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FLOOKERSBROOK, Chester

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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FAMILY TREES

John Lightfoot

Thomas Walker

Elizabeth Pickering


 

Thomas Walker of Flookersbrook
b: 20 Dec 1782
d: 1 Dec. 1857 (age 75)
m:  Catharine Lightfoot
c: 7 Dec 1784
d: 8 Dec 1840, Forest Street, Chester (age 56)

My 3x Great Grandfather, Thomas Walker, was father of Elizabeth Catherine Walker Pickering, my 2x Great grandmother.

Chester Directory of 1818

• Malsters and Dealers in Malt – Lightfoot and Walker, Flookersbrook

• Liquor Merchants – George Walker, Upper Bridge-street

Source: Commercial Directory for 1818-19-20, Chester

” … Still nearer is seen the lovely hamlet of Flookersbrook,

abounding with neatly-built modern dwellings, to which, if the epithet of splendid be inappropriate, the claim of elegance and comfort is justly due; to each of which is appended richly cultivated garden ground. Here are the comfortable residents of … Mr. Lightfoot, Mr. T. Walker … It is hardly possible to pass this approach to the city, without being reminded of the villa in the neighborhood of the metropolis; width of the road, the respectable and good-looking tavern, called the Ermine.”

“History of the City of Chester from its foundation to the present time.” by Joseph Hemingway, 1831 pg. 346

To understand the influence of Thomas Walker on this part of Chester, I have created this map which is overlaid with the outline of the property once owned by Walker. A good deal of the property takes in the current railroad, which ownership must have gone a long way to increase his wealth. The ancient Ermine is centrally located in the Hoole where John Lightfoot and his wife, Mary Artinstall were proprietors in the late 1700’s. Also note streets named after Lightfoot, Pickering, and Walker. Illustration created by Connie Pickering Stover, 2020. Connie is a direct descendant of Thomas Walker and John Lightfoot.

Tithe maps in the Cheshire Record Office show that a Thomas Walker (1782-1857) owned properties in Newton Township in the area we now know as Flookersbrook. These included a tan-yard, a brewery, a brick bank and at least 6 houses and cottages. On the south side of Hoole Road, in Hoole Township, he owned plots of land and a number of dwellings including Ashtree House (recent research show that the rightful owners were the Trustees of the Estate of John Lightfoot, his father in law).

Map information Source: Cheshire Tithe Maps
Street names Source: Hoole History Society

Walker Ales on the corner of Peploe Street (now Westminster Road). Source: Hoole History Society.

Pickering and Walker Street sign, Flookersbrook. All the corners in Walker Street (named after John Lightfoot Walker – owner of the Lion Brewery in Pepper Street) were built as shops and remained so at that date.  Photo courtesy, Janet Leece, 2013.

Flookersbrook stands on the line of an ancient road which stretched from the fortress at Deva to Warrington and beyond. Flookersbrook has been cut off from Hoole Road which is now the main route into Chester and retains a quiet almost village atmosphere.  © Copyright Jeff Buck and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Lightfoot Street did not exist in the 1860s. Photo courtesy Janet Leece, 2013.