Bed and breakfast availability
Malpas b&b, guesthouse and hotel accommodation

Visit Malpas and the surrounding villages and stay in bed & breakfast accommodation:

Malpas, Cheshire, is one of the pleasantest old towns in Cheshire, with rows of timbered houses and cottages, some of which are good examples of medieval brickwork. There is a block of old almshouses, and many old inns, one of which has an oak chair said to have been used by James I. Visitors can regale themselves with the famous Cheshire cheeses — red Cheshire, white Cheshire and the coveted “Old Blue” — for Malpas is set in rich farming land where dairy farms are a speciality. The farming community is very strong in the town and has its own club and social centre. Formerly Malpas was a market town but now it is mainly a shopping centre for the surrounding villages. It is set on a hill-top, 2 miles from the road between Chester and the West Midlands, and is a junction for various local routes. This makes it an excellent centre from which to tour south-west Cheshire, the Dee valley, northern Shropshire and the Wrexham area of Wales.

Although it is an old town not much of its early history is recorded. A mound on the Bickerton Hills indicates a castle, possibly Norman, which served to repel Welsh invaders from the other side of the River Dee which winds only 4 miles away. In the 14^th century, it is said, Malpas people hardly dared to go out to church for fear of being attacked by Welshmen. There was an attempt to get the chapel on the estate at Cholmondeley, 4 miles North East, raised to church status as it would have been a safer place for worship. The Civil War caused much damage and the beautiful church was used as sleeping quarters for Parliamentarian troops. A battle was fought at Oldcastle Heath nearby in 1643.

The town's treasure is the spacious and well-proportioned Church of St Oswald. It was built mainly in the 14^th and 15^th centuries, and by the late 15^th was practically complete in its present form. It is built of red sandstone and the external walls of the aisles with the clerestory above have good examples of medieval work: windows with rich tracery, castellations and pinnacles. Above each buttress is a set of gargoyles of various creatures. The tower is in keeping with the craftsmanship of the rest. Inside, a high tower arch and a broad, low chancel arch set off the nave, which has slender, clustered columns. Panelled roofs complete the nave and chancel. The long chest in the south aisle, companion to another in the crypt, has ironwork dating from the 13^th century. There are four sedilias, one of which, carved with grinning faces, is 600 years old. Two windows are of Flemish medieval glass. The east window commemorates Bishop Heber, a friend of Tennyson, who became Bishop of Calcutta, and wrote many hymns that are used today, including Greenland's Icy Mountains and Holy, holy, holy. There are monuments to the Cholmondeley family, of the nearby estate, and the finely sculpted tomb of Randoiphus Brereton dressed in the armour of a Tudor knight. The Breretons, one of the great Cheshire families, were prominent in Malpas, and their seat, the 16^th-century. Brereton Hall, is one of the county's finest mansions. Sir Randle Brereton was a patron of Malpas, and founded a grammar school in 1528, endowed a hospital, presented a bell in the church tower and founded a chantry of St George.

Around Malpas are several interesting places to visit, such as Peckforton Hills, Tarporley, the Delamere Forest, Shocklach, Tilston and Tushingham.

Nearby towns: Chester, Nantwich, Whitchurch, Wrexham

Nearby villages: Aldford, Ash Magna, Aston, Balderton, Barbridge, Beeston, Belgrave, Broxton, Bunbury, Burland, Calveley, Coddington, Colemere, Coton, Darnhall, Edstaston, Ellesmere, Farndon, Handley, Hindford, Ifton Heath, Ightfield, Moreton Say, Newhall, Platt Lane, Poulton, Prees, Ridley, Rossett, Tarporley, Ternhill, Tilstock, Wardle, Welshampton, Whixall, Wrenbury

Have you decided to visit Malpas or the surrounding villages? Please look above for somewhere to stay in:

• a Malpas bed and breakfast (a Malpas B&B or Malpas b and b)
• a Malpas guesthouse
• a Malpas hotel (or motel)
• a Malpas self-catering establishment, or
• other Malpas accommodation