Little Budworth
Encyclopedia
Winsford
Winsford is a town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It lies on the River Weaver south of Northwich and west of Middlewich, and grew around the salt mining industry after the river was canalised in the...
and Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester
Cheshire West and Chester
Cheshire West and Chester is a unitary authority area with borough status, in the ceremonial county of Cheshire. It was established in April 2009 as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England, by virtue of an order under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health...
and the ceremonial county of Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is primarily known as the location of the Oulton Park
Oulton Park
Oulton Park Circuit is a motor racing track in the small village of Little Budworth, Cheshire, England. It is about from Winsford, from Chester city centre, from Northwich and from Warrington with a nearby rail connection along the Mid-Cheshire Line. It occupies much of the area which was...
motor racing circuit.
The village is about 3 miles from Winsford
Winsford
Winsford is a town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It lies on the River Weaver south of Northwich and west of Middlewich, and grew around the salt mining industry after the river was canalised in the...
and Tarporley
Tarporley
Tarporley is a large village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England....
, 14 miles to Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
City Center, 8 miles to Northwich
Northwich
Northwich is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It lies in the heart of the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers Weaver and Dane...
and 17 miles to Warrington
Warrington
Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...
with nearby rail connection along the Mid-Cheshire Line
Mid-Cheshire Line
The Mid-Cheshire Line is a railway line in the north-west of England, between Chester and Manchester.- History :The Mid Cheshire line has its origins in railways promoted by three separate railway companies in the 19th century. The Cheshire Midland Railway was opened to passengers between...
set in rolling English countryside and forest.
History
As the Romans settled in mid-Cheshire they explored Delamere ForestDelamere Forest
Delamere Forest or Delamere Forest Park is a wood in the Cheshire West and Chester area of Cheshire, England, near the town of Frodsham. It includes of mixed deciduous and evergreen woodland, centred at around , making it the largest area of woodland in Cheshire...
for food and discovered underground salt in the area. The transport of salt led to roads being created in an otherwise wild area. A settlement was founded in this open space by a Viking, Bodeur. The open space was called a 'wirth'. In the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
the village appeared as 'Bodeaurde' and is described as a 'waste' with woodland 'one league long and half a league wide' and land enough for two ploughs.
Between 1153 and 1160 the manor was granted by the Third Earl of Chester to Robert le Grosvenor whose descendant held the village for Edward the First. Certain lands remained in the ownership of the Grosvenors. In the reign of Henry VIII it passed to the ancestors of the Earl of Shrewsbury.
In 1860 the village was known as Budworth-in-the-Frith. There was a school known as Lady Egerton's School.
St.Peter's Church
The first record of a ChurchSt Peter's Church, Little Budworth
St Peter's Church, Little Budworth, is located in the village of Little Budworth, Cheshire, England. The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the...
in Little Budworth dates from 1190 when is was mentioned in conjunction with the Parish of Over, Winsford. In 1526 Hugh Starky of Oulton directed that he should be buried in Little Budworth and left money to the Church.
The 'free chapel of Budworth le Frith, within the Parish of Over', is mentioned in a charter of 1547 endowing the Bishopric of Chester, when is belonged to the nunnery of St Mary, Chester.
In 1798 the Church was rebuilt (except for the tower and north wall) by a bequest from Ralph Kirkham (a rich merchant of Chester and the son of a farmer in Little Budworth, educated at Lady Egerton's School). The church was restored by the Colonel of Egerton in 1919 and the window commemorating the Egerton twins killed in the war was placed in the south aisle. Two chests ordered by Queen Elizabeth - the outer for vestments and registers, the inner for the plate, were still there in 1935 but now the smaller has disappeared. There remains one of the two short-handled copper collecting boxes dated 1801, the silver-gilt Egerton chalice and the large painting thought to be of the school of Caravaggio. The smaller painting of 'The Good Shepherd' by William Dyce (given by the Stocks family) is on permanent loan to the Walker Art Gallery.