 The name is thought to have either originally been "Handmere", or "Hagenamere", taking its name from a Mercian lord.At the time of the Norman invasion the area was part of ancient Cheshire, within the Hundred of Duddeston, and it later became the estate of (and gave its name to) the prominent Hanmer family, who were descended from Sir Thomas de Macclesfield, an officer of Edward I.Sir Thomas settled in English Maelor () and his family consolidated their possessions in the area through a series of marriages to heiresses of important Welsh families.