Fascinating local Trade Directories

The Heritage section on Audlem Online is growing rapidly and now features historic Trade Directories for the area. Simply click on 'Heritage' on the top bar and then on 'Historical Sources'.

Here you'll find the Domesday Book's entry for Aldelime; links to Church Records for St. James Church in Audlem and the local Tithe maps. The Cheshire Records Office have set up a superb site to look at the 1836-51 Tithe Map and compare it with modern maps, and look up owners and occupiers.

Now, there's the new feature – Trade Directories. From early in the nineteenth century, various organisations published trade directories, containing brief descriptions of towns together with lists of their more "important" residents and shops. They also sometimes include interesting details of transport, churches etc.

Extracts of the entries for Audlem are available by clicking on the pdf files for:
1857 Post Office Directory
1864 Morris & Co Directory
1878 Post Office Directory
1883 Slater's Directory
1902 Kelly's Directory

If you visit the 1857 Post Office directory, for example, you'll find a list of prominent local residents and those with professions for Audlem, Buerton, Dodcott and Hankelow.

There's some fascinating professions to be found; a huckster – that's a peddler or hawker of small goods – a watchmaker and many brickmakers. In the information on travel facilities, there were twice weekly boats on the canal to London, Liverpool, Manchester, Chester, Shrewsbury & Woverhampton.

Alternatively, John Jinks, the carrier, provided land conveyance to Nantwich (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) and Market Drayton on Wednesdays from the Crown hotel in the centre of the village.

Anyone interested in this area's past will find this new section on Audlem Online a fascinating source of information.

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