In the Beginning

Cuddington and Sandiway's story begins from a time when the Forest of Mara and Mondrem still cast its great tree-canopied cloak across vast tracts of fertile land, sweeping southwards from Frodsham and the Mersey towards Nantwich. Deep in the forest, there was a meagre existence to be grubbed out around the isolated clearings, the occasional farmsteads and the little knots of cottages. A Bronze Age burial ground in Norley, Iron Age hill forts at Eddisbury and Oakmere, the ancient highway of Peytefinsty, linking Weaverham with Tarporley, and the long straight roads of the Roman legions were testimony to the fact that man had trodden these paths for thousands of years.

In the 7th Century, Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, introduced the parochial system and within the Parish of Weaverham, Cuddington was designated as a "Township". The name "Cuddington" is said to be Anglo Saxon and may possibly derive from "The Tun of (the people of) Cuda". What is certain is that the location of the old centre of Cuddington stood four-square on top of the high ground near to what is now Delamere Park.

For its part, Sandiway, being of lesser importance and little more than a "sandy way" on the Roman North Watling Street, was deemed a "Lordship" within the Parish of Weaverham. Between the two was "Bryn" (sometimes referred to as "Brynn" or "Brinn") from the Welsh, meaning "hill".

Archbishop Theodore's legacy was to remain intact for over 1,200 years, for it was not until 1935 that the communities of Cuddington, with parts of Bryn, and Sandiway, with parts of Gorstage, merged to become one ecclesiastical and civil parish, Cuddington and Sandiway. The early history of Cuddington and Sandiway is also closely associated with Vale Royal Abbey, at nearby Whitegate, once the largest Cistercian abbey church in Britain.

Vale Royal Abbey was founded by Edward I and endowed in 1277. Much of the surrounding land, including a good deal of what is now Cuddington and Sandiway, was held and ruled by the Abbott. The old abbey was lost during the Dissolution and a mansion was built on the site by Sir Thomas Holcroft - this later became the home of the Cholmondeleys, later 1st Baron Delamere and his successors. The mansion is now divided into apartments and serves as a club-house for Vale Royal Golf Club.

The first significant change in the village's modern history occurred in 1784 when the wealthy and powerful Wilbrahams moved the family seat from Nantwich to Cuddington and built one of the largest houses in the district, Delamere Lodge. It was said that George Wilbraham, the head of the family, favoured Cuddington because it was in the midst of excellent hunting country and close to Tarporley where he was a founder member of the Tarporley Hunt Club.

Delamere Lodge (later retitled Delamere House), with its 100-acre parkland, was built of Devon granite and became a symbol of the almost baronial power in the district of the Wilbrahams. During almost two centuries the family owned and controlled thousands of acres of land and farms around Cuddington and neighbouring villages. They also employed a veritable army of staff and built numerous workers' cottages and farmhouses, most of which survive to this day. Delamere House survived until just before the Second World War when the last George Wilbraham built Delamere Manor nearby. Delamere Manor is now currently occupied by the famous pop musician, Gary Barlow.

After its demolition, Delamere House and its parkland became an army transit camp, Delamere Park,occupied first by British troops and then by thousands of Americans prior to the D-Day invasion. After the war the former army huts were used to house local people on the Northwich Rural District Council's housing list including many people who were relatives of serving Polish soldiers. Today Delamere Park is one of Cheshire's most exclusive and sought-after housing developments.

The Blue Cap 1910

Cuddington and Sandiway has enjoyed a long association with hunting. The Cheshire Hounds' kennels were built in Sandiway in 1798, to be replaced in 1834, on the same site, by a new establishment, the Cheshire Forest Kennels. The famous Blue Cap Inn, at Sandiway, is a lasting reminder to travellers on the A556 of one of the most famous stories from Cheshire hunting history. Bluecap was a foxhound owned by Mr John Smith-Barry and in 1762 took part in a famous race, at Newmarket, for a 500-guinea wager with Hugo Meynell, the Master of the Quorn Hunt.

Bluecap prevailed and became a local hero and a monument to him stands at the Cheshire Kennels. Later the old Sandiway Head Inn was renamed the Blue Cap Inn.

Cuddington and Sandiway remained very much rural communities, dependent upon farming, water mills and self-sufficiency, i.e. until the advent of the railway. The Manchester-Helsby-Chester railway, with a branch to Winsford (now the Whitegate Way Country Park), and the building of Cuddington Station transformed the district. The new railway opened to passengers in 1870 and within a few years the face of the old village and the old ways had changed.

Shops and businesses grew up around the station and wealthy commuters, from Manchester, Chester and Northwich, soon began to see the benefit of building their fine houses in the green fields. The population began to increase as old Cuddington for centuries on the high ground near today's Delamere Park, gave way to a new village heart which was eventually to lead to the merger of Cuddington and Sandiway communities.

The Grand Houses Most of these fine houses built around the turn of the twentieth century, still survive. Cuddington Grange, Abbotsford, Merlewood, Beechfield (now Lamb's Grange) were built by the Thompson salt manufacturing family, of Northwich. Hefferson Grange, Dalefords Manor, Gorstage Hall, Sandiway Lodge, Overdale, Nunsmere Hall, Sandiway Manor, Littlefold, Pettypool House and Oakmere Hall are names to roll off the tongue, a relic of those far-off times when the gentry and the cotton and salt magnates made their homes in the district around Cuddington and Sandiway.

The Location of the Thompson Houses

Cuddington Grange

Many of the village's fine houses, including Oakmere Hall, which is said to be one of his best works, were designed by the celebrated Cheshire architect John Douglas who was born in the village, at Park Cottage. Douglas (1830-1911) is regarded as one of the outstanding architects of his generation and was an unrivalled master of church design. Amongst many he designed in Cheshire is St John's Church, Sandiway, the site of which he donated to the village. He was also responsible for much of Victorian Chester including the design of the famous Eastgate clock. For more detail on the life and work of John Douglas CLICK HERE

Modern Times

Standing at the crossroads of Cheshire, Cuddington and Sandiway is now a major residential village. A Northwich RDC housing estate, for I.C.I. workers, heralded a new era in 1950. Northwich RDC became part of Vale Royal Borough Council, and the 1950-built houses still in the Council's ownership (together with all the Council's other housing stock) are currently passing to the Weaver Vale Housing Trust. In the last 50 years there have been numerous extensive and small-scale private developments.

Just as it was the location that persuaded wealthy businessmen to build their homes a century ago, it is the same, convenient road and rail links that make Cuddington and Sandiway an increasingly popular place to live in the 21st century.