Malpas ( ) is a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...

and 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 ...

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 lies near the borders with

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, and had a population of 1,673 at the 2011 census.

Etymology

The name derives from

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th [2-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...

and means "bad/difficult passage". The parish also once contained a place called ''Chathull'', whose name is attested in 1333 as ''Nant Chathull''. This is notable because the first element of ''Chathull'' is thought to derive from Common Brittonic, from the word surviving in modern Welsh as ("wood"). This word must have been a place-name in its own right which, adopted into English, then became the basis for a new place-name, ''Chathull'', whose second element is from

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

("hill") and which therefore meant "hill at Chat". During a later period when English became less widely spoken in Chesire, in favour of Welsh, the Welsh word ("wood") was then further added to the name.

History

Medieval (Norman 1066–1154)

After the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

of 1066 Malpas is recorded 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 belonging to Robert FitzHugh, baron of Malpas. Malpas and other holdings were given to his family for defensive services along the Welsh border. A concentrated line of castles protected Cheshire's western border from the Welsh; these included

motte-and-bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively eas ...

castles at

Shotwick Shotwick is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Puddington, on the southern end of the Wirral Peninsula in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The village ...

Dodleston Dodleston is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The village is situated to the south west of Chester, very close to the Eng ...

Aldford Aldford is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Aldford and Saighton, in the Cheshire West and Chester district, in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. (). The village is approximately to the south of Chester, on th ...

Pulford Pulford is a village and former civil parishes in England, civil parish, now in the parish of Poulton and Pulford, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is on the B5445 road, ...

, Shocklach, Oldcastle and Malpas. The earthworks of Malpas Castle are still to be found to the north of St. Oswald's Church.

Medieval (Plantagenet 1154–1485)

Malpas retains its general layout established in the medieval period. Malpas was granted a Market Charter for a weekly market and annual fair in 1281, thus making it an official "Market Town".

Tudor – Elizabethan (1485–1603)

The sixth son of Sir Randolph Brereton of Shocklach and Malpas, Sir William Brereton, became chamberlain of Chester, and groom of the chamber to

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

. He was beheaded on 17 May 1536 for a suspected romantic affair with

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the Wives of Henry VIII, second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution, by beheading ...

. These accusations may have been politically motivated.

Transport

Malpas was once served by a station on the Whitchurch and Tattenhall Railway. The B5069 road passes through the town from the England/Wales border, towards the

A41 road The A41 is a trunk road between London and Birkenhead, England. Now in parts replaced by motorways, it passes through or near Watford, Kings Langley, Hemel Hempstead, Aylesbury, Bicester, Solihull, Birmingham, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton, New ...

near Hampton Heath. The B5395 road diverges from the A41 at Grindley Brook and heads towards Malpas.

Demography

According to the 2001 census, the

had 1,628 residents living in 720 households. This increased slightly in the 2011 census to 1,673 residents, composed of 767 (45.8%) males and 906 (54.2%) females, in 810 households.

Governance

Malpas was formerly a township and ancient parish within Broxton Hundred, which became a civil parish in 1866. It has had a parish council since their formation in 1894. Prior to that, Malpas had been administered through Vestry Meetings held in St Oswald's Church. Between 1894 and 1936 the town had its own rural district council. Under a Cheshire County review order in 1936, the boundaries of several rural districts were adjusted. Malpas Rural District was abolished and most of the area absorbed into Tarvin Rural District. On 1 April 1974 this was merged into Chester District. Further changes occurred on 1 April 2009 when the Cheshire West & Chester unitary authority was formed. 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 ward stretches north to Edge and south to Wigland. The total population of this ward taken at the 2011 census was 3,975. Malpas is within the

Chester South and Eddisbury Chester South and Eddisbury is a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, it was first contested at the 2024 general election. The Member of P ...

parliamentary constituency.

Listed buildings

Religion

* Church of England, see: St Oswald's Church, Malpas * High Street Church, an ecumenical partnership bringing together traditions of the United Reform Church and the Methodist Church.

Media

Television signals are only received from the Wrekin TV transmitter which broadcast BBC West Midlands and

ITV Central ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the Independent Television franchisee in the English Midlands. It was created following ...

. However,

BBC North West BBC North West is the BBC English Regions, BBC English Region serving Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, as well as parts of North Yorkshire (western Craven District, Craven), Derbyshire (western High Peak, Derbyshire, High ...

and

ITV Granada ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

can be received through cable and satellite television such as

Freesat Freesat is a British free-to-air satellite television service, first formed as a joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc and now owned by Everyone TV (itself owned by all of the four UK Public broadcasting, public service broadcasters, BBC, ...

and

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...

. The town is covered by both BBC Radio Stoke and BBC Radio Shropshire including Heart Cheshire and North East Wales, Capital North West & Wales and Dee Radio. The local newspapers is provided by ''Whitchurch Herald'' and '' Chester Chronicle''.

Education

* Primary School �
Malpas Alport Endowed Primary School
* Secondary School − Bishop Heber High School, named after Bishop Reginald Heber

Notable people

* John Dod (ca.1549 – 1645), known as ''"Decalogue Dod"'', a non-conforming English clergyman. *

Matthew Henry Matthew Henry (18 October 166222 June 1714) was a British Nonconformist and Presbyterian minister and author who was born in Wales but spent much of his life in England. He is best known for the six-volume biblical commentary ''Exposition o ...

(1662–1714), Presbyterian minister and biblical commentatorBritish Listed Buildings: Cenotaph to Matthew Henry on Grosvenor Street Roundabout, Chester Castle
Matthew Henry's Birthplace * Sir John Moore, 1st Baronet, (1718–1779),

Admiral (Royal Navy) Admiral is a senior rank of the Royal Navy, which equates to the NATO rank code Ranks and insignia of NATO, OF-9, outranked only by the rank of Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy), admiral of the fleet. Royal Navy officers holding the ranks of Re ...

during the

War of the Austrian Succession The War of the Austrian Succession was a European conflict fought between 1740 and 1748, primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italian Peninsula, Italy, the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Related conflicts include King Ge ...

. * Ralph Churton (1754–1831), Anglican churchman, archdeacon of

St David's St Davids or St David's (, , "Saint David, David's Welsh toponymy, house”) is a St David's Cathedral, cathedral City status in the United Kingdom, city in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It lies on the River Alun, Pembrokeshire, River Alun and is ...

and biographer. * Bishop Reginald Heber (1783–1826), Bishop of Calcutta and poet. * Anthony Harvey (1930–2017), filmmaker, resident from 1968 * Fulke Johnson Houghton (1940–2025), a

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

racehorse trainer. * Chris Michell (born 1951 in Hampton), flautist and composer of ambient-classic and

New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

music * Ian Bartholomew (born 1954) , ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

'' actor, lives in Malpas * Mark Rylands (born 1961), Anglican Bishop of Shrewsbury 2009–18, Malpas resident 1961–1988 * Chris Stockton (born 1969), former jockey, owner of rare cattle, BTCC racing driver

References

External links

Malpas Community Website
which includes sections on history, art, events, sports and social groups and businesses.
Visions of Britain
– '' Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales'' (1870–72)
Visions of Britain, John Bartholomew, ''Gazetteer of the British Isles'' (1887)

K. Matthews: Saxon Cheshire
{{authority control Towns in Cheshire Civil parishes in Cheshire Cheshire West and Chester