III. an ACCOUNT of the PARISH of CHURCH MINSHULL, in CHESHIRE. by the Rev
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85 III. AN ACCOUNT OF THE PARISH OF CHURCH MINSHULL, IN CHESHIRE. By the Rev. Oeo. B. Sandford, M.A., Vicar. [The present article is given as a specimen of the valuable contributions which the Paro chial Clergy of the District can give to the Society. The Society cannot but be deeply indebted to the writer for the very careful and lucid manner in which he has given such a mass of details ; when the collections of the Historic Society have as sumed such a character as to justify the publication of a History of the District, Mr. Sandford's labours will be duly appreciated.] CHURCH MINSHULL. The most ancient name of this place was Manessele or Maneshale,* and in the Confirmation Charter to the Abbey at Cumbermere, by King Henry III., it is written Munchulf.-|- Church Minshull is the appellation common to both a Parish and a Village. Concerning the Village we will speak presently; but it seems most in order that we give account in the first instance of the Parish its locality, its appearance, and the several landed proprietors to whom it has belonged. The Parish of Church Minshull consists of a single Townsliip, and is " described in an old MS. in the British Museum (No. 2115, Harl. MSS.) as being within the limits of the forest of Mara and Mondrem."J It con tains altogether 2,280 acres 28 perches of land. It is bounded on the north by the Townships of Darnhall and Weaver, and on the south by Cholmondeston and Aston in Mondrem; Wetenhall is to the west, and Wimboldsley, Minshull Vernon, and Leightou to the east. The higher parts of the Parish are mostly flat, and the soil is clay; but on the banks of the Weaver and the Ash Brook, which separate it from adjoining Townships, and also by the course of a small stream, called by the inhabi tants Hell Brook, which commences at Paradise Green and empties itself into the Weaver; the land is rich and undulated, presenting to the eye many very picturesque landscapes. There are 32 acres of plantation, and » Doomsday. Lysons' Magna Britannia, vol. ii. part ii. p. 320. t Bugdule's Monasticou, vol. v. p. 324. J Lyson's Mag. Brit. vol. ii. part ii. p. 400. Ormerod, vol. ii. p. 50. " The entire jurisdiction of the forest was usurped by the Dones of Utkinton. Richard Done claimed to have ... for the keeping of the said forestership . one undcrforestor in the village of Minshull." Id. p. 31. 86 foxes are abundant. The climate is very healthy, and the neighbourhood has been remarkable for the longevity of its inhabitants. The burial of John Damme is recorded in the Parish Books, Feb. 20, 1648, " being of the age of seven score and fourteen," i e., 154 years : and in A.D. 1770, there is the name of James Archer, aged 105 years. The Registers have been examined between Jan. 1, 1813, and the present day, Dec. 24, 1849, and it appears that there have been altogether 564 funerals, and that of these, 128 were of persons beyond the age of 70. Or, to describe,this with greater minuteness: of these 128, the numbers between 70 and 80 years of age were 68; of persons more than 80, but not 90, 54; and 6 persons of more advanced life than 90. There are several exceedingly good springs of clear water ; and since January 1842, when the writer first made his abode there, the locality has never been visited with any virulent fever or infectious sickness. When the cholera desolated the neighbouring towns, in 1832, there was not a single case of death from it here ; and during the late season, when Nantwich was so heavily afflicted, Minshull and the adjoining Townships have been spared. There were two deaths from English cholera in the Parish, and several instances of violent diarrhoea, but no case of Asiatic cholera was returned. POPULATION. In 1801, there was a return* of 60 houses ; 79 families; 417 persons. In 1810,t males 120; females 138; total 258. In 1821, males 255 ; females 273 ; total 528. In 1831, males 238; females 230; total 468. In 1841, males 227 ; females 237 ; total 464. There are at this present time 80 dwelling-houses in the Parish. PROPRIETORS. " Isdem Willelmus tenet Manessele; Levenot tenuit, et liber homo fuit. Ibi una hida geldabilis: terra est una caruca; ibi unus radman, 11 servi, & 11 bordarii habent uuam carucam: ibi una acra prati, silva una leuva longa, et una lata, et iv haue, et aira accipitris. Valebat et valet iv solidos; wasta fuit," Domesday, apud Onnerod, vol. iii. p. 180. * Lysons, Mag. Brit. vol. ii. part ii. p. 339. t Ormerod's History of Cheshire, vol. iii. p. 151. 87 At the Norman conquest almost every Saxon proprietor was ejected: but it is recorded in Domesday that " William Malbedeng, Baron of Nantwich, held Eteshale, Church Miushull, Minshull Venion, and Sproston."* And in the Confirmation Charter, which Earl Kanulff Swe to Combermere Abbey, in the year 1280, we read of William Malbank, and Hugh, his father, as connected with the neighbourhood. As early, however, as the reign of Henry I. mention is made of a family which took its surname from this place; and two noble houses have sprung from Adam and William, the sons of Augustine de Minshull, who lived about that time. A member of this race, Michael | de Miushull, " served against Saladin under King Richard I., and there won the arms and crest of his family.']] A pedigree of both these lines is subjoined, and we see them again united after the lapse of many centuries by the marriage of Thomas Cholmoudeley, of Vale Eoyal, Esq., with Elizabeth, the only daughter and heiress of John Minshull, of Minshull, Esq. Lord Dela- mere is the present representative of this ancient family; but the estate of Church Minshull was sold during the latter part of the last century, and purchased by John, the younger son of Sir Thomas Brooke, the fourth Baronet, of Norton, who left it to his great-nephew, Mr. Thomas Brooke, whose son, Henry, is the present Squire: a gentleman universally esteemed for very many good qualities, and beloved for his kindness and generosity. THE MANOR OF MINSHTJLL. The family of the -eldest branch, the descendants of Adam, the first son of Augustine de Minshull, retained the name and estate until the * Ormerod, vol. iii. p. 3. + Dugdale, vol. v. p. 827. } " Among several other armorial ensigns dated from the battle of Ascolon, are .... the arms and crest of Minshull of Cheshire, ' Azure, an estoile issuant out of a crescent, in base argent.' Crest, an Eastern Warrior, kneeling on one knee, habited gules, legs and arms in mail proper: at his side a scyinitar sable, hiked or; on his head a turban, with a crescent and feather argent, presenting with his sinister hand, a crescent of the last. These bearings were assigned to Michael de Minshull, for his valour on that oc casion, but the particular nature of his exploits is not related." Lower's Curiosities of Heraldry, p. 168. Ormerod states that the crest was "the Sultan Saladin kneeling on his knee, and holding a crescent." || Ormerod, vol. iii. p. 181. 88 reign of King Richard II. In the reign of Edward II., Richard de Minshull married Alice de Praers of Barthomley, by whom he became possessed of Aston Hall and other property in Aston in Mondrem.* Both Minshull and Aston, however, passed to another house, when, in the reign of Richard II., Joanna,! the sole daughter and Heiress of Henry de Min shull was married to Edmund, a younger son of Sir Thomas Button. And again, they passed by marriage in the reign of Henry VIII., when Richard Cholmondeley, | of Cholmondeley, Esq., married Elinor, the youngest daughter of Sir Thomas Button, who had these estates for her inheritance. MINSHULL HALL. The descendants of William, the second son of Augustine de Minshull, retained possession of Minshull Hall, together with another messuage and about 60 acres of land,]] until the death of John Minshull, Esq., in the year 1654, and the union of the two families by the marriage of Thomas Cholmondeley, of Vale Royal, Esq., with Elizabeth, his only daughter. In the reign of Edward IV., Peter Minshull allied himself by marriage with Jane, daughter and heiress of John de Bebington,§ with whom he became Lord of " a fine seat" at Tranmore, called Derby House,1F and "a great store of fair possessions" at Bebington. As late as the year 1629 there was "in the third window, on the north side of the Church at Bebington, this coat, quarterly, 1 & 4 azure, three stars argent, in the centre point a crescent of the second, Minshull of Minshull: 3 & 4, sable, three bucks' heads cahossed, argent, for Bebing-ton: underneath 'orate pro bono statu Edw'i Minshull & Eliz. uxoris ejus.'"** Honour able mention is made of the last member of this house in King's Vale * Lysons, vol. ii. part ii. p. 471. t " Inq. p. m. 11 Rich. II. Johanna, dau. of Henry de Minshull, held in demesne, as of fee, the Manors of Aston in Mondrem, and Church Minshull, cum pert, (excepting a third part of those manors, which Margaret, wife of Sir John Davenport, held in dower,) the said inimor of Church Minshull being held from Lord John Level), by military ser vice, and of the value of xx marks." Ormerod, vol. iii. p. 180. { Ormerod, vol. ii. pp. 352, 353, 350. || " Inq. p. m. 3 Hen.