Acton, Cheshire
Historical Description
Acton, a village, a township, and a parish in Cheshire. The township lies on the Shropshire Union Canal, 1 mile WNW of Nantwich, and has a post office under Nantwich, which is the money order and telegraph office. Population, 247. The parish, called Acton St Mary, comprises the townships of Acton, Coole Pilate, Burland, Edleston, Austerson, Baddington, Faddiley, Brindley, Henhull, Hurleston, and Stoke. Area of the civil parish, 771, population, 247; area of the ecclesiastical, 10,645; population, 1996. Dorfold Hall, the seat of the lord of the manor, was built in 1616, and contains some good oak panelling. The manor belonged to the Saxon earl Morcar, and passed, through the Levels, Ardens, and Wilbrahams, to the Tollemaches. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Chester; net value, £400. Patron, Lord Tollemache. The registers date from 1653. The principal occupation is cheese-making. The parish church of St Mary's is a handsome Early English structure, with chancel, nave, and aisles, tower, chapel, and a peal of six bells; it contains several ancient monuments, and there is a piscina in the south aisle, and a piscina and stall in the chancel. During the Civil War the Royal forces were driven into Acton Church and there captured.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Cheshire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Acton St. Mary | |
| Hundred | Nantwich | |
| Poor Law union | Nantwich |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1653.
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary (parish church)
The church of St. Mary is a fine building of red sandstone, in the Early English and Perpendicular styles, with some remains (including the base of the tower) of Norman work, and alterations of later date of a debased character, and consists of chancel, clerestoried nave of four bays, aisles and an embattled western tower with pinnacles, containing a clock and six bells: the tower was originally much loftier, but a portion having fallen 15th March, 1757, during a great storm, it was not deemed advisable to restore it to its original height. At the eastern extremity of the south aisle is a chapel belonging to the Wilbraham family, of Dorfold Hall, and contains an altar tomb with recumbent effigies in white marble to Richard Thomas Wilbraham and Elizabeth, his wife, with Latin inscription, dated 1661. At the east end of the north aisle is an interesting canopied monument, with recumbent effigy, to William Mainwaring, dated 1302, but the inscription is now almost oblitterated. At the back of the monument are wall paintings of heads. There is also a brass with arms to Wilbraham Spencer Tollemache esq. of Dorfold Hall (d. 1890) and Ann (Tomkinson), his wife (d. 1871). The east and west windows and several others are stained: some fragments of Early Norman arcading with figures have been put together and placed in the Wilbraham chapel: in 1897 the whole church was completely restored, in part at the expense of Mr. E. Sutton Timmis, in memory of his mother: the chancel was repaired by the patron, and the organ chamber by H. J. Tollemache esq. of Dorfold Hall.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Acton from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Acton (St. Mary))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Cheshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Acton are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Cheshire papers online:
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Cheshire, 1580 is available on the Heraldry page.