Hankelow 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 lies on the A529, around north east of

Audlem Audlem is a village and civil parish located in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire in North West England, approximately south of Nantwich. Close to the border with the neighbouring county of Shropshire, t ...

and south 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 civil parish has an area and also includes the small settlement of The Dell and part of Corbrook, with a total population of just over 260 in 2011. Nearby villages include Aston, Broomhall Green,

Sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' b ...

, Hatherton and Buerton in Cheshire and

Woore Woore is a village and civil parish in the north east of Shropshire, England, of about 3,950 acres (1,600 hectares). It had a population of 1,004 in the 2001 Census, rising to 1,069 at the 2011 Census. Etymology The name means "boundary" in an ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

.Search a
Cheshire East Council Public Map Viewer
(accessed 6–7 March 2020) Hankelow is first documented in the 13th century, and the village historically had a school, two chapels, two public houses, a water mill, post office, shop and other facilities. Only a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

chapel – also used as a community centre – remained open in 2020. Two buildings are listed at grade II*: the 16th-century

Ball Farm Ball Farm is the oldest surviving building in the village of Hankelow, near Audlem in Cheshire, England, and is thought to date from 1510. Most of its original Timber framing, timber frame was replaced by brick in the 19th century, but some close ...

house and the 18th-century

Hankelow Hall Hankelow Hall is a former country house to the north of the village of Hankelow, Cheshire, England. History The present house dates from the early 18th century, and was remodelled by William Baker in about 1755. It was built for Gabriel W ...

. Outside the village, the civil parish is predominantly rural and agricultural. The

River Weaver The River Weaver is a river, navigable in its lower reaches, running in a curving route anti-clockwise across west Cheshire, northern England. Improvements to the river to make it navigable were authorised in 1720 and the work, which included ...

runs in the west of the parish, and there is a small area of probable

ancient woodland In the United Kingdom, an ancient woodland is a woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (or 1750 in Scotland). Planting of woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 16 ...

in the north east.

History

The name Hankelow is first recorded in the 13th century and may refer to "Haneca's mound".Neighbourhood Plan, pp. 56–57Parish Plan, pp. 17–19 It does not have a separate entry 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 ...

, and was owned by Richard de Vernon, who held

and other local manors. Early variants include "Hunkelowe" and "Honkelowe". Richard de Hunkelowe was recorded as a bailiff of the Warmundstrou Hundred in the late 14th century. Later prominent local families include the Hassalls and Wettenhalls. Richard Hassall of

was appointed Sergeant-at-law in 1511 and the deputy

Justice of Chester The Justice of Chester was the chief judicial authority for the county palatine of Chester, from the establishment of the county until the abolition of the Great Sessions in Wales and the palatine judicature in 1830. Within the County Palatine ( ...

in 1540. Ball Farm may have been used as a district court, denoted by the prominent balls topping its gateposts. A hall is mentioned in 1369, and

timber framing 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 ...

and

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 ...

were incorporated into the present

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 ...

, which was built for Gabriel Wettenhall in the early 18th century. It was remodelled for his son Nathaniel in 1755–57 by the local architect, William Baker of Highfields, Buerton. The hall passed to Edward Tomkinson when Nathaniel Wettenhall died. It fell into disrepair after being damaged by fire in the 1960s, and has been undergoing renovation since 1989.de Figueiredo & Treuherz, p. 237 Hankelow Court dates from 1875 and was used to house army officers during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. A water mill has stood on the

, on the site of the present Hankelow Mill, since around 1700. In 1882, a steam engine was added and the mill closed in 1940. A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was constructed in Hankelow village in 1838, and in the late 19th century there were two Methodist chapels in the parish. There were two public houses: the Greyhound (around 1770–1900) and the White Lion, which dates from the early 19th century. A school was built by the village green in the 1870s, which was also used as a church; it closed in 1970 and was later demolished. The village also had a post office, smithy, garage and shop in the 1950s and 1960s; all these facilities have closed, as has the White Lion.

Governance

Historically, Hankelow was 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, C ...

within the ancient parish of

; it has been a

since 1866. It is administered by Hankelow Parish Council. From 1974 Hankelow 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. Hankelow was formerly part of the

parliamentary constituency; following a parliamentary boundary review in 2008, the civil parish transferred to the Eddisbury parliamentary constituency on the dissolution of parliament. Eddisbury 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

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, ecology and transport

The civil parish has an area of . Adjacent parishes include

Austerson Austerson is a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, lying immediately south of the town of Nantwich and north of the village of Audlem. Predominantly rural with scattered farms, th ...

(north), Hatherton (north east), Hunsterson (east), Buerton (south east),

(south), Newhall (south west) and Coole Pilate (west). The A529 runs north east to south west through the civil parish, and the

runs north–south in the west, forming parts of the western and northern boundaries. Its

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

Birchall Brook forms part of the north-eastern boundary. The Shropshire Union Canal runs broadly north–south immediately to the west of the parish, with a very short section cutting through the western corner. Longhill Lane runs southeastwards to Woolfall from the A529, connecting with Longhill in Buerton parish. Hall Lane runs northwest from the A529 to Ball Farm and then turns northwards to serve

. Monks Lane runs southwards from Longhill Lane into the parish of

. The

South Cheshire Way The South Cheshire Way is a long-distance footpath running east–west mainly through Cheshire, England, though parts lie in Shropshire and Staffordshire. The western section from Grindley Brook, near Whitchurch, runs through farmland; the e ...

long-distance footpath crosses the parish east–west. Hankelow village is centred at the crossroads of the A529 with Longhill Lane and Hall Lane, by the White Lion Hotel. The village extends around the triangle of the A529 with Hall Lane and Old School Lane to the west of the A529; Hankelow Green fills this triangle. The settlement also extends along Longhill Lane to the east of the A road. Hankelow village stands on a low eminence at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

of around – a high point of lies on Longhill Lane, a little to the south east of the village – and the ground slopes gently downwards in all directions. The lowest elevation of around occurs in the valleys of the Weaver in the west and Birchall Brook in the north. Outside Hankelow village, the area is rural and predominantly agricultural. The terrain is characterised by

Cheshire Wildlife Trust The Cheshire Wildlife Trust (CWT) is a wildlife trust covering the county of Cheshire and parts of the counties of Greater Manchester and Merseyside, England. The trust's chairman is Bill Stothart. It manages 43 nature reserves totalling over 470 ...

as mainly "Lower Farms and Wood", with some "East Lowland Plain". There is a pond on Hankelow Green, and multiple small meres or ponds are scattered across the parish. A traditional

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of ...

is found at Monk's Hall Farm, and there are several small areas of woodland, including Chestnut Wood, Blackthorn Wood, Oak Wood, Rookery Wood and Lodge Wood, all on or near Birchall Brook, as well as Brinepits Wood, Hankelow Fox Covert and Mill Plantation. Rookery, Blackthorn and Oak Woods are marked on

tithe map The term tithe map is usually applied to a map of an English or Welsh parish or township, prepared following the Tithe Commutation Act 1836. This act allowed tithes to be paid in cash rather than goods. The map and its accompanying schedule gave ...

s and probably represent

. The northern parish boundary, parts of the southern and eastern boundaries, and the ribbon along the River Weaver form

wildlife corridor A wildlife corridor, habitat corridor, or green corridor is an area of habitat connecting wildlife populations separated by human activities or structures (such as roads, development, or logging). This allows an exchange of individuals between ...

s, and a corridor links Rookery Wood with the Weaver. A substantial area of the civil parish is described as having moderate ecological value, and there is a small area of high ecological value around Rookery and Oak Woods in the north east, which forms part of a wider area centred around Birchall Moss in the adjacent parish of Hatherton, identified as being key for wildlife.

Demography

According to the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 272, reducing slightly to 261 in 116 households at the 2011 census. The modern population is similar to the 19th-century peak and an increase compared with that of the early 20th century; historical population figures are 207 (1801), 253 (1851), 266 (1871), 210 (1901), 175 (1931) and 193 (1951). In the 2011 census, 98.9% were of white ethnicity, with 0.4% Asian, 0.4% Caribbean and 0.4% of mixed ethnicity. At that date, 66.7% reported being Christian and 0.4% Buddhist, with 0.4% reporting another (unspecified) religion. The 2011 census found that 64.9% of residents aged 16–74 years were in part- or full-time employment, while 25.3% were retired, 4.1% were students, 3.6% were carers or homemakers, 1.5% were unemployed, and 0.5% were sick or disabled. The main employment sectors were wholesale or retail trade (15.5%), education (11.6%), health and social work (10.9%), construction (10.1%), professional, scientific and technical activities (9.3%), other unspecified (9.3%), accommodation and food service (7.0%), manufacturing (6.2%), and agriculture, forestry and fishing (5.4%). This contrasts with the situation in 1881, when more than 40% of men were agricultural workers.

Landmarks

There is a Wesleyan Methodist church in Hankelow village, which is also used as a community centre. Hankelow Hall

Several

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 Irel ...

s are located within the parish, two of which are designated as grade II*, the middle of the three grades, denoting "particularly important buildings of more than special interest".

house on Hall Lane was originally a

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 woode ...

building dating from 1510, and was partly replaced by red brick during the 19th century.Cheshire Federation of Women's Institutes, p. 27

off Hall Lane dates from the early 18th century, and also incorporates remnants of an earlier structure. It is a three-storey, ten-bay

country house in red brick with stone dressings, with paired ashlar

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s flanking the two central bays, a very high

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

decorated with ball finials, and a porch with Ionic columns. The building is described by Clare Hartwell and coauthors as "odd... with an idiosyncratic raised centre" and

Nikolaus Pevsner 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'' (1 ...

calls attention to its "startlingly high" parapet. Two farmhouses are listed at grade II, the lowest grade. The Green Farmhouse on Hankelow Green is a T-shaped building in red brick with a tiled roof, with five bays to the front façade, which dates from the early to mid-18th century. Hankelow Manor or Manor Farmhouse on Hall Lane is a three-storey red-brick building of three bays under a slate roof, dating from the late 18th or early 19th century. The unlisted Hankelow Court on Hall Lane was built in 1875 and extended in 1901; it features

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

timberwork. Hankelow Mill is a grade-II-listed former water mill on the

, now residential, dating from the early 19th century on the site of earlier mills. It is in red brick with three storeys under a slate roof, and features several cast-iron windows with 6×6 panes.Hartwell ''et al''., pp. 34, 388–89 The mill machinery is still present. A disused 19th-century road bridge over Birchall Brook in red brick with stone dressings is also listed.

Education

There are no educational facilities in modern Hankelow. The civil parish falls within the catchment areas of Brine Leas School in

, and Audlem St James Church of England Primary School.

References

Sources * * * * *Clare Hartwell, Matthew Hyde,

Edward Hubbard Edward Horton Hubbard (2 July 1937 – 31 May 1989) was an English architectural historian who worked with Nikolaus Pevsner in compiling volumes of the ''Buildings of England''. He also wrote the definitive biography of John Douglas, and played ...

(2011), ''Cheshire''. ''The Buildings of England'' (Yale University Press) () *B. M. C. Husain (1973), ''Cheshire under the Norman Earls: 1066–1237''. ''A History of Cheshire'' Vol. 4 (J. J. Bagley, ed.), Cheshire Community Council * * *

(1971), ''Cheshire''. ''The Buildings of England'' (Nikolaus Pevsner, ed.), Penguin Books ()

External links

Hankelow Online Noticeboard

Cheshire Wildlife Trust assessment
{{authority control Villages in Cheshire Civil parishes in Cheshire