Eccleston, Cheshire

Eccleston

St Mary's Church
Eccleston
Eccleston shown within Cheshire
Population 246 (2001 Census)
OS grid reference SJ412626
Civil parish
  • Eaton and Eccleston [1]
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town CHESTER
Postcode district CH4
Dialling code 01244
Police Cheshire
Fire Cheshire
Ambulance North West
EU Parliament North West England
UK Parliament

Eccleston is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Eaton and Eccleston, in the county of Cheshire, the borough of Cheshire West, and close to Chester. According to the 2001 Census, the population of the entire civil parish was 184,[2] increasing to 246 at the 2011 Census.[3] The civil parish was abolished in 2015 to form Eaton and Eccleston, part also went to Dodleston.[4] The village is situated on the estate of the Duke of Westminster who maintains his ancestral home at nearby Eaton Hall.

History

It is believed that the name of the village derives from the Latin for 'meeting place'.

Formerly a township in Broxton Hundred, it includes the hamlets of Belgrave and Morris Oak. The population was 199 in 1801, 289 in 1851, 320 in 1901 and 272 in 1951.[5]

Eccleston was the site of a ferry across the River Dee.[6]

Church

The church at Eccleston is called St. Mary's Church. It was built at the expense of the Duke of Westminster and cost £40,000 in 1899.

It was built on the site of an earlier church that was constructed in 1809. Part of the churchyard is unusual in that it is circular in shape, which indicates pagan origins. In 1929 an excavation revealed 20 bodies which are believed to date from 390 AD. They are the earliest known Christian burials in Cheshire.[7]

The Old Churchyard is the resting place of the Dukes of Westminster. Also buried here are Alfred Ernest Ind VC, who died on 29 November 1916,[8] Sir Henry Nelson Clowes KCVO (1911–1993), Sir Philip Hay KCVO (1918–1986), Private Secretary to HRH The Duchess of Kent, and his wife Dame Margaret Katherine Hay DCVO (1918–1975), Woman of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth II, a granddaughter of 1st Duke of Westminster.

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://eatonandecclestonparishcouncil.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1:welcome&catid=2:uncategorised&Itemid=101
  2. ↑ 2001 Census: Eccleston, Office for National Statistics, retrieved 27 July 2007
  3. ↑ "Parish population 2011". Retrieved 27 May 2015.
  4. ↑ "ECCLESTON". GENUKI. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  5. ↑ Cheshire Towns & Parishes: Eccleston, GENUKI UK & Ireland Genealogy, retrieved 18 November 2007
  6. ↑ Coward, Thomas Alfred (1903). Picturesque Cheshire. London & Manchester: Sherratt and Hughes.
  7. ↑ Thornber, Craig, Photographs and history of St. Mary's Church and brief information about the village, retrieved 27 July 2007
  8. ↑ Location of Alfred Earnest Ind's grave and VC medal. (Cheshire), archived from the original on 27 September 2013, retrieved 27 July 2007
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