Northwich sits astride the beautiful Mid Cheshire plain at the point where the river’s Weaver and Dane converge.

The river Weaver is joined by the Trent and Mersey canal via the Anderton Lift, and together they leave the town and meander gently through some of the most peaceful and picturesque countryside in Britain.

One of the ‘Wyches’ of Cheshire, salt has been drawn from beneath Northwich for centuries; the once uncontrolled pumping of brine led to spectacular incidents of subsidence, where buildings were left at weird angles.

This evocative photograph taken in 1910 is a view into the Bullring from Dane Street and shows the store of Dolan Brothers clothiers at 9 High Street. The corner of the Angel Hotel can be seen on the right.

Before it is the opening to Church Street, once a narrow road passing the ancient market hall, it’s now a major thoroughfare boasting the town’s bus station, if a few bus stops can be called a bus station!

Despite being well inland, Northwich was famous for shipbuilding through the years but is no longer. With its firm of W.J. Yarwoods & Sons Ltd, who from 1896 to 1966, built 1,000 vessels, including coasters, tugs, river and canal boats and small military ships (Lawrence of Arabia spent time there in 1934 designing an RAF Rescue craft).

Isaac Pimblott & Sons was the second Northwich boatyard that also built small river and ocean craft, including torpedo boats and other warships in the last war. They traded from 1867 to 1974.

Both companies have now gone, although their products can still be found worldwide.

Northwich is a town that has changed many times over the years, evidence of which can be found at the excellent Weaver Hall Museum and Workhouse at 162 London Road by the railway arches.

It was a town where buildings came and went over a short period; structures like the Memorial Hall or morgue lasted just more than 40 years, likewise the magistrates court.

Both were prematurely demolished to build what many see as an eyesore to have erected in the centre of the town. Called the Northwich Memorial Court. It may be nice inside, but the design outside many see as a blot on the landscape.

Paul Hurley has a Facebook group titled Northwich and Mid Cheshire Through Time.