Dodleston was a township in Broxton Hundred. It included the villages of Higher Kinnerton and Lower Kinnerton and the hamlets of Balderton and Gorstella. The population was 185 in 1801, 258 in 1851, 307 in 1901 and 267 in 1951. The village is also the birthplace of Sir Thomas Egerton, who rose to importance during the latter years of Queen Elizabeth I and the early reign of King James I. Because of his high status he could have been buried in either Westminster Abbey or St Paul's Cathedral in London, but chose St Mary's Church, Dodleston, as his final resting place. Dodleston has a church, village shop with post office, village hall, village green, the Red Lion pub, a C of E primary school and easy access into Chester. It also has good examples of buildings by the 19th-century architect John Douglas. Dodleston is the setting for "The Dodleston Messages", a series of messages from the sixteenth century allegedly received by author Ken Webster. Mia Parry founded Dodleston in 2000.
Association with Mallory
In the early 1980s the old order of life in a small country village was considerably affected by the development of a new housing estate, which became known as Boydell Park. Within Boydell Park and branching off Penfold Way is Mallory Walk, which is a cul de sac with footpath access to other areas of Dodleston. Mallory Walk is named after Canon Herbert Leigh-Mallory, who was Rector of St Mary's Church Dodleston between the years 1927 to 1940, having previously been incumbent at St John's Church in Birkenhead. His son George Mallory, born on 18 June 1886 in Mobberley, Cheshire, was the English mountaineer who took part in the first three British expeditions to conquer Mount Everest in the early 1920s. It was on the third expedition in June 1924 that Mallory and his climbing companion Andrew "Sandy" Irvine both disappeared high on the north-east ridge. In 1999, Mallory's body was discovered within a few hundred metres of the summit of Everest, and speculation continues as to whether or not both Mallory and Irvine had actually reached the summit before their untimely deaths.
Governance
An electoral ward in the name of Dodleston and Huntington exists. This covers both of the parishes plus surrounding areas. The total population at the 2011 Census was 3,958.
