|
|
THE MANOR HOUSE |
 |
| The Manor House, originally a farm, is one of the oldest surviving houses in the village, and is said to date from around 1560. It is probably situated at the place where the first villagers set up their cross to worship. A possible derivation for the name Christleton is in fact ‘a farmstead with a cross’, but the most likely explanation is that it was simply ‘The place of the Christians’. The house is constructed of local brick, made by hand from clay, dug out and fired at ‘The Pit’ at Little Heath. (The lane to the north of the Pit is called Bricky Lane, a probable corruption of Brick Kiln Lane.) The building would originally have been thatched and has many fine oak beams and a large cellar, which is said to have been connected to the Old Hall and the Church by a tunnel through the red sandstone during the Civil War in 1645, when the village was garrisoned by soldiers of the Parliamentarian forces, led by Sir William Brereton. The garden has always been an attractive feature of the house, with its fine cobblestone path leading to the house. A coin from the time of Queen Elizabeth I dated 1580, was found in the garden giving credence to the date for the original building.
David Cummings |
| First appeared in St. James' Parish Magazine, April 2002 |