Threapwood

Threapwood
Threapwood
	Derelict brick tower mill at Threapwood
	Threapwood Location within Cheshire
Population	153 (2011)
OS grid reference	SJ440451
Civil parish	Threapwood;
Unitary authority	Cheshire West and Chester;
Ceremonial county	Cheshire;
Region	North West;
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	MALPAS
Postcode district	SY14
Dialling code	01948
Police	Cheshire
Fire	Cheshire
Ambulance	North West
UK Parliament	Eddisbury;
	List of places UK England Cheshire 53°00′18″N 2°49′59″W / 53.005°N 2.833°W

Threapwood is a small village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is close to the villages of Shocklach, Worthenbury and Malpas.

Etymology, history

Threapwood developed on an area of common land, historically a tract of woodland lying between Cheshire and Flintshire, which was traditionally reputed to have fallen outside of county, parish and township boundaries: it was therefore outside the jurisdiction of any Justice of the Peace and paid no land tax or parish rates. This status was reflected in its name, with threap being a common Old English place name element referring to disputed boundary areas.^[1]

This vague administrative status was to lead to Threapwood gaining a reputation as a home to "abandoned characters of every description, and especially of women of loose or blemished morals".^[2] It was also a refuge for military deserters.^[3] Various attempts were made to bring Threapwood within the normal administrative structure; by the Militia Acts of 1792 it was decreed to be in Worthenbury – though for the purposes of the militia only – and the Mutiny Act 1797 placed it in the parish of Malpas.^[4]

Until Victorian times the village continued to be regarded as partly in Cheshire, and partly in Flintshire. But in 1896, under the "County of Chester (Threapwood) Order", the county boundary (and therefore the boundary between England and Wales), which passed through the village, was adjusted slightly in favour of Cheshire.

Buildings

St John's Church

Churches

St John (C of E). Founded 1817 as a chapel to Malpas (formerly extra-parochial), becoming the parish church for Threapwood in 1968.
United Reformed Church (Independent/Congregational). Built 1850.

Other

War Memorial
A derelict brick tower windmill to the southeast of the village^[5] still contains much of the internal mechanism, though in a ruinous state of repair.

Sources

^ Winchester, W. Discovering Parish Boundaries, Shire, 2000, p.42
^ GENUKI : Flintshire, Threapwood, St. John
^ See Pickering, D. Statutes at Large from the 26th to the 30th year of King George III, Cambridge: Charles Bathurst, 1766, p.329
^ Cathrall, W. The History of North Wales: Comprising a Topographical Description of the Several Counties of Anglesey, Caernarvon, Denbigh, Flint, Merioneth, and Montgomery, v2, 1828, p.233
^ Pevsner, Nikolaus and Hubbard, Edward (1971). The Buildings of England: Cheshire. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-300-09588-0

External links

Media related to Threapwood at Wikimedia Commons

[winchester42-1] Winchester, W. Discovering Parish Boundaries, Shire, 2000, p.42

[2] GENUKI : Flintshire, Threapwood, St. John

[statutes-3] See Pickering, D. Statutes at Large from the 26th to the 30th year of King George III, Cambridge: Charles Bathurst, 1766, p.329

[hnw-4] Cathrall, W. The History of North Wales: Comprising a Topographical Description of the Several Counties of Anglesey, Caernarvon, Denbigh, Flint, Merioneth, and Montgomery, v2, 1828, p.233

[pevsner-5] Pevsner, Nikolaus and Hubbard, Edward (1971). The Buildings of England: Cheshire. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-300-09588-0

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