Guilden Sutton 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 authorit ...

and village in the unitary authority of

Cheshire West and Chester Cheshire West and Chester is a unitary authority with borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It was established on 1 April 2009 as part of the 2009 local government changes, by virtue of an order under the Local Gover ...

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 tow ...

, England. The village lies approximately to the east of

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

and is south of the village of Mickle Trafford. The community consists of a church, a primary school, a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

, a pub, a village hall and several local businesses. The 2001 census recorded the population at 1,525, reducing to 1,467 at the 2011 census.

History

The likely meaning of the name Guilden Sutton is "golden south farm or settlement", derived from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

''gylden'' (golden, rich) - ''sūð'' (south/southern) - ''tūn'' (a settlement, enclosure or farmstead). This could perhaps be in reference to being at the southern extremity of the then Wilaveston Hundred. Since the twelfth century, across a period of five hundred years, the name of the village has been spelt in different ways; such as ''Guldesocton'', ''Guyldenesutton'', ''Sutton-Gelders'' and ''Gilen Sutton''. Guilden Sutton was mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

as ''Sudtone'', under the ownership of the

Bishop of Chester The Bishop of Chester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chester in the Province of York. The diocese extends across most of the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, including the Wirral Peninsula and has its see in the ...

and Robert FitzHugh. Several archaeological artefacts have been found in the vicinity of the village: a bronze coin of

Licinius I Valerius Licinianus Licinius (c. 265 – 325) was Roman emperor from 308 to 324. For most of his reign he was the colleague and rival of Constantine I, with whom he co-authored the Edict of Milan, AD 313, that granted official toleration to C ...

(AD 307–324) was discovered behind the 'Bird in Hand' public house, a mediaeval lead

spindle whorl A spindle whorl is a disc or spherical object fitted onto the spindle to increase and maintain the speed of the spin. Historically, whorls have been made of materials like amber, antler, bone, ceramic, coral, glass, stone, metal (iron, lead, lea ...

, four 17th-century swords found in a house cellar, and a cannonball. Always an agricultural community, the parish even employed the services of a man to prevent cattle straying in the eighteenth century. Although electricity was available from 1925, other essential utilities such as a piped water supply did not extend to the main part of the village until 1945 and gas did not arrive until as late as 1968. The population of the parish grew considerably in the latter part of the twentieth century, from 442 in 1951 to 1,525 by 2001, due to boundary changes and significant residential development, such as the Oaklands estate by 1970. In the 1950s a large part of the neighbouring civil parish of Hoole was transferred to Guilden Sutton, adding another 209 inhabitants. More boundary changes occurred in 2015, further enlarging the Guilden Sutton civil parish.

Landmarks

The original St John the Baptist's Church was probably built circa 1105. The earliest register of births, marriages and deaths dates back to 1595. The church was damaged in a storm in 1802 and had been rebuilt by 1810. The present church is a designated Grade II

listed building 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 Ir ...

. The former Methodist Chapel was built in 1873; it ceased use as a church in 2010 and is now a house. The original village school was built in 1891 and the present church hall in 1916. The Bird in Hand public house has existed more or less in its present form since 1844, although it is believed to be much older.

Demography

Governance

Parish Council

Guilden Sutton has an eight-member elected parish council. Elections were contested for the first time in recent history in May 2011 and most recently in May 2019. None of the Parish Councillors in Guilden Sutton is affiliated with a political party. The Clerk to the Council is Lisa Tiplady.

Cheshire West and Chester Council

The unitary authority of

Council replaced Chester City Council and Cheshire County Council on 1 April 2009. Shadow elections to the new unitary authority were held on 1 May 2008, in which Guilden Sutton was part of the Gowy

Ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

(based on the old Cheshire County Council division of the same name). In May 2011, the ward was renamed 'Chester Villages' and representation was reduced to two councillors. The election was won by Margaret and Stuart Parker for the Conservative Party. In May 2015 the Parish of Guilden Sutton was enlarged to include that portion of Pipers Ash to the east of the

A41 road The A41 is a trunk road between London and Birkenhead, England. Now in parts replaced by motorways, it passes through or near Watford, Kings Langley, Hemel Hempstead, Aylesbury, Bicester, Solihull, Birmingham, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton ...

largely bordering Hare Lane and extending to the

A51 road The A51 is a road in England which runs for 85 miles (137 km) from Chester, Cheshire to Kingsbury, North Warwickshire. It takes on the following route: *Chester *Vicars Cross * Littleton * Tarvin (bypass opened 1984) * Duddon * Clotton * ...

at Chester Rugby Club. Local government boundaries were changed again in June 2018, following recommendations from the

Local Government Boundary Commission for England The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) is a parliamentary body established by statute to conduct boundary, electoral and structural reviews of local government areas in England. The LGBCE is independent of government and pol ...

. Guilden Sutton became part of the Gowy Rural ward supporting two councillors. Six candidates contested the new Gowy Rural ward, of which Guilden Sutton is a part, on 2 May 2019.

Member of Parliament

The local MP is Chris Matheson, Labour, as Guilden Sutton is part of the City of Chester constituency. The former MP was Stephen Mosley.

References

External links

Guilden Sutton Village
{{authority control Villages in Cheshire Civil parishes in Cheshire