St. David's Wettenhall

History


crest


1276 Swein de Watenhale received the lands of Wettenhall in dowry from a de Dutton.
1347 Agnes, widow of John de Wetenhale, gave Robert de Paris, chaplain, the fees from the Manor of Wetenhale, but no mention of a chapel is made. The family lived mainly at Dorfold Hall, Acton.
1529 The chaplains Robert Donald and Richard Courden also had the fees of the mill at Wetenhale, but still no mention of a chapel.
1538 The dissolution of the monasteries - prior to this Wettenhall came under the Abbey of St Werberg (which became Chester Cathedral in 1541)
1577 The Saxton map of Cheshire shows a Chapel at Wetnal.
1620 John Colefax is listed as minister at Wettenhall Chapel, followed by 4 other non-conformist ministers. See List Of Incumbents for details. The Chapel is shown on the Hole map of 1637.

map
1630 Wettenhall Hall is built. The English line ran out in about 1782, marrying into the Mainwearings. There are still Wettenhalls in Australia.

Thank you to Doreen Small for providing us with the following information on the English Wettenhall line.
I have been doing some family research and read the history of St David’s on the church website.
The English Wettenhall line (family name rather than inheritance line) ran out much later.
The Rev Thomas Wettenhall married twice: first to Diana Blackett and it was their son who adopted the Mainwaring name; secondly to Anna Maria Lancaster. Among the children from the second family were Henry, Edward and twins Peter and Lancaster. Certainly the descendants of Peter went to Australia. I don’t know about the descendants of Henry and Edward.
However, the children of Rev Lancaster Wettenhall 1755-1825 stayed in England. He was Rector of Church Lawton for many years. He married twice: he and his second wife Sarah Butler had three sons, Edwin, James and Edward and one daughter Emma (who died at Church Lawton aged 20). I know that some descendants of Edwin went to Australia too. Edward's sons died in infancy and Edward himself was killed in an accident on the North Staffs Railway in 1852. I am descended from Edward’s daughter Sarah Emma. James died in 1866, though he did have sons to carry the name.
So the English Wettenhall name from this branch of the family probably ‘ran out’ no sooner than 1866. Of course there were other Wettenhall families that must also be connected somewhere along the line, including Bishop Edward Wettenhall.
hall

1671 Control from St Chad's, Over is clearly established.
1692 The year after John Wesley's death, one report has Wettenhall Chapell licensed as a Dissenting Meeting House, but a letter dated 1694 ('soaps' are not new! ) suggests that this was not so clear-cut.
1719 Work on this Chapel of Ease to St Chads, Over is funded by money from Queen Anne's Bounty and £50 from the Archbishop of York. This may have been a new building, as it was described as "a small modern building of brick, containing neither monuments nor anything else worthy of notice".
1818 There may have been another chapel built about this time.
1829 A Society for the building of churches gave £15 to help repair the chapel and add a chancel.
1870 The present church was built by public subscription (approx £700 raised), dedicated to St David, and consecrated by William, Bishop of Chester. The first burial records date from this year.
churchplan

1880 Wettenhall became a separate parish, having been previously in the Parish of Over.
1930 Wettenhall Hall is demolished.
1969 Benefice united with Tilstone Fearnall.
1970 Old harmonium replaced with a small pipe organ previously in Chester Cathedral.
1991 Benefice united with Acton, Church Minshull and Worleston.

Ministers & Incumbents of Wettenhall

Mr. John Colefax c1620 - 1638
Mr. Ward }
Mr. Andenon }
Mr. Henley } Non-conforrnist Ministers
Mr. Barnett }
Rev. Thomas Wilkinson 1671 - 1677
Rev. Paul Wood, MA. 1677 - 1681
(Vicar of Over 1681- 90)
Mr. Bowker 1681 - 1686
Rev. John Farrington 1686 - 1689
(Vicar of Church Minshull)
Rev. John Boydell 1693 - 1705 a
(School Master at Nantwich)
Mr. John Berry 1705 - 1718
Rev. Stephen Hignett 1718 - 1744
(Previously at Whitegate)
Rev. Isaac Rathbone 1744 - 1767
(School Master at Nantwich)
Mr. John Kent 1767 - 1803
(School Master at Nantwich)
Rev. Roger Kent 1805 - 1807
(Vicar of Church Minshull)
Rev. Joseph Davenport 1807 - 1826
(School Master at Acton)
Rev. James Tonilanson, LL.B. 1813 - 1814 b
Rev Alexander Henry Buchanan, B A 1814 - 1815
Rev Norman Edward Mainwaring 1815 - 1824
Rev William Janics Boardman 1824 - 1829
Rev. William Lockett, B A 1826 - 1867
Rev. John Tumbill 1867 - 1869
Rev. John Hugh Davies 1869 - 1871 c
Rev. Charles Edward Taunton, M.A 1871 - 1872
Rev. Joseph Richards, M A 1872 - 1875
(Sequestrated until 1878)
Rev. Frederick Gould Andrews 1878 - 1889
(resigned) Rev. Edgar Stockdale 1889 - 1930
(Sequestrated on death)
Rev. William Henry Corrilcy 1931 - 1936
(resigned)
Rev. Ivor Frank James, B.A 1936 - 1952
(d. 1953)
Rev. Edward Victor Dawson, B.A 1953 - 1958
(Vicar of Over)
Rev. Arthur Dyfrig James, M.A 1958 - 1980 d
Rev. A Reece, DSO, OnE, DFC, AEC 1980 - 1991 e
Rev. Mark James Rylands, B A 1991 - 1997
Rev. Donald P. Brockbank 1998 - 2006
Rev Peter Lillicrap 2007 -
Notes
a Wettenhall "Chapell" licensed as a Dissenting Meeting House 1692
b of Dorfold Hall.
c Present Church dedicated to St. David, consecrated 1870, replacing "a plain brick building" built in the 17th cent. as a Non-conformist chapel on the same site. Wettenhall was created a separate Parish at this tine, having been previously in the Parish of Over.
d Benefice united with Tilstone Fearnall, 1969.
e Benefice united with Acton, Church Minshull & Worleston, 1991