Bickerton 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 authority ...

in the unitary authority of

Cheshire East Cheshire East is a unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The local authority is Cheshire East Council. Towns within the area include Crewe, Macclesfield, Co ...

and the ceremonial county of

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, England, about north of Whitchurch in

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 th ...

. The parish also includes the small settlement of Gallantry Bank,Genuki: Bickerton
(accessed 21 February 2008) with a total population of over 200. The two

Bickerton Hill Bickerton Hill refers to two low red sandstone hills that form the southern end of the Mid Cheshire Ridge in Cheshire, north-west England. The high point, Raw Head, lies on the northerly hill and has an elevation of 227 metres. Parts of the ...

s also lie partly within the civil parish.

History

Bickerton appears 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 ...

as ''Bicretone''. It was owned by Drogo from

Robert FitzHugh Robert FitzHugh (d.1436) was Bishop of London and Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. Origins FitzHugh was the second son of Henry FitzHugh, 3rd Baron FitzHugh (-1425), KG, of Ravensworth Castle in North Yorkshire, by his wife Elizabet ...

, baron of Malpas, and was found waste at the time of the survey. Woodland extending to half a league (about ¾ mile or 1.2 km) was recorded. The name is

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

in origin, and relates to bees. A proposal to build a wind farm at Bickerton was abandoned in 2010 after the company responsible decided the proposed site did not receive enough wind.

Governance

Bickerton is administered jointly with Egerton by the Bickerton & Egerton Parish Council. 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 civ ...

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 ...

. Bickerton 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 Sir Stephen Rothwell O'Brien, (born 1 April 1957) is a British politician and diplomat who was the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. O'Brien assumed office on 29 May 2015, succeed ...

(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

The majority of the two

s falls within the civil parish, although the parts of the hills are in the

Duckington Duckington is a small village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is situated some 10½ miles (17 km) south-east of Chester, 10 miles (16 km) east o ...

, Larkton and Harthill parishes. Raw Head (; 227 metres) lies north of the A534, while the southerly hill (212 m) lies south of the road, immediately northwest of Bickerton village.Cheshire East Council & Cheshire West and Chester Council: Interactive Mapping: Bickerton CP
(accessed 28 May 2008) The area around Raw Head and much of the southerly hill are designated

Sites of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

. A wider area covering much of the north and west of the civil parish is also designated an Area of Special County Value. Around of the southerly hill are managed 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 ...

Demography

Holy Trinity Church, Bickerton, Cheshire

According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 234, in 90 households.Neighbourhood Statistics: Bickerton CP
(accessed 26 May 2008) In the 2011 Census, the population of Bickerton and adjacent Egerton was assessed as 278. The population has fallen since the nineteenth century; the historical population figures were 270 (1801), 398 (1851), 323 (1901) and 256 (1951).

Places of worship

The Church of the Holy Trinity in Bickerton village dates from 1839, and became a parish church in 1869. Built of red sandstone, with

Edmund Sharpe Edmund Sharpe (31 October 1809 – 8 May 1877) was an English architect, architectural historian, railway engineer, and sanitary reformer. Born in Knutsford, Cheshire, he was educated first by his parents and then at schools locally and in ...

as the architect, it is listed at grade II. A

war memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

stands in the adjacent graveyard, overlooking the crossroads of Goldford Lane and Long Lane.

Other landmarks

A disused copper mine chimney in red sandstone is located near Gallantry Bank, adjacent to the A534. Dating from the early 19th century, it is a rare remnant of the copper mining industry in this area. The copper mine was owned by the Egerton family of Oulton, and is thought to have been operational in 1697. The Bickerton Poacher public house stands on the A534 by the junction with Stone House Lane.

Transport

The A534 runs east–west through the parish. Other major through routes include Long Lane running south from the A534 towards Malpas, and a lane running southeast from Long Lane to Cholmondeley which connects with the A49. The

Sandstone Trail The Sandstone Trail is a long-distance walkers' path, following sandstone ridges running north–south from Frodsham in central Cheshire to Whitchurch just over the Shropshire border. The path was created in 1974 and extended in the 1990s. ...

runs east from the summit of the southerly Bickerton Hill, crosses the A534, runs northwest to the summit of Raw Head and then turns south east to climb

Bulkeley Hill 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 Malpas ...

Education

Bickerton Holy Trinity CE Primary School stands on Long Lane. It serves Bickerton as well as the nearby civil parishes of

Bulkeley Bulkeley () is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The village is on the A534 road, west of Nantwich. In the 2011 census it had a population of 239. History Th ...

, Cholmondeley,

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came pr ...

, Egerton, Ridley and part of

. Bickerton civil parish falls within the catchment area of

Bishop Heber High School Bishop Heber High School is a comprehensive secondary school in Malpas, Cheshire, England. The school is named after bishop Reginald Heber (1783–1826), who was born in Malpas and is remembered as a hymn-writer. In 2011, the school was rated o ...

in Malpas.Cheshire County Council: Interactive Mapping: Bishop Heber High School
(accessed 25 May 2008)

References

External links

{{authority control Civil parishes in Cheshire Villages in Cheshire