MURDER, Mystery, Intrigue -- words you would not normally associate with Culcheth.

But delve deep into the history of the village and a fascinating story unwinds.

The area which was dense woodland until the Norman Conquest gets its name from the Celtic for 'at the edge of the wood'.

But it is much more ancient than that...

Bronze age pottery discovered at Croft suggests the area was inhabited 4,000 years ago.

The Culcheth family played an important role in shaping villages fortunes.

Gilbert de Culcheth owned the Manor of Culcheth and built its first hall in 1200. He was survived by a son Hugh de Gilbert, and four daughters.

Hugh de Gilbert was murdered by a group of villains in 1246 leaving no male heir. This saw the land divided between daughters Margery, Elizabeth, Ellen and Joan. However, equality was unheard of and land could not be passed down to women.

The responsibility for the girls went to the Baron of Warrington who married off all the girls to his four sons. Eldest girl Margery, married Richard who took the name de Culcheth to ensure its survival. Each couple lived in their own quarter of the Manor -- Culcheth, Holcroft, Risley and Peasfurlong.

Religion played an important role. As Catholics during the reformation, services took place under complete secrecy in the family chapel which priests would enter through a secret passage by the fireplace in the great hall, and exit at a secluded spot on the tree-lined drive.

During the English Civil Law the family supported Charles I, but their neighbours and enemies the Holcrofts backed Cromwell and the Parliamentarians.

The Culcheth name died out with Thomas Culcheth (d 1747) being the last. He had no heir, so the hall passed to his cousin Thomas Stanley and then John Trafford, which is where the family line ends.

The Holcroft family also have some notoriety for a scandal involving the daughter of Lt. Colonel John Holcroft who was in Cromwell's army. His daughter, Maria, married Irishman Lieutenant Thomas Blood against Holcroft's wishes. They married on June 16, 1650 in Newchurch and moved to Ireland.

At the end of the civil war, Cromwell promoted Blood to the rank of Captain. Three years later he was elevated to Commissioner of Parliament. Blood is most famous for devising a plot to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London and using them as a ransom for Charles II. In 1671 he and Maria disguised themselves as a parson and his wife. They visited the keeper of the jewels and Maria pretended to faint to cause a distraction.

The keeper unlocked the jewels and to his amazement was seized and held in the strongroom. Just as Blood and his accomplice were leaving the plan was hindered yet again when they were caught before even leaving the grounds of the tower.

The King took pity on Blood and after serving a short sentence he was returned to Ireland and his estate where he and Maria lived on a £500 a year allowance.

Glazebury, which prior to the civil war was part of Culcheth used to be known as Hurst because of Hurst Hall.

The name is unusual because normally the ending "bury" in English place names means fortified place.

However, Glazebury's tale is much more gruesome.

In the 17th century Civil War combatants were buried in a road which became known as Bury Lane (now part of Warrington Road) and Glazebury is believed to take its name from a combination of bury and the word glaze from the nearby River Glaze.