St Wilfrid's Church has a carving of a cat on the west face of the tower. This may have been Lewis Carroll's inspiration for the grinning Cheshire Cat in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.[4] 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.[citation needed]
Along with the church, the centre of the village contains two pubs, the Parr Arms and the Ram's Head, and Grappenhall Hall Residential School (closed down) and St Wilfrid's Primary School. Bradshaw Community Primary School is located north of the village centre.
There is a cricket ground, which is the home of Grappenhall Cricket Club.[7] Australian cricketer Steve Smith was signed for the club for five weeks in 2007, when he was 17.[8]
Library
The Grappenhall Community library is a community-run library in the village. It was opened by the local authority in 1959 before being handed over to the Friends of Grappenhall Library after closure on 2 April 2011[9][10] due to local authority cuts.[11] The library is run by the Friends of the Grappenhall library who pay £10 a year to help with its upkeep.[12]
