Machine House, Rossett
Machine House, Chester Road, Rossett
These buildings were once part of Machine House Farm. It’s thought that the name referred to a weighbridge, where carts were weighed. A metal platform at road level was connected by underground levers to scales. The weighbridge was in front of the cottage facing the road, now home to Pure Perfection Clinic.
The cottage dates from the mid-19th century or earlier. It was home to Rossett’s post office in the 1870s and 1880s, before the post office moved to new premises on Station Road. Notice that stone was used for the gables but the frontage is brick.
According to Helen Maurice Jones in her book The Spirit of Rossett, Marford and Gresford, Machine House Farm was at one time owned by coal merchants George and Thomas Taylor, who also had a contract to dispose of the village’s toilet waste!
The doorstep at the entrance to the rear building, now home to The Hideout Bistro & Bar, was made by The Brick & Tile Company of Buckley, which began production in 1865 and closed in 1963.
The property had many uses in the 20th century, being home to a delicatessen, wine cellars and antiques shop at various times. For many years Churton’s Food and Wine Bar traded here. The Machine House name was restored in 2012, when the bottle pictured on the right was discovered during renovation. The label reads: Rossach Surplus, Machine House Farm, Rossett.
Also discovered was a torpedo bottle (pictured below) with the logo of JF Edisbury & Co Ltd of Wrexham. JF Edisbury ran a chemist’s shop in High Street, Wrexham, in the 1870s which sold medicines, German mineral water, cattle medicines, lamp oil and perfume. By the early 20th century his business was producing soft drinks, marketed as good for health, included mineral water, soda, lime juice and ginger ale. The company had a “Mineral Water Manufactory” beside the Cambrian Hotel in Llangollen.
Torpedo bottles were designed for horizontal storage of fizzy drinks so that the cork, remaining moist, wouldn’t contract and allow gas to escape.
Postcode: LL12 OHW View Location Map
Website of Pure Perfection Clinic
Website of The Hideout Bistro & Bar (Facebook)