Battle of Winwick 1648, Big Battlefield Walks Weekend, St Oswalds Church.

Visited September 2025.

I have always wanted to Visit St Oswalds and as usual you never do. That was until The Big Battlefield Weekend came to Winwick with a tour around the church and of the adjacent Battlefield. I was very excited but as soon as I put my foot out of the car, it started to rain, heavily, persistently, all day long.

Grade I listed, the church is mentioned in the Domesday book of 1086. The present church dates from 1358. Inside is just wonderful. There is a pre-conquest Cross Arm and Norman pillar bases. The Legh and Gerard monument and the Captain of the Titanics wedding certificate. Go HERE to read about the interiors and what you can find inside.

‘On January, 13 1887, the church was the setting for the wedding of Sarah Eleanor Pennington, the daughter of a farming family of Woodhead Farm, Winwick, to Edward John Smith, the then future captain of the Titanic.’ SOURCE.

Outside, I was told I must look for the Winwick pig and I found it!

‘The Winwick Pig is a local legend about the placement of St. Oswald's Church in Winwick, Cheshire. According to the legend, a pig played a key role in determining the church's location by carrying stones to the site where the church now stands after builders had started construction elsewhere.’ SOURCE.

The Battle of Winwick Society were there with re-enactments and later a Battlefield walk.