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[[Category:SiteIndex]]
[[Category:Place]]
[[Category:Development]]
[[Image:wander.gif|50px|left|link=https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=18&lat=53.19932&lon=-2.87969&layers=168&right=117746211]]
[[File:03WWB2 Bryant Map 1831.jpg|thumb|624x624px|''<small>The Bryant Map (1831) shows Flookersbrook marked as a separate hamlet from Hoole. The bounary between the City (yellow) and the County (green) runs along the actual Flookersbrook stream. </small>'']]
Flookersbrook (the area of modern Hoole) takes its name from the eponymous stream that ran nearby. A stream where fisherman or “Flukers” (fluke-catchers) as they were sometimes locally known, cast their nets. As late as 1643-5 Roger
* '''"Flookenetts, draught netts, stall netts, &c."'''
Fluke is Old English ‘flocere’, Medieval English ‘flokere’ and also, perhaps for reasons which will become clear, Old Norse ‘flokari’.
The earliest known owner of land at Flookersbrook was Arni of Neston (see: [https://opendomesday.org/name/arni-of-neston/ "Open Doomesday"]) - and his lands passed to [https://opendomesday.org/place/SJ4168/newton-by-chester/ William son of Nigel], or fitz Nigel. Arni is possibly a Viking name, and it has been suggested, in "Viking Wirral" that his burial place is at "Arnehow" at [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gjwkEfX64MQC&pg=PA63 Oxton] - now a park known as "The Arno". Thus "Flookersbrook" can claim to have a Viking connection.
William FitzNigel is probaly the same who succeeded his father Nigel as baron of Halton and Constable of Chester. His gift to St Werburgh’s of "Neutona" (Newton by Chester, a manor of 1 hide) with the service of Hugh fitz Udard, was included in the forged confirmation of Earl Richard dated 1119 (Barraclough, Charters of the Earls of Chester, 14–16, no. 8). A (possibly also) forged confirmation in the name of Earl Ranulf II adds the information that his deed was witnessed by Ralph the steward, who was in the habit of donating his master's property to the church while Ranulf was held by enemies.▼
▲William FitzNigel is probaly the same who succeeded his father Nigel as baron of Halton and Constable of Chester. His gift to St Werburgh’s of "Neutona" (Newton by Chester, a manor of 1 hide) with the service of Hugh fitz Udard, was included in the almost certainly forged confirmation of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_d%27Avranches,_2nd_Earl_of_Chester Earl Richard] dated 1119 (Barraclough, Charters of the Earls of Chester, 14–16, no. 8)<ref>[https://ia801205.us.archive.org/31/items/Chartersoftheearlsofchester/Chartersoftheearlsofchester.pdf
* '''"Willelmus constabularius dedit Neutonam simul cum servicio Hugonis filii Udardi de quatuor bovatis, et cum servicio Wiceberni de duabus bovatis."'''
"Udard" or "Odard" is often said to be the ancestor of the Duttons, but there is considerable doubt about much of the ancestry of Cheshire gentry. The arguments that this is a forgery hinge on the fact that there seems little reason for a young earl of 25, who in 1119 could not have known he was to drown the following year in the wreck of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Ship "White Ship"], to draw up such a convenient list of donations to the church made "''in meo tempore ecclesie sancte Werburge Cestrie''" ("in my time to the church of St Werburgh of Chester"). Also, Richard was in Normandy from October 1118 and for most of 1119 and into 1120. Richard did spend some time in England, but monks are sometimes notorious for faking grants of land. A (possibly also) forged confirmation in the name of Earl Ranulf II adds the information that his deed was witnessed by Ralph the steward, who was in the habit of donating his master's property to the church while Ranulf was held by enemies.
The transfer of Newton (including Flookersbrook) from someone of possible Viking ancestry to the Normans (by conquest), and then to the Church (under dubious circumstances), was the start of a recorded series of disputes over the ownership and access to the Flookersbrook corner of Hoole (or as some might see it, Newton) which continued for centuries.
===Which Stream?===
Line 25 ⟶ 34:
* '''"The township of Newton comprising the hamlet of Flookersbrook is situated about two miles north from Chester. The manor which had been given to the abbey of St Werburgh by William constable of Chester descended with Croughton till after the death of Charles Hurlestone Esq when it passed in marriage with Anne the elder co heiress of that family to Henry John Needham afterwards viscount Kilmorey and is now the property of his son the present viscount. Newton Hall the property of Lord Kilmorey is occupied by George Parker Esq. Flookersbrook was sold in the reign of Henry VI by John Massey of Kelsall to John Bruen from whom it passed successively to the Barrows and Sneyds of the latter family it was purchased by the Smiths of the Hough. Flookersbrook Hall then the seat of Sir Thomas Smith was destroyed during the siege of Chester in 1644 or 1645. This property has since passed through various hands in a divided state"'''
Other evidence also applies the name Flookers Brook to the section of brook which ran somewhere along where [[Lightfoot
===Valley of the Demons===
The two bodies of water which were connected by this brook were Bache Pool and St Annes Lakes. St Annes Lakes were located roughly where the enclosed wooded areas near the northern end of Hoole railway bridge now lie (they also give rise to the name of the proposed "St Anne's House" development, and before that to St Anne's street which runs from near Northgate towards Hoole), and was the site of a shrine errected for the convenience of superstitious travelers about to pass through what in medieval times was known as the "Valley of the Demons" (modern day Hoole) and especially [[Newton Hollows]]. The Valley of the Demons is mentioned by Lucian the Monk (writing in about 1200):
[[File:FlookersbrookLandUse.jpg|thumb|624x624px|Land use at Flookersbrook in 1875 was still largely unchanged from thirty yeras before with extensive parks and gardens shown in orange around the Brookfield and Springfield homes of the Dixons. By this stage Hoole was already becoming quite urban.]]
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The Fraternity of St Anne was so much feared as a wealthy agency supporting "superstitious uses" that in the last year of Henry VIII and the first year of Edward VI two Acts were passed which suppressed all such fraternities, and, conveniently, appropriated their property to the Crown. The Fraternity of St Anne was dissolved in 1547 and their building in Grosvenor Park was purchased by Sir Hugh Cholmondeley and converted into his town house (destroyed in the Civil War). As noted by Lysons, the land at Flookersbrook was held by the Massey family of Kelsall prior to 1450 and later passed to the Bruens of Tarvin and the Sneyds before being bought by Sir Lawrence Smith of Hough, 1516–82 (1st MP for Chester 1545). He built the first Flookersbrook Hall, slightly to the north of the present Hall, which remained in that family until just after the Civil War.
Smith was apparently a good-hearted fellow: the History of Parliament online<ref>[https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/smith-sir-lawrence-1516-82 The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981]</ref> states that he paid for:
* '''"the annual painting of the city’s four giants, one unicorn, one dromedary, one luce [pike], one camel, one ass, one dragon, six hobby-horses and six naked boys"'''
Line 67 ⟶ 76:
===Civil War===
In February 1643 work began on protecting the suburbs of Chester by banking-up an earth rampart to adsorb artillery fire. A major salient was planned to enclose Flookersbrook Hall. The extent to which these works were completed is unknown but by late 1643 the Royalists were under increasingly heavy pressure and the extensive outworks could no longer be defended. The "Great Siege of Chester" (John Barratt) states that on 16th November [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Shipman Sir Abraham Shipman] the deputy governor of Chester. Decided the present outwork could not be defended.
Shipman therefore gave orders to a tough, non-local veteran of the Irish Wars (1642-3), Colonel John Marrow, who commanded a Regiment of Horse (previously Lord Cholmondley’s Regiment of Horse, later Colonel Robert Werden’s Regiment of Horse), to burn "unknown to the Mayor", the suburb of Handbridge. The next day Bache and Flookersbrook Halls were both burnt, as part of a "scorched-earth" policy by the defenders of Chester as the Royalists retreated from Hoole to a defensive line now occuupied by the canal. However within a year Marrow's career would come to an abrupt end when he was shot retreating from Tarvin towards Chester. As for Shipman, he would serve briefly as governor of Chester and would survive until the restorarion, when he would be granted the govenorship of Bombay. A series of disagreements and misunderstandings with the viceroy on-site prevented his taking-over Bombay from the Portugeuse, and Abraham died of fever on 6 April 1664 on the island of Anjediva together with over 300 of his 500 men.
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* '''"November 30. Tuesday, I went to Chester with Mainwaring in the coach to meete the Bishop; the rest went on horseback; we met the Bishop at Flooke Brooke; brought him to the Palace; stayd ½ houer with him; went back to Flooke Brook; there was Hurleston, his sonne, Griffith, Minshall, Mainwaring, my sonne, Swetnam, Morgan &c. dined there, parted about 5; went to the Sunne; there we found G.Mainwaring, Edwards, Lloyd, Murrey, Golborne, Ravenscroft; we parted at 10; I lay at Doctor Angells."'''
===Dragoons at Flookersbrook===
1732 saw a certain amount of unrest in Chester centered around the Mayoral elections - sporadic disorders culminated in a clash in Bridge Street in early October between a Whig mob (allegedly reinforced with disguised soldiers, revenue officers, and Liverpool sailors) and Tory supporters who included Welsh miners. The latter came off worse, and the Whigs, suspecting that Tory aldermen were admitting more freemen after dark, broke into and wrecked the Pentice. The mayor called for dragoons from Warrington to help restore order and appointed c. 270 special constables. Fifty dragoons arrived on foot and according to "a letter from a freeman of the city of Chester to his friend in London" (text [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LGRpAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA27 here]) were loadged in Hoole, with 25 of them quartered at the [[Ermine]] (then in the hands of a John Artingstall) and the remainder at a neighbouring house in Flookersbrook.
[[File:DragoonsHoole.jpg|800px|thumb|center|Dragoons in Hoole.]]
In 1745, with the country much troubled by a rising of the Scots and a large number of prisoners brought from Carlisle to the Castle at Chester, Dr Cowper informs us that:
* '''"Shortly after the surrender of Carlisle a number of were brought prisoners in sixteen carts to Chester and lodged in the castle which they completely filled. In consequence of this the Spring Assize was held at Flookersbrook but no sort of business was brought before the Grand Jury."''' - as quoted in Hanshall
===The River Gowy?===
George Ormerod cites a very peculiar version of the course of the Gowy, with it actually dividing the Wirral from the rest of Cheshire by flowing into both the Dee (as Flookersbrook) and the Mersey:
* '''"That, therefore, which they call the Gowy, hath his head not far from Bunbury, and runneth north-west by Beeston Castle, to Teerton and Huxley, where it divideth itself into two parts ; one goeth west to Tattenhall, Gosburn, Lea Hall, and at Aldford falleth into the Dee. The other part goeth northwards to Stapleford, Hocknel-plat, and Barrow (where it taketh in a brook that Cometh from Tarporley and Tarvin), and so passeth to Plemstow-bridge, Trafford, Picton, and Thornton, where it divideth itself again into two parts; one of which keepeth its course north-west to Stanley, Stanney, and Poole, and afterwards falleth into the Marsey. The other part goeth south-west to Stoke, Croughton, Chorlton, the Baits, and so falleth into the Dee, hard by Chester, being there called Flooker's-brook, and divideth Wirral from the rest of Cheshire; and therefore some imagine that it is called Wirral."'''
This supposed course of the river is used to define parts of the bounary of the Broxton Hundred. However, it may well be that significant parts of the river were diverted at various times and in various places, particularly to power water-mills, or to prevent or reduce flooding. Even today, the boundaries are often the old ones and do not always follow the mid-line of the river. However diversion of the river was never on the scale that Ormerod implies. Why Ormerod should get it so wrong is a mystery, as he lived at nearby Chorlton Hall in Backford while writing his "History of Cheshire" and should have been familar with the local hydrology.
[[File:2022FlookMap.jpg|1000px|thumb|center|Flookersbrook as it once was.]]
==="The lovely hamlet"===
Hemingway, writing in 1831 describes this part of Hoole as follows:
[[File:CC1 Bonfire.jpg|left|thumb|''<sub>Painting of a bonfire lit at Flookersbrook for the [[1831 Coronation Celebrations]] of King William IV and Queen Adelaide</sub>'']]
* '''"..the lovely hamlet of Flookersbrook abounding with neatly built modern dwellings to which if the epithet of splendid be inappropriate the claim of elegance and comfort is justly due to each of which is appended richly cultivated garden ground. Here are the comfortable residences of Major Cotton the Rev John Thorpe, Mr John Williamson, Mr Cross, Mr Lightfoot, Mr T Walker, Alderman Broater, Mr Humble &c &c. It is hardly possible to pass this approach to the city without being reminded of the villas in the neighbourhood of the metropolis - the width of the road the respectable and good looking tavern called the Ermine - the pool of water in front of an excellent footpath on the north side of the road over hung with willow trees and the clean and rural appearance of the neighbouring cottages all all have ever contributed to fix an impression upon my mind such as I have just stated."''' - "History of the City of Chester from its foundation to the present time." by Joseph Hemingway, 1831 pg. 346
Even at this time the city of Chester was still keen to expand its boundary across Flookers Brook. Parliamentary papers from 1832 (Vol 38, Part 1, pg 59) contain a report which concludes that:
* '''"Flookersbrook , however , does not contain above six Houses of 10l . annual value , and as it is not so connected with the Town of Chester as actually to form a continuation of it , ( as is the case with the Houses in Great Boughton) we do not consider it desirable to alter the ancient Boundaries of the City for the purpose of including any portion of the Townships of Hoole and Newton."'''
Thomas Walker (1782-1857) was the owner of a significant part of what is now Flookersbrook, with the tithe map (above) showing his holdings in dark green. These included a tan-yard, a maltsters, a brick bank and at least 6 houses and cottages.
Line 103 ⟶ 133:
* '''"Such of the lands situate in the townships of Newton and Hoole and county of Chester, comprising in the whole two acres two roods and three perches or thereabouts, bounded as follows; ...and on the north-west in part by property belonging or reputed to belong to the said Earl of Kilmorey, on the other part by property belonging or reputed to belong to the trustees of the will of the late John Lightfoot, in other part by property belonging or reputed to belong to the trustees of the settlement made on the marriage of the late Maria Broadbent, in other part by a certain street or occupation road, ..."'''
The reason for all the "reputed" ownership was a long and complex legal dispute over the will of John Lightfoot - for more see: [[Lightfoot Street]] and [[Walker Street]]. A complex set of Bylaws accompanied the Act, and these hint that the
* '''"fish with net or rod or in any other way interfere with the fish or water fowl"'''.
With Flookers Brook culverted and now largely buried from Boughton to Bache, the original brook eventually became forgotten except as a relic existing in some place and street names. The name of the brook becomes Bache Brook as it emerges from its underground course and so many people associate the name Flookersbrook with the minor stream that flows through the hamlet of Flookersbrook then vanishes underground. This stream actually flows underground beneath Kilmorey Park and [[Newton Hollows]].
In 1867, as a part of a search for arms thought to have been secreted there by the "Fenians" (Irish Republicans), "Flookersbrook Pits" (as St Anne's Lakes had become) were dredged and 150 rounds of ammunition found. 1200 'strangers' believed to be Fenians came to Chester from Ireland and the North-west of England and were expected to attack the Castle to obtain arms (see: [http://chester.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Chester_Castle#The_Fenian_Plot_of_1867 Fenian Plots]).
[[File:ShoemakerChesterSheaf.jpg|450px|thumb|left|How the "Cheshire Sheaf"<ref>March 15 1882, pg 324 </ref> recorded the eviction of a shoemaker at Chester Station.]]
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===The Railway===
In March 1882 a certain "G.T." recalled the coming of the railway to Flookersbrook. Flookersbrook Bridge was in those days a picturesque brick structure and nearby stood a small cottage whose tennant and owner was a shoemaker. The shoemaker steadfastly removed to move out even when as act was passed for compulsory purchase. G.T. informs us that he watched what happened next with another schoolboy as recalled in the extract on the left. The "Sheaf" mentions the person in charge of the eviction was [[Robert Lewis Jones]].
==="The Talk of the County"===
Saint Annes lakes were a watering place for cattle and horses, but dissappeared rather quickly at the end of the 19th Century and were replaced by a single drinking trough. The condition of this trough was the subject of much debate. As discussed in local council meetings and reported in the Chester Courant<ref>[https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3662236/3662243/82/flookersbrook
* '''The second resolution alluded to section 28 of the Flookersbrook Improvement Act, 1876. This section said that such power (meaning the power invested in the trustees) should be exercised subject to the condition that ample provision should always be made and maintained by the Trustees for watering horses and cattle at the large pit next to the Ermine Inn by means of the streams and waters running into and supplying the said pit. In the plans deposited at the time of the Act the superficial area of the pit was 22,100 feet. This had been reduced to 3,600 feet, and now it had come down to the very modest area of 11 feet. The Act said that ample provision should be made and maintained by the Trustees, and if they considered that the reduction he had mentioned was in accordance with the Act- well he did not. He had seen forty head of cattle drinking out of the pit when it was there, but ever since the present trough had been placed in its position, he could honestly say he had never seen a cow or a horse drinking from it. He had only seen one animal touch it, and that was a dog, who had got into it bodily. (Laughter).. ..Mr. BRADLEY, in seconding, said he thought the matter deserved their serious consideration. He had seen Mr. Brown's man emptying the trough, and the man had almost seemed to collapse during the process. The offal and the refuse he had seen taken out had disgusted him. It would knock a man down at a hundred yards. (Laughter). The supply was useless, and people dare not let their horses and cattle drink at it. It was the talk of the county, and the next thing they would be having would be an epidemic of typhoid.'''
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One theory is that the [https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/1876/39/pdfs/ukla_18760039_en.pdf "Flookersbrook Improvement Act"] from 1876 was intended to correct the problems caused by years of a cattle market at the Ermine - what had been a set of elegant lakes had become a watering place for cattle and trod into a stinking morass of cow dung and mud. "Mr Brown" was a member of the Brown family of "Brown's of Chester" in Eastgate Street who had held the mayorality - he didn't want a problem on his doorstep. With Hoole being outside of the City, and the land management being entangled in the complex case of the trustees of John Lightfoot (died 1832), Brown had to find a solution. Just why the cattle market (run by the Pickerings) at the Ermine was so popular remains unclear, although it may have something to do with taxes and by-laws being avoided by holding it there - just outside the then city boundary. On the other hand it could have simply been the proximity of the railway.
As described in the article [[Hoole Local Board Petition 1894]] Charles Brown was very much involved with the discussions as to whether Flookersbrook should move from Newton to Hoole as the border between the two was shifted to the Cheshire Lines railway (now the Millennium Greenway). He was a principal opponent of the scheme, together with the Earl of Kilmorey (a significant local landowner), the Dixon's (who had major agricultural interests in the area) and William Williams the builder (who was then in the process of
===
* [[Hoole Road]];
* [[Ermine]];
* [[Hoole Bridge]];
===External Links===
* [https://actswilliam2henry1.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/h1-william-fitz-nigel-2018-1.pdf William Fitz Nigel];
* [https://chesterwalls.info/gallery/ermine.html Some more on the history of the Ermine Hotel];
* [https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3804979/3804985 The 1899 debate over Newton, Hoole and Chester];
===References===
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