Ring O’Bells and Sessions House
Visitors to Daresbury often ask how to pronounce the name of the village, so for anyone wondering, local people say ‘DARS’ to rhyme with ‘CARS’.
The name comes from the Anglo Saxon DEOR’S BURGH, meaning Deor’s stronghold, which described a small settlement that was established alongside the route of the Roman road connecting Wilderspool near Warrington, to Chester.
There has been a church in Daresbury for well over 800 years. Around 1159, Henry, the prior at Norton Priory created the chapelry of Daresbury and built a church there, probably made of wood and plaster, to serve the scattered townships which surrounded it. For nearly 400 years All Saints’ church belonged to Norton Priory, but after the Reformation, when Henry VIII split with Rome, all property belonging to Norton was given over to Christ Church, Oxford, and it was at this time, around 1550, that a stone church was built. The bell tower of that church still remains today, but the main body of Daresbury church was re-built in the early 1870s.
At one time, in this farming community, village life was supported by the church, a smithy, post office and shop, an inn and a school, and the village was surrounded by farms. Today, the church, the Ring o’ Bells pub and the school remain, and the village is still set in farmland, although the number of farms is much reduced. The names of some of the village houses tell of the occupations of former villagers, Cobbler’s and Sexton’s Cottages, the School House, and the Old Post Office among them.
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