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 ...
, now in the parish of Malpas, in the Cheshire West and Chester district, and ceremonial county of Cheshire in England. In 2001 it had a population of 11. The civil parish was abolished in 2015 and merged into Malpas. Its name was also formerly spelt ''Wichalgh''.Ormerod (1882) ''The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester'', vol 2, Routledge, p.659
Etymology
Like other placenames with the element ''wich(e)'' or ''wych(e)'' the name is a possibly a reference to the saline springs found within the parish at the hamlet of Lower Wych. The name was recorded in 1208 and 1347 as "Wychehalgh", with many variant spellings occurring in the following centuries.Dodgson (1997) ''The Place-names of Cheshire: Place-names of Broxton Hundred and Wirral Hundred'', Cambridge UP, p.53
History
Although Wychough was not mentioned 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...
, it was anciently a
township
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...
of Malpas parish and a manor of the barony of Malpas. In the reign of Edward III the manor was in the possession of Philip de Egerton. As an administrative area that levied a separate rate, the township of Wychough became a civil parish subsequent to the