Bickerton, Cheshire

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Northern Bickerton Hill
Northern Bickerton Hill

Bickerton is a village and civil parish in the Crewe and Nantwich district of Cheshire, England, about eight miles north of Whitchurch in Shropshire. The parish also includes the small settlement of Gallantry Bank, with a total population of over 200.[1] The two Bickerton Hills also lie partly within the civil parish.

Contents

[edit] Geography

Church of the Holy Trinity
Church of the Holy Trinity

The two Bickerton Hills fall partly within the civil parish. Raw Head (SJ508548; 227 metres), a Marilyn, lies north of the A534, while the southerly hill (212 metres) lies south of the road, immediately northwest of Bickerton village.[2] The area around Raw Head and much of the southerly hill are designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest.[3][4] A wider area covering much of the north and west of the civil parish is also designated an Area of Special County Value.[5] Around 300 acres of the southerly hill are managed by the National Trust.[6]

[edit] Demography

Coppermine chimney
Coppermine chimney

According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 234, in 90 households.[7] The population has fallen since the nineteenth century; the historical population figures were 270 (1801), 398 (1851), 323 (1901) and 256 (1951).[1]

[edit] 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 as the architect, it is listed at grade II.[8] A war memorial stands in the adjacent graveyard, overlooking the crossroads of Goldford Lane and Long Lane.[9]

[edit] Other landmarks

Bickerton Poacher
Bickerton Poacher

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.[10]

The Bickerton Poacher public house stands on the A534 by the junction with Stone House Lane.

[edit] 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 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.[2]

Holy Trinity CE Primary School‎
Holy Trinity CE Primary School‎

[edit] Education

See also: List of schools in Cheshire

Bickerton Holy Trinity CE Primary School stands on Long Lane.[11] It serves Bickerton as well as the nearby civil parishes of Bulkeley, Cholmondeley, Chorley, Egerton, Ridley and part of Duckington.[12]

Bickerton civil parish falls within the catchment area of Bishop Heber High School in Malpas.[13]

[edit] References