MARBURY is a small village in Mid Cheshire, not to be confused with Marbury in Cheshire East nearer to Whitchurch.

The Mid Cheshire village in 1260 was a burg which is part of an Anglo-Saxon fortified manor. The name Marbury means ‘the burg by a lake’.

There are many lakes or meres around the village, not all formed by salt mining this time but ice age glacial depressions filled with water.

In 1865 Marbury consisted of 17 inhabitants. In the reign of King Henry III, the Manor of Marbury was held by the ancient family of Merbury or Marbury who resided in Marbury Hall. On the death of Richard Marbury in 1684 the family name became extinct.

In 1708 the hall was purchased by Richard, Earl Rivers of Rock Savage. It was passed to his daughter on her marriage to James, Earl of Barrymore and then to the Earle’s second son The Hon Richard Barry, then to his son The Hon John Barry.

The hall in 1865 was described as a spacious brick mansion that had recently undergone extensive renovations; in fact, it had been virtually rebuilt. The renowned architectural historian Nicolas Pevsner compared the remodelled hall with Wellington College and described it as “quite a document of architectural history.’

The hall remained in the Smith-Barry family until 1932, in that year it was sold and became a country club. Then during WWII, British soldiers camped in the grounds and roads were built for the military. Among other servicemen, survivors of Dunkirk were billeted there. After that, it became a prisoner of war camp number 180 in the list of prison camps. One of the German prisoners housed there was Bert Trautmann, a paratrooper who later played in goal for Manchester City.

After the war, the hall was sold to the ICI to house their workers. The men of the family lived there until allocated a council house, or one of the refurbished army huts.

My father was one such man who left the family in Liverpool and lived at the hall until a house in Farm Road, Weaverham was allocated for the family.

In 1968 the hall was demolished; this was against the wishes of locals and historians alike. Nicolas Pevsner called it a “Great pity”.

I would add here a critical correction, throughout details of the finding of salt at Marbury Hall, the writer states that “The salt beds of Northwich were rediscovered in 1670 by employees of the local Smith-Barry family. The family were looking for coal when they accidentally discovered rock salt in the grounds of their house, Marbury Hall.”

That find led to the salt industry in Northwich, but you will find this quote replicated in many historical writings and on the net, but it is wrong.

It was John Jackson of Halton who discovered the salt while looking for coal on the instructions of William Marbury the owner of Marbury Hall, in 1670. There was no Smith-Barry family at Marbury until 1749 when The Hon John Barry married Dorothy, the daughter of Hugh Smith in April 1746 and soon after changed his name to Smith-Barry, this is the first mention of the name. (Dorothy died a year later). After his marriage to his very wealthy wife and obtaining her money, he built Belmont Hall, now Cransley school.