the 1350’s.

There is a lot to see at this point. Ahead of you and to the left of the High School opening is Hen Davarn, once a Village Pub called the “Bottom of the Wood” with an entrance to the Dame School, held in the little room, which can be seen at the rear of the property. (blue plaque) The former village smithy to the right was very active until the mid 1990’s, and the Clock House to the immediate right was once the home of Mr Shepherd, a retired Whale Oil merchant from Dundee. To your left, along Quarry Lane is the old Girls and Infants school, now converted into five apartments, and adjacent to that, what was Sadler’s Stores, one of two “super markets” in the village in the 1970’s.

The High School opened its doors as Christleton Secondary School in 1958, led by the wonderful Les George OBE and his staff. It had been built in the grounds of the former rectory (The Grange) and was called The Park. It is now part of The Learning Trust, a multi academy trust, with establishments in other parts of Chester.

To the left of you as you walk up Village Road, is the Woodfields Estate, once the grounds of the Old Farm, which you will come to later. The Grange, a large property to your right, now divided into two, was once the village rectory. It was originally a Jacobean style property, but was replaced by the current building in 1868, for Rector, Canon Lionel Garnett. Residents have included, the late Jas Storrar, Vetinerary Surgeon and Squadron Leader of 610 Squadron from WWII.

The Old Farm, (blue plaque) was once thatched, and dates from 1653, from the time of the rebuilding of the Village following the battle on Rowton Moor in 1645 during the English Civil War. The Institute was built in 1871, as a place to educate and occupy the young men of the village. It was rebuilt in 1923 by the Porritt Family in memory of their son Edward, Kings Liverpool Regt. killed in action on the Somme in 1917. The building at the back now the Deva Bridge Club, was once the WI Hall.

The Village Centre has a superb collection of cottages (many now listed buildings) probably dating from the early 1800’s, as the Ring O Bells itself dates from 1817. This popular pub/restaurant, was originally called “The Red Lion”. We now have a well stocked Village Store, hairdressers and Koow Coffee Shop, together with a Dental Practice at Rock House. The Village Green has several memorial trees, for Queen Victoria, for the Partington’s, mother & son Mary & Jim, a new WWI Village Memorial, and a small garden in memory of Margaret Croston who served the village for over 50years. We no longer have the “Best Kept Village Award Sign” as this competition has been discontinued, but we do have a special Christleton Village Sign, provided by the Parish Council, featuring a painting by Phil Hodges. The Cottages on the right include The Old Surgery. (Opened on Tuesday afternoons), and Corner Cottage once a Police House, one of several in the Village over the years. The old Red Telephone Box has now been repainted, and is planned to have a defibrillator.

The trail then leads down Birch Heath lane, with High Walls, an 18thC farmhouse on your right. This has many fine features, including an original dairy, a former Mountwood Preparatory School building and an air Anderson Air Raid Shelter in the garden. During WWII, children from a Catholic Primary School in Liverpool were billeted there.

Continue to walk along the pavement, then take the stile footpath across the fields to the Legion Meadow, continue through the meadow, and take the footpath to the right towards the Alms Houses and the Pit.