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Neston (St. Mary and St. Helen)

NESTON (St. Mary and St. Helen), a parish, in the union, and Higher division of the hundred, of Wirrall, S. division of the county of Chester; containing with the townships of Ledsham, Leighton, Ness, Little Neston, Raby, Thornton-Hough, and Willaston, 3809 inhabitants, of whom 1701 are in the town of Great Neston, 11 miles (N. W.) from Chester, and 191¼ (N. W.) from London. At the Domesday survey the manor of Great Neston was held in three parts, one by the monks of St. Werburgh, one by William Fitz-Nigel, baron of Halton, and the third by Robert the Cook. Early in the reign of Stephen, the second baron of Halton obtained that portion which belonged to the monastery, in exchange for Raby; and a subsequent arrangement put him in possession of the entire manor. It shortly afterwards passed to Robert de Montalt, and in the reign of Edward III. the last baron of that name, having no heir, presented the manor to Queen Isabella, from whom it came to William de Montacute, Earl of Salisbury. The heiress of the Salisburys was married in 1454 to Sir Thomas Stanley, afterwards Lord Stanley, whose descendants held the property for several generations. About the middle of the 16th century it was alienated by William, Earl of Derby, to the Whitmores, whose heiress conveyed it in marriage to the second son of Viscount Savage; and their grand-daughter marrying Sir Thomas Mostyn, Bart., of Mostyn, the manor became vested in that family. The manor of Little Neston is mentioned in Domesday book as held by Robert the Cook. After the various alienations, a large portion of it became the property of the Earl of Shrewsbury, as the descendant of the Troutbecks.

The town is pleasantly situated on an eminence about a mile from the Dee, and is much frequented during the summer months for the benefit of bathing at Parkgate, a hamlet partly in Great Neston township, and which is separately described. The air is very salubrious, and the views beautiful and extensive. Courts leet and baron are annually held; and petty-sessions monthly. The parish comprises upwards of 9000 acres, whereof 1303 are in Great, and 1307 in Little, Neston; the flatness of the country, and the prevalence of sea breezes, which prevent the growth of timber, have given the surface a rather naked appearance, and may in some measure account for the parish having been for centuries deserted by nearly all its principal landowners. Several coal-mines have long been in operation; and coal of most excellent quality has been very recently discovered on the lands of the Hon. E. M. Lloyd Mostyn, which, it is supposed, is a continuation of the Flint and Bagilt coal-field: if this should prove to be the case, Birkenhead may derive from this new source the supplies of coal required for its use, and for exportation, on far easier terms than from any other quarter. A colliery in Little Neston township is leased by the Earl of Shrewsbury to Thomas Cottingham, Esq.

The living is a vicarage, endowed with a portion of the rectorial tithes, and valued in the king's books at £11. 5.; net income, £535; patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Chester; impropriators of the remainder of the rectorial tithes, the Hon. Mr. Mostyn, and Sir W. Stanley, Bart. The church is a handsome and spacious edifice of considerable antiquity, having a nave, chancel, and aisles formerly terminating in small chapels, and also a tower, supposed to have been rebuilt in 1697; the edifice was restored in 1792: the font is an extremely elegant piece of workmanship, and was erected rather more than 400 years since. There are places of worship for Calvinists, Independents, Primitive Methodists, and Wesleyans. A Roman Catholic chapel, dedicated to St. Winifred, was built by Pugin in 1843, on a site leased from the Earl of Shrewsbury; the style is early English; there is a residence adjacent for the priest, who has an endowment for his support. In Great Neston is a national school supported by subscription, aided by an endowment of £10 per annum.


Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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