MIDDLEWICH, a parish, county palatine of CHESTER, comprising the township of Weever in the first division of the hundred of Eddisbury, the market-town of Middlewich, and the townships of Byley with Yatehouse, Clive, Croxton, Kinderton with Hulme, Minshull-Vernon, Mooresbarrow with Parme, Newton, Occlestone, Ravenscroft, Sproston, Stublach, Sutton, and Wimboldsley, in the hundred of NORTHWICH, county palatine of CHESTER, and containing 4450 inhabitants, of which number, 1212 are in the town of Middlewich, 21 miles (E.) from Chester, and 167 (N.W.) from London. The name of this town is derived from its central situation with respect to the Wiches, or salt towns; and it is probable that the Romans had an establishment here, or in the vicinity, as there are traces of a Roman road, and in the township of Kinderton is an intrenched camp, supposed to be the site of the Roman station called Condate. The earliest notice of it is in the reign of Edward the Confessor, when it appears to have been held by the Earl of Mercia under the king: after the Conquest it was annexed to the earldom of Chester, and subsequently to the crown, under which it is held by the present lessee. It was formerly one of the burghs of the palatinate, and the burgesses received grants of various privileges from some of the baronial proprietors, which they pleaded in reply to a writ of Quo Warranto issued against them in the 15th of Henry VII. On the occasion of a contest here between the royalists and the parliamentary forces, March I3th, 1642, the former experienced a signal defeat; but in a second engagement, about nine months afterwards, the parliamentarians were vanquished in consequence of a reinforcement of their opponents by troops from Ireland. The town, which is neat and well built, and extends into the townships of Kinderton and Newton, is divided by the Grand Trunk, or Trent and Mersey, canal, here crossed by the river Dane; and the rivers Croco, Weever, and Wheelock, also run through the parish: upon the two latter are several corn-mills. A branch from the Chester canal is now in progress from Wardle to Middlewich, from which considerable benefit to the trade of this town is anticipated. The trade consists principally in salt, which is obtained from powerful brine springs; there are likewise some silk manufactories. The market is on Tuesday; and fairs are held on Holy Thursday, August 25th, and October 29th, Constables are appointed at the court leet of the lessee of the manor. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester, rated in the king's books at £14, endowed with £200 private benefaction, £200 royal bounty, and £1000 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of the Rev. Isaac Wood. The church, dedicated to St. Michael and all Angels, presents indications of various styles of architecture, having been the work of different periods; it has a handsome tower; at the eastern end of each of the aisles is a chapel, or chancel, separated by a screen. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents, and Wesleyan Methodists. A free school was founded in the sixteenth century, for a few poor boys, custom having limited the number to eight, who are taught reading only; the master is nominated by Lord de Tabley.- it is endowed with £ 160, and a house and school-room in the township of Newton, the inhabitants of which have added a small portion of land, to entitle them to send a proportionate number of boys for instruction. The Rev. Theophilus Lindsey, a Unitarian divine, and theological writer, was born here in 1723; he died in London, in 1808.