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[[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’. We know nothing in detail of events at Flookersbrook after the departure of the Romans, whose road passed through (see: [[Newton Hollows]] and [[Roman Hoole]]) but we do know something of Chester and possibly of Plemstall around the year 900. Werburgh's remains are traditionally said to have been translated to Chester for safety in 876 and [[Plegmund]] (later Alfred's Archbishop) is said to have been living at Plemstall at some time before he was summoned to Alfred's court around 887. Given that Flookersbrook lies on the route between them one might assume it was generally quite peaceful. Around 900 itself matters get somewhat confusing with Vikings in Chester in 894 and Alfred's daughter Æthelflæd being involved in refortification shortly thereafter. The supposed religious foundations of Æthelflæd are dotted around the Wirral and along the Mersey and clearly are at or near a boundary between an area of Mercian control and Viking settlement.
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.
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===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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===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
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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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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 developing Halkyn Road). They organised a meeting at the "Ermine": the traditional meeting place of Newton Parish Council. They were ultimately unsuccessful - the Civil Parish of Newton was finally abolished in 1936. Matters then collapsed into something of a farce as reported in ''The Courant'' <ref>[https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3662127/3662130/17/flookersbrook Courant, 6th October 1897]</ref>. By 1901 things had progressed to the point where the inhabitants of Flookersbrook were threatening to block the connection between Ermine Road and Hoole Road <ref>[https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3806103/3806108/64/flookersbrook Courant, 5th June]</ref>, the argument rattled on into 1904 <ref>[https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4248410/4248416/53/flookersbrook Cheshire Observer, 10th September]</ref> and 1905 <ref>[https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3806885/3806893/136/flookersbrook Courant, 8th March]</ref>. It appears that one reason for the
===Related Pages===
* [[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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