Blue Plaques in Neston and Parkgate

Neston – more information can be found in the Neston Town Centre Audio Trail or in the leaflet Neston Town Trail, free from Neston Town Hall and Neston Library.

The numbers below refer to those in the leaflet.

1. The Parish Church of St Mary and St Helen Listed Grade II*
   Rebuilt in 1874, the tower remaining from an earlier period. Contains Viking Grave Markers dating back to the 10th century. Among other treasures is one of the finest collection of stained glass windows in the region including those of Burne-Jones, Harding and Kempe.
2. Thomas Whittell’s house, by the Cross, with a date plaque, WTM 1724.
   House built by Thomas Wittell. His initials and those of his wife, Margery, appear in the date plate. Thomas was a prominent local brewer.
3. Jackson’s Tower
   Built of red Ruabon brick in 1896 by George Jackson, chemist and postmaster.
4. Town Hall
   Built to commemorate the jubilee of Queen Victoria, in 1887. Neston Urban District Council bought the building in 1933.
5. Sandstone Barn, next to The Brewer’s Arms Listed Grade II
   The barn dates back to late 1600s and is the oldest building in Neston.
6. The Methodist Church
   Built in 1908, it replaced a corrugated iron chapel.
7. Plough Cottage
   An early house dated 1724, then became part of The Plough Inn from early 1800s to early 1900s.
8. Poplar Weint
   Leads to a sandstone building of 1859, which was an infant school and is now apartments.
9. Townfield
   This is a reminder that in medieval times much of the land here was town fields. Local people would have used the narrow, unfenced strips, as allotments.
10. United Reformed Church
    Built in 1884. Designed by Francis Doyle who also designed the current Parish Church
11. Moorside House Listed Grade II*
    Built in 1775 by local butcher John Edge. Handsome shell canopy over the front door.
12. Elm Grove House Listed Grade II
    Built in about 1800 and sold to Captain Brown, a master of one of the Liverpool slave ships.
13. Dee Cottage
    The date plate refers to Benjamin and Mary Norman 1727. In 19th century this was the Spotted Cow inn.
14. Bank Cottage
    Built after 1811 but with a date plate of 1724, possibly from the barn of Fern and Hawthorn Cottages, built in 1724.
15. Neston Library
    Neston’s memorial to Queen Victoria. Funded in the main by Scottish- American industrialist Andrew Carnegie.
16. Vine House Listed Grade II
    Built 1747 for a wealthy Neston public notary, John Glegg, who was related to the Glegg family of Gayton Hall.
17. Holly Tree House, Church Lane Listed Grade II
    Built before 1811. The cast iron German Imperial coat of arms was added later.

Parkgate – more information on these Plaques can be seen in the Parkgate Heritage Trail, on sale at Nicholls Ice Cream shop, The Parade; and Mozkitos, Mostyn Square, Parkgate.

Numbers after the building refer to those on the Trail Map.

• Dover Cottage (No 8) Listed Grade II
  Commemorating Emma, Lady Hamilton (1765-1815).
  Born Emy Lyon at Ness, renowned Georgian beauty and muse of the artist George Romney, later wife to the ambassador to Naples, Sir William Hamilton, and mistress of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson. As Emma Hart, she is reputed to have stayed at Dover Cottage in 1784 during a cure visit to Parkgate.
• Mostyn House (No 10) Listed Grade II, Chapel Listed Grade II*
  Commemorating Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, KCMG (1865-1940) Medical doctor and missionary to the coastal inhabitants of Newfoundland and Labrador for The Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen, author, social reformer and benefactor. He was born at Mostyn House in 1865 and died in USA in 1940.
• The Balcony House & Assembly Room (No 12) Listed Grade II
  This distinctive building was closely connected with the Georgian fashion for sea-bathing. It was constructed as two private houses in about 1750; the Assembly Room was added at the rear some years later, to provide an improved venue for social activities in Parkgate. The attractive balcony was added in 1868.
• Seven Steps, Teal Cottage and the Old Butcher’s Shop Listed Grade II*
  The discovery of early Georgian wall paintings in Seven Steps, in 1999, depicting what appear to be Caribbean scenes, suggests a close connection between the early occupants of this house and Parkgate’s shipping trade.
• The Church of St Thomas (No 15) Listed Grade II
  The ‘Fisherman’s Church’ was originally erected as a Congregational chapel in 1843 and then used by the Presbyterians from 1858. Acquired by the Church of England in 1910, it was recently restored by local effort through the Bishop’s Trust and re-opened for worship and community use in 2010.
• The Old Watch House (No 20) delisted
  HM Customs Service leased this old house between 1799 and 1828 to accommodate their officers and keep watch on the local shipping.
• Pengwern & Sawyer’s Cottage (Nos 22 and 23) Listed Grade ll
  These are two of the earliest surviving houses in Parkgate, built together pre-1700. Pengwern was once the home of a wealthy mariner Charles Salisbury, captain & ship-owner, who died here in 1733. The early owners of the adjoining cottage appear to have been associated with ship-building, but from 1793 to 1905 this building became a public house known as the Sawyer’s Arms, so called after the occupation of the first landlord Richard Bartley, sawyer and carpenter.