Mollington, Little
MOLLINGTON, LITTLE, a township, in the union of Great Boughton, Higher division of the hundred of Wirrall, S. division of the county of Chester, 2¼ miles (N. W. by N.) from Chester; containing 25 inhabitants. This township, called also Mollington-Banastre, although sometimes considered as part of the parish of Backford, is included in that of St. Mary on the Hill, Chester. Like Great Mollington, it was anciently part of the estate of Robert de Rodelent, and, like that township, reverted, after his death, to the Earl of Chester. In the 41st of Edward III., it was possessed by the Banastres by gift from the crown; and it passed from them to the Langtons, barons of Newton, under whom it was held by the Hoghtons, of Hoghton Tower, in Lancashire. By the marriage of the heiress of the Hoghtons with William Stanley, of Hooton, 14th Henry VI., a portion of the estate was conveyed to the Stanley family. The remainder is the property of the Rev. John Hamer. The township comprises 223 acres, and is situated on the Wirrall side of the Chester and Ellesmere canal, by which it is separated from the other townships in the parish. The tithes have been commuted for an annual rent-charge of £50.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.