NA~'l'WICH Hl1NDRED.

• ASTON·JUXTA-MONDRUM, so caned, from being within the limits ot the ancient forest of Moudrnm, is a township, with a. scattered district of hauses, 4 miles N. from ; the township contains 1,250 acres of land, mostly a clay soil, in 1841, here were 26 houses, and l 64 inhabitants; population in 1801, Ill, in 1831, 152. Gross estimated rt>ntal £1,692 3s. Rateable value £1,522 l8s. The manOi' was anciently parcel of the barony of Wich-Malbank; at an early period it became vested in that branch of Crewes, whose coheiress married Prrers. Aston Hall became the property of the Minshulls, whose ancestor had married a coheiress of ; Edmund Dutton, Esq. married the heiress of Minshull, about the year 1360: upon the failure of male issue, from the elder branch of the Duttons; in 1526 Aston-in-Mondrum was one of the estates allotted to the col1eiress, and in the division appears to have fallen to the share of the Cholmondeleys; Richard Cholmondeley, who married Eleanor, one of the daughters of Sir Thomas Dutton, died siesed of this estate in J 538; it was purchased of the Cholruondeley family by John Darling­ ton, Esq., whose daughter brought it in marriage to Henry Tomkinson, Esq., and it is now vested in Mrs. Julia Tomkinson; the other principal landowners are John Barratt, Esq., T. E. Massey, Esq., Lieut. Tomkinson and the JI.Iessrs Tomkinson's. The tithes were com­ muted in 1841, £26 7s. 9d. is paid to the vicar of Acton,_ and £71 5s. to John Tolle­ mache, Esq., the impropriator. BRAYNE HALL was the seat of the Brayne family, so early as the reign of King John, and continued till the beginning of the present century, when Mr. John Brayne sold the hall to the late Mrs. Elcock, it is now the property of Francis Elcock Massey, Esq. AsToN HALL is a good brick, farm residence. The Shropshire Union Canal intersects the township, and the Branch of the London and North Western Railway Company have a station here. DumcTORY.-John Davies, wheelwright; Samuel Kenyon, station master; Farmers, William Buckley, Abrabam Darlington, James Done, Charles Tomlinson, Mary Tomlinson, John Vernon, Brayne Hall; John Worthington, Thomas Yoxall.

AUSTERSON formerly written Alstanton, is a small township containing 899 acres of land,• 2 miles S. from Nantwich. The soil is mostly a heavy clay. In 1841 there were • six houses, and 55 inhabitants. Population in 1801, 59. Rateable value, £973 Us. 5d. The Earl of Kilmorey is sole owner, lord of the manor, and impropriator. The vicarial tithes are commuted for £20 3s. 5d. i. and rectorial for £91 12s. The manor of formed part of the Nautwich Barony, and subsequently became the property of the Lords Audley. It was possessed by a family which adopted the local name, and was afterwards inherited by the Bulkeleys, Wettenhalls~ Praers, and Bromleys. Isabel, daughter and coheiress of Sir John Bromley, who died in the year 1485, brought it in marriage about the latter end of the 15th century, to Sir William Needbam, of Shavington, ancestor of the pre­ sent proprietor, The- following are the principal residents in the township, viz.-Farmers.-Sabbath Church, Thomas Davies, Joseph and Thomas Furber, Margaret Furnival, John Hardem, and Joseph Wright.

BADDINGTON is a small township with a scattered population, I mile S.S.W. from Nantwich. The township is intersected by the Liverpool and Birmingham Canal, and contains 1,401 acres of poor land. In 1841, there were 19 houses, and 137 inhabitants. Population in 1801, 148; in 1831, 153. Gross estimated rental, £1,556 3s. 9d. Rateable value, £1,524 His. 8d. was an integral part of the Nantwich Barony, being a dependency of that division which passed from Eleanor de Malbank, to the Audleys. The manor was acquired by .the Bromleys about the reign of Edward IlL, in marriage with an heiress of the family of Chettleton. After remaining in this fillllily a considerable period, Jsabel, daughter of Sir John Bromley, brought the estate to William Needham, and itisnow pos!'lessed by the rPpresentative of the family, the Right Honourable Francis Jack, Earl of