Aldford is a village and former

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 ...

, now in the parish of Aldford and Saighton, in the

Cheshire West and Chester Cheshire West and Chester is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Cheshire, England. It was established on 1 April 2009 as part of the 2009 structural changes to l ...

district, in 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. (). The village is approximately to the south of

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

, on the east bank of the River Dee. The Aldford Brook joins the Dee just north of the village. In the 2001 census, the population of the parish was 213. The population of the civil parish was recorded as 272 in the 2011 census.

History

The name Aldford means "Old Ford" and likely derives from

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

. Aldford Castle dates back over 800 years. The village was a township in Broxton Hundred. A civil parish from 1866, it was abolished on 1 April 2015 to form Aldford and Saighton civil parish. The population was 331 in 1801, rising to 521 in 1851, then 113 in 1901 and decreasing to 96 by 1951. Between 1960 and 1991, the village was the location of a Royal Observer Corps monitoring bunker, to be used in the event of a nuclear attack. No trace of the bunker remains today.

Landmarks

Most of the building stock was constructed as a ''designed village'' in the middle of the 19th century by Sir Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster, in almost rectangular form. A number of buildings in the village were designed by the architect John Douglas. These include the Grade II listed St John's church and the Grosvenor Arms

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

. The River Dee outside the village is crossed by the Aldford Iron Bridge, which was built in 1824 by William Hazledine for the 1st Marquis. Iron Bridge Lodge, adjacent to this bridge, was designed by Douglas & Fordham in 1894 and is listed Grade II. Aldford Hall and the Roman road Watling Street are outside the village.

References

{{authority control Villages in Cheshire Former civil parishes in Cheshire Cheshire West and Chester

History

Landmarks

See also

References