Grappenhall is a suburban village in
WarringtonWarrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...
,
CheshireCheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is situated along the
Bridgewater CanalThe Bridgewater Canal connects Runcorn, Manchester and Leigh, in North West England. It was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester...
, and forms one of the principal settlements of
Grappenhall and ThelwallGrappenhall and Thelwall is a civil parish within the Borough of Warrington and the ceremonial county of Cheshire in England. It has a population of 9,377....
civil parish. According to the
2001 UK censusA nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
, the population of the entire civil parish was 9,377.
Grappenhall was mentioned years ago in the
Domesday BookDomesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
under the name
Gropenhale, which states it to be worth five shillings.
St Wilfrid's ChurchSt Wilfrid's Church, Grappenhall, is in Church Lane, Grappenhall, a village near Warrington, Cheshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building...
has a carving of a cat on the west face of the tower. This is believed to be
Lewis CarrollCharles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's inspiration for the grinning
Cheshire CatThe Cheshire Cat is a fictional cat popularised by Lewis Carroll's depiction of it in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Known for his distinctive mischievous grin, the Cheshire Cat has had a notable impact on popular culture.-Origins:...
in
Alice's Adventures in WonderlandAlice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
. The church itself was first constructed in 1120, though was rebuilt 400 years later.
The church was also, at a time, in the possession of the Boidelle (Boydell) family.
Along with the church, the centre of the village contains two pubs (The Parr Arms and The Ram's Head), Grappenhall Hall residential School and St. Wilfrids Primary School. Bradshaw Community Primary School is also found north of the centre of the village.
Parts of the
Case-Book of Sherlock HolmesThe Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the name given to the TV series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations produced by British television company Granada Television between 1984 and 1994, although only the first two series bore that title on screen. The series was broadcast on the ITV network in the UK,...
were filmed in the centre of Grappenhall. It is also the birthplace of actor
Tim CurryTimothy James "Tim" Curry is a British actor, singer, composer and voice actor, known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film and television productions. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California....
.
External links