Ridley 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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the unitary authority of

Cheshire East Cheshire East is a unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The local authority is Cheshire East Council. Towns within the area include Crewe, Macclesfield, Co ...

and the ceremonial county of

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, which lies to the north east of Malpas and to the 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. ...

. The parish is largely rural with scattered farms and buildings and no significant settlements. In 2001, the population was a little over 100. Nearby villages include

Bulkeley Bulkeley () is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The village is on the A534 road, west of Nantwich. In the 2011 census it had a population of 239. History Th ...

, Bunbury,

Faddiley Faddiley is a small village (at SJ 590 530) and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The village is located 4 miles to the west of Nantwich. The parish also includes the small s ...

Peckforton Peckforton is a scattered settlement (centred at ) and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The settlement is located to the north east of Malpas and to the west of Nantwich. ...

and Spurstow. At the 2011 Census the population had fallen less than 100. Details are included in the civil parish of

Governance

Ridley is administered jointly with

by the Bulkeley & Ridley Parish Council. From 1974 the civil parish was served by

Crewe and Nantwich Crewe and Nantwich was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district with borough status in Cheshire, England. It had a population (2001 census) of 111,007. It contained 69 civil parishes and one unparished area: the town of Crewe. It now fo ...

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

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

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

Edward Timpson Anthony Edward Timpson, (born 26 December 1973) is a British Conservative Party politician who was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Eddisbury in Cheshire at the 2019 general election. He was previously MP for neighbouring Crew ...

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, succeed ...

(1999–2015) and

Antoinette Sandbach Antoinette Geraldine Mackeson-Sandbach (born 15 February 1969), known as Antoinette Sandbach, is a former British politician who was elected as Member of Parliament for Eddisbury in Cheshire at the 2015 general election. The following day, 8 ...

(2015–19).

Geography and transport

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 1720 and the work, which included ...

runs north–south through the west of the civil parish and the

River Gowy The River Gowy is a river in Cheshire, England, a tributary of the River Mersey. It rises in western Cheshire in the hills near Peckforton Castle, very close to the source of the River Weaver. While the Weaver flows south initially, the Gowy ...

runs east–west along part of its northern border. Both rivers are close to their sources in the

Peckforton Hills The Peckforton Hills are a sandstone ridge running broadly northeast–southwest in the west of the English county of Cheshire. They form a significant part of the longer Mid Cheshire Ridge which extends southwards from Frodsham towards Malpas. ...

, which rise to the north west of Ridley. There is a low hill in the east of the civil parish, with a high point of 127 m at , at the north part of Chesterton Wood. A mast and a covered reservoir are located on the top of the hill, and a

trig point A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity. The nomenclature varies regionally: they a ...

stands at , around 100 metres north of the reservoir, at an elevation of 125 metres. The ground slopes gently downwards towards the Weaver in the west of the civil parish, with a low point of around 90 metres. The land use is predominantly agricultural, particularly cattle pasture. Several small meres and ponds are scattered across the farmland. There are four small woods – Ridley Wood and Chesterton Wood in the north west of the parish, and The Moss and The Bache in the south east – as well as several smaller areas of unnamed woodland. The A49 and A534 roads run north–south and east–west through the parish, respectively.Cheshire East Council & Cheshire West and Chester Council: Interactive Mapping: Ridley
(accessed 30 March 2010)

Landmarks

The Ridley Hall gatehouse () might have formed part of the "fine Ridley Hall" mentioned in Leland's ''Itinerary'', which would date it at around 1530. It is

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

at grade II*. The stone archway is topped with a brick storey under a slate roof, and is now flanked by later brick farm buildings. Above the archway on the south face is a carved stone tablet bearing the escutcheon of the Egerton family, flanked with horn players and animals. The grade-II-listed former primary school stands on the south side of the A534 at . A T-shaped building of rock-faced sandstone incorporating a teacher's house, the school is in Gothic style and dates from 1876.

Demography

According to the 2001 census, the civil parish had a population of 120.Combining Cheshire County Council: Local Statistics: Peckforton - Ridley
Neighbourhood Statistics: Peckforton CP
(accessed 17 August 2007) The population has been relatively constant since 1801, with historical population figures of 122 (1801), 133 (1851), 109 (1901) and 138 (1951).

Education

There are no educational facilities within the civil parish. Ridley falls within the catchment areas of Bickerton Holy Trinity CE Primary School in Bickerton and Bishop Heber High School in Malpas.Cheshire County Council: Interactive Mapping: Bishop Heber High School
(accessed 25 May 2008)

References