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I think I have an angle on 'Newchurch'. The church of St John The Evangelist was built in the 1860s in part of Over, Cheshire, standing between the established parish of St Chad, Over, and Whitegate. the church was widely known locally as 'the new church'. THis might explain why John refers to Newchurch for the first time in 1871. Over is the centre of a cluster of Bratts, going back to Thomas Bratt and Sarah Hopley, who moved there from Bunbury in the second half of the eighteenth century. In turn they were an offshoot of the Bratts of Tarporley, many of whom were blacksmiths. I havent looked myself, but I suspect the registers of St Chad Over might help solve this one