Norbury is a hamlet in the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Marbury and District, in

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 ...

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. Norbury was formerly a civil parish until 2023. The hamlet of Norbury lies around north of

Whitchurch, Shropshire Whitchurch is a market town in the north of Shropshire, England. It lies east of the Wales, Welsh border, 2 miles south of the Cheshire border, north of the county town of Shrewsbury, south of Chester, and east of Wrexham. At the 2021 Unit ...

. Nearby villages include No Man's Heath, Marbury and

Wrenbury Wrenbury-cum-Frith is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It lies on the River Weaver, around south-west of Crewe. The civil parish of Wrenbury cum Frith also c ...

.Search a
Cheshire East Council Public Map Viewer
(accessed 3 March 2020)

History

''Norberie'' was a small manor at the time of 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 ...

in 1086. It was then held by William Malbank, Baron of Wich Malbank (

Nantwich Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture ...

), and had been held by Earl Harold before the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

. The record is combined with the nearby manors of Wirswall and Marbury. The

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

manor is believed to have been a fortified farmstead. There were three Nonconformist chapels in the 19th century, all now defunct. A

Wesleyan Methodist The Wesleyan Church is a Methodist Christian denomination aligned with the holiness movement. Wesleyan Church may also refer to: * Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia, the Australian branch of the Wesleyan Church Denominations * Allegheny We ...

chapel was constructed in 1834 on Norbury Town Lane in Norbury hamlet, and appears in

John Marius Wilson John Marius Wilson (c. 1805–1885) was a British writer and an editor, most notable for his gazetteers. The '' Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales'' (published 1870–1872), was a substantial topographical dictionary in six volumes. It was ...

's gazetteer entry of 1870–72. Another Wesleyan Methodist chapel, also on Norbury Town Lane, dates from 1899 and closed in 1975. A Congregationalist chapel was built in 1868 on Common Lane in Norbury Common.

Governance

There are two tiers of local government covering Norbury, at parish and

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 ...

level: Marbury and District Parish Council and

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 ...

. The parish council meets at the village hall in Marbury.

Administrative history

Norbury was historically 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

ancient 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 ...

of Marbury, which formed part of the Nantwich hundred of Cheshire. From the 17th century onwards, parishes were gradually given various civil functions under the

poor laws The English Poor Laws were a system of poor relief in England and Wales that developed out of the codification of late-medieval and Tudor-era laws in 1587–1598. The system continued until the modern welfare state emerged in the late 1940s. E ...

, in addition to their original ecclesiastical functions. In some cases, including Marbury, the civil functions were exercised by each township separately rather than the parish as a whole. In 1866, the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws, and so Norbury became a separate

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 ...

. The civil parish included the small settlements of Gauntons Bank, Hurst Green, Swanwick Green, Norbury Common and Holtridge, and had a population of 194 in 2011. It had an area of . In 1959, a

grouped parish council A parish council is a civil local authority found in England, which is the lowest tier of local government. Parish councils are elected corporate bodies, with variable tax raising powers, and they carry out beneficial public activities in geogr ...

was created covering the three civil parishes of Norbury, Marbury cum Quoisley, and Wirswall, called the Marbury and District Parish Council. In 2023, the three civil parishes within the group were merged into a single civil parish called Marbury and District. From 1974 until 2009, at a district level the civil parish formed part of the borough of

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 ...

. In 2009 the new borough of Cheshire East was created, with its council being a unitary authority, taking over district-level functions from Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council and county-level functions from

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. ...

, both of which were abolished.

Geography and transport

The terrain is undulating with low hills. The hamlet of Norbury stands on a low hill. The

Llangollen Canal The Llangollen Canal () is a navigable canals of the United Kingdom, canal crossing the border between England and Wales. The waterway links Llangollen in Denbighshire, north Wales, with Hurleston in south Cheshire, via the town of Ellesmere, S ...

runs to the south of Norbury. Steer Brook flows out of Bar Mere in

Bickley Bickley is a district and a local government electoral ward in South East London, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is located 10.4 miles (16.7 km) south east of Charing Cross, bordering Elmstead to the north, Chislehurst to the n ...

and then to the west of Norbury. The ponds called Norbury Meres are named after Norbury, but lie in the adjacent parish of Cholmondeley. There are several small areas of woodland, including Canal Covert around the canal and Steer Brook, Handley Park Covert, and Norbury Common in the north-west corner of the parish, near Common Farm. The A49 runs north–south just west of Norbury, connecting via Marbury Road and Snab Lane with a network of lanes within Norbury parish. Two lanes lead towards

: Frith Lane runs east to Cholmondeley Lane just outside Wrenbury village, and Holtridge Lane runs north to connect with the same lane further west. Another two lanes go south to Marbury: Marbury Road and School Lane, via two road bridges over the canal: Steer Bridge (carrying Marbury Road) and Church Bridge (School Lane). A

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

, Marbury Lock, is located at Church Bridge.

Demography

The population has declined since the 19th century; historical population figures are 330 (1801), 403 (1851), 330 (1881), 289 (1901) and 241 (1951). According to the 2001 census, the civil parish had a population of 190, remaining steady at 194 in 87 households at the 2011 census.

Landmarks

Several buildings in the former area of Norbury civil parish are listed at grade II, the lowest of the three grades. The oldest listed building may be Stokes Cottage in Swanwick Green, a

timber-framed Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

longhouse A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America. Many were built from lumber, timber and ...

with brick infill and a thatched roof; it dates from the 16th or early 17th century. Another candidate is Brook Farmhouse in Gauntons Bank, part of which originally dates from the late 16th century, and was subsequently extended several times. The original building is timber framed with brick infill and a tiled roof. The Holtridge in Holtridge is a T-shaped, red-brick farmhouse dating originally from the early 17th century; it has a 20th-century

oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window generally projects from an ...

. Olive Cottage in Norbury Common is a timber-framed building with brick infill and a thatched roof; it dates originally from the mid-17th century. Church Bridge on the

dates from the late 18th or early 19th century; its single span is constructed of red sandstone.

Education

There are no educational facilities in Norbury. The civil parish falls within the catchment areas of Brine Leas School in

, and Wrenbury Primary School.

References

;Sources *J. D. Bu'Lock (1972), ''Pre-Conquest Cheshire: 383–1066''. ''A History of Cheshire'' Vol. 3 (J. J. Bagley, ed.), Cheshire Community Council *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 *Local History Group, F. A. Latham (ed.) (1999), ''Wrenbury and Marbury'', The Local History Group ()

External links

{{authority control Hamlets in Cheshire Former civil parishes in Cheshire Borough of Cheshire East