ON the road between Weaverham and Northwich, there is a part of Hartford known as Hartford Beach, writes Paul Hurley.

Beach Road is an unusual road name for landlocked Mid Cheshire; it stretches from Northwich Road, Weaverham to the junction with Chester Road at Greenbank station.

I have researched it, all I can discover is that many years ago there was a beach and a sandy river estuary nearby. The area is known as Beech by some and Beach by others; this includes the road signs.

What I can say is that in 1865 Thomas Horatio Marshall Esq. the son of the late Thomas Marshall, Barrister at Law, lived at a house nearby called ‘The Beach.’ Which was according to Whites directory of 1860 is ‘a handsome residence.’

The house is still there split into a pair of semis.

The Marshall family had previously owned Hartford Manor and at one time where the leading salt dealers in Cheshire, owning estates around Northwich.

They were members of Cheshire’s Landed Gentry and were local benefactors and salt mine proprietors.

The name Marshall is now prevalent in the district with Marshall's Lane in Greenbank, Marshall Memorial Hall in Winsford and Mrs Marshall was a principal benefactor at Hartford church.

Near Hartford is a very pretty nature reserve called Marshall's Arm. Even further afield in South Dakota, USA there is a Hartford Beach State Park.

The church in the photograph is the Methodist chapel which was built in 1891; The original church was the building that is now the Methodist Church Hall nearby and dates from 1833.

In the old photo, the Sportsman pub is on the right; it stood at the junction with Bradburn’s Lane from 1841 until 1964, there was also an auction room here.

A bus stop was known as 'The Sportsman' even long after the pub had gone to be replaced by a block of flats.