AERIAL VIEW OF MIDDLEWICH 2018 by Chris Fuchs

                      MIDDLEWICH 2018. DRONE PICTURE BY CHRIS FUCHS

Chris Fuchs writes:

Hello there,

I follow the Middlewich Diary with interest and liked the picture in the article from 14th Jan which shows an aerial picture of the town from 1968.

Courtesy of Elaine Carlin

LINK: 1967 AERIAL VIEW

I fly a drone and recently attempted to take a similar picture myself for comparison. It's a fairly large panorama at around 60MB so can be quite slow to load and zoom.   

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Obviously it's rather difficult to discern anything very much from the original photo as shown above, but this is no ordinary photograph.

If you go to the link provided by Chris:

MIDDLEWICH AERIAL VIEW 2018

you'll see a much enlarged version, in which some familiar landmarks can be made out.

Not only that; if you click  on this symbol:

you'll be able to zoom in on the picture and see modern day Middlewich in astonishing detail, from Andersen Boats on the left, to St Michael's Church in the middle, and on to Holmes Chapel Road on the right.

These are the instructions for viewing the picture on a pc. Obviously methods will differ for other types of computer and mobile phones.

Here are a just a few of the screenshots we've been able to obtain:

The classic view of St Michael & All Angels Church. To the left of the church is the end of Queen Street, and the King Arms Hotel. St Michael's Way curves away to the right, with Pepper Street on the extreme right. In the foreground are Forshaw's Funeral Services, Lex House (Waters Edge Medical Centre) and the Wharfinger's Cottage on the Town Wharf. 

The Holmes Chapel Road railway bridge ('Station Bridge') is on the left and the railway line itself can be seen heading off towards Sandbach and Crewe. This is the suggested site for the new Middlewich Station. In the background are the ugly industrial boxes of Midpoint 18 (now re-christened 'Ma6nitude', though how it is supposed to be pronounced  is anyone's guess)

Lewin Street: Left to right - Halfpenny Court, the library and 'Katy's Corner'

Queen Street. And it's a definite case of 'I can see our house from here!' Just look to the left of that large building in the middle of the photo. That's the Middlewich United Reformed Church (formerly the Congregational Church) and our house, not to mention the Middlewich Diary's multi-million pound office complex, is next door but one. You can just see our white framed back bedroom window. Below that, the white building with the black roof is our kitchen. I knew you'd be impressed. To the right of the 'Congs' is one of the town's architectural gems, no 25 Queen Street, a listed building and described as being built 'in the early 19th century'. Across the road is Fountain Fields (now known to many as 'Tesco Park', due to the proximity of the firm's main Middlewich store (or, as Middlewich folk have it, 'Big Tesco'). Beyond the Tesco store, the  white building marks the top end of Southway and the fringe of St Ann's Road. On the extreme left of the photo, just before Queen Street gives way to King Edward Street, is the Vicarage, which we will all, sooner or later, have to learn to call the Rectory. Top left are the Victorian Beech Street and West Street.

Kinderton Street: (l to r): The Kinderton Hotel, The Boar's Head, The Factory Shop

Lewin Street and its junction with Sutton Lane, which runs away to the top of the picture, crossing the Shropshire Union Canal and heading into the distance. The surprisingly large sprawl of the British legion Club is right centre

Hough Construction HQ in Brooks Lane. The Sandbach-Middlewich-Northwich railway runs along the top of the photo

Back to Lewin Street and the familiar sight of the Victoria Building (Now re-christened, quite rightly, 'The Town Hall')and behind it the Victoria Hall (previously the Town Hall Function Suite and, before that, the Civic Hall). To the right of Victoria Building we can just see the Post Office and the Narrowboat Inn. In the background beyond the fire station and the Wych Centre is the seemingly postage-stamp sized Market Field, looking impossibly small but nevertheless the main venue for the FAB Festival each year. Top left is the Oaklands Medical Centre, and top right is the Community Centre.

- you'll no doubt be able to see much more as you zoom in and scan the photograph.Our thanks to Chris for sending us the link to this amazing photograph.

Just imagine how valuable Chris's photo and others like it will be to people living fifty years from now who want to learn about Middlewich in 2018.

There will undoubtedly be changes to the town over that period, possibly changes much more drastic than the ones which have happened since 1967/8.

How fortunate those future historians will be to have access to superb material like this.

Dave Roberts

Editor.