Swanley is a hamlet at in the unitary authority 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. It mainly falls within the

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 ...

Burland Burland is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Burland and Acton, in the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, about miles west of Nantwich. The civil parish also included t ...

, with a part in

Baddiley Baddiley is a scattered settlement and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The civil parish also includes the north-western part of the village of Rave ...

. Swanley lies around to the west of

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 immediately north of the hamlet of Stoneley Green. Nearby villages include Burland, Acton and

Ravensmoor Ravensmoor is a village in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, located at . It is split between the civil parishes of Baddiley and Burland and Acton. It lies at an elevation of 65 m, around sou ...

.Search a
Cheshire East Council Public Map Viewer
(accessed 9 March 2020) A dry moated site is located near the 16th-century Swanley Hall, and there are two 17th-century buildings. 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 through the hamlet, with two locks, two bridges and a marina.

Geography and transport

Swanley is centred at on the T-junction between Swanley Lane and Springe Lane, where Swanley Lane bends to the north east, at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

of . The mainly linear settlement extends southwards down Swanley Lane and westwards along Springe Lane. Swanley Hall is accessed off Springe Lane and Sparrows Roost lies off the eastern section of Swanley Lane. From the hamlet, Swanley Lane runs northeastwards to meet Monks Lane to the west of Acton village, and southwards via the hamlet of Stoneley Green (

parish) to

. Springe Lane runs westwards to the hamlet of Gradeley Green (Burland parish). The A534 (Wrexham Road) runs east–west immediately to the north of Swanley, accessed via Ravens Lane off Swanley Lane. The

runs through the settlement, joining the main line of the

Shropshire Union Canal The Shropshire Union Canal, sometimes nicknamed the "Shroppie", is a navigable canal in England. It is the modern name for a part of the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company network. In the leisure age, two of the branches of that netwo ...

Hurleston Junction Hurleston Junction () is the name of the canal junction where the Llangollen Canal terminates and meets the Shropshire Union Canal main line at Hurleston, Cheshire, England. History The Chester Canal was planned as a broad canal running fro ...

. A pond lies between Swanley Lane and the canal towpath. The woodland of Swanley Covert lies to the north west of Swanley, and Long Plantation lies along the eastern section of Swanley Lane.

Landmarks

Several buildings in Swanley are listed at grade II, the lowest of the three grades. The earliest is Swanley Hall off Springe Lane, which dates originally from the early 16th century. It is a red-brick farmhouse on an L-shaped plan, with two unequal

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s at the south end and some exposed

timber framing 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 ...

at the north end. Near Swanley Hall is a dry moated site. Springe Lane Hall, on Springe Lane in

parish, is an early 17th-century farmhouse in brick with timber framing under a tiled roof. It has a cross-shaped plan, and two of the gables are

jettied Jettying (jetty, jutty, from Old French ''getee, jette'') is a building technique used in medieval timber framing, timber-frame buildings in which an upper floor projects beyond the dimensions of the floor below. This has the advantage of incr ...

. Sparrows Roost, off Swanley Lane, is a late 17th-century cottage featuring timber framing with brick infill. Swanley Bridge Marina

A bridge and 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 ...

on the

are also listed at grade II. Swanley Bridge is a brick road bridge carrying Springe Lane across the canal near the junction with Swanley Lane; it dates from around 1793. Just north of the bridge lies Swanley Lock Number 2, which dates from 1805. The lock is in blue-and-red brick with stone copings, and is by J. Fetcher, with

Thomas Telford Thomas Telford (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotland, as well ...

as the engineer. Swanley Bridge Marina, immediately north of Lock Number 2, opened in 2006; it has 315 berths. South of Swanley are the unlisted Butcher's Bridge, a footbridge, and Swanley Lock Number 1.

Education

Swanley has no educational facilities, falling within the catchment areas of Malbank School and Sixth Form College in

, and Acton Church of England Primary School.

References

;Source *Local History Group, Frank A. Latham, ed. (1995) ''Acton'', The Local History Group ()

External links

{{authority control Villages in Cheshire

Geography and transport

Landmarks

Education

See also

References

External links