Thelwall is a suburban village in the

Borough of Warrington (God giveth the increase) , image_skyline =Warrington from the Air - geograph.org.uk - 3153500.jpg , imagesize = 280px , image_caption = Aerial view of Warrington , image_flag = ...

, Cheshire, England, close to the

Lymm Lymm is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Warrington, Cheshire, England, which incorporates the hamlets of Booths Hill, Broomedge, Church Green, Deansgreen, Heatley, Heatley Heath, Little Heatley, Oughtrington, Reddish, Rushgreen and ...

junction of the

M6 motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 and the western end of the A14 at ...

History

A fortified village was established at Thelwall in 923, in the reign of King Edward the Elder, which is mentioned in two very early sources, including the '' Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'':

"Kynge Edwarde made a cite at Thelewall in h northe parte of h Marches, nye the water of Mersee, where he put certeyne knyghtes."—Higden's Polychronicon

"A.D. 923. This year went King Edward with an army, late in the harvest, to Thelwall; and ordered the
borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...
to be repaired, and inhabited, and manned. And he ordered another army also from the population of
Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879) Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era= Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ...
, the while he sat there to go to
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
in
Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...
, to repair and to man it. This year died Archbishop Plegmund; and King Reynold won
York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
."—''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''

An inscription on the Pickering Arms records that "In the year 920 King

Edward the Elder Edward the Elder (17 July 924) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 899 until his death in 924. He was the elder son of Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith. When Edward succeeded to the throne, he had to defeat a challenge from his cousin ...

founded a city here and called it Thelwall". According to Sir Peter Leycester it was "so called from the stakes and stumps, cut from the trees, wherewith it was environed about as a wall". It is more likely that the original meaning of Thelwall was "pool by a plank bridge" (the earliest record of the name is in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 923 as "Thelwæl", in 1241 it occurs as "Thelewell"). Earthworks remain of an embankment, possibly part of these fortifications, found in the grounds of Chaigeley School. These remains are a designated

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

National

Monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

. At Thelwall derive many stories of ghosts, since many of the old buildings still remain in the area: sightings are reported from The Little Manor pub, and there are stories of witches at the well of the Old White House on the outskirts of Thelwall.

Thomas de Thelwall Thomas de Thelwall (died 1382) was an English judge and Crown official who spent part of his career in Ireland, where he held office as Master of the Rolls in Ireland and Clerk to the Privy Council of Ireland. He was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lanc ...

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a ministerial office in the Government of the United Kingdom. The position is the second highest ranking minister in the Cabinet Office, immediately after the Prime Minister, and senior to the Minist ...

1377–78, was born here in the early fourteenth century.

Geography

Thelwall nowadays borders the villages of

and

Grappenhall Grappenhall is a suburb of Warrington in the civil parish of Grappenhall and Thelwall, which had a population of 9,377 at the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 census. History Grappenhall is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 with the name '' ...

, and (across the Manchester Ship Canal) Latchford. It is also one of the two principal settlements of

Grappenhall and Thelwall Grappenhall and Thelwall is a civil parish within the Borough of Warrington and the ceremonial county of Cheshire in England. It has a population of 9,377. The civil parish was formed in largely its present state in 1936, when the then Thelwall ...

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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

. According to the 2001 census, the population of the entire

was 9,377.Figures from 2001 census for entire civil parish
/ref> Thelwall is perhaps best known for the

Thelwall Viaduct The Thelwall Viaduct () is a steel composite girder viaduct in Lymm, Warrington, England. It carries the M6 motorway across the Manchester Ship Canal and the River Mersey. It is between junctions 20 and 21 of the M6, the former being also know ...

, which carries the

M6 Motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 and the western end of the A14 at ...

across the Manchester Ship Canal and opened in July 1963 (a second viaduct was added in 1996). The village is between the Ship Canal and the

Bridgewater Canal The Bridgewater Canal connects Runcorn, Manchester and Leigh, in North West England. It was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester. It was opened in 1761 from Wor ...

, and on the east–west A56 and B5157. To the east, between the village and the M6, is Statham.

Politics

As a locality within the

Warrington South Warrington South is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Andy Carter, a Conservative Party politician. Constituency profile Warrington South is one of two seats covering the Borough of Warri ...

constituency, Thelwall is currently represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

by Andy Carter. Thelwall is also represented on

Warrington Borough Council Warrington Borough Council is the local authority of Warrington, Cheshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government services in ...

and b
Grappenhall and Thelwall Parish Council

Warrington Borough Council

Thelwall returns officers from the Grappenhall and Thelwall Ward to serve on the

Borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

Council, and is allocated three representative seats. The current

Councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

s representing Thelwall are: *Councillor – Mike Biggin ''(Liberal Democrat)'' *Councillor – Elaine Welborn ''(Liberal Democrat)'' *Councillor – Wendy Johnson ''(Liberal Democrat)''

Grappenhall and Thelwall Parish Council

The Grappenhall and Thelwall Parish Council consists of sixteen elected officials serving a term of four years. Currently all sixteen Councillors are members of the

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties See also *Liberal democracy *Lib ...

Party. The following is a list of those members representing Thelwall Ward on the Parish Council, including the current Chairperson of the Council who is a serving representative of the Thelwall Ward: *Chairperson of the Parish Council – Louise K. Fernyhough ''(Liberal Democrat)'' **Councillor – Peter J. H. Catterall ''(Liberal Democrat)'' **Councillor – Clifford G. Taylor ''(Liberal Democrat)'' **Councillor – Chris White ''(Liberal Democrat)''

Education

There are three schools in the village: * Thelwall Community Infant School, for children aged 4–7. As of 2018, its most recent Ofsted judgement was in 2008, and was Outstanding. * Thelwall Community Junior School, for children aged 8–11. As of 2018, its most recent Ofsted judgement was in 2015, and was Good. * Chaigeley School, a non-maintained special school. The nearest secondary school is Lymm High School.

Culture

The

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

is represented by All Saints Church where several

scion Scion may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities *Scion, a playable class in the game '' Path of Exile'' (2013) *Atlantean Scion, a device in the ''Tomb Raider'' video game series *Scions, an alien race in the video game ''B ...

s of the ancient Cheshire

Booth Booth may refer to: People * Booth (surname) * Booth (given name) Fictional characters * August Wayne Booth, from the television series ''Once Upon A Time'' *Cliff Booth, a supporting character of the 2019 film ''Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' ...

family are buried. The village has a football club, Thelwall Rangers A.F.C., and a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

club, Thelwall Parish CC. Thelwall also has its own

Morris dancing Morris dancing is a form of English folk dance. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers, usually wearing bell pads on their shins. Implements such as sticks, swords and handkerchiefs may ...

team, the Thelwall Morris Men, and its own amateur dramatic group, the Bridgewater Players.Bridgewater Players
/ref> During the summer months, Thelwall hosts a Rose Queen Parade, which has been running for more than 50 years.

Notable past and present residents

* Barbara Mawer, biochemist and medical researcher, parish councillor *

, fourteenth-century judge and politician, who was

Master of the Rolls in Ireland The Master of the Rolls in Ireland was a senior judicial office in the Irish Chancery under English and British rule, and was equivalent to the Master of the Rolls in the English Chancery. Originally called the Keeper of the Rolls, he was respons ...

and

References

{{authority control Warrington Villages in Cheshire