Tushingham cum Grindley 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 authority ...

, now in the parish 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 ...

, in the unitary authority of

Cheshire West and Chester Cheshire West and Chester is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It was established on 1 April 2009 as part of the 2009 str ...

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 t ...

, England. The parish contained the village of Tushingham and the hamlet of

Bell o' th' Hill Bell o' th' Hill is a small, scattered settlement in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, close to the border with Shropshire. Until 2015 it was in the civil parish of Tushingham cum ...

. According to the 2001 UK census, the total population of the civil parish was 166, rising to 187 at the 2011 Census. The civil parish was abolished in 2015 to form Tushingham-cum-Grindley, Macefen and Bradley.

Etymology

The ''Grindley'' component of the name has been given as Grenleg' Grenlet, Grenlee, Grynleye, Grynesley, and Gryndley sometimes with Broke, broc, or "le Brock" added to the end since the thirteenth century. It refers to "Green wood" or "clearing" next to a brook. The brook later became known as

Wych Brook The Wych Brook, Worthenbury Brook and Red Brook, formerly known as the River Elfe, is a tributary of the River Dee in England and Wales, forming part of both the historic and present-day border between the two countries. The stream forms part ...

, and it now forms the county boundary between Cheshire and

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

at that point. For the origins of ''Tushingham, two possible explanations have been reported: the first was originally put forward by

Eilert Ekwall Bror Oscar Eilert Ekwall (born 8 January 1877 in Vallsjö (now in Sävsjö, Jönköpings län), Sweden, died 23 November 1964 in Lund, Skåne län, Sweden), known as Eilert Ekwall, was Professor of English at Sweden's Lund University from 1909 to ...

, who concluded that it referred to "the village of Tunsige's people", but a more recent suggestion is that a more direct origin from the Middle English "tuss(h)e" (a tuft of grass or rushes) and "ing" (a place) with "ham" yields a meaning of "the village in the place where tufts of grasses or rushes grow". All the forms of the name that Dodgson records from 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

onwards begin with "Tus-" as opposed to "Tuns-": Tusigeham, Tussinhgham, Tussincham, Tussingeham, and Tussyncam.

Governance

Tushingham was originally a township in Malpas ancient parish which obtained its separate civil parish status in 1866. As a separate civil parish it has sometimes been known as "Tushingham" or "Tushingham with Grindley". It was originally in Broxton Hundred. From 1837 to 1857 it was in

Nantwich Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture. ...

Poor law union, and from 1857 to 1930 it was in Whitchurch (in Shropshire) poor law union. It was also part of Whitchurch

rural sanitary district Sanitary districts were established in England and Wales in 1872 and in Ireland in 1878. The districts were of two types, based on existing structures: *Urban sanitary districts in towns with existing local government bodies *Rural sanitary dis ...

. Following the local government restructuring at the end of the nineteenth century, when local districts were formed using rural sanitary districts as a guide, Tushingham joined Malpas Rural District and remained there from 1894 to 1936. From 1936 to 1974 it became part of Tarvin Rural District. From 1974 to 2009 it was part of Chester District, and is currently part of the unitary authority of

. St Chad's Chapel, Tushingham is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, and it is reported that there appears to have been a chapel present there since the fourteenth century.

Notes and references

Notes

Bibliography

* * Former civil parishes in Cheshire Cheshire West and Chester {{Cheshire-geo-stub

Etymology

Governance

See also

Notes and references

Notes

Bibliography