AUDLEM, a parish in the hundred of NANTWICH, county palatine of CHESTER, comprising the townships of Audlem, Buerton, Dodcot with Wilkesley, Hankelow, and Tittenley, and containing 2795 inhabitants, of which number, 1307 are in the township of Audlem, 7 miles (S.) from Nantwich. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester, rated in the king's, books at £5. 16. 8., and in the patronage of Sir R.S. Cotton, Bart. The church is dedicated to St. James. There is a place of worship for Particular Baptists. A grant for a market, and a fair on the eve, day, and morrow of St. James the Apostle, was obtained in the 24th of Edward I., which, after long disuse, were revived a few years since, A free grammar school is endowed with £20 per annum by Ralph Bolton, a similar sum by Mr. Gamul, £7 by Tryphena Bolton, and about £40 by an unknown benefactor: here is also an endowed English school.

BUERTON, a township in the parish of AUDLEM, hundred of NANTWICH, county palatine of CHESTER, 2 miles (E.) from Audlem, containing 524 inhabitants.

DODCOT, a township, joint with Wilkesley, partly in the parish of WRENBURY, but chiefly in that of AUDLEM, hundred of NANTWICH, county palatine of CHESTER, 4 miles (W.S.W.) from Audlem, containing 670 inhabitants. The chapel of Burley Dam, which is in the parish of Audlem, stands in this township; it is a neat modern structure, founded by Sir Lynch Salisbury Cotton, Bart. In that part of the township which is in the parish of Wrenbury, Hugh de Malbanc, in 1133, founded the Cistercian monastery of Combermere, and dedicated it to St. Mary and St. Michael, the revenue of which, at the dissolution, was valued at £258. 6. 6.: the site and buildings were granted, in the 32nd of Henry VIII., to William Cotton, Esq., an ancestor of Lord Combermere, whose family seat, occupying the spot, is agreeably situated on the margin of the beautiful lake of Combermere, his lordship deriving the title of baron from this place.

HANKELOW, a township in the parish of AUDLEM, hundred of NANTWICH, county palatine of CHESTER, 1 mile (N.N.E.) from Audlem, containing 258 inhabitants.

TITTENLEY, a township in the parish of AUDLEM, hundred of NANTWICH, county palatine of CHESTER; containing 36 inhabitants.

WILKESLEY, a township, joint with Dodcot, partly in the parish of WRENBURY, but chiefly in the parish of AUDLEM, hundred of NANTWICH, county palatine of CHESTER, 3 miles (S.W. by W.) from Audlem. The population is returned with Dodcot.