Tarporley

Tarporley
High Street
Tarporley is located in Cheshire
Tarporley
Tarporley
Location within Cheshire
Population3,219 (2021 census)
OS grid referenceSJ553627
Civil parish
  • Tarporley
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townTARPORLEY
Postcode districtCW6
Dialling code01829
PoliceCheshire
FireCheshire
AmbulanceNorth West
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Cheshire
53°09′37″N 2°40′10″W / 53.1602°N 2.6694°W / 53.1602; -2.6694

Tarporley is a large village and civil parish in Cheshire, England. The civil parish also contains the village of Rhuddall Heath. Tarporley is bypassed by the A49 and A51 roads.

At the 2011 census, the population was 2,614.[1]

History

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Tarporley is near the site of a prehistoric settlement.[citation needed] Several prehistoric artefacts have been discovered within close proximity of the present-day village: a Neolithic stone axe, a flint scraper and a Bronze Age barbed and tanged arrow head.[2]

It is listed in the Domesday Book as Torpelei,[3] which has been translated as meaning “a pear wood near a hill called Torr”.[4] For this reason, Tarporley Church of England Primary School has a pear tree for its emblem. However, the exact origins and meaning are unclear. The name has also been suggested to mean "a peasant's wood/clearing", derived from the Old English words þorpere (someone who lives at a thorp; a peasant) and lēah (a wood, forest, glade or clearing)[5]

In 1066, the settlement was owned by Wulfgeat of Madeley and was worth one pound. Twenty years later, under the ownership of Gilbert the Hunter (Gilbert de Venables), Tarporley's value had halved, to ten shillings. This small agricultural settlement comprised eight households (four villagers, two smallholders and two slaves).[6] The Domesday entry suggests that Tarporley was one of many townships still recovering from the devastation caused by the Normans' Harrying of the North in 1069–70.[2]

Governance

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The parish council comprises 12 locally elected members.[7]

An electoral ward of the same name exists. This ward stretches north-east to the Budworths with a total population at the 2011 census of 4,398.[8]

Civic history

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Tarporley was an ancient parish, appearing in the Domesday Book of 1086 in the hundred of Rushton,[6] but by the late 12th century it had become part of Eddisbury Hundred. The parish included four townships, being Eaton, Rushton, Utkinton and a Tarporley township that covered the main settlement and adjoining areas.[9] In 1863 the whole parish was declared to be a local government district, governed by a local board.[10]

Such districts were reconstituted as urban districts in 1894.[11] Tarporley Urban District Council met at the Public Hall on Forest Road (since demolished and replaced by a house called 37 Forest Road).[12][13] The urban district was abolished in 1936, when the area was split into three rural parishes called Tarporley, Rushton and Utkinton within the Northwich Rural District.[14] Northwich Rural District was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972.[15] From 1 April 1974 Tarporley formed part of the borough of Vale Royal, within Cheshire and was included in the new unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester on 1 April 2009.

Political representation

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Tarporley has been in the parliamentary constituency of Eddisbury since that constituency's re-establishment in 1983, following its abolition in 1950. The constituency has been represented by Conservative MPs since its re-establishment: Edward Timpson (since 2019),[16] Stephen O'Brien (1999–2015) and Antoinette Sandbach (2015–19).

Demography

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Population of Tarporley since 1801
Year 1801 1851 1901 1951 2001 2011
Population 674 1,171 1,454 1,538 2,634 2,614
Sources:[17][18][1]
Tarporley Market Hall

Geography and transport

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Tarporley is bypassed by the A49 and A51 roads. The village was once served by Beeston Castle and Tarporley railway station on the North Wales Coast Line between Crewe and Chester, more than two miles from the village; the line remains open but the station closed in April 1966. However, it is set to re-open after the UK government granted approval in October 2023.[19]

A local bus service, route 84, is provided by Arriva Buses Wales.

Swan Hotel, Tarporley

Education

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See also: List of schools in Cheshire West and Chester

Tarporley has two schools: Tarporley High School and Tarporley Church of England Primary School.

Brook Farm School was a state special education boarding school located in the village that closed in 2001 and was demolished in 2013.

Culture

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Established in 1983, through The British Council, Tarporley is twinned with the Breton village of Bohars, near Brest, France.[20]

Tarporley Hunt Club, the oldest surviving hunt club in England,[21][22] meets in the village every Christmas.

A community radio station dedicated to the surrounding towns is currently being set up under the name Radio Tarporley – Tarporley Community Radio.[citation needed]

See also

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References

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Notes

  1. ^ a b UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Tarporley Parish (E04011173)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Archaeological Assessment: Tarporley" (PDF). Cheshire Historic Towns Survey. Cheshire County Council/English Heritage. 2003. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  3. ^ "Cheshire L-Z: Tarporley". Domesday Book Online. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  4. ^ Dodgson, J. McN (1971). The Place-Names of Cheshire (Part III): The Place-Names of Nantwich Hundred and Eddisbury Hundred. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-08049-5.
  5. ^ "Key to English Place-Names: Tarporley". University of Nottingham. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  6. ^ a b Powell-Smith, Anna. "Tarporley". Open Domesday/University of Hull. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  7. ^ "Councillors". Tarporley Parish Council. Retrieved 21 January 2008.
  8. ^ "Ward population 2011". UK Census Data. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  9. ^ Youngs, Frederic (1991). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England: Volume 2. London: Royal Historical Society. p. 36. ISBN 0861931270.
  10. ^ "No. 22715". The London Gazette. 10 March 1863. p. 1417.
  11. ^ Local Government Act 1894
  12. ^ Kelly's Directory of Cheshire. London. 1914. pp. 647–648. Retrieved 11 January 2024.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. ^ "Tarporley: Forest Road". Cheshire Image Bank. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  14. ^ "Tarporley AP/CP". A Vision of Britain Through Time. GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 21 January 2008.
  15. ^ "Tarporley UD". A Vision of Britain Through Time. GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 21 January 2008.
  16. ^ "Eddisbury Parliamentary constituency". BBC. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  17. ^ "Tarporley". GENUKI UK & Ireland Genealogy. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  18. ^ UK Census (2001). "Local Area Report – Tarporley Parish (13UH038)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  19. ^ "Beeston and Tarporley Station Reinstatement". Sandstone Ridge Trust. 2 February 2024. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  20. ^ "Tarporley Twinning Association". Retrieved 10 December 2013.
  21. ^ Atkinson, D. (2004). "Warburton, Rowland Eyles Egerton (1804–1891)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/28678. Retrieved 11 May 2010. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  22. ^ Butler, L. (20 November 2009). "Tarporley Hunt Cup goes under the hammer". Horse and Hound. Retrieved 11 May 2010. Archived 10 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
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