Originally Posted by eastsussexred
Crispin Lane appears to have been an ancient trackway, which was 4 feet wide in the late 19th century, when its owner- John Foulkes paid for a gravel surface to be laid. At this time, the lane was a trackway, bordered on both sides with high hedges, and was known locally as a lovers lane, and which in the 19th Century, stretched from the corner of a garden, known as The turf Tavern Garden, immediately off Mold Road, to The Plas Coch Toll Gate, also on Mold Road, though originally it may have been part of a trackway which continued across Mold Road, where the NCP car park is today.
The lane seems to have taken its name as a trackway which served an ancient farm, called The Crispin, which was located where the embankment for the Connah’s Quay railway line is now situated, opposite a position, about half way along where the kop is today.
In 1867, The Crispin was described as a cottage with a stable that was owned by the railway company, and was leased to a locomotive driver, although it is likely that it had belonged to the Foulkes family previously. The cottage at this time formed a part of the railway station and no longer had a garden, which had been removed when the railway line was first excavated, but prior to this, it had been a more substantial property, with outbuildings, a yard, a cow-house, a stable, a large garden, and also, previously had its own fish pond; the footprint of which, was recorded on an ordinance survey map (attached) dated 1819- before the railway station was built. At this time, The Crispin, which was not named on the map, was located in a field called Bryn Llyn, which relates to a pond on hill, and which can also be seen on the OS map. When the map was first drawn, the pond was known locally, as ‘the fishpond’ but in ancient times, it was known as Witches Pond, and Bryn Llyn had previously been known as Crispin Field. Nearby, on the opposite side of Crispin Lane (on the northside of The Racecourse) was a field known as ‘Crispin Croft’, and on the opposite side of The Racecourse, past Plas Coch, was another field called ‘Crispin Field’. Opposite to this, on the other side of Mold Road, and at the base of Stansty Park, was a field called ‘Crispin Meadow’; moreover, in the 17th Century, at least, it is known that there was also an inn called ‘The Crispin Inn’, which was situated on its own land, within the footprint of Stansty Park, at the side of Mold Road.
Stansty Park was an ancient estate that was owned by a family, known as the Edwards’s of Stansty, and who built their family seat, in the park, called ‘Plas Issa’ (later known as Stansty Farm) in 1577. Soon after, a cousin of the Edwards family- William Meredith, also built Plas Coch Hall, within its own estate, sometime between the 1580’s and 90’s. However, it seems most unlikely that fields, named after ‘The Crispin’ would have been bought, independently, on both of these estates after the estates were established, as Crispin Field and Crispin Meadow have field boundaries, which are aligned with each other, but are separated by the Mold Road; thereby, strongly suggesting that they were previously both a part of the same field. It is also very unlikely that the Edwards family would have sold a small parcel of land within their own estate to allow someone else to build an Inn (The Crispin Inn) which was named after another house in the area. Additionally, if the fields were bought after both estates had been established, then a bill of sale would likely have been recorded, as the land named after The Crispin occupied such a large area; but there are no known records of any sales. Another curiosity is- why was there a Crispin Meadow and a Crispin Field on the town side of The Racecourse, and a Crispin Meadow, which formed part of a larger field, known as Crispin Field, on the Stansty side of The Racecourse? Having two fields of the same name makes no sense, as no-one would know as to which field was being referred to; unless, that is, they were all originally connected as one field.
It seems logical to suppose then, that in the distant past ‘The Crispin’ was originally a farm, surrounded by a very large field, possibly for grazing sheep, called ‘Crispin Field’ which occupied much of Stansty including most, if not all of Stansty Park, Plas Coch and the land that The Racecourse was later built on.
The farm would have pre-dated the Stansty Park and Plas Coch estates, and it is possible that it may have dated back to the farms governed by the Cistercians of Valle Crucis Abbey, from the 13th Century, hence the name ‘The Crispin’ which related to the patron saint of shoemakers and leathermaking- St Crispin. As a mere farmhouse, the history of ‘The Crispin’ would not have been recorded in the same way that any of the stately homes of the landed gentry of the area were recorded, and would not, therefore, have been identified as a significant building on older maps. But the extent of the namesake land and the fact that it required its own lane, which still exists today, suggests that the cottage must have been a part of a farm of a considerable size at some time in its past. The lands and fields that the farm occupied, collectively, later became known locally as ‘The Crispin’ and the house of the same name was eventually demolished sometime after 1867, when the railway surveyor of the time referred to the property as being an old cottage.
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