Basford is a hamlet and former

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 ...

, now in the parish of

Weston and Crewe Green Weston may refer to: Places Australia * Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Weston, New South Wales * Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra * Weston Park, Canberra, a park Canada * Weston, Nova Scotia * W ...

, in the unitary authority area of

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 ...

and the ceremonial county of

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, lying immediately south of

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the parish had a population of 55,318 and the built-up area had a population of 74,120. ...

. Nearby villages include Shavington,

Weston Weston may refer to: Places Australia * Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Weston, New South Wales * Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra * Weston Park, Canberra, a park Canada * Weston, Nova Scotia * W ...

Hough Hough may refer to: * Hamstringing, or severing the Achilles tendon of an animal * the leg or shin of an animal (in the Scots language), from which the dish potted hough is made * Hough (surname) Communities United Kingdom * Hough, Alderley ...

and Chorlton.Search a
Cheshire East Council Public Map Viewer
(accessed 4–5 March 2020) The population was 256 in 2011. Basford was first recorded 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

and had a moated manor. The modern parish is bisected by the A500 and the

-to-

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about south of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Wolverhampton, and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 at the 2021–2022 United Kingd ...

railway line, and includes Basford Hall Sorting Sidings.

History

Tools and weapons made of

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

have been discovered in the parish. ''Berchesford'' was a small manor at the time of the

in 1086. The name is thought to mean either "ford near birch trees" or the ford associated with a personal name, such as Beorcal, Borkr or Barkr. Three separate manors are recorded, which probably represent Basford,

and

, held by Owine, Erlekin and Leofric. Basford Hall was formerly a moated manor; the building was lost to fire in around 1700, and the remains were covered by the railway development. Basford formerly had a railway station. The A500 bypass opened in 2003.Neighbourhood Plan, p. 8 Onward Housing is developing a 450-home scheme in the parish. 123 properties are to be designated as affordable and the remainder for sale. This site is designated a strategic location for housing in the Cheshire East Local Plan, part of

Cheshire East Council Cheshire East Council is the local authority for Cheshire East, a local government district with borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The council is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs th ...

's plan for 850 homes in the village with a new local centre, including a primary school, shops and community centre, supported by a £2.2 million

Homes England Homes England is the non-departmental public body that funds new affordable housing in England. It was founded on 1 January 2018 to replace the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). HCA in turn was established by the Housing and Regeneration Act ...

grant with investments of £4.5 million for road improvements, £1.5 million towards a new local primary school and £670,000 for new bus services, cycle lanes and pedestrian routes.

Governance

The civil parish is administered by Weston and Basford Parish Council, jointly with the adjacent larger parish of

. 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 ci ...

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

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

. Basford falls in the parliamentary constituency of

, and has been represented by

Kieran Mullan Kieran John Mullan (born 6 June 1984) is a British Conservative Party politician who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bexhill and Battle. He was previously the MP for Crewe and Nantwich between 2019 and 2024. He has been Shadow Minister f ...

since the 2019 General Election. Basford was formerly a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in the parish of

Wybunbury Wybunbury or is a village (at ) and civil parishes in England, 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 th ...

, in 1866 Basford became a civil parish, on 1 April 2023 the parish was abolished to form "Weston and Crewe Green".

Geography and transport

The civil parish has a total area of . The A500 runs east–west through the parish, and the

-to-

railway line runs north west to south east through it; there are currently no stations within Basford (as of 2020). To the north of the A500 is Basford Hall Sorting Sidings. Weston Lane runs east–west south of the A500, connecting Shavington and

. Back Lane and Casey Lane run south and south west, respectively, from Weston Lane to meet immediately north east of

, on the southern boundary of Basford parish. Casey Lane crosses the railway at Casey Bridge. The South Cheshire Way and 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 in ...

long-distance footpaths go through the south-east corner, crossing Basford Brook at a footbridge. Most of the existing settlement in the parish lies to the south of the A500; large housing developments in the northern area were under consideration in late 2017. The hamlet of Basford lies along Weston Lane and at the junction with Back Lane. Basford - Potato Field

The terrain is predominantly flat, sloping gently upwards from an elevation of around in the north to in the south. Swill Brook runs along part of the western boundary, Gresty Brook along part of the northern boundary, and Basford Brook along or just inside parts of the eastern boundary. Small areas of woodland are located near the eastern boundary, including Burrow Coppice and an unnamed woodland flanking Basford Brook. There are occasional ponds or meres scattered across the area.

Demography

According to the 2001 census Basford had a population of 266, reducing slightly to 256 in 115 households at the 2011 census. This is an increase on the 19th-century population; the historical figures are 55 (1801), 69 (1851), 77 (1881), 69 (1901) and 229 (1951).

Education

There are no educational facilities in Basford. The civil parish falls within the catchment area of Shavington Academy; the area to the west of the railway line falls in the catchment of Shavington Primary School, and that to the east, Weston Village Primary School.

References

;Sources *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 *

External links

Weston & Basford Online
* {{authority control Villages in Cheshire Former civil parishes in Cheshire Borough of Cheshire East