Over, Cheshire

Historical Description

Over, a small town, a township, and a parish in Cheshire. The town stands near the river Weaver, 2½ miles W of Winsford station on the L. & N.W.R., and 4½ W of Middlewich. It has a station, called Winsford-and-Over, at the terminus of a branch of the Cheshire Lines system, and another, called Over-and-Wharton, at the terminus of a short branch of the L. & N.W.R., and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Winsford (R.S.O.) It belonged till 1269 to the Earls of Chester; was given by Prince Edward to Darnhall Abbey; passed to Vale Royal Abbey; was given at the dissolution in exchange for Cartmel Manor to Sir Thomas Holcroft; went by sale to Edmund Pershall, and afterwards, about the middle of the 17th century, to the Cholmondeley family, whose representative, Lord Delamere, is the present owner. It acquired the rights of a market and a fair by charter of Edward I.; is nominally a borough, but the functions of the mayor have been abolished, and none has been elected since 1883. It is under the jurisdiction of The Winsford urban district council. The town consists chiefly of one long irregularly-built street, with High Street going thence at right angles down to Winsford Bridge. The market-hall was erected in 1840, is a large brick building, and has been converted into a national school. The parish church, or St Chad's, stands about a mile S of the town; was rebuilt in 1543 by Hugh Starkey, usher to Henry VIII.; consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with a tower; and contains an altar-tomb and brass effigies of its founder. The Church of St John the Evangelist was built in 1864 at a cost of about £5000 as a memorial to Lady Delamere; is in the Decorated style, of Runcorn stone; and consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with tower and spire 140 feet high. Christ Church stands in High Street, and was built in 184A by the trustees of the Weaver Navigation Company. The original church was taken down in 1880 on account of a subsidence in the land, and a new church was erected in 1882 on the same site. There are Congregational, Wesleyan, Free and Primitive Methodist chapels. There is a police station in High Street. An endowed school stands near the parish church, and was founded in 1689. The weekly market was discontinued about 1745, was re-established in 1840, but has been superseded by a Saturday evening market at Winsford. Fairs, chiefly for horses, cattle, slieep, and pigs, are held on the first Wednesday after 12 May and 20 Sept., and are well attended. An extensive salt trade is carried on, and some boatbuilding is done.

The township contains also Swanlow hamlet, includes part of Winsford, and is partly in Whitegate parish. Acreage, 4527; population, 6835. Vale Royal is the seat of Lord Delamere. The parish contains also the townships of Low Oulton, Damhall, and Wettenhall. The living of Over (St Chad) is a vicarage in the diocese of Chester; net value, £158 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Chester. Population of the ecclesiastical parish, 2401. The ecclesiastical parish of Over (St John the Evangelist) was constituted in 1863. Population, 3943. The living is a vicarage; gross value, £150. Patron, Lord Delamere. Wettenhall is a separate ecclesiastical parish.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Over from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Over (St. Chad))

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Cheshire is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Over are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Cheshire papers online:

• Chester Chronicle
• Cheshire Observer
• Chester Courant

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Cheshire, 1580 is available on the Heraldry page.