Culcheth is a village in the civil parish of Culcheth and Glazebury, in the Warrington district, in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, six miles (10 km) north-east of Warrington town centre; It is the principal settlement in Culcheth and Glazebury parish.
Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, Culcheth is primarily residential, with a large village green at its heart where the annual Community Day is held. The old railway line is now known as Culcheth Linear Park.
History
On Saxon maps showing South Lancashire, the village is marked as "Calchuth" or "Celchyth." On these very early maps and deeds the name is also written as "Kilcheth", "Kylchith" and "Kilshaw." It is derived from the Brittonic "cil" and "coed", 'at the edge of a wood,' 'black wood' or 'retreat in a wood'. There are a few examples of this name-formation today, such as the Welsh name for Caldicot, Monmouthshire, Wales is "Cil-y-coed", and possibly Culgaith, Cumbria. The first element in the name might also be *cǖl, meaning 'narrow'. However, another claim is that the name is of Norman origin, but all four families of French descent which settled in the area took local names, such as de Culcheth, de Kenyon, de Risley and de Holcroft.
The area is known to have been established before or around the time of the Norman conquest, from its mention in the Domesday Book. Culcheth Hall was latterly owned by the Withington family until its demolition after the Second World War.
The infamous Colonel Thomas Blood, who nearly succeeded in stealing the Crown Jewels, was married at Winwick, and lived for a while at Holcroft Hall (on Holcroft Lane, Culcheth).
The Culcheth Laboratories were established in 1950, in the south-west of the village.
Governance and politics
Local Government in Culcheth has been administered by Lancashire County Council (1889-1974), Leigh Rural District Council (1894-1933), Culcheth Parish Council (1894-1933) and Golborne Urban District (1933-1974).
Today, Culcheth is administered by Culcheth and Glazebury Parish Council, as well as by Warrington Borough Council (both since 1974). On 1 April 1998, the Warrington Unitary Authority was created, of which Culcheth is a part.
Culcheth was formerly a township in the parish of Newchurch-Kenyon, in 1866 Culceth became a civil parish, on 1 October 1933 the parish was abolished and merged with Golborne and Croft. In 1931 the parish had a population of 2730.
Culcheth (along with its neighbouring villages Glazebury and Croft) form the Warrington Borough Council ward of Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft. Although the Labour Party took all three seats in this ward in the local elections of 2016, in 2021 they all changed hands to the Conservatives.
The ward forms part of the Warrington North parliamentary constituency, which has been represented by Labour MP Charlotte Nichols since 2019. Nichols replaced Helen Jones as MP, who lives in the village centre with her family.
At the 2012 municipal elections, Chris Vobe (son of Helen Jones MP) became the first Labour Party Councillor for Culcheth since the mid-1990s, taking his seat on Warrington Borough Council at the Town Hall on 14 May 2012, with Culcheth having been represented on Warrington Borough Council by three Conservative councillors from 1996 to 2012. Chris Vobe stood down from his position in 2016.
Cheshire Constabulary has established a police community base in Culcheth Scout Centre in agreement with the local scout group. This innovation allows local police officers to spend more time in the community and makes it easier for people to contact them. Without this arrangement police officers would have to be based at Warrington Police Station, which is several miles away from their 'beat'.
Transport
Road
One of the reasons for Culcheth's popularity as a place to live is its proximity to the main road links into Warrington (A574), and the M62 motorway into Liverpool and Manchester. It is also accessible via Common Lane (the B5207 from Lowton), linking to the A580 East Lancashire Road, and Holcroft Lane (the B5212) which meets the A57 Warrington-Manchester road near Warburton Toll Bridge.
Bus
Warrington's Own Buses operate two bus services between Warrington town centre and Leigh via the village centre. A combined 30-minute frequency is provided by services 19 and 28/28A on Monday to Saturday daytimes, with a combined 30-minute frequency on Sundays and an hourly 28E service Monday to Saturday evening. The two services operate via the same route to Leigh, but the route to Warrington alternates between Croft/Winwick (service 19) and Birchwood/Padgate (service 28/28A).