Dodleston is a village and

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. The village is situated to the south west of

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

, very close to the

England–Wales border The England–Wales border, sometimes referred to as the Wales–England border or the Anglo-Welsh border, runs for from the Dee estuary, in the north, to the Severn estuary in the south, separating England and Wales. It has followed broadly ...

. The civil parish includes

Balderton Balderton is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, England, which had a population of 9,757 at the 2011 census, increasing to 9,917 at the 2021 census. Balderton is one of the largest villages in Nottinghamshire, although it may b ...

, Gorstella,

Lower Kinnerton Lower Kinnerton is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Dodleston, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, close to the England–Wales border. The neighbouring vil ...

and Rough Hill. It is one of the three old Cheshire parishes which are situated on the

Flintshire Flintshire () is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, the Dee Estuary to the north-east, the English county of Cheshire to the east, Wrexham County Borough to the south, and Denbighshire to the west. ...

side of the River Dee. Dodleston has a village shop with post office, village hall, village green, a

C of E C, or c, is the third letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''cee'' (pronounced ), plural ''cees''. History "C ...

primary school, the

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

St Mary's Church and the Grade II listed 'Red Lion' pub. It also contains some good examples of buildings by the 19th-century architect John Douglas. At the 2001 census, the population of Dodleston was 777, reducing to 715 at the 2011 census.

History

The name Dodleston likely derives from the

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 ...

personal noun ''Dod(d)el'' and the word ''tūn'', meaning "an enclosure, farmstead or settlement". In 1086, Dodleston was 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 ...

as a relatively large settlement within the hundred of Ati's Cross and in the county of Cheshire. The castle at Dodleston was first mentioned in 1277, but was likely founded in the 12th century. Dodleston was a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in Broxton Hundred. The population was recorded over time as 185 in 1801, 258 in 1851, 307 in 1901, 267 in 1951 and significantly increasing to 777 by 2001. The village was also the birthplace of

Sir Thomas Egerton Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley, (c. 1540 – 15 March 1617), known as Lord Ellesmere or Lord Egert from 1603 to 1616, was an English nobleman, judge and statesman from the Egerton family who served as Lord Keeper and Lord Chancellor ...

(1540–1617), who rose to importance during the latter years of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

and the early reign of

James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) * James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) * James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu * James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334� ...

. Because of his high status he could have been buried in either Westminster Abbey or St Paul's Cathedral in London, but chose

St Mary's Church, Dodleston St Mary's Church is in the village of Dodleston, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the ar ...

, as his final resting place.

Association with Mallory

In the early 1980s the old order of life in a small country village was considerably affected by the development of a new housing estate, which became known as Boydell Park. Within Boydell Park and branching off Penfold Way is Mallory Walk, which is a cul de sac with footpath access to other areas of Dodleston. Dodleston Penfold Way Aerial Photo - geograph

Dodleston Penfold Way Aerial Photo - geograph

Mallory Walk is named after Canon Herbert Leigh-Mallory, who was Rector of St Mary's Church between the years 1927 to 1940, having previously been incumbent at St John's Church in

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

. His son

George Mallory George Herbert Leigh-Mallory (18 June 1886 – 8 or 9 June 1924) was an English Mountaineering, mountaineer who participated in the first three British Mount Everest expeditions from the early to mid-1920s. He and climbing partner An ...

was the English mountaineer who took part in the first three British expeditions to conquer

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

in the early 1920s.

Governance

Dodleston is within the City of Chester parliamentary constituency. 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 name of Dodleston and Huntington existed at the time of the 2011 census, which covered both of the parishes plus their surrounding areas. The total population was recorded as 3,958. As of , Dodleston is within the Christleton and Huntington Ward of the unitary authority of

. The village has its own ten-member elected parish council.

Dodleston messages story

Dodleston is the setting for the "Dodleston Messages", a series of messages from the sixteenth century allegedly received in 1984 by author Ken Webster through a

BBC Micro The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a family of microcomputers developed and manufactured by Acorn Computers in the early 1980s as part of the BBC's Computer Literacy Project. Launched in December 1981, it was showcased across severa ...

computer supposedly haunted by ghosts.

References

External links