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

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 ...

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, northeast of

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

, between

Helsby Helsby is a village, Civil parishes in England, civil parish and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Overlook ...

and

Ellesmere Port Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south-eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, on the bank of the Manchester Ship Canal. In the 2021 Unite ...

, near the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is a major river in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it h ...

. Its proximity to the Mersey and the

Manchester Ship Canal The Manchester Ship Canal is a inland waterway in the North West England, North West of England linking Manchester to the Irish Sea. Starting at the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary at Eastham, Merseyside, Eastham, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, it ...

have contributed to its industrial character. The village is on the north-western edge of the

Cheshire Plain The Cheshire Plain is a relatively flat expanse of lowland within the county of Cheshire in North West England but extending south into Shropshire. It extends from the Mersey Valley in the north to the Shropshire Hills in the south, bounded by t ...

, from

Stanlow Refinery Stanlow Refinery is an oil refinery owned by Essar Energy in Ellesmere Port, North West England. Until 2011, it was owned by Shell UK. The refinery is situated on the south bank of the Manchester Ship Canal, which is used to transport seabor ...

. At the 2011 census, the village had a population of 3,586.

History

The name of the village was 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 ...

as ''Eltone'', derived from the words ''ēl'' and ''tūn'', meaning "eel farm or settlement''. Elton was a township within the Thornton parish of the Eddisbury Hundred. It became a civil parish in 1866. The population was recorded at 167 in 1801, 216 in 1851, 190 in 1901, 410 in 1951 and rising to 3,528 by 2001. The village was briefly in the media spotlight in 1997 when one of its residents, Louise Woodward, went on trial for murder in the

USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

Governance

The unitary authority of

replaced

Chester City Council Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West and Chester. It is ...

and

Cheshire County Council Cheshire County Council was the county council of Cheshire. Founded on 1 April 1889, it was officially dissolved on 31 March 2009, when it and its districts were superseded by two unitary authorities: Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire East. ...

on 1 April 2009. Elton is within the

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

of Gowy Rural. At the time of the 2011 census, the village was part of a ward of the same name, which stretched as far west as Little Stanney. The total recorded population in 2011 was 4,557. From 1983 to 2024, Elton formed part of the

Ellesmere Port and Neston Ellesmere Port and Neston was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district with borough status in Cheshire, England. It covered the southern part of the Wirral Peninsula, namely that part which is not included in the Metropolitan Borou ...

parliamentary constituency. Following the

2023 review of Westminster constituencies The 2023 review of Westminster constituencies was the most recent cycle of the process to redraw the constituency map for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The new constituency boundaries were approved by the Privy Council on 15 Nov ...

, it became part of the

Runcorn and Helsby Runcorn and Helsby is a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. Further to the completion of the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies, it was first contested at the 2024 general election. The incumbent MP is Sarah Poch ...

constituency.

Transport

Ince & Elton railway station serves both Ince and Elton villages. There are two services each way per day, Monday to Saturday, to

Liverpool Lime Street Liverpool Lime Street is a railway station complex located on Lime Street, Liverpool, Lime Street in Liverpool city centre. Although publicly a single, unified station, it is operationally divided into two official railway stations: Liv ...

, and Warrington Bank Quay. The nearest stations with more frequent services are in Ellesmere Port and Helsby. The number X2 bus visits Elton hourly in each direction, which runs between

via

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and Runcorn Docks, cargo port in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. Runcorn is on the south bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. It is upstream from the port of Live ...

Halton Lea bus station. This service is operated by

Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire is a major operator of bus services in North West England. It is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group and is headquartered in Liverpool. History Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire can trace i ...

. Elton also has a few morning and evening journeys on service DB8 to and from Chester Business Park. Public transport in Elton is supported by the North Cheshire Rail User Group. It campaigns for better rail services and improved public transport interchange. The nearest motorways are the M56 and the M53, and the local road, the A5117, links Elton to North Wales.

Economy and industry

To the west of Elton is

, an Essar Energy facility and the second largest

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial processes, industrial process Factory, plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refining, refined into products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, Bitumen, asphalt base, ...

in the United Kingdom. The refinery produces one-sixth of the United Kingdom's petrol needs. Opening in 2005, of the former Ince Power Station site was redeveloped as part of a large glass bottle production factory operated by Encirc Ltd (formerly Quinn Glass until 2014). The facility initially contained two

glass melting furnace A glass melting furnace is designed to melt raw materials into glass. Depending on the intended use, there are various designs of glass melting furnaces available. They use different power sources. These sources are mainly fossil fueled or by f ...

s and 13 bottle production lines. It was estimated that £250 million was invested into this project and the factory outputted 1.2 billion bottles per year. In 2020 Encirc opened the world's largest container glass furnace, capable of processing up to 900 tonnes per day. North east of the village, landowners

The Peel Group The Peel Group is a British infrastructure and property investment business, based in Manchester. In 2022, its Peel Land and Property estate extends to of buildings, and over of land and water. Peel retains minority stakes in its former ports ...

are developing a industrial site on a former water meadow at Ince Park. The Protos "energy and resource hub" houses a

biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...

power station, a timber recycling plant and designated "nature areas". The construction of a facility to recover energy from non-recyclable waste began in 2020.

References

External links