Threapwood developed on an area of common land, historically a tract of woodland lying between Cheshire and Flintshire, which was traditionally reputed to have fallen outside of county, parish and township boundaries: it was therefore outside the jurisdiction of any Justice of the Peace and paid no land tax or parish rates.

This status was reflected in its name, with threap being a common Old English place name element referring to disputed boundary areas.

[1] This vague administrative status was to lead to Threapwood gaining a reputation as a home to "abandoned characters of every description, and especially of women of loose or blemished morals".

[3] Various attempts were made to bring Threapwood within the normal administrative structure; by the Militia Acts of 1792 it was decreed to be in Worthenbury – though for the purposes of the militia only – and the Mutiny Act 1797 placed it in the parish of Malpas.

But in 1896, under the "County of Chester (Threapwood) Order", the county boundary (and therefore the boundary between England and Wales), which passed through the village, was adjusted slightly in favour of Cheshire.