Culcheth

Culcheth
Culcheth
Culcheth shown within Cheshire
Population 11,454 [1] (2001)
OS grid reference SJ653951
Civil parish
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town WARRINGTON
Postcode district WA3
Dialling code 01925
Police Cheshire
Fire Cheshire
Ambulance North West
EU Parliament North West England
UK Parliament

Culcheth is a large village in Warrington, Cheshire, England, six miles (10 km) north-east of Warrington town centre; it is the principal settlement in Culcheth and Glazebury Civil Parish.

Culcheth is primarily residential, with a large village green at its heart where the annual Community Day is held. The old railway line is now known as Culcheth Linear Park.

History

On Saxon maps showing South Lancashire the village is marked as "Calchuth" or "Celchyth." On these very early maps and deeds the name is also written as "Kilcheth", "Kylchith" and "Kilshaw." It is derived from the British language "cil" and "coed", 'at the edge of a wood,' 'black wood' or 'retreat in a wood'.[2] There are a few examples of this name in Welsh today e.g. the Welsh name for Caldicot (Monmouthshire) is "Cil-y-coed". However, another claim is that the name is of Norman origin, but all four families of French descent which settled in the area took local names, such as de Culcheth, de Kenyon, de Risley and de Holcroft.

The area is known to have been established before or around the time of the Norman conquest, from its mention in the Domesday Book. Culcheth Hall was latterly owned by the Withington family until its demolition after the Second World War.[3]

The infamous Colonel Thomas Blood, who nearly succeeded in stealing the Crown Jewels, was married at Winwick, and lived for a while at Holcroft Hall (on Holcroft Lane, Culcheth).

Until 1974, Culcheth was in Lancashire but was moved into Cheshire by the local government reorganisation. On 1 April 1998, the Warrington Unitary Authority was created of which Culcheth is a part.

Governance and politics

Culcheth and Glazebury Parish Council[4] operates as part of the Warrington Borough Council, covering the matters the borough has delegated to the parish councils within Warrington. Following the 2016 local elections, Culcheth and Glazebury Parish Council comprises 6 Labour councillors and 4 Conservatives.

Culcheth (along with its neighbouring villages Glazebury and Croft) form the Warrington Borough Council ward of Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft. In the 2016 elections, Labour Party took all three seats from this ward.[5] The ward forms part of the Warrington North parliamentary constituency, which has been represented by Labour MP Helen Jones since 1997: she and her family live in the village centre.

At the 2012 municipal elections, the Labour Party won a seat: Chris Vobe (son of Helen Jones MP), the first Labour Party Councillor for Culcheth since the mid-1990s, took his seat on Warrington Borough Council at the town hall on 14 May 2012, having from 1996 to 2012, being represented on Warrington Borough Council by three Conservative councillors. Chris Vobe stood down from his position in 2016.

Cheshire Constabulary has established a police community base in Culcheth Scout Centre in agreement with the local scout group. This innovation allows local police officers to spend more time in the community and makes it easier for people to contact them. Without this arrangement police officers would have to be based at Warrington Police Station, which is several miles away from their 'beat'.[6]

Transport

Road

One of the reasons for Culcheth's popularity as a place to live is its proximity to the main road links into Warrington (A574), and the M62 motorway into Liverpool and Manchester. It is also accessible via Common Lane (the B5207 from Lowton), linking to the A580 East Lancashire Road, and Holcroft Lane (the B5212) which meets the A57 Warrington-Manchester road near Warburton Toll Bridge.

Bus

Warrington Borough Transport operate two bus services between Warrington town centre and Leigh via the village centre. A combined 30-minute frequency is provided by services 19 and 28/28A on Monday to Saturday daytimes, with a combined 30-minute frequency on Sundays and an hourly 28E service Monday to Saturday evening. The two services operate via the same route to Leigh, but the route to Warrington alternates between Croft/Winwick (service 19)[7] and Birchwood/Padgate (service 28/28A).[8]

Rail

Between 1884 and 1964, Culcheth was served by two railway stations on the Great Central Railway (GCR) line from Manchester Central between Glazebrook and Wigan Central railway station. These have been turned into Culcheth Linear Park, with the park's HQ situated on top of Culcheth station foundations.

The nearest operating railway stations are at Birchwood and Glazebrook, both on the line from Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Piccadilly.

Economy

The science and business parks at nearby Birchwood employ around 5,000 people. The Taylor Industrial Estate / Taylor Business Park[9] provides rented premises and facilities to many small and medium-sized businesses firms on the outskirts of the village on the road between Culcheth and Risley.

There are two supermarkets in the village centre, the Co-Op and Sainsbury's, as well as a wide range of smaller specialist shops.

There are three pubs in Culcheth: the Cherry Tree, the Culcheth Arms (formerly Harrow Inn) and the Pack Horse. Nearby Glazebury also has several pubs: the Raven Inn, the Chat Moss Hotel, the Grey Horse, the Comfortable Gill and the George and Dragon.

Bent's Garden Centre, located on the outskirts of Glazebury in the grounds of the former Hurst Hall, is a large upmarket enterprise which also has a restaurant.

Religion

Culcheth has four churches: Newchurch Parish Church,[10] Culcheth Methodist Church, Culcheth Christian Fellowship, Hob Hey Lane and the Grace Fellowship Church which meets at Culcheth High School. The nearest Roman Catholic church is St Lewis's, which is in the nearby village of Croft.

Education

The village is well provided with schools. Culcheth High School opened in 1931, and received a 'good' rating by Ofsted (2009), with 'The Class of 2011' attaining the best results the school has produced so far, with 77% of pupils attaining 5 A*-C GCSEs including English and Maths (an increase of 3% on 2010). The school also had a successful sixth form, whose 'Class of 2011' produced their best results with an overall 97.5% pass rate, allowing the vast majority to attain their preferred university places, and a 100% pass rate in 20 subjects, with outstanding results in Psychology, Media Studies and History. The sixth form has now been closed. The school was picked as Warrington's 'Pathfinder' school under the now-defunct 'Building Schools for the Future' scheme, and the brand new school buildings opened in July 2010. The old buildings have been demolished to make way for the new school fields, which were prepared in 2012.

The village also has three primary schools: Twiss Green Community Primary School (rated "outstanding" by OFSTED), Culcheth Community Primary School and Newchurch Community Primary School.

Sport

Leigh Golf Club is located to the north of Culcheth.

The Culcheth Sports Club (formerly the Daten) provides a wide range of sports facilities such as table tennis, cricket, tennis, croquet and bowls. The Sports Club also has teams in various leagues in different sports, including numerous table tennis teams, a football team, a tennis league and a croquet team.

Culcheth Eagles ARLFC is a successful rugby league team, which runs many youth teams and an open age team, which all compete in the North West Counties leagues.

FC Culcheth Sports is a newly established football club in the village with teams in the Wigan and District Amateur League and the Warrington Sunday League.

Culture and community

Victorian Day is a popular village event held in late November each year, with tradespeople donning Victorian attire and various stalls selling such delights as mulled wine and hot chestnuts. Village centre car parks are closed to accommodate children's fairground rides, with music provided by a local brass band. The whole event is crowned by a free firework display on the village green.

Notable people

Twin town

See also

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Neighbourhood Statistics. "Office for National Statistics". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk.
  2. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names
  3. ↑ www.culcheth.org
  4. ↑ Skill Zone Ltd, http://www.skillzone.net. "Culcheth and Glazebury Parish Council". Warrington Access Guide.
  5. ↑ http://culcheth.org.uk/blog/electionresults2016
  6. ↑ "culcheth.org.uk". culcheth.org.uk.
  7. ↑ http://www.warringtonboroughtransport.co.uk/new/tables_pdf/19%20TT.pdf Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  8. ↑ http://www.warringtonboroughtransport.co.uk/new/tables_pdf/386%20586%20TT.pdf Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ Warrington Office Business Park
  10. ↑ www.newchurch-christchurch.net
  11. ↑ http://culcheth.org.uk/blog/colonelblood
Bibliography
  • Butt, R.V.J. (1995), The Directory of Railway Stations, Patrick Stephens Ltd, ISBN 1-85260-508-1 
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