Biddulph | |
---|---|
Biddulph High Street | |
Location within Staffordshire | |
Population | 19,892 (2011 Census) [1] |
OS grid reference | SJ8857 |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Stoke-on-Trent |
Postcode district | ST8 |
Dialling code | 01782 |
Police | Staffordshire |
Fire | Staffordshire |
Ambulance | West Midlands |
UK Parliament | |
Biddulph is a town in Staffordshire, England, 8.5 miles (14 km) north of Stoke-on-Trent and 4.5 miles (7 km) south-east of Congleton, Cheshire.
Biddulph's name may come from Anglo-Saxon/Old English bī dylfe = "beside the pit or quarry". It may also stem from a corruption of the Saxon/Old English Bidulfe, meaning "wolf slayer", and the Biddulph family crest is a wolf rampant.
In the days of coal and iron, Biddulph was called Bradley Green, with the original site of Biddulph being the area in which the parish church, Grange House and the ruins of Biddulph Old Hall stand. It was not until 1930 that the town was marked on Ordnance Survey maps as Biddulph. [2]
Biddulph is in a valley between the ridges of Mow Cop to the west and Biddulph Moor to the east. It encompasses the hamlets of Gillow Heath, Knypersley and Brown Lees.
In common with other parts of the area administered by Staffordshire LEA, the Middle School system operates in Biddulph.
Biddulph has one high school (ages 13 to 16) with a sixth form (ages 16 to 18) called Biddulph High School, [3] it was awarded Sports College status in 2002. It has since gained Technology College status. Biddulph also has two middle schools: Woodhouse Middle School [4] (formerly Biddulph Grammar School), and James Bateman Middle School [5] (formerly Park Middle School), serving pupils aged 9–13. These are fed by several first schools, such as Kingsfield First School, Knypersley First School, Squirrel Hayes First School, Oxhey First School, and several more.
Since the town is close to the Cheshire-Staffordshire border, local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North West and ITV Granada that broadcast from Salford. [6] However, the town can receive BBC West Midlands and ITV Central through satellite television such as Freesat and Sky.
The town is home to Churnet Sound radio a community radio station that broadcasts in DAB across south Cheshire and North Staffordshire. Other local radio stations are BBC Radio Stoke, Hits Radio Staffordshire & Cheshire, Greatest Hits Radio Staffordshire & Cheshire and Moorlands Radio.
The Sentinel is the local daily newspaper. There is also the Biddulph Chronicle, a weekly newspaper, which is a sister publication to the Congleton Chronicle.
Within the valley created by the ridges of Mow Cop and Biddulph Moor, the main sights of note include; ancient burial mounds; evidence of the English Civil War; the bubonic plague; the site of the former Black Bull Colliery; tombs of possible Crusader knights; an Iron Age fort; and the site of a meeting of the Methodist movement with the Wesleys.
A dominant feature on hills above the village is Mow Cop Castle, which is a folly built in the 1750s to look like a medieval fortress and round tower.
Biddulph is also home to Biddulph Grange, a house and landscaped gardens owned by the National Trust. Adjacent to and part of the original estate is Biddulph Grange Country Park.
Biddulph Town Hall was completed in 1965. [7]
Biddulph railway station was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway in 1864. The station was on the Biddulph Valley Line that ran from a junction just north of Congleton on the Stoke-on-Trent – Macclesfield line to a junction south of Stoke-on-Trent station. Passenger traffic was withdrawn from the station on 11 July 1927, but freight traffic continued until 5 October 1964. There was also a canal rail interchange at Congleton Junction. The remains of the small dock on the Macclesfield Canal can still be seen. Parts of the station platform can still be seen, and one of the original buildings is now a private residence, the trackbed now forms the Biddulph Valley Way.
The nearest active stations are now in Congleton or Kidsgrove, which provide connections to Birmingham, Crewe, Derby, London Euston, Macclesfield, Manchester, Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent.
Biddulph is located on the A527, which links it to Congleton in the North and Stoke-on-Trent in the south.
D&G Bus provides bus services [8] to Hanley (No.9) and to Leek (No.93) and the No. 94 goes north to Congleton and south to Tunstall and Newcastle-under-Lyme
First Potteries also provides a bus service [9] (No.7A) to Hanley.
Biddulph is twinned with:
The following is a list of people who have been a Freeman of Biddulph, and when the title was bestowed.
Staffordshire is a landlocked ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the south-east, the West Midlands county and Worcestershire to the south, and Shropshire to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Stoke-on-Trent, and the county town is Stafford.
Congleton is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is on the River Dane, 21 miles (34 km) south of Manchester and 13 miles (21 km) north of Stoke on Trent. At the 2021 census, it had a population of 30,015.
Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies 16 miles (26 km) south of Manchester and 38 miles (61 km) east of Chester.
Kidsgrove is a town in the borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England, on the Cheshire border. It is part of the Potteries Urban Area, along with Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme. It has a population of 26,276. Most of the town is in the Kidsgrove ward, whilst the western part is in Ravenscliffe.
Staffordshire Moorlands is a local government district in Staffordshire, England. Its council is based in Leek, the district's largest town. The district also contains the towns of Biddulph and Cheadle, along with a large rural area containing many villages. North-eastern parts of the district lie within the Peak District National Park.
BBC Radio Stoke is the BBC's local radio station serving Staffordshire and South Cheshire.
Biddulph Grange is a National Trust landscaped garden, in Biddulph near Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. It is separate from Biddulph Grange Country Park.
The Gritstone Trail, or Cheshire Gritstone Trail, is a 35-mile (56 km) long-distance footpath in England which follows the most westerly hills of the Peak District from Disley Station to Mow Cop, and on via the Macclesfield Canal to Kidsgrove Station. Managed by Cheshire East, the trail involves 5,900 feet (1,800 m) of ascent and is mainly outside the National Park. There are other routes in the Peak District referred to as a "Gritstone Trail" but they are less well established.
Kidsgrove railway station serves the town of Kidsgrove in Staffordshire, England. The station is 7.5 miles (12.07 km) north of Stoke-on-Trent. The station is served by trains on the Crewe–Derby line which is also a community rail line known as the North Staffordshire line. The station is owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Railway.
Macclesfield railway station is a main line station serving the Cheshire market town of Macclesfield. It lies on the Stafford to Manchester branch of the West Coast Main Line in the United Kingdom.
Congleton railway station is a mainline station serving the Cheshire market town of Congleton. It lies on the Stafford-Manchester branch of the West Coast Main Line in the United Kingdom.
Hugh Bourne along with William Clowes was the joint founder of Primitive Methodism, the largest offshoot of Wesleyan Methodism and, in the mid-19th century, an influential Protestant Christian movement in its own right.
Mow Cop is a village split between Cheshire and Staffordshire, and therefore divided between the North West and West Midlands regions of England. It is 24 miles (39 km) south of Manchester and 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Stoke-on-Trent, on a steep hill of the same name rising to 335 metres (1,099 ft) above sea level. The village is at the edge of the southern Pennines, with the Cheshire Plain directly to the west. For population details taken at the 2011 census, see Kidsgrove. The Cheshire section is the highest settlement within the county of Cheshire.
Mow Cop and Scholar Green railway station was a station on the North Staffordshire Railway between Stoke-on-Trent and Congleton. It served the village of Mow Cop.
Biddulph Moor is a village located on the hill which bears the same name. It is in Biddulph parish and is a part of the Staffordshire Moorlands district in England. It is very similar to Mow Cop which is located on the other side of the valley of Biddulph. It is semi-rural and is the source of the River Trent.
Biddulph railway station was a railway station opened by the North Staffordshire Railway in 1864. Originally named Gillow Heath the station was renamed Biddulph on 1 May 1897. The station was on the Biddulph Valley line that ran from a junction just north of Congleton on the Stoke-on-Trent – Macclesfield line to a junction south of Stoke-on-Trent station.
BakerBus was the trading name used by the bus fleet of Bakers Coaches, a bus and coach operator based in Biddulph, Staffordshire, England. Formed as a coach operator in 1936, they grew to operate a fleet of around 50 vehicles on local bus services and coach hire work, but after several changes of ownership, ceased operation in 2018.
The Stoke-on-Trent Green Belt is a green belt environmental and planning policy that regulates the rural space throughout mainly the West Midlands region of England. It is contained within the counties of Cheshire and Staffordshire. Essentially, the function of the designated area is to prevent surrounding towns and villages within the Stoke-on-Trent conurbation from further convergence. It is managed by local planning authorities on guidance from central government.
The Biddulph Valley line was a double tracked line that ran from Stoke-on-Trent to Brunswick Wharf in Congleton. The line was named after the town of the same name as it ran via the Staffordshire Moorlands and covered areas of East Staffordshire and Cheshire.
Brunswick Wharf was a railway goods yard in Buglawton, Congleton.
Media related to Biddulph at Wikimedia Commons