Kingsley is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

and a village in the unitary authority of

Cheshire West and Chester Cheshire West and Chester is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Cheshire, England. It was established on 1 April 2009 as part of the 2009 structural changes to l ...

and the ceremonial county of

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, England. It is approximately 5 miles south east of the town of

Frodsham Frodsham is a market town, civil parish, and electoral ward in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Its population in 2021 was 9,300. It is south of Liverpool and southwest of Man ...

. The village is home to two primary schools – Kingsley St John's Church of England Primary School and Kingsley Community Primary School.

History

Kingsley is first listed in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 as ''Chingeslie'' in the Roelau Hundred. The village is listed as having been held from Earl

Hugh d'Avranches Hugh d'Avranches ( 1047 – 27 July 1101), nicknamed ''le Gros'' (the Large) or ''Lupus'' (the Wolf), was from 1071 the second Norman Earl of Chester and one of the great magnates of early Norman England. Early life and career Hugh d'Avra ...

by a Saxon named Dunning. It has land for two ploughs, and home to five

serf Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed du ...

s, one villein, and three bordars. It also mentioned one and a half fisheries, four hays for roe deer, and a hawk's eyrie. The earl brought the woodland of one league long and one league wide into his forest. The forest mentioned was the ancient forest of Mara and Mondrem which was greatly reduced in size subsequently and is now known as

Delamere Forest Delamere Forest is a large Woodland, wood in the village of Delamere, Cheshire, Delamere in Cheshire, England. The woodland, which is managed by Forestry England, covers an area of making it the largest area of woodland in the county. It contai ...

. In 1260, the village was listed as ''Kingisleg''. The name of the village ultimately derives from "king's lea" – the meadow of the king.Scholes, R. (2000). pages 96–97. The village was for a long time known for its independence, as shown in its early

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

meeting house, as well as its siding with the Parliamentarians during the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

Governance

Kingsley was a township in Frodsham ancient parish. It was made a separate civil parish in 1866, having been made a separate

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

in 1853. It was originally in Eddisbury Hundred, and after the reforms of the 19th century, became part of Runcorn Rural District. It was also in Runcorn

Poor Law Union A poor law union was a geographical territory, and early local government unit, in Great Britain and Ireland. Poor law unions existed in England and Wales from 1834 to 1930 for the administration of poor relief. Prior to the Poor Law Amendment ...

and Runcorn

Sanitary District Sanitary districts were established in England and Wales in 1872 and in Ireland in 1878. The districts were of two types, based on existing structures: *Urban sanitary districts in towns with existing local government bodies *Rural sanitary dis ...

until 1974, and in the borough of

Vale Royal Vale Royal was, from 1974 to 2009, a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Cheshire, England. It contained the towns of Northwich, Winsford and Frodsham. History The ...

from 1974 to 2009. An

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

in the same name exists. This stretches from

Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location * S ...

in the north to Norley in the south. The total population of this ward taken at the 2011 Census was 4,222.

Religion

Until the 19th century, the local parish church was that of St Laurence, at Overton in nearby Frodsham. In 1851 the red

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Church of St John the Evangelist was consecrated, having been built to a design of

George Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), largely known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he ...

, and in 1853 it became the village's parish church. The current

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

chapel, Hurst Methodist Chapel, was built in 1871. Between 1864 and 1967 there was a second Methodist chapel, Brookside Methodist Chapel.

Demography

Population

* 1801: 661 * 1851: 1067 * 1901: 1066 * 1951: 1503 * 2001: 2026 * 2011: 1986

Notable residents

Paula Radcliffe Paula Jane Radcliffe Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 17 December 1973) is a British former long-distance runner. She is a three-time winner of the London Marathon (2002, 2003, 2005), three-time New York Marathon champion (2004, 2007, 200 ...

Bob Carolgees Bob Carolgees (born Robert Frederick Johnson; 12 May 1948) is a British comedy entertainer who appeared on the Saturday morning TV series ''Tiswas'' and then later in its adult versions '' O.T.T.'' and '' Saturday Stayback''. He is best known fo ...

Emily Speed Emily Speed (born 1979, Chester) is an artist based in Liverpool. Her practice spans drawing, sculpture, installation, photography, moving image and performance. It explores the relationship between architecture and the human body. Speed has show ...

Luke Browning Luke Browning (born 31 January 2002) is a British racing driver, who competes in the FIA Formula 2 Championship for Hitech Pulse-Eight, Hitech Toyota Gazoo Racing, TGR as part of the Williams Driver Academy. A member of the Williams Driver Aca ...

Transport

The nearest railway station is 3 miles away at Acton Bridge on the West Coast mainline for trains to Liverpool and Birmingham and links, via Runcorn and Crewe to intercity services. Delamere railway station is 3.1 miles away with services to Northwich, Manchester and Chester. Alternatively, there is Frodsham railway station which is 3.2 miles away for services to Manchester, Chester and North Wales. By 2018 there will be services once again to Liverpool from Frodsham.

Community

Kingsley is home to a number of community services including a community centre, The Kingsley Village Institute, Kingsley Cricket Club, Kingsley Youth Group (formerly KU17's), Scouts (Beavers, Cubs & Scouts) and Guide groups and The Kingsley Players, an amateur dramatic society. As well as a website there is a village Facebook group for advertising and discussing local events The village prints and distributes its own newsletter, ''The Kingsley News'', which is published every month (except August).

Kingsley Cricket Club

The Cricket Club has two senior teams playing in the Meller Braggins Cheshire Cricket League, a Sunday XI, and a midweek team (The Kingsley Knights) playing in the Chester and District Midweek Cricket League. The club has a junior division with U18, U15, U13, U11 and U9 squads playing fixtures throughout the summer.

History

Governance

Religion

Demography

Population

Notable residents

Transport

Community

Kingsley Cricket Club

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links