Brereton is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the unitary authority of

Cheshire East Cheshire East is a unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The local authority is Cheshire East Council. Towns within the area include Crewe, Macclesfield, Co ...

and the ceremonial county of

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, England. According to the 2001 census, the population of the entire civil parish was 1,012,Official 2001 Census Figures.
Neighbourhood Statistics website, Retrieval Date: 23 August 2007. increasing to 1,190 at the 2011 Census. Brereton is mentioned in the Domesday book as the Manor of Bretune. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Brereton Green, Brereton Heath,

Smethwick Green Smethwick Green is a hamlet near Congleton in Cheshire in England. Until 2009 it formed part of the Brereton Ward of Congleton district but, on the creation Cheshire East unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible ...

, Medhurst Green, Sandlow Green and Davenport. It also contains

Brereton Hall Brereton Hall is an Elizabethan prodigy house north of Brereton Green, next to St Oswald's Church in the civil parish of Brereton, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I liste ...

, a

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...

house that is in private ownership and not open to the public. This used to be the family seat of the Lords Brereton, but the Lordship ended in 1722 when the fifth Baron Brereton died a bachelor. The adjoining Church of St Oswald is a Grade II* listed building described as "an unusually complete late

Perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It can ...

church". The Bear's Head (formerly the Boar's Head) is a notable half-timbered public house, dated 1615 and also listed at Grade II*.

History

The civil parish was created in 1936 by uniting the civil parishes of Brereton cum Smethwick and Davenport. Brereton cum Smethwick was an Ancient Parish in Northwich Hundred. Davenport began as a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

Astbury Astbury is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Andrew Astbury, English swimmer *Ian Astbury, English rock singer *Jill Astbury, Australian researcher into violence against women *William Astbury, English physicist and molecular bio ...

Ancient Parish (which has had no separate civic identity since 1866.) Davenport was created a separate civil parish in 1866 which existed until the merger in 1936. Both these "parent civil parishes" of Brereton had similar administrative histories: both were in Northwich Hundred, and they both later became members of

Congleton Congleton is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The town is by the River Dane, south of Manchester and north of Stoke on Trent. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 26,482. Top ...

Poor Law Union and

Rural Sanitary District Sanitary districts were established in England and Wales in 1872 and in Ireland in 1878. The districts were of two types, based on existing structures: *Urban sanitary districts in towns with existing local government bodies *Rural sanitary dis ...

. Later still, they became part of

Congleton Rural District Congleton was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district with borough status in Cheshire, England. It included the towns of Congleton, Alsager, Middlewich and Sandbach. The headquarters of the borough council were located in Sandbach. Hi ...

, in which they remained until they merged.Youngs, F. A. (1991). pages 10, 17.

Culture

The parish has used the legend of Lord Brereton and the bear in inaugurating a unique 'scarecrow festival' called 'The Brereton Bear Festival'. The legend is that William Brereton killed his valet in a temper after he was interrupted at his meal. His punishment was to be a fight with a bear, but the King gave him three days to make a muzzle to contain the bear. After three days the bear was let loose on the lord, and luckily for him, the muzzle proved to be successful. The muzzled bear became the crest on the Brereton coat of arms. The Bears Head, Brereton Green - geograph

The Bears Head, Brereton Green - geograph

West on Brereton Heath Lane © Jonathan Kington

In 2004, the Church introduced a Bear Festival to the Parish as a means of raising funds for St Oswald's church, which is now held biennially in odd-numbered years. Local residents and organisations create displays on the theme of 'Bears' – often with great ingenuity! There are prizes for both bear makers and bear hunters. The Festival takes place for five weekends during July and August. Many bear-themed events are held over the period to raise money for St Oswald's Church and local organizations.

Felicia Hemans Felicia Dorothea Hemans (25 September 1793 – 16 May 1835) was an English poet (who identified as Welsh by adoption). Two of her opening lines, "The boy stood on the burning deck" and "The stately homes of England", have acquired classic statu ...

's poem ''The Vassal's Lament for the Fallen Tree'' of 1824 refers to another legend, one she has from

William Camden William Camden (2 May 1551 – 9 November 1623) was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and herald, best known as author of ''Britannia'', the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, and the ''Annal ...

, that the falling of trees here foretells the death of an heir.

Brereton Heath

Brereton Heath is a

country park A country park is a natural area designated for people to visit and enjoy recreation in a countryside environment. United Kingdom History In the United Kingdom, the term ''country park'' has a special meaning. There are around 250 recognised coun ...

and Local Nature Reserve (LNR) maintained by

Ranger Service. It comprises an area of lowland heath surrounding a flooded quarry from which silica sand was extracted between 1959 and 1972. The area was opened as a country park in 1982 and designated as a Local Nature Reserve in 2005. The designated LNR covers an area of .

References

Notes

Bibliography