The Romans
Mercian Saxons
The Church is dedicated to St Oswald. Such dedications are thought to be associated with Æthelræd II (879-911), also known as Earl Aethelred of Mercia and Æthelflæd of Mercia (911-918); they are known to have encouraged the growth of this cult along the Welsh border in places such as Hereford and Shrewsbury. This may indicate that Malpas was not a Norman ‘New Town’, but a Saxon burh.
The Normans
At the time of the Norman conquest in 1066, the village was known as ‘Depenbech’ meaning ‘at the deep valley with a stream in it’. This suggests the location of the original village may have been at Hough Bridge, south from the village’s present hilltop location. This old English name was gradually replaced by the Norman French “Mal-pas” meaning ‘difficult way or passage’; a reference to the difficult local terrain being a combination of the sandstone outcrops of the Peckforton Hills and the marshy floodplain of the River Dee. William the Conqueror granted the Barony of Malpas to Robert Fitzhugh. He was one of eight Barons who served on the Council of the Earl of Chester. When Robert Fitzhugh died without male successsors his possessions, including Malpas, was divided between his two daughters.
The Doomsday Book
Malpas is mentioned in the Great Doomsday Book (Started 1086) and was clearly an important settlement as its value was one of the largest in Cheshire. It has been suggested that the Parish of Malpas had been a major estate of the pre-conquest Earls of Mercia. Doomsday says:-
The same Robert holds Depenbech [Malpas]. (Earl interlined) Edwin held it. There [are] 8 hides that pay geld. The land is for 14 ploughs. In demesne are three [ploughs] and 1 bordar and ½ acre of meadow. Of this land 5 knights (milites) hold 5½ hides of Robert, and have there 3 ploughs, and 7 villeins with 2½ ploughs. There [are] 2 acres of meadow. T.R.E the whole was worth £11 4s. It was afterwards waste. Now, all included, it is worth 52s. It has 2 leagues in length and 1 in width.
Glossary for Doomsday
Hide – Standard unit of assessment for tax purposes – approximately 120 acres, being the required land to support a household
Geld – Anglo-Saxon land tax.
Plough – Taxable amount of land that could be ploughed by a team of 8 oxen.
Demesne – Part of the manor kept by the lord in his own hands or farmed for his own profit.
Bordar – An unfree peasant with less land than a Villein (see below).
Villeins – An unfree peasant required to work for his lord for two or three days a week, but who also could farm land himself. They were the wealthiest class of unfree peasantry.
T.R.E. – Latin abbreviation for ‘at the time of King Edward’. (Edward was the King before Harold was famously vanquished by William at Hastings. Harold is ignominiously refered to as ‘Earl’ Harold in Doomsday rather than king)
Waste – May refer to land damaged as a result of the particularly brutal scorched earth policy of William to subjugate Northern England in 1069-1070. The general populace and their livestock were slaughtered, whole villages and foodstores were burnt and the land salted so those surviving the initial onslaught would die of starvation. Clearly the value of the land in Malpas was significantly reduced, falling from £11 4s at the time of Edward to 52 shillings at the time of Doomsday.
The Custom of Malpas
Norman Cheshire, on the border of a still querulous Wales, was a County palatine, a county ruled by an Earl or Duke, with special authority and autonomy. As such, The Barons of Malpas enjoyed capital jurisdiction at their Courts, and it appears that criminals convicted of felony were punished by beheading, which, in a record of the reign of Edward II, is spoken of as the ‘Custom of Malpas’ – the heads of those executed were presented to Chester Castle.
Castle
The first significant building in Malpas was a Norman motte behind the present church of St Oswald’s. This was part of a defensive system designed to protect the farms of South Cheshire from cross border raids and a concentrated line of Norman castles can be found at Shotwick , Dodleston , Aldford , Pulford , Shocklach , Oldcastle and Malpas. The 12th century Malpas Castle may have looked something like the illustration to the right. The keep is long gone but the motte (mound) is still just to the North of St. Oswald’s Church. The exact extent and location of the bailey (compound) is uncertain but is highly likely to have included the churchyard of St. Oswalds.
Landowners
After the death of Robert Fitzhugh, the Sutton and Egerton families came to hold prominent shares in the barony and from the mid 14th century the Brereton family bought considerable interests. The Cholmondeleys, descendants of the original Barons, significantly extended their influence from the 17th Century onwards.
Symbols seen on old buildings in Malpas representing the two major landowners
The Wyvern was the symbol of the Drakes who acquired property in Malpas from the Breretons
The Gryphon was the Cholmondeley family emblem, it can be seen on the gable of The Old Printing House in Church Street.
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