Chorley

CHORLEY, a township, in the parish of Wrenbury, union and hundred of Nantwich, S. division of the county of Chester, 5¼ miles (W. by S.) from Nantwich; containing 183 inhabitants. The manor was possessed by the Harcourt family in the reign of Edward II., when the two coheiresses of Robert Harcourt married into the Cholmondeley family. Isabel brought a moiety to Hugh Cholmondeley, whose daughter and heiress married Roger Bromley, of Basford; after continuing in the Bromley family for several descents, it was purchased, in 1561, by the Cholmondeleys of Cholmondeley, ancestors of the present Marquess of Cholmondeley. The other moiety passed with Maud to the ancestor of the Cholmondeleys of Chorley, and came to the marquess's family by purchase, in the reign of Henry VI. The township comprises 1288 acres, of which the soil is clayey. The Primitive Methodists have a place of worship, and a Sunday school. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for £81, and the vicarial for £28. 17. 11., payable to the incumbent of Acton.