Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Confirmed users, Interface administrators, Rollbackers, Administrators
3,024
edits
HUDC Handbook: Difference between revisions
→Scottish Invaders?
(→Page 9) |
|||
| (12 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown) | |||
Line 39:
===Page 9===
The references on the history of Hoole are said to be '''"meagre and disconnected"''' wheras in fact quite a lot had been written on the place, as can be seen on the rest of this website. It is easy to forget that at the time that the "handbook" was published historical records were only of the "hard copy" variety and not all libraries would contain a full set of relevant books. One principal reference used appears to be George Ormerod. Among his writings was a major county history of Cheshire. Like other county histories of the period, the work consists mainly of family history, manorial history and antiquarian topography. He deliberately excluded reference to commerce, industry and urbanisation. Between a quarter and a third of the work was written by Ormerod himself while the rest consists of transcripts of documents and reprints of earlier works. The first edition contains many errors. Ormerod mentions Hoole several times in his work (particularly in Volume II), but the references are somewhat scattered<ref>[https://books.google.co.uk/books?redir_esc=y&id=7kEjAQAAMAAJ&q=hoole#v=snippet&q=hoole&f=false Ormerod on Hoole]</ref>. This is
There is no mention of the Walker's, Lightfoot's and Pickering's. All these three intermarried families have local streets named after them and Pickering has a particular claim to fame as the first person to send a message over the trans-atlantic cable.
===Page 11===
Hoole and Newton's role in history is said to be '''"somewhat insignificant"''', Which seems to imply that nothing important ever happened here. This is quite untrue. The "Battle of Rowton Heath" was fought in part on Hoole Heath and Lord Bernard Stewart died there. After his remaining cavalry were scattered at Rowton/Hoole Heath on 24 September 1645, Charles returned to Newark. On 13 October, news reached him of Montrose's defeat at Philiphaugh a month earlier, ending plans for taking the war into Scotland. The loss of Carmarthen and Chepstow in South Wales cut connections with Irish Royalists, forcing Charles back to Oxford, where he spent the winter besieged by the New Model Army. The last pitched battle of the war took place at Stow-on-the-Wold on 21 March 1846, when 3,000 Royalists were dispersed by Parliamentary forces. Before the battle near Chester Charles position was
===Page 13===
Line 56 ⟶ 58:
===Page 14===
Early documentation indeed states that the original Hoole Hall was first occupied by John de Hoole, the "Lord of Hoole". Further documentation suggests that Rev Sir William Bunbury purchased the hall in the 14th Century and the family owned it (and an associated windmill) for the next 400 years<ref>[http://rslc.org.uk/api/file/Vol_084.pdf Chester Inquisitions Post Mortem]</ref>. During the English Civil War (1642-1647) the hall was burnt to the ground by parliamentarian troops as they advanced upon Chester. Daniel Lysons writes, in his Magna Britannia (1810)<ref>[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_ysgAQAAMAAJ Lysons' Text]</ref>:
* '''"The township of Hoole lies two miles NE from Chester; the manor was at an early period in a family of that name afterwards in the Troutbecks from whom it descended with several other Cheshire manors to the present Earl of Shrewsbury. Hoole Lodge the manor house is occupied by Charles Hamilton Esq. Hoole old hall now a farm house is said to have been the abbot of Chester's grange: it is certain that the abbot had an estate here which he purchased of John de Hoole Lord of Hoole in the reign of Edward II but it may be observed that Hoole old hall, now the property of Dr Peploe Ward, was bought off Sir William Bunbury whose ancestor David de Bunbury purchased off the Calveleys certain lands which had been the property of John de Hoole above mentioned. Webb in his Itinerary written in the year 1662 speaks of the pleasant and sweet seat of Sir Henry Bunbury at Hoole. There are also in this township two modern mansions called Hoole Hall and Hoole House the former is the property and residence of Mr John Oliver the latter is the property of Mr Hamilton and in the occupation of Brigadier General Broughton."'''
Line 76 ⟶ 78:
* '''"Mr Lunardi presents his respectful complements to the public with thanks for the favours that he has already received and begs leave to inform them that he has resigned his place in his balloon to T.B. esq a Gentleman of Chester"'''
"T.B." was Thomas Baldwin. However his flight came about, Baldwin then wrote a highly detailed and lengthy account of the voyage, with the impressive title: Airopaidia<ref>[https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/airopaidia00bald Baldwin's Text]</ref>: ''Containing the Narrative of a Balloon Excursion from Chester, the Eighth of September, 1785, taken from Minutes made during the Voyage: Hints on the Improvement of Balloons, and Mode of Inflation by Steam: Means to Prevent their Descent over Water: Occasional Enquiries into the State of the Atmosphere, etc. The Whole Serving as an Introduction to Aerial Navigation: with a Copious Index''. Baldwin's remarkable trip led to the first true depiction of the earth seen from above, with Chester and Hoole
====Admiral Nelson?====
The document makes a rather curious reference to Nelson and his mistress.
Amy Lyon (26 April 1765 – 15 January 1815), generally known as Lady Emma Hamilton, was an English maid, model, dancer and actress. She was born in Ness (near Neston) began her career in London's demi-monde, becoming the mistress of a series of wealthy men, culminating in the naval hero Lord Nelson, and was the favourite model of the portrait artist George Romney. Eventually she ended-up as the mistress if a certain [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Francis_Greville Charles Greville], who decided he wanted a wealthy wife (which he never found) and passed her off to his uncle, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hamilton_(diplomat) Sir William Hamilton], who was conveniently abroad. Emma did not know of the agreement between Greville and Hamilton believing that she was there “on holiday” and she was devastated when the reality of the situation slowly dawned upon her. She co-habited with Sir William, the British envoy to Naples, from early 1792 and married him in Setember 1791 (he was 60, she was 26). Her affair with Nelson started in 1798 when he turned-up rather unwell in Naples having lost an eye {1794), an arm (1797), most of his teeth (probably to scurvy) and developed a bad cough. Emma nursed him back to health. Sir William Hamilton died in late 1803 and had no children. Nelson died in 1805 and among his final words (just before "Kismet, Hardy"), were "take care of poor Lady Hamilton". This was largely ignored and eventually Emma started drinking heavily and taking laudanum. She died on 15 January 1815. Nelson's Hamilton and Hoole's appear to be unrelated. Hoole's William Hamilton (1719-1811) had a son Charles and a daughter Sarah. His nephew was the Rev. Peploe William Ward (who had to change his name to Hamilton to enable him to succeed the inheritance of his Uncle).
[[File:LadyBroughton.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Lady Broughton (1770-1857) of Hoole House by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Raeburn Henry Raeburn].]]
Indeed at the relevant time Hoole House (demolished 1972) was occipied by Lady Elizabeth Broughton who was estranged from her husband. In the early 1800s, Lady Broughton transformed her new home with its extensive kitchen and formal gardens. Very late in his life, Thomas Harrison designed a large conservatory, a camellia house and a geranium house. Between 1826 and 1834, Lady Broughton designed and constructed an Alpine garden occupying over an acre of ground - based on the landscape of the Savoy Alps (where "Mont Blanc" is). John Claudius Loudon visited in 1831 and was very impressed; commenting in his "Villa Gardener"<ref>[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/70450#page/7/mode/1up "Villa Gardener"]</ref> that the garden was 'one of the most remarkable specimens of the kind in England. After Lady Broughton's death in 1857 the lease for Hoole House and its gardens and parkland was passed to Martha Panton (married to Rev. William Peplow Hamilton of Hoole, after whom Panton Street and Panton Place are named). During the 18th century the Panton family engaged in lead and silver mining in the Bagillt area of Flintshire and amassed considerable wealth and property. In 1837, Martha had been involved in a notable "forged will" case (see: [[The Trial of Thomas Williams]]). Hoole House passed back to the Hamilton family upon Martha's own death in 1883. One of the Hamiltons (Claud Hamilton Vivian) sold some of the land to local builder Henry Sumpter in 1890, after whom Sumpter's Pathway is named. The remaining land was sold to Mrs Potts of Hoole Hall. Shortly before the Second World War a large part of the parkland was purchased by Hoole UDC from the then owner, William Paul, to build what later became Maple, Pine and Cedar Groves. Vivian Terrace, Willow Crescent and Grove, Chestnut Close, Ashwood, Aspen Way, Alder Grove, Hoole Gardens and Hornbeam Close are among the many streets that derive their names from Hoole House and its gardens. After WW2 new housing estates were built on more of the land that had belonged to the house and the house itself eventually became flats in 1954. In 1972 the house was in a state of delapidation and it was demolished, being replaced with housing for the elderly also named Hoole House.
====Hoole Lodge====
The Handbook mentions Hoole Lodge as though it still exists. It had been the official residence of Cheshire's first Chief Constable (1857) and was much altered over the years, but it was demolished to make way for Park Drive shortly after WW1 and therefore had vanished by the time the booklet was published. It is referenced nowhere else in the booklet and does not appear on the map.
====Scottish Invaders?====
The handbook refers to an event where "Malcolm King of Scots attacked Chester" identifying this Malcolm is
In fact, the mistake appears to have arisen as a consequence of an error in Ormerod's history, where it is written:
* '''In 894, according to Henry Bradshaw, Harold king of the Danes, Mancolin king of the Scots, and another confederate prince, encamped on Hoole Heath, near Chester, and after a long siege reduced the city, but soon afterwards were attacked by Alfred, who pursued thither their comrades who had fled from Buttingdune. The time and the success of the siege by Alfred are variously related by the historians, but the result appears to be that the Danes left the city in consequence of famine'''
That Bradshaw (stanza 109) himself was in error should have perhaps been obvious by his statement that Malcolm was armed with cannon:
* '''"Harolde kyng of danes / the kynge of gotes & galwedy, / Maucolyn of Scotlande, and all theyr company, / With baners displayed, well armed to fyght; / Theyr tentes rially in Hoole Heth were pyght. / They set theyr ordinaunce agaynst the towne / Vpon euery side timorous for to se,"'''
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Bradshaw_(poet) Bradshaw] is known to be a not very accurate historical source (and his Latin treatise "De antiquitate et magnificentia Urbis Cestricie" is lost). In 894 the king of Scotland, or rather Picts/Alba was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_II_of_Scotland Domnall mac Causantín]. He ruled 889-900. The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba has Donald succeeded by his cousin Constantine II. Donald's son Malcolm (Máel Coluim mac Domnall) was later king as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_I_of_Scotland Malcolm I] and while he raided England, he never got as far south as Chester. The Vikings ''are'' known to have attacked Chester in 894, but other than Bradshaw no independent source mentions the Scots as being involved at all.
The Scots were back over the border in 1715. Despite its Tory inclinations and some sympathy for the Jacobites, Chester made no move in support of the rising of 1715. The defeat of the rebels at [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Preston_(1715) Preston] spared it direct involvement in military operations, although its Militia was called up and government troops marched through. Captured Jacobites numbering up to 500 at a time were brought for temporary imprisonment at Chester, crowding Chester Castle and the city gaol and overflowing into houses throughout the city. Initially many perished of cold, hunger, and fever because local sympathizers were prevented from assisting them. This was probably the only time a Scots army came anywhere near Hoole, and they were prisoners at the time.
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 fried in London" were loadged in Hoole, with 25 of them quartered at the Ermine (then in the hands of a John Artinstall) and the remainder at a neighbouring house in Flookersbrook.
The only real threat to Chester by the Scots was in 1745 when Jacobites defeated British forces in September at the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Prestonpans Battle of Prestonpans], and then moved south into England. A part of the Cheshire Militia was brought in to garrison the city and business came to a standstill. The city gates were bricked up, save for wickets at the Bridgegate and Eastgate, the walls were patrolled, cannon were mounted to command the bridge, and the Chester Castle defences were improved. The spring assizes were held at Flookersbrook in Hoole. George Cholmondeley put Chester in a state of defence, repairing the castle’s defences and adding raised batteries in the inner and outer wards and a raised platform with a parapet south-east of the Great Hall. The military architect Alexander de Lavaux was engaged to draw up a plan to strengthen the fortifications, with massive earthworks in the form of a "star fort", but the work was never carried out. Although the Jacobite army went nowhere near Chester, the city had been involved in heavy expense and had to turn to Sir Robert Grosvenor to obtain reimbursement from the government in 1746.
Line 132 ⟶ 145:
* '''"John Brereton’s legacy was a sum of £6 13s. 4d., made payable annually to charitable objects, out of a Close at Flookersbrook, wnich was devised in 1681 to the Mayor and Citizens of Chester for that purpose. The only trace of the Corporate property in this Close during living memory has been (what is here termed) a chief rent issuing out of it, of the precise amount of £ 6 13s. 4d. This was sold a few years since by the Corporation, with several other chief rents, upon the usual terms of 20 years’ purchase, in order to raise money to build the new markets (the present Shambles, about 1828). This sum of £6 13s. 4d. is distributed yearly by the person appointed for this purposeby the Corporation from their funds. £1 13s. 4d. is given to the rector of St. Peter’s, instead of what ought to have now been a much larger residue from the increased value of the lands near this city — that is to say, if the Lecturer of former times and the Hector of the present day are identical. The remaining £ o is given according to the directions contained in the Will, viz., to the several churchwardens, about St. George’s Day. This is why the money is received in some of the parishes by the name of "St. George’s Money". This "Flookersbrook Field" is now called "Bishop’s Fields" and was recently owned by the late Mr. Faulkner; and when any portion of it is sold it is described in the title deeds as "Flookersbrook Field."'''
"Bishop Peploe" as mentioned in the "Handbook" never existed. The furthest the local Peploe-Ward connected with the Hamiltons got up the church tree was to be Prebendary of Ely and Beeton Cottenham, in Cambridgeshire. There was however a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Peploe_(bishop) Samuel Peploe] (bap. 29 July 1667 – 21 February 1752) who was Bishop of Chester from 1726 to 1752, but he was not quite so closely related to the Hamiltons, although he is
===Page 20===
| |||