Threapwood is a small 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. It is close to the villages of

Shocklach Shocklach is a village in the civil parish of Shocklach Oviatt and District, in the Cheshire West and Chester district, in the county of Cheshire, England. Shocklach village is in the southwestern corner of Cheshire, approximately from the bo ...

Worthenbury Willington Worthenbury () is a community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, and is situated near the England–Wales border. It has an area of 2,146 hectares and a population of 730 ( 2001 census), increasing to 827 at the 2011 census. It contai ...

and Malpas.

Etymology, history

Threapwood developed on an area of

common land Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

, historically a tract of woodland lying between Cheshire and

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. ...

, 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 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 ...

place name element referring to disputed boundary areas.Winchester, W. ''Discovering Parish Boundaries'', Shire, 2000, p.42 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".GENUKI : Flintshire, Threapwood, St. John
/ref> It was also a refuge for military deserters.See Pickering, D. ''Statutes at Large from the 26th to the 30th year of King George III'', Cambridge: Charles Bathurst, 1766, p.329 Various attempts were made to bring Threapwood within the normal administrative structure; by the Militia Acts of 1792 it was decreed to be in

– though for the purposes of the militia only – and the Mutiny Act 1797 placed it in the parish of Malpas.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 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

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 A windmill is a machine operated by the force of wind acting on vanes or sails to mill grain (gristmills), pump water, generate electricity, or drive other machinery. Windmills were used throughout the high medieval and early modern period ...

to the southeast of the villagePevsner, Nikolaus and Hubbard, Edward (1971). ''The Buildings of England: Cheshire''. Penguin Books. still contains much of the internal mechanism, though in a ruinous state of repair.

Sources

Vision of Britain websiteThreapwood History Group

External links