Davenham (pronounced Dave-n-ham) is a rural village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

approximately south of the town of

Northwich {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

, part of the Borough of Cheshire West and Chester 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 coun ...

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 ...

. It has a population of 5,655, reducing following reorganisation to 2,745 at the 2011 Census. The village is close to the A556 and

A533 The A533 road or the Bridgewater Expressway is a road linking Rode Heath in Cheshire, England with Widnes, also in Cheshire. Route The road follows this route: *Rode Heath () * Sandbach * Middlewich *Northwich {{Infobox UK place , st ...

roads and both the

River Dane The River Dane is a tributary of the River Weaver that originates in the Peak District area of England. The name of the river (earlier ''Daven'') is probably from the Old Welsh ''dafn'', meaning a "drop or trickle", implying a slow-moving river ...

and

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 ...

. It is the birthplace of former marathon world record holder,

Paula Radcliffe Paula Jane Radcliffe MBE (born 17 December 1973) is a former British long-distance runner. She is a three-time winner of the London Marathon (2002, 2003, 2005), three-time New York Marathon champion (2004, 2007, 2008), and 2002 Chicago Maratho ...

History

Davenham is 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 manusc ...

of 1086 as Devenham. Its name means "hamlet on the River Dane". The site of the Norman Shipbrook Castle by the River Dane is indicated by the name of Castle Hill, between Shipbrook Bridge and Shipbrook Hill Farm, but no traces now remain. In 1936 the whole of Eaton (near Davenham) and part of Leftwich civil parish (which extended into Davenham village) was added to Davenham, and in 1955 part of Davenham was transferred to Northwich civil parish. Between 1996 and 2006, a large housing development was built on farmland to the northwest of the village centre. The estate is known as Kingsmead and is separated from the historic village of Davenham by the A556 Northwich bypass. This area was originally the Kingsmead ward of the civil parish with five members representing the ward on Davenham parish council. Following a community governance review, Kingsmead became a separate parish with its own parish council in April 2011. In 2006 the Kingsmead Residents' Association was formed by residents who were concerned at the state of maintenance of the public areas of the estate. By Easter 2007 the association had over 500 members and expanded its interests to cover topics such as litter on the estate, speeding on the main spine and loop roads and the adoption of the estate's roads by the County Council, in addition to the association's primary aim which was to take over the Estate Management company responsible for the upkeep of the public areas of the estate. Davenham parish council along with Moulton parish council decided in 2007 to part-fund a

Police Community Support Officer A police community support officer (PCSO; cy, swyddog cymorth cymunedol yr heddlu, SCCH), or as written in legislation community support officer (CSO; cy, swyddog cymorth cymunedol, SCC) is a uniformed member of police staff in England and Wal ...

(PCSO) in order to keep a police presence in Davenham and Kingsmead. Due to policing boundaries it was decided that one PCSO from Winsford Neighbourhood Policing Unit would police Davenham and Moulton, whilst a PCSO from Northwich would cover Kingsmead and Leftwich. The village's

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all-s ...

reached the final of the 1887 Welsh FA Cup, losing to

Chirk Chirk ( cy, Y Waun) is a town and Community (Wales), community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, south of Wrexham, between it and Oswestry. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 4,468. Historically in the historic counties of Wales, tradi ...

Geography

Davenham is situated in the centre of the

Cheshire Plain The Cheshire Plain is a relatively flat expanse of lowland within the county of Cheshire in North West England but extending south into Shropshire. It extends from the Mersey Valley in the north to the Shropshire Hills in the south, bounded by ...

between the River Weaver and River Dane. It is surrounded by the civil parishes of

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since ...

Rudheath Rudheath is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, in the north west of England, approximately 2 miles east of Northwich. The population of the civil parish as tak ...

, Byley, Bostock, Moulton and

Winsford Winsford is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the River Weaver south of Northwich and west of Middlewich. It grew around ...

Governance

An electoral ward in the name of Davenham and Moulton exists. This ward covers much of Davenham and stretches to the Northwich area also Winsford. The total population at the 2011 Census was 13,565.

Population

* 1801: 327 * 1851: 552 * 1901: 706 * 1951: 2,306 * 2001: 5,655 * 2011: 2,745

Church

The church of St. Wilfrid goes back to the Domesday period but the current edifice is the fourth on the site, dating from a major reconstruction between 1844 and 1870 in the Victorian Gothic revival style. The tower has a recessed spire built in 1850. Legend says that the church was founded by St Wilfrid on a journey through Cheshire in the 7th Century, but the first documented evidence of a church on the site is an existing priest and church in 1086.

Schools

Davenham has traditionally had a Primary school, Davenham Church of England Primary School. However the parish now includes parts of the Kingsmead development which includes Kingsmead Primary School built in 2004. Both these schools are feeder schools to The County High School, Leftwich as well as other, more distant secondary schools such as Weaverham or the Grange.

References

External links

Davenham Parish Council website

St. Wilfrids Church website

Kingsmead Primary school website
{{authority control Villages in Cheshire Civil parishes in Cheshire