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Culcheth

Coordinates:53°27′06″N2°31′18″W/ 53.4517°N 2.5218°W/53.4517; -2.5218
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Culcheth
Methodist church
Culcheth is located in Cheshire
Culcheth
Culcheth
Location withinCheshire
Population11,454[1](2001)
OS grid referenceSJ653951
Civil parish
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townWARRINGTON
Postcode districtWA3
Dialling code01925
PoliceCheshire
FireCheshire
AmbulanceNorth West
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Cheshire
53°27′06″N2°31′18″W/ 53.4517°N 2.5218°W/53.4517; -2.5218

Culchethis a village in thecivil parishofCulcheth and Glazebury,in theWarringtondistrict, inCheshire,England, six miles (10 km) north-east ofWarrington.

Within the boundaries of thehistoric countyofLancashire,Culcheth is primarily residential, with a largevillage green.The old railway line is now known asCulcheth Linear Park.

Toponymy

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The nameCulchethis first attested in 1201, in the formCulchet;other early attestations includeKulchit(1242) andCulchith,Kilchiche,Kylchiz(1292).[2][3]The name derives from theCommon Brittonicwords that survive in modern Welsh ascul( "narrow" ) andcoed( "woodland" ), a pairing found in the names of several other British places, such asCulgaith(Cumbria),Colquite(Cornwall),Blaencilgoed(Dyfed), andCulcoed(Dyfed and Gwynedd).[3][4]: 316 [5][6]

History

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The area is known to have been established before or around the time of theNorman conquest,from its mention in theDomesday Book.Culcheth Hall was latterly owned by theWithingtonfamily until its demolition after theSecond World War.[7]

The infamousColonel Thomas Blood,who nearly succeeded in stealing theCrown Jewels,was married atWinwick,and lived for a while atHolcroft Hall(on Holcroft Lane, Culcheth).

TheCulcheth Laboratorieswere established in 1950, in the south-west of the village.

On 11 February 2023Brianna Gheywas murdered inCulcheth Linear Park.[8]

Governance and politics

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Local Government in Culcheth has been administered byLancashire County Council(1889–1974),Leigh Rural DistrictCouncil (1894–1933), Culcheth Parish Council (1894–1933) andGolborne Urban District(1933–1974).

Today, Culcheth is administered by Culcheth and Glazebury Parish Council, as well as by Warrington Borough Council (both since 1974). On 1 April 1998, theWarringtonunitary authoritywas created, of which Culcheth is a part.

Culcheth was formerly atownshipin the parish of Newchurch-Kenyon,[9]in 1866 Culceth became a civil parish, on 1 October 1933 the parish was abolished and merged withGolborneandCroft.[10]In 1931 the parish had a population of 2730.[11]

Culcheth (along with its neighbouring villages Glazebury and Croft) form theWarrington Borough CouncilwardofCulcheth, Glazebury and Croft.Although the Labour Party took all three seats in this ward in the local elections of 2016,[12]in 2021 they all changed hands to the Conservatives.[13]

The ward forms part of theWarrington North parliamentary constituency,which has been represented byLabour MPCharlotte Nicholssince 2019. Nichols replacedHelen Jonesas MP, who lives in the village centre with her family.

At the 2012 municipal elections, Chris Vobe (son of Helen Jones MP) became the firstLabour PartyCouncillor for Culcheth since the mid-1990s, taking his seat on Warrington Borough Council at the Town Hall on 14 May 2012, with Culcheth having been represented on Warrington Borough Council by threeConservativecouncillors from 1996 to 2012. 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'.[14]

Transport

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Road

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One of the reasons for Culcheth's popularity as a place to live is its proximity to the main road links intoWarrington(A574), and theM62 motorwayinto Liverpool and Manchester. It is also accessible via Common Lane (theB5207from Lowton), linking to theA580 East Lancashire Road,and Holcroft Lane (the B5212) which meets theA57Warrington-Manchester road nearWarburton Toll Bridge.

Bus

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Warrington's Own Busesoperate two bus services betweenWarringtontown centre andLeighvia 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 betweenCroft/Winwick(service 19)[15]andBirchwood/Padgate(service 28/28A).[16]

Rail

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Between 1884 and 1964, Culcheth was served by two railway stations on theGreat Central Railway(GCR) line fromManchester CentralbetweenGlazebrookandWigan Central railway station.These have been turned intoCulcheth Linear Park,with the park's HQ situated on top of Culcheth station's foundations.

The nearest operating railway stations are atBirchwoodandGlazebrook,both on the line fromLiverpool Lime StreettoManchester Piccadilly.

Economy

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The science and business parks at nearby Birchwood employ around 5,000 people. The Taylor Industrial Estate / Taylor Business Park[17]provides rented premises and facilities to many small and medium-sized businesses on the outskirts of the village on the road between Culcheth and Risley.

There are two supermarkets in the village centre as well as a wide range of smaller specialist shops. There is also CPS shopping centre which is located in the centre of Culcheth village, and has been home to a wide variety of small independent shops for more than 50 years.

Religion

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Culcheth has four churches: Newchurch Parish Church,[18]Culcheth Methodist Church,Culcheth Christian Fellowship, Hob Hey Lane and the Grace Fellowship Church which meets at Culcheth High School. The nearestRoman Catholicchurch is St Lewis's, which is in the nearby village ofCroft.

Education

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The village is well provided withschools.Culcheth High Schoolopened in 1931, and received a 'good' rating byOfsted(2014), with 'The Class of 2013' attaining the best results the school has produced so far, with 79% of pupils attaining 5 A*-C GCSEs including English and Maths. The school also had a successful sixth form which closed in 2014. 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 school buildings were demolished to make way for the new school playing fields.

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

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LeighGolf Clubis 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.

Culture and community

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The Culcheth and Glazebury Christmas Market (formerly Victorian Day) is a village event held in late November each year with gazebos and market stalls complementing the Gift and Craft Fayres taking place in the Parish and Methodist Halls. The whole event is crowned by carols and the Christmas light switch-on at thevillage green.

Notable people

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Helen Jones MP, 2017
  • SirThomas Holcroft(1505 inHolcroft Hall,Culcheth – 1558) was an English courtier, soldier, politician and landowner.
  • ColonelThomas Blood(1618–1680) adventurer, made a failed attempt to steal the Crown Jewels, may have lived in Culcheth.[19]
  • Walton Newbold(1888 in Culcheth – 1943) the first of the four Communist Party of Great Britain members to be elected as MPs in the United Kingdom.
  • Ralph Greaves[20](1889–1966) English composer.
  • Roger Hunt(born 1938 in Glazebury) an English former footballer, 404 appearances forLiverpool F.C.with 286 goals, member of England's 1966 World Cup-winning team.
  • Donald Adamson(born 1939 in Culcheth) a British literary scholar, author and historian.
  • Daniel Ryan(born 1968 ) an English actor[21]and writer.
  • Andy Burnham(born 1970) is a British Labour politician, Mayor of Greater Manchester since May 2017, previously the MP forLeighfrom 2001 to 2017. He was brought up in Culcheth.

Twin town

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See also

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References

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Notes
  1. ^Neighbourhood Statistics."Office for National Statistics".Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. Archived fromthe originalon 23 September 2012.Retrieved6 May2011.
  2. ^"Townships: Culcheth | British History Online".british-history.ac.uk.Retrieved18 October2023.
  3. ^abWatts, Victor, ed. (2004).The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN9780521168557.,s.v.Culcheth.
  4. ^Coates, Richard; Breeze, Andrew (2000).Celtic Voices, English Places: Studies of the Celtic Impact on Place-Names in Britain.Stamford: Tyas.ISBN1900289415..
  5. ^Mills, A. D. (9 October 2003).A Dictionary of British Place-Names.OUP Oxford.ISBN978-0-19-157847-2.
  6. ^James, Alan G."A Guide to the Place-Name Evidence - Guide to the Elements"(PDF).Scottish Place Name Society - The Brittonic Language in the Old North.Retrieved25 October2018.
  7. ^culcheth.org
  8. ^"Teenage boy and girl guilty of Brianna Ghey murder".BBC News.20 December 2023.
  9. ^"History of Culceth, in Warrington and Lancashire".A Vision of Britain through Time.Retrieved1 October2023.
  10. ^"Relationships and changes Culceth Tn/CP through time".A Vision of Britain through Time.Retrieved1 October2023.
  11. ^"Population statistics Culceth Tn/CP through time".A Vision of Britain through Time.Retrieved1 October2023.
  12. ^"Culcheth".culcheth.org.uk.Retrieved4 July2021.
  13. ^"Warrington Local Election Results 2021"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on 14 May 2021.
  14. ^"culcheth.org.uk".culcheth.org.uk.
  15. ^"Warrington to Culcheth buses"(PDF).Warrington Borough Transport.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 28 September 2007.
  16. ^"Busses from Warrington to Culcheth"(PDF).Warrington Borough Transport.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 30 September 2007.
  17. ^"Warrington Office Business Park".Archived fromthe originalon 9 February 2010.Retrieved7 November2009.
  18. ^"newchurch-christchurch.net".Archived fromthe originalon 20 June 2015.Retrieved20 June2015.
  19. ^"Culcheth".
  20. ^"Greaves, Ralph (Nordic Authors)".runeberg.org.Retrieved18 October2023.
  21. ^IMDb Databaseretrieved 9 July 2018
Bibliography
  • Butt, R.V.J. (1995),The Directory of Railway Stations,Patrick Stephens Ltd,ISBN1-85260-508-1
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