CHRISTLETON, a parish in the lower division of
the hundred of BROXTON, county palatine of CHESTER,
comprising the townships of Christleton, Cotton-Abbots,
Cotton-Edmund's, Littleton, and Rowton, and containing
954 inhabitants, of which number, 701 are in the township
of Christleton, 2 miles (E. by S.) from Chester.
The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry and diocese
of Chester, rated in the king's books at £39. 5., and in
the patronage of Sir Thomas Mostyn, Bart. The church,
dedicated to St. James, existed prior to the Conquest:
the body has been wholly rebuilt of brick, but the stone
tower bears the date 1530. There is a place of worship
for Wesleyan Methodists. This place formed, at the
time of the Norman survey, a part of the barony of
Malpas, at which period it is said to have been very
populous; it continued of some importance, and was
fortified for the parliament, having been made the headquarters
of Sir William Brereton; but on the siege of
Chester being raised, in February 1645, it was, in a sally
of the citizens, very nearly destroyed by fire. The
Chester and Ellesmere canal passes close to the village.
In 1779, John Sellers, of Littleton, left a small bequest
for teaching poor children) and a school-house was
built in 1800, principally by a bequest from "John
Hignett, Esq.