This year’s Cheshire History Journal brings together fascinating tales from a thousand years of life in the county
How did the people of Woodchurch put up with the rector Joshua King? He largely ignored them for the 40 years he was in post there while he concentrated on his political ambitions – preferring to work on furthering the Tory cause instead of caring for his parishoners.
Although he was a wealthy man and helped fund restoration work, he showed no interest in church music and didn’t even write his own sermons, choosing instead to recycle a predecessor’s and hope no-one noticed.
His story is one of the gems unearthed by historians for this year’s Cheshire History Journal which comes out this month and is published by the Cheshire Local History Association.
The 53rd edition of the journal includes work by members of local history societies around Cheshire, covering a thousand years and every corner of the county.
Editor Graeme White, emeritus professor of local history at the University of Chester, said: ‘There should be something for everyone in the journal, whatever area of Cheshire history you’re interested in.
‘It covers a period from the 11th century to the present day, from Rock Ferry in the west to Congleton and Macclesfield in the east. It tries to cover different types of history too – we have a piece on the medieval courts of Chester, one on why there were two castles so close to each in Shocklach and one on how communities marked last year’s Diamond Jubilee.’
Graeme, who contributed to the journal when he worked at the university, was invited to edit it after he retired in 2010 and he added: ‘This is all new material and although it is academic research we want it to be as accessible as possible and of interest to as wide a group of people as it can be.’
The journal will go on sale this month at the Cheshire Archives and Local Studies centre on Duke Street in Chester, priced £7.
