Ledsham is a village and

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 authorit ...

in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The civil parish includes parts of the hamlets of Badger's Rake and Two Mills. It is located on the

Wirral Peninsula Wirral (; ), known locally as The Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide and is bounded by the River Dee to the west (forming the boundary with Wales), the River Mersey to ...

, approximately to the north of the city of Chester and to the west of

Ellesmere Port Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, south of Birkenhead, southwest of Runcorn and south of ...

. At the 2011 Census, the village had a population of 181.

History

In 1085, Ledsham was recorded in the

Domesday Book 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

as ''Levetesham''. The landowner was Walter de Vernon. The land passed by will from the Massey family to Sir Thomas Stanley of Hooton in 1715. Formerly a township in

Neston Neston is a town and civil parish on the Wirral Peninsula, in Cheshire, England. It is part of the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester. The village of Parkgate is located to the north west and the villages of Little Neston and Nes ...

parish of the

Wirral Hundred The Hundred of Wirral is the ancient administrative area for the Wirral Peninsula. Its name is believed to have originated from the ''Hundred of Wilaveston'', the historic name for Willaston, which was an important assembly point in the Wirral ...

, it became a civil parish in 1866. The population was recorded at 56 in 1801, 94 in 1851, 82 in 1901, 116 in 1951 and 88 in 2001. The village was served by Ledsham railway station on the former

Chester and Birkenhead Railway Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Local ...

. A local cottage had been used as the station building, until the provision of more substantial facilities. At its height, Ledsham station had four platforms and was situated at the southern end of the railway's quadrupled section. The station never achieved the commercial potential expected by its owners, primarily due to its remote rural location. Ledsham station closed completely on 20 July 1959. However, two tracks of the line are still part of the

Merseyrail Merseyrail is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, commuter rail network serving the Liverpool City Region and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire. Merseyrail operates 66 railway stations across two lines – the Northern Line (Merseyrail ...

network.

Governance

Ledsham is within the

Ellesmere Port and Neston Ellesmere Port and Neston was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district with borough status in Cheshire, England. It covered the southern part of the Wirral Peninsula, namely that part which is not included in the Metropolitan Borough of ...

parliamentary constituency. At local government level the area is divided between Ledsham & Manor and Saughall & Mollington wards. as of .

Geography

The village centre is located approximately to the north west of Capenhurst, with the area around the former railway station to the north, in the vicinity of Little Sutton.

Transport

To the north and west of Ledsham, the A550 Welsh Road connects the A41 and A540. The nearest station is Capenhurst railway station on Merseyrail's

Wirral line The Wirral line is one of two commuter rail routes operated by Merseyrail and centred on Merseyside, England, the other being the Northern line. The Wirral line connects Liverpool to the Wirral Peninsula via the Mersey Railway Tunnel, with ...

, with services between

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and Chester.

Landmarks

Inglewood is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

in Ledsham, which was built as a private house in 1909. As of the building is the Inglewood Manor Hotel.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Cheshire Civil parishes in Cheshire