Eccleston, Cheshire

Student days.

I went to Chester College as a mature student. Did a teaching course. Lived out at Hawarden and had to catch a bus into Bridge Street. From there I had to deposit my 2/3 yr old daughter at a private nursery near a church on the riverside, to then walk a mile up to the college past the Cathedral.
Loved... [more]

Restaurant

Had a lovely meal in this place courtesy of a disabled aquaintance residing there. First time I had seen oysters ordered and eaten. Also cocktails shaken by the barman. I remember not knowing that the pot containing ginger was meant to be sprinkled on the half melon.

Swimming In The Dee

My mother Mary Burghall (married name Davies) was born in Chester as were three other generations which I have traced back to 1700s.
My mother remembers well swimming in the Dee. She and her friends would walk across the medows near Allington Place and swim right across the river. One of the friends fixed a rope swing onto a branch of... [more]

Walking to School Across The Dee

My Mother Mary Burghall (Married name Davies) used to walk to school everyday across this suspension bridge. She would would walk with her brother's and sisters and friends and she often says that this was the best time of her life.

wooden bridge

My uncle Bill Wright lived & worked in Chester from the war period to 1963. He was a widower and had a damp old ground floor of a rather grand house beside the wooden bridge across the Dee. My Aunts , his sisters would go up from London and stay with him and I would go every summer to stay a... [more]

Pub Regulars

My grandfather  Frederick Burghall and his wife used to have a drink in this pub once a week. They lived in nearby Handbridge. Their sons Frederick and Ernie used to have a pint also in the 70s and 80s.
Whilst doing my mother's family tree we visited the pub to see what it looked like. We had a good look around... [more]

Childhood memories

What a wonderful place to explore and grow up in, particularly as a history loving child. Born in Southport to await my father's return from army service in 1945, we soon moved back to the family origins in Chester.
The Taylor family had lived in Chester, within the walls since the mid 1700's. In the late 1940's the family of... [more]

Thomas Ledsham Wilkinson

My wife Joan's grandfather Thomas Ledsham Wilkinson owned various fish and poultry shops in Chester on and around Eastgate Street and Watergate Street.  We recently visited Chester to try and trace the one shop we thought he had owned to discover that he actually owned several in the area and an ice factory.  We were also able to find his grave... [more]