Littleton 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 ...

in the Borough of Cheshire West and Chester and 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. It is near the

A51 road The A51 is a road in England which runs for 85 miles (137 km) from Chester, Cheshire to Kingsbury, Warwickshire, Kingsbury, North Warwickshire. Route It takes on the following route: *Chester *Vicars Cross *Littleton, Cheshire, Littleton ...

, approximately east 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 ...

. At the time of the 2001 census the population was 644, increasing to 647 by the 2011 census.

History

The name Littleton derives from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''lȳtel'' (little) and ''tūn'' (a settlement or farmstead). The parish has historically been a little hamlet within the manor and ancient parish of

Christleton Christleton is a village and civil parish on the outskirts of Chester, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The Shropshire Union Canal (originally Chester Canal) passes through ...

and has as such been known by the names ''Parva Cristentona'' (Little Christleton) in the 12th century and ''Parva Christleton'' up until at least 1795. The name Littleton was used in preference to ''Parva Cristentona'' in ''

Magna Britannia ''Magna Britannia, being a concise topographical account of the several counties of Great Britain'' was a topographical and historical survey published by the antiquarians Daniel Lysons and his brother Samuel Lysons in several volumes between 180 ...

(Volume 2)'', circa 1810. The open land surrounding and within Littleton contains many former

marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, Clay minerals, clays, and silt. When Lithification, hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. M ...

pits. The marl from the pits was used as an agricultural fertiliser and also as a component in the process of brickmaking, which seems to have been practised locally. The northern part of the village, along the A51 Tarvin Road, was known as ''Vicar’s Cross''. A

stone cross Stone crosses () in Central Europe are usually bulky Christian monuments, some high and wide, that were almost always hewn from a single block of stone, usually granite, sandstone, limestone or basalt. They are amongst the oldest open-air mon ...

had originally stood near the road until it was demolished by

Puritans The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

in 1613. A modern replica has been erected near to the original site. The modern housing estate of

Vicars Cross Vicars Cross (originally “Vicar's Cross”) is a large residential suburb constituting the civil parish of Great Boughton; situated on the east side of Chester. It is located in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the cere ...

now exists to the west of the village.

Landmarks

The parish contains one building included in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

and designated by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

as a

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 ...

. This is Hunter's Court, which originated as a barn in the late 17th century, and was later converted into two houses.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Cheshire Civil parishes in Cheshire