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People involved in the 1935-36 Beeston Castle Well investigationThe following list has been compiled using a number of publicly available information sources, including the ICI Winnington well investigators' original logbook & notes, a draft 'time capsule' list of participants that was deposited inside the well in 1936, the 1939 Register (an interim Census completed at the outbreak of WW2), The Internet Archive, The British Newspaper Archive, and other genealogical sources from the Ancestry and FindMyPast web archives.
Handwritten sources will often contain errors and omissions, so some of the names remain uncertain or with minimal detail, whilst others are best guesses using the above sources as a guideline. Birth dates may be estimates based on Census entries, so could be a year or two out. The best clue to confirming names has been to match initials and surnames from the 1935-36 investigation documents with people listed in the 1939 Register as ICI employees in the general area of Northwich, or sometimes beyond.
Further background detail about many of the people featured here is already known but has not been featured on this page. The main purpose of this list is to raise awareness of people's involvement in the 1935-36 Beeston Castle Well investigation in the hope of locating further documentary or photographic records about the project. It is not the purpose of this website to try to locate legendary 'lost' treasure in 'secret' tunnels at Beeston Castle(!)
If you recognise a family member from the list of people below and have a story, document(s), or (especially) photos specifically connected with the 1935-36 investigation that you'd like to share please get in touch via our Contact page.
A
'T Alcock' - no further detail known.
John Robin Allen (1897 - 1956) Keen local historian, wrote book "Every So Often" c.1940 based on Cheshire Life articles and he featured in BBC Radio broadcasts Country Magazine Sun 30 March 1952, and Country Window around the same time.
George Munro Ashwell (1899 - 1970) - husband of Mabel below
Mabel Dora Ashwell (nee Good) (1901 - 1984)
In 1935 logbook attendance register:
'Aglin' - no further detail known.
B
'Doc. Bennett' - no further detail known.
Frederick Joseph Leigh Bentley (1903 - 1957)
'Bisbrown' - probably Harold (1894 - ) or possibly Thomas (1892 - )? or Eric (1903 - ?
'J L Bratt' - no further detail known.
In 1935 logbook attendance register:
'Brown' - possibly Herbert Brown (Feb 1886 - )?, or might be a mis-spelling of Bisbrown above.
C
Albert Callender (1904 - 1994)
'J Carmichael' - no further detail known.
Albert E Cashmore (1896 - 1972)
Leslie M Clark (1897 - )
'J? Conroy' - no further detail known.
Wilfrid Rodney Cousins (1905 - 1980)
'R J B Cow?ap' - no further detail known.
'L H Cross' - possibly Albert H Cross (1901 - )?
'Curzon' - probably Alfred Curzon (1901 - 1968) from Northwich, or possibly William, Harry or Ernest Curzon, all ICI workers from Winsford.
D
George William Daffern (1910 - 1993)
'B Dobell' - no further detail known, possible mis-spelling of Dybell?
E
Wallis E Ellis, (14 May 1892 - )
'C Ellison' - possibly James C Ellison (19 Jun 1908 - )?
'D G Em(m)erson' - no further detail known.
Harold E Evans (1892 - )
Mentioned briefly in the logbook:
'Eaton' - no further detail known.
F
'Farish' - no further detail known.
Eric William Fawcett (1908 - 1987) Credited with the first industrial synthesis of Polyethylene (later patented as Polythene), alongside R O Gibson below.
Charles George Paulin Feachem (1909 - 1978) Known as George. Please note that descendants of George and Richard (below) have already been contacted about the well investigation.
Richard W de Fecamp Feachem (1914 - 2005) brother of George above. Feachem Bay on the eastern side of Baffin Island is named after him.
John H Fell (1911 - 2001)
'Richard Forster' - no further detail known.
In 1935 logbook attendance register:
'Fieldsend' - no further detail known.
G
Reginald Oswald Gibson (1902 - 1983) Credited with the first industrial synthesis of Polyethylene (later patented as Polythene), alongside E W Fawcett above. The last member of the group to descend the well.
'J G Gillbert' - no further detail known, possible mis-spelling of 'Gilbert'?
William Francis Glasscock (1905 - 1969)
H
'G Hodgson' - probably G P Hodgson (1892 - ) born in Queenstown, Ireland, migrated to Australia by 1935.
'J E Hunter' - no further detail known.
'T Hulme' - no further detail known.
I
Alexander Scott Irvine (1911 - 1988) Known as Alec, brother of the climber Andrew ‘Sandy’ Irvine lost on Mt Everest with George Mallory in June 1924, kept an archive of documents about the project, including A C Rolfe's logbook, that were later passed to the Cheshire Records Office. Only five photos are included, as part of a Cheshire Life article in Oct & Nov 1937. All of these documents have already been researched and annotated. Irvine was the first to descend the well in 1935.
J
Mentioned briefly in the logbook:
'Jackson' - no further detail known.
K
J F Kenny (1909 - ) Born in Auckland, New Zealand, migrated to Australia by 1937.
'Kirkman' - possibly Frank Kirkman (1894 - 1985)?
L
John Arthur Lanyon (1900 - 1976)
'Leslie' - no further detail known.
M
William E MacGillivray (1903 - ) husband of Elizabeth below.
Elizabeth MacGillivray (nee Curbishley) (1908 - 1967)
S Marriage - Possibly Stephen Marriage (1909 - 1999)?
'I A Marriott' - no further detail known.
'D Maughan' - Probably James Douglas Maughan (1896 - 1978)
'J L McCowan' - no further detail known.
R R McDowell - no further detail known.
Mills, R/H? - possibly Harold Mills (1906 - )?
James Robertson Myles (1907 - 1986)
N
O
P
'H/W? M Peacock' - Possibly Wallace M Peacock (1907 - 1981)?
Douglas Stair Perry (1904 - 1977) husband of Helen M Perry, the founding Headmistress of The Grange School in Northwich.
Arthur John Cinnamond Pomeroy (1907 - 1995)
'J Poole' - no further detail known.
Hubert C Prew (1901 - 1974) Known as Hugh.
'Proudfoot' - possibly John Proudfoot (1906 - )?
In 1935 logbook attendance register:
'Pickering' - no further detail known.
Q
R
'K M Randles' - possibly Kenneth Arthur Mackenzie Randles (1910 - 1988)?
'P Ricardo' - no further detail known.
Jim Robinson - possibly James Robinson (1895 - ) from Northwich? Or possibly James Robinson (1896 - ) from Middlewich? Or possibly James Robinson (1892 - ) from Hyde?
Albert Charles Rolfe (1912 - 1971) main author of the project logbook, later given to A S Irvine above.
'H B W Rose' - no further detail known.
John Thomas Spruce (1889 - 1946)
S
'A Stagg' - no further detail known.
Fred Steadman (22 Feb 1911 - )
In 1935 logbook attendance register:
'Sam Swallow' - no further detail known. Related to John Cuthbert Swallow?
T
Eric Bowman Terry (1905 - 1985)
'G H Thorp' - no further detail known.
'Travers' - no further detail known.
Ralph Edward Tugman (1896 - 1986)
U
V
William Jones Varley (1904 - 1976) Liverpool University Archaeologist who excavated Bickerton Hill and Eddisbury Hill.
Brian Edmund Allen Vigers (1900 - 1986) described by some sources as the project's leader. Husband of Norah below.
Norah Violet Vigers (nee Malley) (1906 - )
W
'D Whittaker' - no further detail known.
'E G Williams' - no further detail known.
'D J Wilson' - possibly the Beeston Castle lodge keeper's daughter Dorothy Jane Wilson (12 Jun 1901 - )?
X Y Z
Members of the local community (ie Bunbury, Beeston) known to be connected with the ICI investigation, but not named on the 1936 well document:
Cyril R Bell (14 Oct 1887 - 1972) professional surveyor, rating officer and ex WW1 Royal Engineer based at UDC office in Tarporley. Offered advice to the ICI team on search strategy and constructing a platform for investigating the uppermost passage. A self-confessed Beeston well mystery enthusiast who wrote to the ICI team on 4 Feb 1935 suggesting that the upper well tunnel may have been a sally port with a hillside entrance but dismissing the legend of a lengthy lower 'secret' tunnel to Beeston Hall. It is fair to assume that an ex-WW1 Royal Engineer might have had some useful insights into tunnelling, but his letter (although kept by the team) was largely disregarded in this respect.
Major Gilbert Francis Egerton Cotton (14 Mar 1880 - 1971) Agent for the Peckforton Estate owned by Lord & Lady Tollemache, which included Beeston Castle. He oversaw the ICI team's access to the castle site.
Thomas Hewitt (1802 -) - first gatekeeper of the castle under John Tollemache when the site was improved in the early 1840s, including the clearance of the well in 1842. Passed the role to Peter Jones in the 1880s, so it seems likely that Hewitt knew the 1842 well excavators and retold their story to Jones.
Peter Jones (1834 - 1910) second gatekeeper based in the castle lodge in the late 1880s and early 1890s. His anecdotal reference to a draughty tunnel being found during the 1842 well clearance to a depth of 116.5 yards was a key influence on the ICI team's decision to excavate the well. This 50+ year old anecdote featured in a notebook he is supposed to have compiled for his family in 1897 to mark Queen Victoria's jubilee. The notebook's title was Incidents And Accidents Round About Beeston Castle, and its current location (if it still exists) is unknown, although it may have been in Beatrice Tunstall’s (see below) possession at some point.
Richard James Parker (1878 -) Son of the influential Bunbury builder Charles Parker (1855-1933) (who had chaired numerous committees in Bunbury, constructed buildings for the Peckforton Estate and had extensive local knowledge). On 10 February 1935 (as the investigation story was featuring in local newspapers) Richard passed a 'rough copy' of someone else's notes on the Peter Jones well anecdote to the ICI team, accompanied by Peckforton Agent Major Gilbert Cotton. It was stated that Parker had obtained this copy 'some months ago'.
Beatrice (born Hilda) Tunstall (1908-1991) Romantic novelist, local historian and folklorist, based in Chester at the time but had previously lived in Bunbury when researching her novels. Author of the 1930s Beeston Castle guidebook, who also ran guided tours of the site, she was a firm advocate of the hidden tunnel to Beeston Hall legend. When the ICI team quizzed R J Parker about the source of the Peter Jones tunnel anecdote he referred them to Beatrice for more information about the castle and well. However no known record exists of ICI team members meeting with her. It is thus possible that she had transcribed the story from Peter Jones' original 1897 notebook, but this is not confirmed. She wrote extensively about local history and folklore for the Cheshire Life magazine and was a significant influence in Cheshire local history post-WW2.
Jane Wilson (6 Apr 1871 - ) the gatekeeper at the time of the ICI investigation, widow of Thomas Wilson (1868 - ) who had originally taken the gatekeeper role around 1896, after Peter Jones. In the 1911 census the Wilsons had four children - Rose May (18 Jun 1893 - 1972), William (c.1895 - ), Dorothy Jane (12 Jun 1901 - ), and Bertram (1907 - ). In the 1939 Register Rose May is listed at the Lodge with her mother Jane along with Dorothy Jane (who later became Dorothy Lloyd by marriage). Jane Wilson appears to have lived and worked at the Castle Lodge for at least 50 years.
Tapping the Source
This is the draft list of 73 names deposited in a vacuum sealed flask at the bottom of the well in 1936 when the investigation ended. This document was the starting point for the name list shown above. It is not known if it is definitive or if it was amended later, as the actual list is now at the bottom of the well shaft(!)
It shows those people who were thought to have been central to the investigation project. An additional 18 names were found in attendance registers from early in the project, and from logbook entries. As you can see, some of the 73 names don't have initials, and others may be mis-spelt.
Attempting to confirm the names through other sources has not always been easy, so any personal knowledge you may have of these people's part in the project would be most welcome.
People