CODDINGTON, a parish in the higher division of
the hundred of BROXTON, county palatine of CHESTER,
comprising the townships of Aldersey, Chowley, and
Coddington, and containing 346 inhabitants, of which
number, 130 are in the township of Coddington, 6 miles
(N. N. W.) from Malpas. The living is a discharged rectory,
in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester, rated
in the king's books at £5. 4. 2., endowed with £200
private benefaction, and £200 royal bounty, and in the
patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Chester. The
church, dedicated to St. Mary, is an ancient structure,
with a wooden belfry, supposed to have been founded
in the eleventh century; it was granted with the living
to .Chester abbey, by Fitz-Hugh, and was one of the
few possessions remaining to the abbey that were confirmed
to the Dean and Chapter by Queen Elizabeth.
Coddington is thought to have been a habitation of the
Britons, which seems probable from the artificial embankments
and tumuli discernible in the vicinity.