MOULTON is a small village situated between Northwich and Winsford with a back road under the West Coast Main Line through tunnels to Meadow Bank, writes Paul Hurley.

It can trace its history back to the Norman Conquest.

'Moletune' is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as being among the estates of Baron Richard de Vernon of Shipbrook. The village was vested in the Bostock family and it was later transferred to Col C.H. France Hayhurst of Bostock Hall.

It was formed into a parish from the parish of Davenham on December 18th, 1877. The foundation stone for St Stephen the Martyr’s parish church, was laid in 1876. The church was officially opened on the 16th of January 1877.

The Salt Union Limited built around 100 houses, mainly in Church St and Regent St for their work people.

Until 1894 Martha Lyon, whose married name was Jackson ran a grocers shop and beerhouse on the site of The Lion pub.

Being an entrepreneur, Martha had the present public house built and named it appropriately ‘The Lion,’ with a subtle play on her maiden name. She remained as landlady until the pub was sold to Ind Coope’s brewery in the early 1920s.

The other village pub is The Travellers Rest at 1 Whitlow Lane, originally a beerhouse dating from 1891. Both pubs are still going strong.

The Co-op in Moulton was opened in 1896 by the Winsford Co-operative Society to serve the needs of this growing community, and a cottage was built at the end of School Lane in 1871.

The cottage had a clock built into the wall to serve villagers who could not afford a timepiece, initially, it housed a cobbler/clog maker. A Look back to the early 1900s would reveal the salt workers in their clogs trudging beneath the railway tunnel to start work in the many salt mines that lined the banks of the River Weaver one being New Bridge saltworks.