THE Parish of Warburton has been put on the map by a group of five people who attended a WEA class about its archaeology in 2008.

Encouraged by their then tutor, Dr Michael Nevell, 52, the head of archaeology at Salford University, they have written a book, Warburton, a History of a Cheshire Village.

“I have organised and cajoled them,” said Michael, from Baxter Road, Sale.

The book contains articles about Warburton’s churches, records of its tenant farmers and the results of an archaeological dig.

It contains 116 illustrations of buildings, landscapes and artefacts from the village.

The letterings on a 1757 map makes it possible to trace the tenants of the time.

Michael said:“Warburton is best known for its toll bridge but the place is also a piece of landscape that has survived, largely in tact, for 800 years.

“At the heart of it is the 700- year-old St. Werburgh’s church, one of only 29 mediaeval half-timbered chapels in England and Wales.”

He explained how a second church was built in 1884 with money donated by the Egerton/Warburton family who lived at the former Warburton Old Hall until the 1460s before moving to Arley Hall.

Michael is grateful to local residents for allowing his team to dig holes in their gardens.

At Ditchfield cottage, they unearthed a complete Tudor fireplace. They also found 15th century pottery in a bank and ditch near the old church and discovered the remains of a Priory which closed in 1270.

Among thousands of documents covering 700 years they found a 1580 court record which fined a man for playing bowls on a Sunday although practising archery was considered OK.

Copies of the book priced £10 are available from the publishers, University of Salford online book shop, from Abacus books, Altrincham, Trafford Local Studies Centre at Sale Waterside and Amazon.