Tarporley, Cheshire
Historical Description
Tarporley, a small market-town, a township, and a parish in Cheshire. The town stands 2 miles N of Beeston station on the L. & N.W.R., and 10 ESE of Chester. It dates from ancient times, and was formerly a borough. It consists chiefly of one winding street about half a mile long, and contains some old houses with gabled fronts. It has a head post office. The public hall, erected in 1851, contains a large room used for meetings, concerts, &c., and another room used for county and district council meetings. The market-hall was erected about 1758, is used chiefly as the headquarters of the Cheshire Hunt, and contains portraits of Sir Peter Warburton, Viscount Combermere, former members of the Hunt. The Done recreation room, originally built by Dame Dorothy Done in 1638 as a school, was restored and enlarged in 1888, and comprises a parish library of over 1600 books, a reading-room, and a large room for billiards and games. The church dates from the Decorated period, but the only portions of the original building now standing are part of the chancel and the chapels in the N and S aisles. It was restored in 1869 and 1877, and contains monuments of the Crewe, Done, and Ardem families. There are Baptist, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels, a police station, and almshouses for four poor widows. Markets are held on Thursdays, and fairs on 1 May, first Monday after 24 Aug. and 11 Dec. The township comprises 1164 acres; population, 1419. The parish includes also the townships of Eaton, Rushton, and Utkington. Acreage, 6194; population, 2702. There is an urban district council consisting of fifteen members. Portal Lodge, Salters Well House, and Ardeme Hall are chief residences. Utkinton Hall, formerly the seat of the Dones, is now a farmhouse. Beeston Rock is surmounted by ruins of an ancient stronghold. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Chester; net value, £413 with residence. A church was built at Eaton in 1895-96, and there are churches at Cole Brook and Utkinton. There are a Primitive Methodist chapel at Cole Brook, and a Wesleyan chapel at Eaton.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Cheshire | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Tarporley St. Helen | |
Hundred | Eddisbury | |
Poor Law union | Nantwich | |
Registration district | Chester | 1892 - 1937 |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
For births, marriages, and deaths in Tarporley from 1892 to 1937 you should search for the Chester Registration District.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Tarporley from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Tarporley (St. Helen))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Cheshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Tarporley are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Cheshire papers online:
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Cheshire, 1580 is available on the Heraldry page.