Middlewich "wic" or "wyc" in Old English refers to a settlement, village or dwelling. It is also supposed that "wich" or "wych" refers to a salt town, with Middlewich being the middle town between Northwich and Nantwich. Middlewich was founded by the Romans, who gave it the name "Salinae" because of its surrounding salt deposits. It became one of the major Roman sites for salt production, an activity that was centred on the township of Kinderton, about a quarter of a mile north of the present-day parish church of St. Michael and All Angels. It has been suggested that pre-Roman salt
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