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Whitegate

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"WHITEGATE, otherwise NEWCHURCH, a parish in the first division of the hundred of EDDISBURY, county palatine of CHESTER, 3¼ miles (S. W.) from Northwich, comprising the townships of Darnhall and Marton, and containing 789 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage,in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester, endowed with £400 private benefaction, £1000 royal bounty, and £200 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of Lord Delamere. The church, dedicated to St. Mary has lately received an addition of four hundred and fifty-three sittings, of which two hundred and twenty-seven are free, the Incorporated Society for the enlargement of churches and chapels having granted £300 towards defraying the expense. Whitegate, which once formed part of the parish of Over, was separated from it, and made a distinct parish, in 1541: it is bounded and partly intersected by the river Weaver. During the confinement at Hereford of Prince Edward, afterwards Edward I., while a prisoner in the hands of the barons, the monks of the neighbouring monastery of Dore visited and consoled him: he afterwards removed them, about the year 1273, to Dernhall, in this parish; a few years subsequently the king having resolved to build them a new abbey on a neighbouring spot, gave it the name of Vale-Royal, and laid the first stone of the new monastery, in August 1277, wherein the monks took up their abode in 1330, at which period £32,000 had been issued from the royal treasury, for defraying the expense: the solemnity of the removal was observed with much magnificence, being attended by a great concourse of prelates, nobility, and gentry; at the dissolution the revenue was estimated at £518. There are still some small remains of this house in the doorways of the modern mansion, that now occupies its site, which, in the great civil war, was plundered and partly destroyed." [From Samuel Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of England  (1831) ©Mel Lockie]

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  • Whitegate & Marton [Whitegate was previously an ancient parish] is a civil parish (SJ 6068), created in 1988 from parts of Cuddington (near Weaverham), Hartford, Marton (near Winsford), Oakmere, Weaverham and Winsford.
  • It includes the hamlets of Beauty Bank, Cassia Green, Chester Lane Brook, Daleford, Newchurch, Nova Scotia and Nunsmere.
  • The population was 971 in 2001.
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Civil Registration

  • Vale Royal (1988-98)
  • Cheshire Central (1998-2007)
  • Cheshire (2007-09)
  • Cheshire West & Chester (2009+)
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Court Records

  • Vale Royal (1988-2012)
  • West Cheshire (2012+)
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Description & Travel

You can see pictures of Whitegate which are provided by:

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Gazetteers

The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

"WHITEGATE, (or Newchurch), a parish in the first division of Eddisbury hundred, county Chester, 4 miles S.W. of Northwich, its post town, and 2 from the Hartford station on the Grand Junction line of the London and North-Western railway, It is situated on the western bank of the river Weaver, and contains the townships of Darnhall and Marton, and parts of Over and Weaverham. Vale Royal, the seat of Lord Delamere, stands on the site of the old abbey, occupying an elevation overlooking the valley of the Weaver. The old Hall, rebuilt by the Holcrofts in the reign of Elizabeth, suffered considerably during the Civil War, but has since been restored and considerably altered. It has some old stained glass, chiefly heraldic, brought from the Hall at Utkinton, and contains a collection of portraits and paintings, some of which are by Rubens. Merton Grange has been taken down, but the farm, with several other granges in this parish, still enjoys prescriptive privileges, having formed part of the possessions of the abbey of Vale Royal. The living is a vie,* in the diocese of Chester, value £250. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, was rebuilt in 1726. The register dates from 1565. There is a school for both sexes, supported by Lord Delamere. The manor of Darnhall formerly belonged to the Earls of Chester, but now to T. G. Corbett, Esq., who is sole landowner. The local charities produce about £24 per annum.

"DARNHALL, a township in the parish of Whitegate, or New Church, first division of the hundred of Eddisbury, in the county of Chester, 4½ miles S.W. of Middlewich. It is situated on a small stream called Ashbrook, near the Newton railway. T. G. Corbet, Esq., is lord of the manor."

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Historical Geography

Places associated with Whitegate ancient parish with separate pages

 

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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SJ620684 (Lat/Lon: 53.211243, -2.571187), Whitegate which are provided by:

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Politics & Government

  • Vale Royal (1988-2009)
  • Cheshire West & Chester (2009+)