The town trail is designed as a circuit of the town. It takes in the main concentration of older buildings and point of interest, whilst providing two short detours along footpaths edging the town. One may walk it easily in thirty minutes or spend some time concentrating on different parts. It involves crossing a field with fine views but which may be muddy. This section is easily avoided by consulting the map.
The trail starts at the cross (1), at the centre of the town. All that remains of the medieval market cross are the sandstone steps, which would have been part of the market square. The current gothic crocketted Cross was erected as a memorial to Rev Charles Thurlow who was the Higher Rector of Malpas form 1840-73. The inscription reads ‘In Memory of the Reverend Charles Augustus Thurlow M.A. Chancellor of the Diocese of Chester and for 33 years Rector of the upper Mediety of Malpas. Born July 3rd 1802. Died July 5th 1873. Erected by his children.’
Whilst standing on the steps look for the building with the fine Victorian cast iron shop front and the unusual shell features on its roof. Cross the road to this building and turn to your right, crossing over Well Street which once led to the town well and the gas works. On the right hand corner of Well Street in the road there is an embedded boulder which protected the building from heavy cart wheels. The Red Lion Inn (2) was once a coaching inn. There is a local legend that King James I, who reigned from 1603-1625, visited it incognito. King James’ chair is still there, but mind you read the notice above before sitting down on it, as should you do so, the custom is to buy a round of drinks!
Opposite the Lion is the Crown Hotel (3). In the late 19th century an omnibus service ran between the Crown and the railway station a mile away at Hampton and linked Malpas with the railway network. The station closed in the 1960s, a victim of the Beeching Axe.
Further along past the Red Lion are some of the town’s recognisably oldest buildings which survive in Malpas and help to give it such a distinctive look. They are timber framed and date from the 17th century. Tudor Cottage (4) in Old Hall Street was constructed of oak pinned together with wooden dowels. Oak is extremely hard to work when it is seasoned, so such buildings were made of ‘green’, unseasoned timber with wattle and daub used to fill the gaps between the frame. Over time, the timber has dried out and today the frame is charmingly warped and contorted. Stangely, this rarely caused problems as the warping occured quite slowly and the wattle and daub needed to be replaced periodically anyway. Even the windows could accept a fair degree of movement because they was once glazed with lots of small pains of glass separated by lead. For most of its history Tudor house was thatched – a photograph from 1898 shows it still possesed a good thatch then. To make the building more durable and less vunerable to fire, the thatch has been replaced with slate and the wattle and daub with brick panels – known as noggins.
Looking across the road, towards Whitchurch, the imposing house facing you is Old Hall (5). It was an ancient farm. The present building, now a nursing home, was erected in 1768 replacing an earlier hall destroyed by fire. It was the home of the Breretons of Malpas whose estate was sold to the Drakes of Buckinghamshire to pay off debts. The Old Hall Farm, the Smithy (later the garage), and Anvil Cottage next door, mark the probable medieval town limits.
Now return to the Cross and take the steps to the left up into Church Street. The shops on the left are an interesting assemblage. The first building dates from about the 17th century and must have enjoyed a prime position when the market was held. If you take a good look at the next two buildings (6) you will note the elegant frontage with the 1729 plaque and inscription to commemorate the Drakes who built it. It later became the New Inn. Unfortunately the pretty sash windows only survive over one shop, the other being refronted in brick during Victorian times. The next three shops form the site of the old grammar school (7). The first grammar school was endowed by the Breretons, but closed for lack of money to pay the master. However, after a lapse of several years another was started, possibly on this site.
Just past these shops is the Vaults (8) another of the surviving Public Houses and next door to a shop which was one of the old inns of the town called the Angel (9). They make a fascinating contrast of styles. Across the road was the Wyvern (10), currently occupied by a kitchen shop, which was an 18th century coaching house and hotel. Looking into the coach entry at the side leading to the stable yeard once can still imagine the clatter and creaking of coaches.
Beside the old Wyvern is the Market House (11). At one time the ground floor was two shops with living accommodation above. It is situated at the edge of the old market square, and may be has an echo of a formaer building for transacting commercial busines. It has a colonade of eight Tuscan pillars. The present building was built by the Drake family in 1762.
Immediately beside the Market House are steps to the Churchyard. Go up these and through the wrought iron gates which were originally made in the 1720s for Oulton Park (12). St. Oswald’s Church (13) is one of the finest examples of 14th/15th century church architecture in Cheshire. A point of note whilst outside the church is the large number of inscriptions commemorating church wardens of the past centuries, which adorn the sandstone walling both within and without the churchyard.
At the top of the rise by the war memorial (14) some of the buildings in Church Street can be best seen. The black and white house to the right was an inn called the Gryphon (15), the Cholmondeley symbol. It is now a private house. The Georgian building opposite is the Old Printing House (16). It is dated 1733 and was built for the steward of the Cholmondeley family. Note the Gryphon symbol above the central window. The doorway is of a classical style and incorporates an ornate cast iron fan light. It housed the local printing press.
The trail leaves the churchyard by the south west steps and crosses over the road. Turn left. After twenty yards on the right is Parbutts Lane (17), leading down by the side of the the Old Printing House, which you can see was built directly off the sandstone bedrock. Walk down Parbutts Lane to the stile, and try to spot the chapel windows built into some of the cottages as you go. The next part of the trail involves a walk across fields with good views but which may be muddy at times.
Over the stile, turn right and follow the right of way along the top of the fields. Here there are some fine views over the North Shropshire and South Cheshire countryside. The earthwork scarp up to the holly hedge on the right may be a medieval boundary deliberately constructed to provide security to those inside. Turn right by the footpath down the winding holly lined path back to Church Street. The trail turns right towards the town centre again.
The Bolling (18) on your right is a large brick house which was once the Lower Rectory. It was probably built in the early 18th century. The bricked up fireplaces and the chimney breast show where previous wings were. There are further distinctive Georgian buildings along the same side of the street, one of which, to the right of the Cholmondeley Alms Houses (19), has a panelled portico doorcase said to have been modelled on that of the Tower of Winds in Athens, a temple much copied by architects in the early 19th century.(20)
On the opposite side of the street are a series of fine timber framed buildings of the 17th century. The first of these, the Tithebarn (21) was for the gathering of tithes, a tenth of all agricultural produce payable to the church until the 1830s when cash could be paid instead.
The trail continues through the churchyard once more left past the west tower. Notice the small Castle Mound on the right (22). This motte once had a Norman timber tower on the top. The wider area around the church and the Market House were probably the site of the bailey, or defended courtyard, where the domestic buildings of the castle once stood. Note the way the land drops on two sides into the road and a third into the private yard of the Wyvern. These may represent the defensive ditches about the motte and bailey castle, fossilised in different forms. The flat topped mound encloses a reservoir built to accomodate the town’s first water supply in the 1820s. The waterworks were to the south east of Malpas from whence the water was pumped up to the reservoir. The scheme was financed by the Cholmondeleys and the Drakes. It is possible that the castle mound was completely re-landscaped to accommodate the reservoir. Its flat top became a popular dancing ground, particularly during the annual August Wakes celebrations, until early in the 20th century.
Around the motte base, leaning against the railings are some of the cleared gravestones. Careful inspection will reveal a variety of inscriptions, for example “Jeremiah Hooper – a truly honest man”. The footpath past the motte and bowling green pavilion will take you out along a secluded high hedged path, probably out of the medieval town limits. Continue past the second bowling green. If you look across the fields to your left, the Upper Rectory (24) can be seen. Now privately owned, it was the birthplace of Bishop Heber, a famous missionary and composer of Hymns. A better view of this 18th century rural rectory can be had along the Ox Heyes (see the Country Wal).
The lane bears right taking you back to the main junction past the recreation ground. Turn right along what was once a Roman Road. Across the road on your left is a short terrace of three dwellings, the old Alport School (25). Richard Alport of Overton Hall left money to fund a charity school, which was built on Tilston Road in 1745, to educate the poor of Malpas in the “religious principles of the established church”. The wing to the right was added in 1815 to allow girls to attend and an infant department was added to the left in 1833.
On the opposite side of the road to the old school the large detached house Woodville (26)was built in 1765 for the steward of the Drake family. Next door to this is an imposing red brick house built by Hugh Cholmondeley in 1795 as a school but which was the local doctor’s surgery for nearly a century. There was a fine stabling behind and there are those in the village who can remember the doctor riding out on horseback to make his calls. It’s name Prospect House (27), is derived from an unusual roof platform, only a few feet square, formerly railed, where the occupants could stand and view the ‘prospect’ for many miles around. Today it is a nursing home.
You are now in the High Street, which was once called Windmill Steet as its skyline was dominated by large post windmills. Opposite the Chester Road junction are Drake’s House and Drake Cottage (28) built three years after the Steward’s house (1768). Look for the Drake monogram and the date 1768 on the rainwater head. These are fine Georgian houses in a small town setting.
Malpas Victoria Jubilee Hall (29) was erected in 1887 at a cost of £1200 raised by public subscription on a site given to the community by the Marquis of Cholmondeley. It was built to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria and to provide Malpas with a “neutral” meeting place for public and social events. Until the building of the Jubilee Hall most concerts, dances and political meetings had taken place in the Infant Schoolroom (now Malpas Alport Primary School) or in the main room of the Grammar School (now demolished) in Church Street. The site on which the hall stands was donated by the Marquis of Cholmondeley and a committee to raise the funds for the new building was established. The cost of the new building was estimated at around £900, which was raised partly through public subscription and partly by a mortgage on the freehold. Local architect, Walter Webb drew up the plans and the builder was Thomas Huxley.
The new hall was described as “constructed in the old English half-timbered style, fine brick being largely employed, and giving the hall a very handsome and substantial appearance”. The new building was officially opened by the Marchioness of Cholmondeley on 7th August 1888 and was followed by a grand Bazaar with stalls decorated as traditional Cheshire timber and plaster houses, visitors were entertained by a tenor performing excepts from Gilbert & Sullivan’s operas. A Committee of Management was appointed and the ground floor of the Jubilee Hall was occupied by the Malpas Social Club and Institute with a Reading Room, Billiard Room and Games Room. The new hall rapidly became the focus of much of Malpas’ social life with the formation of a Choral Society, dance committees and visiting entertainers.
Political meetings were held there as well as the Malpas Mutual Improvement Society which held lectures and debates on a wide variety of topics, St John Ambulance classes were popular and the Malpas Fire Brigade stored the Town Fire Hose in a cupboard in the Reading Room, installed a fire bell on a turret at the hall and kept the “Speedwell Hand Pump” in a shed at the rear. The parish council was formed in 1893 taking over the duties of the Vestry Meeting which had been responsible for the town’s water supply, street lighting, road maintenance and poor relief. During the First World War the Jubilee Hall was used for infantry drill, Red Cross nursing classes and a sewing circle as well as patriotic fund-raising concerts and recruitment drives, while during WW2 it hosted an evacuated school from Sefton Park in Liverpool. The clock was added in 2003 to mark the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.
You are now just a short walk back to the Cross where your walk began. We hope you have enjoyed it.
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