Antrobus 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

and village in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, England, about south of

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

. It lies within the unitary authority of

Cheshire West and Chester Cheshire West and Chester is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Cheshire, England. It was established on 1 April 2009 as part of the 2009 structural changes to l ...

, and had a population of 832, reducing to 791 at the 2011 Census, and to 767 in the 2021 census. The parish is the most northeasterly point of Cheshire West and Chester, and as such borders both

and

Cheshire East Cheshire East is a unitary authority area with borough status in Cheshire, England. The local authority is Cheshire East Council, which is based in the town of Sandbach. Other towns within the area include Crewe, Macclesfield, Congleton, Wilms ...

. As well as Antrobus village centre itself, the parish includes other large hamlets at Frandley, about south-west from the main village, and Crowley, about to the north-east. The

village shop A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

and post office is owned and run cooperatively by the villagers for the benefit of the community having previously closed in 2003.

Etymology

The placename is recorded 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 as ''Entrebus'', and in the

Pipe Rolls The Pipe rolls, sometimes called the Great rollsBrown ''Governance'' pp. 54–56 or the Great Rolls of the Pipe, are a collection of financial records maintained by the English Exchequer, or Treasury, and its successors, as well as the Exche ...

of Cheshire of 1282 as ''Anterbus''. The derivation of the name is from the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

personal name Eindrithi or Andrithi, with the Old Norse ''buski'' ("shrub, bush or thicket"), the whole name thus signifying "Andrithi's thicket".

History

Antrobus is listed as a township of Great Budworth parish on Cheshire's

tithe map The term tithe map is usually applied to a map of an England, English or Wales, 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 s ...

, in the

Bucklow Hundred The hundred of Bucklow was an ancient division of the historic county of Cheshire, in northern England. It was known to have been in existence at least as early as 1260, and it was formed from the earlier Domesday hundreds of Bochelau and Tun ...

and under the deanery of Frodsham. In 1894, Antrobus became a parish in its own right and a part of the

Runcorn Rural District Runcorn was a rural district in Cheshire, England from 1894 until 1974. It was named after but did not include Runcorn, a town on the River Mersey to the north-west of the district, which formed its own urban district. The district was abolis ...

. In 1936, the neighbouring parishes of Crowley and Seven Oaks were abolished and brought under the control of Antrobus. Through the 20th century, usage of the term Seven Oaks to describe the south-west of Antrobus declined, and much of that area is now known as Frandley. Seven Oaks has become truncated to Sevenoaks and now refers to the small hamlet surrounding the former Sevenoaks Saddlery and sawmill at the northernmost end of Gibb Hill. The north-easternmost area of the parish was formerly taken up by a portion of the Arley estate, including all of the village of Arley itself, Crowley Hall Lodge and the surrounding farms. However, when Runcorn Rural District was abolished in 1974, Antrobus was moved into

Vale Royal Vale Royal 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 contained the towns of Northwich, Winsford and Frodsham. History The ...

and neighbouring

Aston by Budworth Aston by Budworth is a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The main villages in the parish are Arley, Cheshire, Arley, which is the site of Arley Hall, and Bate Green, Bate Hea ...

(within which the rest of the Arley estate was contained) was transferred into the borough of Macclesfield. This made the Antrobus portion the only remaining part of the estate not under Macclesfield's control. In 1978, for the ease of estate management and the paying of tax, Aston-by-Budworth Parish Council requested that the portion of Antrobus east of Arley Brook, Lodge Lane, and Caldwell's Gate Lane be transferred to their control. The village was struck by an F1/T3 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day.

Culture

Soul Cakers

Antrobus is known for its Soul Cakers, who travel around the county performing a soul caking play annually between All Souls Night (31 October) and 12 November. Based at their 'home pub', the Antrobus Arms, the Antrobus Soul Cakers have the longest unbroken run of soul caking performances in the world.

Religion

Anglicanism

Antrobus' Anglican St Mark's Church is located in the village centre. It was designed by

George Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), largely known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he ...

and built in 1848. It is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Quakerism

Local tradition has it that in the 18th century an oak tree in Seven Oaks was where

George Fox George Fox (July 1624 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. – 13 January 1691 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) was an English Dissenters, English Dissenter, who was a founder of the Quakers, Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as t ...

preached to over 2,000 people. On this site, besides the oak tree, now stands the Frandley Quaker Meeting House one of only a small number of such meeting houses in Cheshire. The first meeting house was built in 1726 and still stands today, but a larger replacement meeting house was built in 1880. The first meeting house now houses the Antrobus Pre-School Nursery.

Methodism

Antrobus' most modern church is a

Methodist chapel Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

in the hamlet of Grandsire's Green. The chapel was opened in 1936 and sits at the junction of Brow Lane and Barber's Lane. It forms a part of the Sankey Valley Methodist circuit.

References

External links

Antrobus
at GENUKI * {{authority control Villages in Cheshire Civil parishes in Cheshire