A Brief Description of Alpraham Parish
The Parish of Alpraham is situated in the centre of the Cheshire Plain and bounded by the Parishes of Bunbury, Tilstone Fearnall, Eaton, Rushton, Wettenhall, Calveley and Wardle. The largest part of the boundaries being provided by the River Gowy and Wettenhall Brook. It is traversed by the Shropshire Union Canal, the Railway and the A51 Nantwich to Chester Trunk Road.
At present, most of the houses are situated in the central village area known as Highwayside sitting astride the A51. There is no large employer in the Parish. There are now only two Public Houses, these being the Tollemache Arms and the Traveller’s Rest.
Alpraham is a mainly agricultural Parish although farming is declining with some farmhouses being converted to private housing.
A Brief History of Alpraham Parish
Alpraham once comprised three hamlets, Alpraham, Alpraham Green and Highwayside. The last of these covers the area along the main road and was only so named during the stagecoach era. The straight road leading from the village towards Nantwich has always been known as the Watfield Pavement (or The Armitage) and legend has it that it was “thrown up one night by evil spirits”. The name “Alpraham” used to be “Alburgham”, meaning the “hamlet of Alhburg”, an Anglo Saxon woman’s name. About 1380 it was the manor of the Alpraham family and was part of Delamere Forest. Later, during the 15th and 16th centuries the main landowners were the Pages (hence the name of Pages Wood).
By the end of the 16th century there was much evidence of the spread of Puritanism in the Bunbury area. In particular, a man named Edward Burghall, who was born in Beeston in 1600, kept a diary entitled “Providence Improved” which recorded “how God punished both the Papists and the loose Livers”. Always a controversial character, he became the Vicar of Acton but was ejected in 1662 when he removed to Alpraham where he lived in great poverty until his death in 1665.
Like most villages, Alpraham suffered during the Civil War; probably mainly during the severe winter of 1643-4 when Parliament’s forces passed through the parish to the Battle of Nantwich.
It is well known that Methodism in Cheshire started in the Alpraham area. The first sermon was preached by John Nelson, a young disciple of John Wesley, when he visited Moat House Farm in 1742. This took place under a pear tree in the farm yard, and John Wesley himself preached under the same tree in 1749. He preached here many times until his last visit in 1781. There have been three Methodist Chapels in the village; the last of these closed fairly recently.
Until the estate was sold to Lord Leverhulme in the 1960’s, the principle landowners in the area for several centuries were the Tollemache family.
As far as the Church was concerned, the Ecclesiastical Parish of Tilstone Fearnall also included Alpraham, Wettenhall, Tilstone Fearnall and Tiverton until 1990. When Canon John Bowers became the incumbent in 1992 he was responsible for Alpraham, Bunbury, Calveley and Tilstone Fearnall; Wettenhall joined the Acton Parish.
ALPRAHAM PARISH (1900-2023)
Kelly’s Directory of 1896 reads as follows . . .
ALPRAHAM is a township in Nantwich Union, a mile and a half north-east from Bunbury, adjoining Tilstone Fearnall, one mile from Calveley Station on the Crewe and Chester section of the London and North Western Railway, which as well as the Shropshire Union canal passes through the township. There are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels. A Reading Room was erected here in 1892 from funds raised by subscription. Lord Tollemache is lord of the manor and chief landowner. Alpraham Green is a hamlet, half a mile north-east. The area is 1,165 acres of land and 9 of water. Rateable value is £4,375 and the population in 1891 was 404.
Commercial occupations in the Parish at this time included – Farmer, Builder, Wheelwright, Cowkeeper, Shopkeeper, Beer Retailler, Cattle Dealer, Pipe Maker, Auctioneer, Coal Merchant, Draper, Shoe Maker, Teacher of Music, Brewer’s Agent, Tailor and Shoeing Smith.
SHROPSHIRE UNION CANAL. Completed in 1772. Before amalgamation, the section passing through Alpraham was known as the Chester wide canal and originally terminated at Nantwich. It was built double width to accommodate the large barges operating on the River Dee, although eventually used by the narrow barges. There are three places of interest on the Alpraham Section and these are the double rise locks at Bunbury, the Brickworks and the changeover bridge at the Calveley end.
At the double rise at Bunbury Locks there is long building which was the stables for the canal boat horses on overnight stop. However, the building is unique as it was specially built to accommodate horses for the ‘fly’ or express boats which passed through and needed to have fresh horses to enable the service to maintain it’s schedule. This building is on the preserved list.
The bridge is also on the preservation list as this is a changeover bridge, so termed because it enabled the boat horses to changeover from the towing path on one side of the canal to the other, normally without supervision from the boat man or woman.
BRICKWORKS. Bricks were made from clay dug out of the land behind the works and after production of the bricks, tiles etc. they were loaded into canal boats at a specially built dock. The dock still exists as do the remains of the ovens but not the chimney which was taken down a few years ago. Also dismantled is the rail track which conveyed clay from the diggings.
RAILWAY. This section was completed in 1840 as the Crewe to Chester Railway before being connected to the Chester and Holyhead and becoming part of the London and North Western Railway, then the London Midland and Scottish Railway which eventually became part of British Railways. The nearest station was at Calveley only 50 yards outside the Parish. There was a siding which stretched into Alpraham Parish that was used as a refuge for freight trains awaiting passage to Crewe between the passenger trains. This siding has been disposed of as part of the modernisation scheme. Most of the line running through Alpraham is in a cutting and not too visible.
A51 – CHESTER TO NANTWICH. Now part of the countrywide main road system and linked to the Motorway system east of Crewe. It carries an exceptional amount of traffic including many vehicles for Ireland as the road is well connected to the much improved dual carriageway running from Chester to Holyhead.