Walgherton 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 at by the junction of the A51 and B5071 roads, 3½ 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. ...

and 4½ miles to the south of Crewe. The civil parish also includes the small settlement of Hussey's Nook. The total population is just under 130 people. Sand has been extracted at Hough Mill Quarry. The remainder of the parish is predominantly agricultural. Nearby villages include Hatherton, Stapeley 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

denarius The denarius (, dēnāriī ) was the standard Roman silver coin from its introduction in the Second Punic War to the reign of Gordian III (AD 238–244), when it was gradually replaced by the antoninianus. It continued to be minted in very ...

, a silver

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

coin, was found in the parish, but there is no other evidence of Roman occupation. There might have been a Saxon farmstead in the area of Oat Eddish farm, whose name derives 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 ...

and means "enclosed land where oats are grown". Walgherton appears 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 ...

of 1086 as "Walcretune" and was held by William Malbank. During the Second World War, there was an anti-aircraft battery in the parish, documented in 1941–42.

Governance

Walgherton is administered jointly with the adjacent parish of Hatherton by Hatherton & Walgherton 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

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. Walgherton falls in the parliamentary constituency of

, which has been represented by Kieran Mullan 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 Crew ...

(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 ...

(1983–2008).

Geography, economics and transport

The A51 (London Road) runs from the north east to the south west through the parish and is crossed by the B5071 (Crewe Road–Wybunbury Lane), which runs south west to north east to

; the village is centred at the junction. Back Lane connects the A51 and B5071. The

National Cycle Network The National Cycle Network (NCN) is the national cycling route network of the United Kingdom, which was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout Britain, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the cha ...

route 70 follows the B5071 and two legs of the "A Walk around Wybunbury" footpath cross the parish. Forge Brook from bridge - geograph

Howbeck and Wybunbury Brooks form part of the parish's northern boundary, and are crossed by the A51 at Howbeck Bridge. Another brook runs north west to south east through the parish and forms a short stretch of the south-western boundary. Forge Brook forms part of the eastern boundary. The main land use is agricultural. The terrain is predominantly gently sloping with steeper stream valleys; the low point of 45 metres is at Howbeck Bridge in the west, and the terrain slopes upwards towards the east, south and north of the parish with multiple high points of around 75 metres. There are several small areas of woodland, including Ballaglass, George's Wood, The Oaks, Perry's Rough, Speakman's Moss, Sprinks, Walgherton Pool and part of Jerusalem, and multiple small meres and pools lie within the woodland as well as scattered across the farmland. The Hough Mill Quarry (used for

sand extraction Sand mining is the extraction of sand, mainly through an open pit (or sand pit) but sometimes mined from beaches and inland dunes or dredged from ocean and river beds. Sand is often used in manufacturing, for example as an abrasive or in concre ...

) is in the east of the parish, by Back Lane, and includes an unnamed pool. Dagfields Craft Centre is off Crewe Road.

Demography

According to the 2001 Census, the parish had a population of 121, increasing to 128 in 56 households at the 2011 Census. This represents a decline from the population of 1851, possibly in part caused by boundary changes; historical population figures are 211 (1801), 213 (1851), 178 (1901) and 199 (1951). The population density was 0.4 persons/hectare in 2011, well below the average of 3.2 persons/hectare for Cheshire East.

Landmarks

The Cottage and Thatchers, both on London Road, are two half-timbered cottages dating from the 17th century, which are

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

at grade II, the lowest grade. The paired former gate lodges of Doddington Hall stand on Crewe Road near Walgherton village. Constructed in yellow sandstone, they are by

Samuel Wyatt Samuel Wyatt (8 September 1737, Weeford, Staffs. – London, 8 February 1807) was an England, English architect and engineer. A member of the Wyatt family, which included several notable 18th- and 19th-century English architects, his work was prima ...

, also the architect of the hall, and date from the late 18th century. They are also listed at grade II. The Boar's Head public house stands in Walgherton village.

Education

As of 2016, there are no schools within the civil parish. Walgherton falls within the catchment areas of Wybunbury Delves Church of England Primary School in

for primary education and Shavington Academy in Shavington for secondary education.

References

External links

Hatherton and Walgherton Parish Council
{{authority control Civil parishes in Cheshire Villages in Cheshire