Stapeley is a hamlet (at ) and

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. The hamlet lies 2¼ miles to the south east of

Nantwich Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture. ...

. The parish also includes the small settlements of Broad Lane and Butt Green, and parts of Artle Brook, Haymoor Green and Howbeck Bank, as well as a recent residential development north of the A5301 adjacent to Nantwich.UK & Ireland Genealogy: Stapeley
(accessed 25 February 2009) In 2008, the total population was estimated to be a little under 3000, increasing to 3,336 at the 2011 Census. Nearby villages include Shavington, Willaston and

Wybunbury Wybunbury is a village (at ) and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The village lies 3¼ miles to the south east of Nantwich and 3¾ miles to the south of Crewe. The parish al ...

History

Stapeley appears in the

Domesday survey 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 manusc ...

as ''Steple''; it was then held by William Malbank, who held much of the land in the Nantwich hundred. Stapeley Water Gardens garden centre at Butt Green () opened in 1965 and became a major tourist attraction, drawing 1.3 million annual visitors.Stapeley & District Parish Council: A Brief History of Stapeley
(accessed 10 February 2015) It included a small zoo, the Palms Tropical Oasis. The zoo closed in 2010, and the remainder of the Water Gardens closed the following year. The Cronkinson Farm housing estate was built in the 1990s and further residential development adjacent to the town of Nantwich followed, reducing the rural character of the northern part of the civil parish.

Governance

Stapeley is administered by Stapeley and District Parish Council jointly with the adjacent parish of

Batherton Batherton is a rural civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It lies immediately south of Nantwich and is jointly administered with the nearby settlement of Stapeley. The population ...

. From 1974 the civil parish was served by

Crewe and Nantwich Crewe and Nantwich was, from 1974 to 2009, a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Cheshire, England. It had a population (2001 census) of 111,007. It contained 69 civ ...

Borough Council, which was succeeded on 1 April 2009 by the new

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

. Stapeley falls in the parliamentary constituency of

, which has been represented by

Kieran Mullan Kieran Mullan (born 6 June 1984) is a British Conservative Party politician who was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Crewe and Nantwich at the 2019 general election. Early life and career Mullan was born in 1984. He grew up in so ...

since 2019, after being represented by Laura Smith (2017–19),

Edward Timpson Anthony Edward Timpson, (born 26 December 1973) is a British Conservative Party politician who was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Eddisbury in Cheshire at the 2019 general election. He was previously MP for neighbouring Crewe a ...

(2008–17) and

Gwyneth Dunwoody Gwyneth Patricia Dunwoody (née Phillips; 12 December 1930 – 17 April 2008) was a British Labour Party politician, who was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Exeter from 1966 to 1970, and then for Crewe (later Crewe and Nantwich) from February 1 ...

(1983–2008).

Geography and transport

The civil parish has a total area of .Crewe & Nantwich Borough Council: Parish Statistics (downloaded fro

5 April 2010) The terrain is predominantly flat, with an average elevation of around 50 metres. To the north of the A5301 is residential, adjacent to the south-east part of the town of

. The remainder of the civil parish is predominantly rural, with the major land use being agricultural. Howbeck Brook forms part of the southern boundary of the parish; several unnamed brooks run through the parish, and there are many scattered small meres and ponds. The parish contains a few small areas of woodland, including Drivers Copse.Cheshire County Council: Interactive Mapping: Stapeley CP
(accessed 25 February 2009)Ordnance Survey Explorer 257: Crewe & Nantwich Three major A roads serve the parish: the A51 road, A51 (London Road) runs north–south, the A529 (Broad Lane) forms part of the western boundary, and the A500 runs through the north of the parish on or near the boundary, meeting the A51 on the edge of the town of Nantwich. Additionally, the A5301 (Peter Destapleigh Way) runs east–west through the north of the parish, connecting the A51 and the A529. Two lanes run from the A51 towards

: Wybunbury Lane runs eastwards at Butt Green, while Annions Lane runs northwards along the eastern parish boundary near Howbeck Bank. First and Second Dig Lanes both run broadly east–west, connecting the A51 and the A529; Stapeley village is located around Second Dig Lane. The Welsh Marches Railway forms part of the northern boundary of the parish; the nearest station is

. The

Crewe and Nantwich Circular Walk The Crewe and Nantwich Circular Walk is a long-distance walkers' path in the Cheshire East area of Cheshire, England. As the name suggests, the walk forms a circuit around the towns of Crewe and Nantwich. It is one of two circular walks i ...

runs east–west through the parish, in part following First Dig Lane.

Demography

The population of the civil parish has grown rapidly over the past decade, largely due to the development of the Cronkinson Farm Estate in the north of the parish. In 2005,

Cheshire County Council Cheshire County Council was the county council of Cheshire. Founded on 1 April 1889, it was officially dissolved on 31 March 2009, when it and its districts were superseded by two unitary authorities; Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire Eas ...

estimated the civil parish had a population of 2410, while Stapeley and District Council estimated that this had increased to 3000 in 2008.Stapeley Parish Plan 2008
(accessed 31 March 2010) The parish had a population of 1048, in 413 households, in the 2001 census. The 2008 estimate represents an almost sixfold increase over the population in 1951; the historical population figures were 249 (1801), 462 (1851), 686 (1901) and 513 (1951).

Landmarks

Stapeley House Stapeley House is a country house in London Road, Stapeley, Cheshire. The house is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. It was built in 1778, and remodelled in 1847–48 by Anthony ...

is a small country house on London Road (at ) which was formerly the seat of the Folliott family; it is listed at

grade II 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 ...

. Dating originally from 1778, it has three storeys and five bays in red brick. It was altered in the late 1840s by

Anthony Salvin Anthony Salvin (17 October 1799 – 17 December 1881) was an English architect. He gained a reputation as an expert on medieval buildings and applied this expertise to his new buildings and his restorations. He restored castles and country ho ...

, who added a classical stone frontispiece and canted bay windows, and also laid out the gardens. It has now been converted into offices.

Pevsner, Nikolaus Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (19 ...

& Hubbard, Edward (1971). ''The Buildings of England: Cheshire'', p. 338 (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books) () Robinson, John Martin (1991). ''A Guide to the Country Houses of the North-West'', p. 64 (London: Constable) () Another grade-II-listed building on London Road is Stapeley Old Hall (), a late

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

house in

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

ed brick, dating from the early 19th century. It features a large central semi-circular bow with a conical roof around the main entrance. Stapeley Broad Lane Primary School

Two

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

farmhouses are listed at grade II: Yewtree Farmhouse on Annions Lane () dates from the late 16th or early 17th century, and Haymoorgreen Farmhouse on Wybunbury Lane () dates from before 1626; both properties are unusual in retaining one or more

wattle and daub Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung a ...

panels. Manor Farmhouse on Newcastle Road () dates from the early 18th century, and Oakfield on Stapeley Road () dates from the late 18th or early 19th century; both buildings are in orange brick and are listed at grade II. Stapeley Grange Wildlife Hospital is on London Road near First Dig Lane.

Education

Two primary schools are located within the civil parish. Pear Tree Primary School () serves the northern area of the parish. Stapeley Broad Lane Church of England Primary School (at , on the boundary with

) serves the remainder of the parish of Stapeley, together with Batherton and Hatherton. The parish falls within the catchment area of Brine Leas High School in

.Cheshire County Council: Interactive Mapping: Brine Leas High School
(accessed 25 February 2009)

References

External links

Stapeley Parish Council Website

Neighbourhood Plan 2016
{{authority control Civil parishes in Cheshire Villages in Cheshire