knp@merseymail.co.uk
KNP FAMILY TREE
Pulford
The Cheshire village of Pulford, situated near the Welsh border gives our family it’s name. Hundreds of years ago those bearing the name lived in the village as lords of the manor, in possesion of a ancestral home and acres of land.
From the twelfth century to 1362 Pulford was a separate manor held by the Pulford’s of Pulford. In 1322 Robert de Pulford was born, his daughter marrying the family who were to take on Pulford, and later become one of the most powerful families in the country, the Grosvenors. The village church, dedicated to St Mary has many of the descendents of Robert de Pulford buried in it’s grounds.
Much of the land in and around Pulford is now owned by one of the richest men in the country, the Duke of Westminster, himself a Grosvenor. (Does that mean we are distantly related?)
Today there is little to see of the ancient ancestral home of the Pulford family but a few scattered ruins.
One mile north of the village 'Belgrave', an area of land owned by the Grosvenors' gave its name to the now exclusive part of London which was part of the Grosvenor estate in the capital.
It's just a shame history couldn't have gone the other way as it could have been the Pulford's whose name survived to be linked with Royalty and vast wealth.
Oh well...
The Pulford’s bore one of the most distinctive of Cheshire shields.
Simply a white cross patonce on a black background.
History
It is possible that there was a Roman farmstead at Pulford as two coins of the Constantine period have been dug up in the village.
By the late seventh century it is believed all of modern Cheshire lay within the ancient kingdom of Mercia.
A stronghold at Pulford may have been built at that time and the place was later reffered to in Welsh history as being the limits of the Welsh kingdom of Powys. A Welsh poem by ‘Llygaid gwr’ describes the Welsh domain extending to ‘O bwlffort..hyd eithafkedweili’, -'from Pulford to the limits of Cedweli', Kidwelly which is now Carmarthenshire.
A charter of Edgar king of the Mercians dated 958 granted the religious community of St Werburgh certain lands and manors including Pulford.
The name meaning ‘Ford on a stream’ has had various spellings over the years. The ford on Pulford brook, joining the River Dee was an important passage on the road from Chester to Wrexham.
In Norman times Pulford was spelt in it’s modern form although there have been slight variations in various documents since.
Pulforth, Pulfort, Pulfordia, Pulforde, Poleford (1254), Puleford, Polleford (1258), Pulleford (1260), Bulesford (1277), Bulford (1280), Polford (1297), Poulford (1437), Poford (1557).
Nearby at the village of Aldford a fort was under the possession of 'Hugh of Pulford'. In 1286 it was documented he head failed to repair two perches of hedging.
In the Domesday book ‘Pulford’, was described as being on a brook situated five miles SW of Chester, dividing Cheshire from Wales. In Medieval times Pulford’s position on the border of Wales meant that a castle was built, made of wood, but replaced by a stone one later in the 13th century, when the first church was built as a chapel beside it. There is only a mound now in a field next to he current churchyard.
Pulford castle was considered worth a garrison as late as 1403 when Owen Glendover's Welsh troops threatened the county.
During the Civil war when Chester was besieged by the Roundheads for five months, the people of the Pulford area were reported by an officer to be smuggling food to starving Chester, sometimes through Doddleston or via Eaton and the River Dee.
The Grosvenor Pulford Hotel, (formerly the Talbot Inn) was the first post receiving station in the village before it moved to the smithy opposite which has now dissapeared.
The Village
Notable buildings in Pulford include the Parish church dedicated to St Mary. It was re-built between 1881-84.Buildings from the time of the previous church include a stable and a saddleroom which were converted to cottages in 1914.
The Talbot Inn, with it’s distinctive metal framed windows was built in the 17th century along with four farm houses. During this time village life was centered aroung the village Post Office. Medicine was left there to be picked up, notices put up, papers and news exchanged. The present post office is a separate building next door to the last one.
In the 20th century council houses have been built and since ‘Mr’s Wooleys Pulford girl’s school’ closed down the buildings have been turned into three residences and a further ten built on the grounds. Detached houses now stand on Fair Meadow off Old Lane.
The parish of Pulford includes the hamlet of ‘Cuckoos nest’. In 1850 a gazatteer of Cheshire records wrote that Pulford had a brickmaker, schoolmaster, parish clerk, rector, schoolmistress, and ten farmers. Today there are still the farmers but also those who live in the village but commute to work in Chester and neighbouring towns.
The population was 170 in 1801, 204 in 1851, 305 in 1901 and 285 in 1951
If you are a Pulford or know one why not
e-mail me at
knp@merseymail.co.uk Send me some details about your family or information about where you live. I am always eager to find out more about the family name so get in touch if you know any Pulford facts.
For further information visit the Cheshire genealogy page
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Copyright © Kenneth Neil Pulford 2000
