Baddington is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the unitary authority of

Cheshire East Cheshire East is a unitary authority area with borough status in Cheshire, England. The local authority is Cheshire East Council, which is based in the town of Sandbach. Other towns within the area include Crewe, Macclesfield, Congleton, Wilms ...

and the ceremonial county of

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, England, which lies immediately to the south-west of

Nantwich Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture ...

and north of

Audlem Audlem ( ) is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cheshire, North West England. In 2021, it had a population of 1,832. The largest village in southern Cheshire, Audlem is approximately south of Nantwich, just north of t ...

. Predominantly rural with scattered farms, the civil parish has a total population of around 100 people, increasing to 212 at the 2011 Census, and includes the dispersed settlement of Hack Green, the site of a former RAF decoy station, radar station and Home Defence regional headquarters. Nearby villages include

Aston Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Located immediately to the north-west of Birmingham city centre, Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a wards of the United Kingdom, war ...

Broomhall Green Broomhall is a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The main line of the Shropshire Union Canal runs through the parish and the River Weaver forms part of its boundary. The main ...

, Hankelow,

Ravensmoor Ravensmoor is a village in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, located at . It is split between the civil parishes of Baddiley and Burland and Acton. It lies at an elevation of 65 m, around sou ...

, Sound Heath and

Stapeley Stapeley is a hamlet (at ) and former civil parish, now in the parish of Stapeley and District, in the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The hamlet lies 2¼ miles to the south east of Nantw ...

History

The name Baddington is of Saxon origin, and means "Beada's Farm". It is not mentioned by name in the

Domesday survey Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

, the first record being in the period 1175–84. The civil parish fell within the

ancient parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Acton in the Nantwich Hundred; it was served by

St Mary's Church, Acton St Mary's Church is an active Anglican parish church located in Monk's Lane, Acton, Cheshire, Acton, a village to the west of Nantwich, Cheshire, England. Since 1967 it has been designated a Grade I listed building. A church has been prese ...

. In the reign of

Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after t ...

(1327–77), the land was acquired by the Bromley family, who had their seat at Baddington Hall. A famous member of that family was Sir John Bromley, who served in the wars in France and, according to Hall's ''History of Nantwich'', "heroically recovered the British Standard at Corbie" in 1415, just before the

Battle of Agincourt The Battle of Agincourt ( ; ) was an English victory in the Hundred Years' War. It took place on 25 October 1415 (Saint Crispin's Day) near Azincourt, in northern France. The unexpected victory of the vastly outnumbered English troops agains ...

. He was buried at Acton in 1419. In the 16th century, the Fouleshurst family were also landowners in the parish. Later the land passed to the Lords Kilmorley, the owner in 1800, who was a major landowner in this part of Cheshire. A gazetteer entry of 1870–2 mentions twenty houses, with a total property value of £1,715. In 1936, a small area of the civil parish was transferred to

.Genuki: Baddington
(accessed 4 April 2008) Part of Baddington and the adjacent parish of

Austerson Austerson is a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, lying immediately south of the town of Nantwich and north of the village of Audlem. Predominantly rural with scattered farms, t ...

was forest until at least the mid-17th century, with wood being used as fuel for salt production in nearby

. Salt might also have been produced within the parish, as a

brine Brine (or briny water) is a high-concentration solution of salt (typically sodium chloride or calcium chloride) in water. In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawat ...

spring is shown on an 1831 map of the area. The parish formerly had a small water-powered mill and a brick kiln field. Agriculture was the major land use by the early 19th century. The road between Nantwich and

Edleston Edleston is a former civil parish, now in the parishes of Burland and Acton and Nantwich, in the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, which lies immediately to the south west of Nantwich. For a ...

crossed the parish; in 1607, the right of way was 12 feet wide. Transport connections improved in the 19th century with the construction first of the

Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal The Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal was a canal in England which ran from Nantwich, where it joined the Chester Canal, to Autherley, where it joined the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. Forming part of a major link between Liverp ...

, now part of the Shropshire Union (1835), (accessed 17 August 2007) and then the now-dismantled Nantwich and Market Drayton Railway (1863).The Village of Audlem: Village History
(accessed 5 April 2008)

Governance

Since 1950, Baddington has been administered by Sound and District Parish Council. From 1974 the civil parish was served by

Crewe and Nantwich Crewe and Nantwich was, from 1974 to 2009, a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Cheshire, England. It had a population (2001 census) of 111,007. It contained 69 ci ...

Borough Council, which was succeeded on 1 April 2009 by the

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

. Baddington falls in the parliamentary constituency of Eddisbury, which has been represented by

Edward Timpson Anthony Edward Timpson, (born 26 December 1973) is a British former Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Eddisbury in Cheshire from 2019 to 2024. Timpson was previously the MP for neighbouring Crewe ...

since 2019, after being represented by

Stephen O'Brien Sir Stephen Rothwell O'Brien, (born 1 April 1957) is a British politician and diplomat who was the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. O'Brien assumed office on 29 May 2015, succee ...

(1999–2015) and

Antoinette Sandbach Antoinette Geraldine Mackeson-Sandbach (born 15 February 1969), known as Antoinette Sandbach, is a British barrister, farm manager and politician who was elected as a North Wales region Member of the Welsh Assembly at the May 2011 election, an ...

(2015–19).

Geography and transport

The civil parish has a total area of .Crewe & Nantwich Borough Council: Parish Statistics (downloaded fro

5 April 2010) The area is relatively flat, with an average elevation of around 50 metres. The

Shropshire Union Canal The Shropshire Union Canal, sometimes nicknamed the "Shroppie", is a navigable canal in England. It is the modern name for a part of the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company network. In the leisure age, two of the branches of that netwo ...

runs broadly north–south through the parish.Ordnance Survey Explorer 257: Crewe & Nantwich: Whitchurch & TattenhallCheshire County Council: Interactive Mapping: Baddington CP
(accessed 4 April 2008) The Baddington section of the canal contains the two Hackgreen Locks as well as two cast-iron canal mile posts; all date from around 1826 and are listed at

grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. It is also crossed by two road bridges, Baddington Lane Bridge (A530) and Burrow's Bridge (French Lane), as well as Hack Green footbridge; all three canal bridges are listed at grade II. A short stretch of the

River Weaver The River Weaver is a river, navigable in its lower reaches, running in a curving route anti-clockwise across west Cheshire, northern England. Improvements to the river to make it navigable were authorised in 1721 and the work, which included ...

near Nantwich Lake runs through the northern tip of the parish, and Shrew Bridge (A530) lies on the parish boundary. Several small meres and ponds are scattered across the farmland. There are two small woods, Broomhall Gorse and Gorse Covert, which lie to the west of the canal, as well as other smaller areas of unnamed woodland. The A530 (known successively as Whitchurch Road, Baddington Lane and Shrewbridge Road) runs through the parish from the south west to the north-east. Coole Lane runs north–south, joining the A530 at the north of the parish; French Lane/French Lane End runs east–west. The Welsh Marches Railway runs immediately to the north-west of the parish, being less than 50 metres beyond the boundary at the closest point. The

Crewe and Nantwich Circular Walk The Crewe and Nantwich Circular Walk is a long-distance walkers' path in the Cheshire East area of Cheshire, England. As the name suggests, the walk forms a circuit around the towns of Crewe and Nantwich. It is one of two circular walks in ...

crosses the northern tip of the parish.

Demography

In 2006, the total population of the civil parish was estimated as 100. The 2001 census recorded a population of 98, in 38 households. Historical population figures were 121 (1801), 155 (1851), 123 (1901) and 132 (1951).

Hack Green

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Hack Green was at first used as a decoy for Crewe railway junction. In 1941, an RAF camp was established there, with a fixed ground-controlled intercept

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

station, one of a network of twenty-one across the country. After the war, the site was equipped with a partially underground

bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...

protecting an air-defence radar installation, part of the

ROTOR ROTOR was an elaborate air defence radar system built by the British Government in the early 1950s to counter possible attack by Soviet bombers. To get it operational as quickly as possible, it was initially made up primarily of WWII-era syst ...

network. Between 1958 and 1966, Hack Green served as a joint civil and military

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...

site. In 1976–84, the abandoned RAF site was converted into a nuclear bunker complex, which was the Home Defence regional headquarters for a large area of the North West until 1993.Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker: Bunker History

(accessed 4 April 2008) The site, now known as "

Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker The Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker is a former government-owned nuclear bunker located at Hack Green, Cheshire, England. History The first military use of the area was in World War II, when a Starfish site was established at Hack Gree ...

" (), became a museum in 1998. In addition to the Hack Green installations, the museum houses

Ballistic Missile Early Warning System The RCA 474L Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS, 474L System, Project 474L) was a United States Air Force Cold War early warning radar, computer, and communications system, for ballistic missile detection. The network of twelve rada ...

equipment from

RAF High Wycombe Royal Air Force High Wycombe or more simply RAF High Wycombe is a Royal Air Force station, situated in the village of Walters Ash, near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England. It houses Headquarters Air Command, and was originally designed ...

, as well as decommissioned

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear exp ...

s from various sites.

Other landmarks

Hack House on French Lane () is a

timber-framed Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

farmhouse with brick infill, featuring small framing. Dating originally from the early 17th century, it is listed at

grade II* In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

. Also on French Lane is the grade-II-listed Hack House Farm House (), a roughcast brick farmhouse dating originally from the early 17th century. Baddington Bank Farm on Baddington Lane () is an L-shaped red-brick farmhouse dating from the late 17th century, and is also listed at grade II. Other landmarks within the civil parish include a dry moated site.Latham, p. 22

Education

There are no educational facilities within the civil parish. Baddington falls within the catchment areas of Sound and District Primary School in

Sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

and

Brine Leas High School Brine Leas School is an academy school in Nantwich, Cheshire, England. The school has 1,287 pupils enrolled, and has technology and language status. The school opened in 1977 as a comprehensive co-educational establishment. The first head teac ...

.Cheshire County Council: Interactive Mapping: Baddington CP: Primary and secondary schools
(accessed 4 April 2008)

References

Sources

*Latham FA, ed. ''Acton'' (The Local History Group; 1995) ()

External links

Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker
{{authority control Civil parishes in Cheshire Villages in Cheshire