West Heath, Cheshire
West Heath is a suburb to the west of Congleton, in Cheshire, England. It is the site of Astbury Mere Country Park. The West Heath area has three schools, with one of Congleton's two secondary schools, Congleton High School being based there.
Geography and environment
Congleton lies at a zone of transition between the Cheshire Plain and Peak District ( Pennine) Mountains. West Heath lies on the Cheshire plain and consists of rolling farmland, suburbs and small woodlands. The River Dane passes through areas of West Heath and much of the areas woodlands are found here. West Heath is notably more affluent than some other areas of Congleton, most notably Buglawton and Bromley Farm Estate and many people commute to other towns to work. The flora of the area is typical of the Cheshire Plain, but is well wooded and with small areas of heathlands still surviving in isolated pockets, mainly in Astbury Mere.
History
West Heath was formerly an area of large heathland and woodland. It had an opencast sand quarry, now a lake known as Astbury Mere. It has its own recently redeveloped shopping centre with a Co-operative Group supermarket and an Aldi supermarket recently finished.
West Heath was until the 1930s mainly farmland and woodland, and many of the old hawthorn boundary hedges and small woodlands can still be seen.
Astbury Mere
Astbury Mere is a local country park and is popular with walkers, dog walkers, cyclists, fishermen and adventure sports enthusiasts. The name 'Astbury Mere' is technically incorrect as no part of it falls within the boundaries of Newbold Astbury. The area was formerly referred to as 'Astbury Marsh' but is within the boundaries of Congleton town and within the West Heath area.
It is a former sand quarry which has been converted into a public area but the country park doesn't extend to the beaches surrounding the lake which are owned and used by anglers from the Stoke-on-Trent Angling Society, although they permit people to use the beaches and have fenced off the beach for dogs to go in the lake.
There is a visitor centre at the country park and also a restaurant and sailing club / school on the opposite side of the lake to the visitor centre. There was also formerly a small park for kids beside the restaurant but it was taken down many years ago.
Some issues affecting the lake are conflicts of interest between dog walkers and anglers who both use the beaches, development encroaching close to the lake and crowding in summer (Astbury Mere is very popular with locals).
External links
Media related to West Heath, Cheshire at Wikimedia Commons
Coordinates: 53°9′40″N 2°14′0″W / 53.16111°N 2.23333°W
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