It is fortunate that during the present century various researchers have had the foresight to interview senior members of the community about their childhood in Christleton at the end of Queen Victoria’s reign. From these emerges a picture of Village life which is reminiscent of the scene portrayed by artists a hundred years ago. It is perhaps natural that they should be largely concerned about the area surrounding the Church and the Pit which in those times, rather more so than today, were the centre of life in the village.

The earliest memories of several were about the weather when winters were much harder than they are today. Probably the year they had in mind was that of 1895, when even Windermere was frozen over. The Pit, they say, was then much bigger and of this there can be no doubt; there is photographic proof. When this was frozen people came from miles around to skate and sometimes so many were on the ice that “it came away from the banks around the edge”. It is surprising that there were not many more accidents.

In the Pit were many tench, and on it were ducks, geese and a few swans. The ducks and geese would keep in their several flocks and would walk there from the Square. At night the women would call them home by banging food buckets. Although kept in during severe weather, various herds of cattle were taken to the Pit in turns to be watered after the ice had been broken. Frequently these herds were mixed up and the sorting out took a long time. An occasional excitement was the sight of the horse drawn Fire Engine being driven to the Pit at full gallop for a fire drill. (The fire engine would refill its tanks from the Pit after putting out a fire.)

Of course the sole source of drinking water was the Village Pump. When this was enclosed in a pump house, it failed to operate properly. So many complaints were received that eventually a “wheel” pump was reinstated in its original position. Otherwise the water was very good and even during a drought, the supply never failed. Reports say that it was sunk into the rock to a depth of 25ft. As the population of the village grew it became insufficient for the village needs and people had to queue for its use. Sometimes in winter it became frozen and had to be thawed out by setting fire to bales of straw around it.

Rain water was collected for washing purposes and, when the summer droughts affected the gardens, folk would take water from the canal with the aid of “water carts”. There were many working boats on the canal in those days. These were all drawn by horses or (as it is said) by mules, which sometimes needed the encouragement of the whip to keep them moving. These barges frequently collected in the canal basin particularly on a Sunday as they were not allowed to pass through Chester before six o clock in the evening.

In those days Christleton was a farming community and most of the cottages were thatched. Mr James Poston recalls that his grandfather was a thatcher who developed rheumatism through constantly kneeling on damp straw. Most of those living in the village were either directly or indirectly connected with farming. Wages were low and many cottages took in washing to supplement the family income. Mr Postons remembers starting work at 13 years of age for a wage of £5. per annum plus food. One day he had to drive a cow to a destination three miles beyond Mold.

Although he knew the route as far as Saltney he found that from their onwards most people could only speak Welsh which made his journey doubly difficult. He succeeded in reaching his destination, however, although he decided to stay the night in Mold rather than obeying instructions and returning by train. The road he remembers “was a dirt track” but he was not so tired by his journey as to forget to add that “the fields were covered in primroses”.

The roads in Christleton were then paved and cobbled, the chief mode of transport was the horse, and there were many horse drawn carts and ponies and traps in the village. There were no cars of course or even bicycles; only “tricycles or penny farthings”. Even the doctor rode on horseback or, if the case was urgent, in a” hansom cab”. In the mornings the cattle were driven through the village to graze on the outer fields, and back through the village in the evenings at Milking time. On wet days corn was flailed by hand with two ash sticks tied together with leather. Hand –winnowing machines removed the chaff, and later there were steam threshing machines. Before the coming of binders years later, three or four men were employed to make straw whisps.

Reference:
Christleton. The History of a Cheshire Village
First published. Christleton Local History Group in 1979