Macefen is a former

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 ...

in the unitary authority of

Cheshire West and Chester Cheshire West and Chester is a unitary authority with borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It was established on 1 April 2009 as part of the 2009 local government changes, by virtue of an order under the Local Gover ...

and the ceremonial county of

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county tow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. Its area is now part of the civil parishes of

Tushingham-cum-Grindley, Macefen and Bradley Tushingham-cum-Grindley, Macefen and Bradley is a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It was created in 2015, under the terms of the Local Government and Public Invo ...

and

No Man's Heath and District No (and variant writings) may refer to one of these articles: English language * ''Yes'' and ''no'' (responses) * A determiner in noun phrases Alphanumeric symbols * No (kana), a letter/syllable in Japanese script * No symbol, displayed ...

. Macefen lies east of the village of Malpas and north west of Whitchurch, Salop. Part of the village of No Man's Heath was within the northern boundary of Macefen. Its name is thought to possibly be an anglicisation of an older Welsh placename Maes-y-ffin, "the open field (''maes'') at the boundary (''ffin'')". Macefen was a slightly curious parish in that it scarcely appears in gazetteers. Under the manorial system Macefen was a manor of the Barony of Malpas, and was for many years part of the estates of the Grosvenor family. Later it was 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, ...

of the ancient parish of Malpas, and later still its boundaries became those of a civil parish.

Kelly's Directory Kelly's Directory (or more formally, the Kelly's, Post Office and Harrod & Co Directory) was a trade directory in England that listed all businesses and tradespeople in a particular city or town, as well as a general directory of postal addresses ...

of Cheshire, 1914 lists Macefen under

Tushingham cum Grindley Tushingham cum Grindley is a former civil parish, now in the parish of Tushingham-cum-Grindley, Macefen and Bradley, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The parish contained the vi ...

thus: "Macefen (or Maesfen) is a small township in the Whitchurch union, 2 miles south from Malpas station. The Hon. Mrs. Algernon R. Parker, who has a residence here t on the north side of Bradley Lane is

lady of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seign ...

and sole landowner." It never had its own church but was served by adjacent churches. The civil parish was abolished in 2015 to form Tushingham-cum-Grindley, Macefen and Bradley and No Man's Heath and District.

References

{{Cheshire Former civil parishes in Cheshire Cheshire West and Chester