Bulkeley () is a village 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 authorit ...

in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The village is on the

A534 road List of A roads in zone 5 in Great Britain starting north/east of the A5, west of the A6, south of the Solway Firth/Eden Estuary The River Eden is a river in Fife in Scotland, and is one of Fife's two principal rivers, along with the Lev ...

, west 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. ...

. In the 2011 census it had a population of 239.

History

The name was first recorded as ''Bulceleia'' in 1086, from

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 ...

''bulluc'' + ''leah'', "pasture where bullocks graze". Bulkeley was previously a township in Malpas parish, Broxton Hundred. It became a civil parish in 1866, which included the small settlement of Bulkeleyhay (also Bulkelehay or Bulkeley Hey) at . Between 1894 and 1974 the civil parish was part of

Nantwich Rural District Nantwich Rural District was a division of Cheshire until 1974, when it merged with the Nantwich and Crewe urban districts to create the Borough of Crewe and Nantwich Crewe and Nantwich was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district wit ...

Governance

Bulkeley is administered jointly with Ridley by Bulkeley and Ridley Parish Council. From 1974 the civil parish was served by

Crewe and Nantwich Crewe and Nantwich was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district with borough status in Cheshire, England. It had a population (2001 census) of 111,007. It contained 69 civil parishes and one unparished area: the town of Crewe. It now fo ...

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 ...

of Cheshire East. Bulkeley falls in the parliamentary constituency of Eddisbury, which has been represented by

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 Crew ...

since 2019, after being represented by Stephen O'Brien (1999–2015) and

Antoinette Sandbach Antoinette Geraldine Mackeson-Sandbach (born 15 February 1969), known as Antoinette Sandbach, is a former British politician who was elected as Member of Parliament for Eddisbury in Cheshire at the 2015 general election. The following day, 8 ...

(2015–19).

Geography and economy

Bulkeley Hill () forms the southern end of the

Peckforton Hills The Peckforton Hills are a sandstone ridge running broadly northeast–southwest in the west of the English county of Cheshire. They form a significant part of the longer Mid Cheshire Ridge which extends southwards from Frodsham towards Malp ...

.Ordnance Survey Explorer 257: Crewe & Nantwich; Whitchurch & Tattenhall It is owned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

, and its wooded slopes include 12 acres (5 hectares) of semi-natural ancient woodland. The hill has been designated a county site of biological importance for its woodland and grassland habitats. A wider area covering the northern part of the civil parish has also been designated an Area of Special County Value. Another unnamed elevation of around 135 metres is located south west of Bulkeley village at , and an unnamed brook runs east–west along the valley between it and Bulkeley Hill. Two covered reservoirs are located on Bulkeley Hill (at and ), with a pumping station at the base (); a disused inclined plane runs westwards from the pumping station. Formerly owned by Staffordshire Potteries Water Board, the facility is now operated by

Severn Trent Water Severn Trent plc is a water company based in Coventry, England. It supplies 4.6 million households and business across the Midlands and Wales. It is traded on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Severn Trent, the ...

. A small wooded area of access land containing two ponds is located at , immediately east of Bulkeley village and north of the A534, and there are several other meres and ponds scattered across the farmland. The land use is predominantly agricultural, with cattle pasture, horse paddocks and some

arable land Arable land (from the la, arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for th ...

Demography

According to the 2001 census the civil parish had a population of 240 in 106 households. The population at the 2011 census had reduced marginally to 239. These figures represent an increase from the 1951 population; the historical population figures were 184 (1801), 197 (1851), 168 (1901) and 146 (1951).

Places of worship

Bulkeley Methodist Church is a red-brick chapel in Bulkeley village. Dating from 1861, it was formerly the Jubilee Primitive Methodist Chapel and is Listed building, listed at grade II.

Other landmarks

Bulkeley Hall () is a three-storey mansion in brown brick which dates from the mid-18th century; it is Listed building, grade II* listed. Springfield Cottage () is a timber-framed cottage dating from the late 17th century. A former corn mill stands on Mill Lane () to the north of Bulkeley village. Bulkeley Grange () is a grade-II-listed Victorian red-brick mansion in Jacobean style; the house was rebuilt by railway builder, Thomas Brassey, in 1843. A monument consisting of four inscribed sandstone pillars connected by iron straps was erected around an oak tree near The Grange in 1845, to commemorate Brassey's fortieth birthday. In 2007, it was moved to a location just to the east of Bulkeley village, adjacent to the A534 (); the site has an interpretative sign.

Transport

The A534 (Wrexham Road) between Nantwich and Wrexham runs east–west across the civil parish. Other through routes include Stone House Lane, which runs from the A534 to Peckforton. Mill Lane connects Stone House Lane with the A534 and Cholmondeley Lane runs south to Bulkelehay. The Sandstone Trail long-distance footpath runs over Bulkeley Hill.

Education

Bulkeley civil parish falls within the catchment areas of Bickerton Holy Trinity CE Primary School in Bickerton, Cheshire, Bickerton and Bishop Heber High School in Malpas.

References

External links

A Vision of Britain Through Time: Bulkeley Tn/CP
{{authority control Villages in Cheshire Civil parishes in Cheshire National Trust properties in Cheshire