In the
Domesday Book Middlewich is spelt "Mildestvich"; the termination
wic or
wyc in
Old English refers to a settlement, village or dwelling. It is also supposed that "wich" or "wych" refers to a
salt town, with Middlewich being the middle town between
Northwich and
Nantwich. Middlewich was founded by the
Romans, who gave it the name
Salinae because of its surrounding salt deposits. It became one of the major Roman sites for salt production, an activity that was centred on the township of
Kinderton, about a quarter of a mile north of the present-day parish church of
St Michael and All Angels. It has been suggested that pre-Roman salt production also occurred in the same area, but there is no supporting archaeological evidence. There was once thought to have been a medieval castle at Kinderton, but that is now thought to have been unlikely. Middlewich lies across the Queen Street fault, which roughly follows the
Roman road, King Street, from
Northwich to Middlewich. During their occupation the Romans built a
fort at Harbutts Field (), and excavations to the south of the fort have found further evidence of Roman activity including a well and part of a preserved
Roman road. An excavation in 2004, in Buckley's Field, also uncovered signs of Roman occupation. Salt manufacture has remained the principal industry for the past 2,000 years, and it has shaped the town's history and geography. Before the
Norman invasion of England in 1066, there is thought to have been one
brine pit in Middlewich, between the River Croco and the current Lewin Street. In the
Domesday Book the area is described as being "wasted", Gilbert de Venables became the first Baron of Kinderton shortly after the Norman Conquest, the title being conferred by
Hugh Lupus. A
manor house was built to the east of the town and became the baronial seat of the Venables family. A
Jacobean screen in the church of
St Michael and All Angels has the carved Venables coat of arms. The title "Baron of Kinderton" is now vested in the
Lord Vernon. On 13 March 1643 the town was the scene of the
first Battle of Middlewich, between the
Parliamentarians, under
Sir William Brereton, and the
Royalist supporters of
King Charles I of England, under Sir Thomas Aston. The
second Battle of Middlewich took place on 26 December 1643, and claimed the lives of about 200
Parliamentarians, along with a number of
Royalists under the command of
Lord Byron. The population of Middlewich rose during the 19th and 20th centuries. Some of this rise is attributable to a number of parishes being combined, for example parts of Newton were added to Middlewich in 1894, with
Sutton having previously been added to Newton in 1892. Some will also be due to a general increase in population of the United Kingdom, and some of the increase would have been required to provide a labour force for the increased number, and scale, of salt and chemical works in the town. In the middle of the 19th century Middlewich was described as a town with principal works being the surrounding farming district, a silk factory, and the salt works in Kinderton and Newton. In 1887 the town was described as having an antique appearance, with its principal trade being salt, along with fruit and vegetables, and small silk and heavy cotton works. The town had one bank and one newspaper. By 1911 the
Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition mentions the existence of chemical works and the manufacture of
condensed milk. In common with the rest of the United Kingdom, Middlewich's young male population was decimated during the
First World War. The
cenotaph, near to the parish church, lists the names of the 136 men who died in that conflict, representing around 10% of the male population of the town aged between 15 and 45. Forty-two of Middlewich's inhabitants lost their lives in the
Second World War, with a further fatality in the
Korean War. The
Brunner Mond salt works in Brooks Lane also erected a cenotaph in memory of the 16 men from the works killed in the First World War, and the two who died during the Second World War. In the period between the end of the First World War until shortly after the Second World War, there was extensive housebuilding in the town; a significant number of houses were built in the King Street area to the north, the area bounded between Nantwich Road and St. Anne's Road to the west, and especially in Cledford to the south. The 1970s commenced with the building of a new road, St. Michael's Way, which allowed traffic moving from east to west through the town to bypass the main shopping street, Wheelock Street. Along with the bypass there was significant remodelling of the town centre, with the old town hall and library being demolished. This bypass successfully eased the flow of traffic away from the main shopping street, but the joining of three major roads remains a bottleneck, which will be eased by a proposed eastern bypass. Since the early 1980s Middlewich has seen a significant quantity of new housing development, initially in the Sutton Lane and Hayhurst Avenue areas. New developments have recently been built on the sites of old salt workings to the south of the Roman Fort at Harbutt's Field, near the
Norman Baron's moated
manor house at Kinderton Manor, and on the site of the old railway station. One of the latest developments is on the old silk works next to the Big Lock public house. In common with other local towns such as
Holmes Chapel,
Northwich and
Winsford, people are attracted to Middlewich because of its good road links via the
M6 motorway and the relatively low price and availability of suitable building land. ==Governance==