Acton, Cheshire

Coordinates: 53°04′23″N 2°32′55″W / 53.073117°N 2.548588°W / 53.073117; -2.548588

Acton is a small village and civil parish lying immediately west of the town of Nantwich in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The civil parish also includes the small settlement of Dorfold and part of Burford, with a total population of a little over 300. It is administered jointly with the adjacent civil parishes of Henhull and Edleston. Historically, Acton refers to a township and also to an ancient parish in the Nantwich Hundred covering a wide area to the west of Nantwich.

The area is agricultural, with dairy farming the main industry. Around a third of the area falls within the Dorfold Estate. Historically, agriculture was the major employer, but it has now been overtaken by the service industries, with many residents commuting significant distances outside the parish to work.

The civil parish is believed to have been inhabited since the 8th or 9th century. It contains many historic buildings, including two listed at grade I: Dorfold Hall was considered by Nikolaus Pevsner to be one of the two finest Jacobean houses in Cheshire, while St Mary's Church has a tower dating from the 13th century, one of the earliest in the county.

Acton, Cheshire (ancient parish)

Coordinates: 53°04′26″N 2°33′00″W / 53.074°N 2.550°W / 53.074; -2.550 Acton was an ancient parish in the Nantwich Hundred of Cheshire, England.

At one time it included the townships of Acton, Aston juxta Mondrum, Austerson, Baddington, Brindley, Burland, Cholmondeston, Edleston, Faddiley, Henhull, Hurleston, Poole, Stoke, Worleston, most of Coole Pilate, parts of Dodcott cum Wilkesley, Newhall and Sound, and possibly all or part of Baddiley. It also contained the chapelries of Church Minshull, Nantwich and Wrenbury. By around 1870, the townships and chapelries of Baddiley, Church Minshull, Dodcott cum Wilkesley, Nantwich, Newhall, Sound and Wrenbury had been lost from Acton; the total area of the ancient parish was then 15,542 acres (6,290 hectares), with a population of 3,125.

Acton church served as the main parish church for a wide area to the west of Nantwich. Subsidiary churches were chapels of ease; St Mary's Church, Nantwich, for example, despite its size, remained a chapel of ease to Acton until the 17th century.

Cheshire

Cheshire (/ˈtʃɛʃər/ or /ˈtʃɛʃɪər/; archaically the County Palatine of Chester; abbreviated Ches.) is a county in North West England, bordering Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south and Wales to the west (bordering Wrexham and Flintshire). Cheshire's county town is Chester; the largest town is Warrington.

Other major towns include Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Macclesfield, Northwich, Runcorn, Widnes, Wilmslow, and Winsford. The county covers 2,343 square kilometres (905 sq mi) and has a population of around 1 million. It is mostly rural, with a number of small towns and villages supporting the agricultural and other industries which produce Cheshire cheese, salt, chemicals and silk.

History

Toponymy

Cheshire's name was originally derived from an early name for Chester, and was first recorded as Legeceasterscir in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, meaning the shire of the city of legions. Although the name first appears in 980, it is thought that the county was created by Edward the Elder around 920. In the Domesday Book, Chester was recorded as having the name Cestrescir (Chestershire), derived from the name for Chester at the time. A series of changes that occurred as English itself changed, together with some simplifications and elision, resulted in the name Cheshire, as it occurs today.

Cheshire (comics)

Cheshire is a fictional DC Comics supervillain that first appeared in New Teen Titans Annual #2 (1983).

Fictional character biography

Post-Crisis

Born (allegedly, see below) to a French father and a Vietnamese mother, Jade Nguyen had an unhappy childhood and was sold into slavery. As a young adult, after killing her master, Jade was informally adopted by Chinese freedom fighter Weng Chan, who taught her all he knew about guerrilla fighting. She acquired knowledge of poisons from Kruen Musenda, a famed African assassin known as the "Spitting Cobra", whom she was married to for the two years prior to his death.

She is a long-standing rival of the superhero team the Teen Titans. However, when Roy Harper, a.k.a. the archer Speedy, went undercover for the government in a mission to get her confidence and turn her over, the two fell passionately in love. Knowing he would not be able to turn her in, he walked out; Cheshire would not learn his true identity until later. The result of their romance was a daughter, Lian, whom Roy raised.

Cheshire (disambiguation)

Cheshire (/ˈtʃɛʃə/ CHESH-ə) is a county in England.

Cheshire may also refer to:

Places in the United States

Other