Great Sutton and its northerly neighbour Little Sutton are both mentioned in the Doomsday Book, although Great Sutton at least has a recorded history pre-conquest, the manor being given by King Edgar to St Werburgh’s Minster in Chester (now the Cathedral). The manor subsequently passed to Robert Fitzhugh, son of the Earl of Chester; in turn it passed to the Abbot of St Werburgh’s Abbey in Chester (the Saxon Minster having become a Benedictine Abbey in 1092), where it remained until the Abbey was dissolved in 1540. From the reign of Elizabeth I onwards, it passed through several families, including the Cholmondleys.
Originally part of the much older parish of Eastham (itself formed out of the even older parish of Bromborough), a little further up the peninsula, the parish of Great Sutton was formed in the late nineteenth century, along with its neighbouring parish of Hooton (Hooton parish being made up in the main of Little Sutton, Hooton and Childer Thornton). This was at a time of increased church building up and down the country, mainly in towns and cities, but also in those smaller villages whose parish church was in another village some distance away. The curate (assistant priest) of St Mary’s Eastham at the time, the Revd Charles Mayall, ministered to the people of Great Sutton, holding services in outbuildings of Church Farm (situated on the eastern corner of Old Chester Road and Sutton Way). In the mid 1870s, an appeal was launched to build a church for the village; two local worthies, Peter Owen (the Squire, of Great Sutton Manor) and Thomas Shallcross (of Capenhurst Grange), were prominent in the appeal. In 1879, the church was built on a site given by R C Naylor of Hooton Hall, and consecrated by the Right Reverend William Jacobson, Bishop of Chester, on 24 November; Messrs Owen and Shallcross were the first Churchwardens, and Charles Mayall, the Curate in Charge from St Mary's Eastham, became the first Vicar, although interestingly the parish is described as being a Rectory with tithes.
This cache is replacement for my former cache, St John’s Green. I decided to re-incarnate the cache as a Church Micro because there are very few around this area and I hope that some other churches on the Wirral will have a CM by them. This should be an easy find but please watch out for dog walkers and church goers when hunting for this cache. There is no pavement as such, but a small grass verge so please keep a watchful eye over geo-kids and pets whilst hunting for this cache.
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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro@gmail.com.
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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