Northwich was the most northern of the -wich towns in Cheshire. The existence of Northwich in the early medieval period is shown by its record in the Domesday Book: The manor of Northwich belonged to the Earls of Chester until 1237 when the family line died out. Subsequently, Northwich became a royal manor and was given to a noble family to collect tolls in exchange for a set rent. That salt production continued throughout the centuries and can be seen through John Leland's description of the town in 1540: Between 1642 and 1643, during the English Civil War, Northwich was fortified
Nantwich and Market Drayton Railway Express"" between and used the line. Freight traffic was much more significant. Typically there were about twenty trains a day in each direction, of which two would be local goods, and the remainder would be through traffic, either non-stop over the line or stopping only at Market Drayton. Principally these carried manufactured goods from the Midlands to the Northwest, also fruit from the Worcester area. There was little coal and mineral traffic. On New Year's Day 1992, The Market Drayton Railway Preservation Society (renamed Nantwich & Market Drayton Railway Society in 2010) was set up in order to preserve what