Warmingham 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. 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 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, on the

River Wheelock The River Wheelock is a small river in Cheshire in north west England. It drains water from the area between Sandbach and Crewe, and joins the River Dane at Middlewich (), and then the combined river flows into the River Weaver in Northwich ...

(at ), north of

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the parish had a population of 55,318 and the built-up area had a population of 74,120. ...

, south of

Middlewich Middlewich is a town and civil parish in Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is located east of Chester, east of Winsford, south-east of Northwich and north-west of Sandbach. The population of the parish at the United Kingdom 2021 census, ...

and miles west of

Sandbach Sandbach (pronounced ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire East borough of Cheshire, England. The civil parish contains four settlements: Sandbach, Elworth, Ettiley Heath and Wheelock, Cheshire, Wheelock. At the 2021 United Kingd ...

. The parish also includes the small settlement of Lane Ends,Genuki: Warmingham
(accessed 15 August 2007) with a total population of just under 250. Nearby villages include

Minshull Vernon Minshull Vernon is a hamlet and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The hamlet lies to the north west of Crewe, south east of Winsford and south west ...

, Moston and

Wimboldsley Wimboldsley is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Stanthorne and Wimboldsley, in the Cheshire West and Chester district, in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, 2 miles south of Middlewich. The population of the paris ...

. The land is mentioned 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086, with a village being documented from the 13th century. The oldest surviving building dates from the late 16th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries the parish had a

finery forge A finery forge is a forge used to produce wrought iron from pig iron by decarburization in a process called "fining" which involved liquifying cast iron in a fining hearth and decarburization, removing carbon from the molten cast iron through Redo ...

, which was among the earliest in the county. The area is agricultural, with dairy farming the predominant land use. The Northwich Halite Formation, a

Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...

salt field, underlies the parish, and there is a long history of local salt production, with the Warmingham brine field remaining an important source of the mineral. Cavities in the salt-bearing stratum are used to store

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

. Several flashes were created in the 20th century by subsidence after natural brine pumping in the area, some of which form part of a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

. The village maintains the tradition of holding a wake each May.

History

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

gold

stater The stater (; ) was an ancient coin used in various regions of Greece. The term is also used for similar coins, imitating Greek staters, minted elsewhere in ancient Europe. History The stater, as a Greek silver currency, first as ingots, and ...

(coin) dating from around the end of the 1st century BC was found in the parish. One face depicts a horse, with a wreath on the obverse. An urn described as

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

, but possibly as early as the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

, was discovered in a burial mound near Forge Mill. There is no other evidence of Roman inhabitation at Warmingham, although the remains of a Roman road from

to near

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 ...

pass around 200 metres away from the parish's north-west corner.Poole 2013, pp. 8–10 Warmingham is documented under Tetton in the

of 1086. The

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

manor was granted to Randulphus. There is believed to have been a medieval church in the village, although only a cross base remains. The earliest recorded rector was in 1298. The land passed to the Mainwaring and Trussell families, and in the 16th century part was sold to

Christopher Hatton Sir Christopher Hatton (12 December 1540 – 20 November 1591) was an English politician, Lord Chancellor of England and a favourite of Elizabeth I of England. He was one of the judges who found Mary, Queen of Scots guilty of treason. Early ...

. It then passed to

Randolph Crewe Sir Ranulph (or Ranulphe, Randolph, or Randall) Crew(e) (1558 – 3 January 1646) was an English judge and Chief Justice of the King's Bench. Early life and career Ranulph Crewe was the second son of John Crew of Nantwich, who is said to hav ...

, and remained in the Crewe family until 1918. The village school was founded in 1839.Cheshire Federation of Women's Institutes 1990, pp. 227–28 A prisoner-of-war camp was located at Donkinson's Oak, near the southern edge of the parish, during the Second World War, and there was a heavy anti-aircraft battery near Bottoms Farm in 1940–41. The village gained an electricity supply in the 1950s. The village post office and shop closed in the 1970s.

Salt and other industries

The Warmingham area has a long history of salt extraction. Brine from the parish's flashes is thought to have been used to make salt in Middlewich, an important salt-producing centre during the Roman occupation. Natural (uncontrolled) brine pumping at nearby

Elworth Elworth is a village in the county of Cheshire, located in the North West of England, and is a suburb of the town of Sandbach, located approximately one mile eastward. Elworth is known for its industrial past, having historically been the home ...

Ettiley Heath Ettiley Heath is a village in the civil parish of Sandbach which is in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The Sandbach ward is called Ettiley Heath and Wheelock. The population of this ward at ...

, Wheelock and elsewhere in the

area occurred from the 19th century, increasing sharply after the First World War, and was associated with subsidence in Warmingham and the adjacent parish of Moston from the 1890s. The

Sandbach Flashes Sandbach Flashes () are a group of 14 wetlands west of Sandbach in Cheshire, England. The flashes were designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1963, with a total area of 1.53 km2. There are a number of individual flashes inc ...

– pools formed by subsidence from the underlying salt dissolving, accelerated by salt extraction – first appeared in the early 1920s and were still expanding in the 1950s.Goodwin & Lythgoe 2000, pp. 6–7 Natural brine pumping ceased in the area in the early 1970s, and British Salt started to extract brine by the controlled pumping method, which prevents subsidence, at a site near Hill Top Farm in the early 1980s. The village had a corn mill from around 1289. A

smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron-making, iron, copper extraction, copper ...

furnace was established on the

north of the village in the mid-17th century, one of a handful in Cheshire at that date. It was still in operation in around 1750, when its annual output of bar iron was recorded as 300 tons, more than any other Cheshire forge. The former corn mill was adapted to grind coconut shells for manufacturing plastics, and aircraft parts were made there during the Second World War. By 1990, the building had been converted into craft workshops, and it had been demolished by 2006.

Governance

Warmingham is administered by Warmingham 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 ...

. Warmingham 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).

Geology and geography

The Northwich Halite Formation, a

salt field, underlies the civil parish, with the 170–240-metre-thick salt-bearing layer lying around 180–250 metres below the surface. In the area of Hill Top and Hole House, sandy soil overlays red clay, with the base rock being Triassic

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

–

mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from ''shale'' by its lack of fissility.Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.'' New York, New York, ...

. The

runs broadly north-west to south-east through the civil parish, with much of the parish lying in its valley. The ground is undulating with an average elevation of around 45 metres. Hoggins Brook, a tributary of the Wheelock, forms parts of the northern and western boundaries of the parish, and Fowle Brook runs north–south in the south-east corner. Crabmill Flash lies immediately north of the Wheelock at ; part of Elton Flashes lies in the east of the parish, and Bottoms Flash and part of Railway Flash lie in the south-east of the parish. These wetlands form part of the

, a

and a popular site for birdwatching. Numerous meres and ponds are scattered throughout the area, and there are several small areas of woodland in the north west of the parish, near The Old Hough. Warmingham Moss occupies the south-west of the parish.

Economics

The parish is predominantly agricultural, with

dairy farming Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for the long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for the eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a h ...

remaining the main land use.Warmingham Village Plan 2006, p. 2 Brine is extracted using controlled brine pumping by British Salt from the Warmingham brine field, located near Hill Top Farm to the west of Warmingham village, and is processed to make white salt at its

salt works. Warmingham is one of two major brine fields still being exploited in Britain (the other being the Holford brine field at

Lostock Gralam Lostock Gralam ( ) is a village and civil parish in Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire, England; it is sited east of Northwich. The civil parish also includes the small hamlet of Lostock Green. At the 2011 census, the population was 2,298. ...

, also in Cheshire). It supplies all of British Salt's brine, which is used to manufacture around half of the UK's pure salt output. Since 2003,

EDF EDF may refer to: Organisations * Eclaireurs de France, a French Scouting association * Électricité de France, a French energy company ** EDF Energy, their British subsidiary ** EDF Luminus, their Belgian subsidiary * Environmental Defense Fund, ...

has stored natural gas in underground cavities created by dissolving salt near Hole House Farm, with a total storage capacity of . A second gas storage site has been constructed near Hill Top Farm, and is scheduled to start operating by the end of 2016.

Demography

According to the 2001 Census, the parish had a population of 175, increasing to 244 in 92 households at the 2011 Census. This represents a decline from the population of 1851; historical population figures are 346 (1801), 423 (1851), 218 (1901) and 199 (1951). The population density was 0.3 persons/hectare in 2011, well below the average of 3.2 persons/hectare for Cheshire East.

Places of worship

The Church of England parish church of St Leonard's is in the centre of Warmingham village. The purple-brick church tower dates from 1715, and the body of the church was rebuilt in red sandstone in 1870, replacing an earlier

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 ...

building; it is listed at grade II*.Hartwell ''et al''. 2011, pp. 657–58 The base of a

stone cross, dating from around 1298, survives in the churchyard; it is listed at the lower grade of II, and is also a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

Other landmarks

Warmingham village was historically centred around Warmingham Bridge across the Wheelock, which falls within a

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...

that also includes St Leonard's Church, Church House, Hill Top Cottage, Mill House, Island House and the Bear's Paw Hotel, extending to cover earthworks east of the village centre. There are two separate sets of earthworks: one is at the site of the 13th-century

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...

, and represents the dam,

leat A leat (; also lete or leet, or millstream) is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill or its mill pond. Othe ...

and

mill pond A mill pond (or millpond) is a body of water used as a reservoir for a water-powered mill. Description Mill ponds were often created through the construction of a mill dam or weir (and mill stream) across a waterway. In many places, the co ...

; the other is a partially moated site associated with Sir John Trussel's manor house. The oldest surviving building in the civil parish, Church House, dates from the late 16th century and is listed at grade II*. It is partly red brick and partly

half-timbered 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 ...

, with a typical

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...

façade combining

close studding Close studding is a form of timber work used in timber-framed buildings in which vertical timbers ( studs) are set close together, dividing the wall into narrow panels. Rather than being a structural feature, the primary aim of close studding is ...

with decorative framing in a chevron pattern. One former resident was John "Rebel" Kent, a supporter of

Charles Edward Stuart Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (31 December 1720 – 30 January 1788) was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, making him the grandson of James VII and II, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, ...

("Bonnie Prince Charlie") in the Jacobite uprising of 1745. The red-sandstone Warmingham Bridge dates from around 1750 and is listed at grade II. The 19th-century Bear's Paw is the only remaining public house in the parish. Outside the village, there are two grade-II-listed, early-17th-century farm buildings, Old Hough Farm House and Mill Lodge, which each combine brick with timber framing. Both are off Forge Mill Lane in the north of the parish. Warmington Grange, off School Lane, is a grade-II-listed former rectory dating from the early 19th century, which served as a club and restaurant from the 1970s until 2005.Warmingham Village Plan 2006, pp. 6–8

Culture and community

The village maintains the tradition of holding Warmingham Wakes in early May; the event is now used to raise money for St Leonard's Church. The village has an active

Women's Institute The Women's Institute (WI) is a community-based organization for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. The movement was founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, by Erland and Janet Lee with Adelaide Hoodless being the ...

, founded in 1948. The village hall on School Lane, originally an army hut, was renovated in the 1970s;Warmingham Village Plan 2006, p. 5 plans to build a new hall were ongoing in 2016.

Transport

Warmingham Road runs north–south through the parish, connecting Coppenhall Moss (in

) and Lane Ends with Warmingham village, where it crosses the Wheelock and becomes School Lane. Hall Lane runs east from Warmingham Road to the parish of Moston. White Hall Lane runs north from School Lane, connecting with Forge Mill Lane which runs west to Occlestone Green, and Crabmill Lane runs south from School Lane to connect with Hall Lane in Moston. The

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

railway runs north–south for a few hundred metres in the south-west corner of the parish, between the

and

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

stations, and is crossed by a footbridge. 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 ...

runs east–west through the south of the parish. The Cycling the Salt Ride cycle route runs along part of the eastern boundary, via Crabmill Lane.

Education

Warmingham Church of England Primary School is on School Lane in Warmingham village; it also accepts pupils from part of

. For secondary education, the civil parish falls within the catchment area of Sir William Stanier School in

References

Sources *Cheshire Federation of Women's Institutes. ''The Cheshire Village Book'' (Countryside Books and CFWI; 1990) () *D. J. Evans, R. A. Chadwick.
Underground Gas Storage: Worldwide Experiences and Future Development in the UK and Europe
' (Geological Society of London; 2009) () *Andrew Goodwin, Colin Lythgoe.
The Birds of Sandbach Flashes 1935 to 1999
'' (South East Cheshire Ornithological Society; 2000) *Clare Hartwell, Matthew Hyde, Edward Hubbard,

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...

. ''The Buildings of England: Cheshire'' (

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

; 2011) () *J. Howard Hodson. ''Cheshire, 1660–1780: Restoration to Industrial Revolution''. ''A History of Cheshire'' Vol. 9 (Series Editor: J. J. Bagley) (Cheshire Community Council; 1978) () *Laurie McKenna. ''Timber Framed Buildings in Cheshire'' (Cheshire County Council; 1994) () *Blair Poole.
Archaeological Watching Brief Report: Project Revolution
' (L – P : Heritage; 2013) *''Warmingham Village Plan 2006'' (Warmingham Parish Council; 2006) (downloaded fro

8 October 2016)

External links

Warmingham Parish Council site
{{authority control Civil parishes in Cheshire Villages in Cheshire