'MALPAS MISCELLANIES' RE-ISSUED IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS!

Picture from the front cover of the Malpas Miscellany book

'MALPAS MISCELLANIES' RE-ISSUED IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS!

Malpas local historian David Hayns has re-issued his two 'Malpas Miscellanies'.

A MALPAS MISCELLANY
This isa generously illustrated 36 page booklet comprising a collection of articles and poems about Malpas and the surrounding area.

One article is about the two Rectors, who formerly served the parish, and their links with the 'King'S Chair' which stands in the 'Lion at Malpas', including the full text of a long poem by a 19th century rector claiming to recount the legend behind the Chair.

Other articles tell of the town's links with the Romans, including the Malpas Tabula, a military 'pension certificate', which is now on display in the British Museum;
the story of the Malpas Fire Service, from when the parish purchased its first two fire engines in 1832;
Malpas churches and chapels;
the Women's Institute on the 'Home Front' during the second World War;
music and drama in the town during the 1940s and 1950s;
windmills which have vanished from the area;
the visit of Celia Fiennes to No Mans Heath in 1698;
the Clayhole in Wrexham Road;
local members of the Cheshire Yeomanry who became involved in a 'punch-up' at Aldershot when training for the Boer War campaign;
and the provision of lower cost housing in the town.

A SECOND MALPAS MISCELLANY
This is also an illustrated 36 page booklet, comprises a further collection of eleven writings about the area.
They include a main article about the fairs and weekly markets which, until the 19th century, were a regular part of life in this agricultural community.
Another chronicles activity in the area during the 17th century Civil Wars, including the Battle of Oldcastle, and how one of the outcomes was the founding in the following century of Richard Alport's charity school, the forerunner of today's primary school.
A somewhat mysterious local character was Richard Minshull of Malpas Old Hall.

The author investigates his links with Bonnie Prince Charlie, the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion and the semi-secret society known as 'The Cycle of the White Rose'.

Any book about Malpas almost invariably has to mention Saint Oswald's church and so three articles tell the story of the church's 19th century orchestra, complete with the instrument known as a Serpent; investigate some of the persons who were buried actually under the church floor, rather than in the churchyard; and explain how the Churchwardens were responsible for vermin control in the parish!

A local newspaper report from 1881 led to The Empress and Sir Watkin, about a visit to Malpas in order to hunt with the Wynnstay, of Elizabeth, Empress of Austria.

Some of the author's research into local place-names is presented in 'Tons, 'leys' and townships:

The beginnings of our parish and Why 'Gallantry' Bank?.
Of the two remaining articles, one tells the story of the town's water supply,
the other reprints a 1901 poem about a Malpas ladies' hockey team who became rather 'too big for their boots'!

The booklets, which would make ideal 'stocking fillers', are on sale at £5.00 each from Nisa (Malpas Post Office) or for £6.50 (inclusive of postage) from David Hayns at Stoke Cottage, Church Street, Malpas, Cheshire SY14 8PD
Tel: 01948 860486
E-mail: davidhayns.123@btinternet.com